Most Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on the night of 25 December

Ten of the fifteen Autocephalous Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on the night of 24 to 25 December as the vast number of Christians in the Western world.

" These Churches are not " Catholic " Gregorian calendar, and the so-called Novoorleanskim, appeared in the 1920-ies. As long as it coincides with the Gregorian. The gap between the two calendars in one day will accumulate to 2800 year, " said Fins news Deputy Chairman of the Department for external Church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest Nikolai Balashov.

according to the old Julian calendar live five Orthodox churches in the world. Together with the Russian Orthodox Church the feast of the Nativity of Christ, on the night of 6 to 7 January will celebrate Jerusalem, Georgian, Serbian and Polish Orthodox Churches, monasteries on mount Athos, as well as most of Eastern-rite Catholics and some Protestants.

According to the envoy of the Russian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church of Poland in March 2014 to return completely to the old calendar style - after 90 years, once at the insistence of the then state authorities adopted the new calendar in the Church life. However, the vast number of its parishes continued to celebrate the holidays in the old style, and his official recovery was met believers with satisfaction.


" The theme of the Church calendar is one of the issues on the agenda of the pan-Orthodox Council, scheduled for 2016. But no revolutionary solutions from the forthcoming pan-Orthodox forum is not intended, though, because all of his decisions will be taken only on the basis of unanimity of all the Autocephalous churches of the Orthodox world, and churches that follow the old calendar, including Russian, does not wish to review their practices in this regard, " said Archpriest Nikolai Balashov.

according to him, the all-Orthodox Council, most likely, will confirm suggested in 1948 the opinion of the Meeting of the heads and authorized Orthodox churches about the fact that for fixed holidays each Autocephalous Church can use existing in the Church calendar " when you save a shared Alexandria he.

The draft resolution of the pan-Orthodox Council on the issue, prepared in 1982, will be pre-treated launched last autumn Special inter-Orthodox Commission, taking their advice also on the basis of the principle of consensus (unanimity). In the above-mentioned project stated that the calendar issue is subject to appropriate assessment of the Church with his pastoral responsibilities and respective needs of their congregations "


sections: Politics