(NEWSnet/AP) — Although much of the world has Christmas in the rear-view mirror, people in some Eastern Orthodox traditions will celebrate the holy day on Jan. 7.
Certain churches follow the ancient Julian calendar, which runs 13 days later than the Gregorian calendar, used by Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as by much of the secular world for everyday use.
Other Orthodox, including those in the Greek tradition and some Ukraine churches, mark Christmas on the same date as Western churches.
All Eastern Orthodox agree that Dec. 25 is the date of Christmas, or Feast of the Nativity, as they call it. The question is whether Dec. 25 falls on Dec. 25 or Jan. 7. That requires a little unpacking.
The ancient church set its religious feasts based on the Julian calendar, but after more than a millennium, that calendar gradually out of alignment with the solar year. Sixteenth century Pope Gregory XIII approved a revised, more astronomically precise calendar, which bears his name. It shifted the calendar several days forward to make up for lost time (literally) and added a more precise calculation of leap years. Protestant churches eventually followed the Catholic lead in adopting the calendar, as did secular governments.
All Eastern Orthodox kept to the old calendar until 1923, when an inter-Orthodox gathering adopted a revised Julian calendar that essentially mirrors Gregorian. Most churches in the Greek Orthodox tradition have adopted this, as have those in Romanian, Bulgarian and other traditions.
But Russian Orthodox Church, the largest communion in Eastern Orthodoxy, has stayed on the old calendar, observing Christmas on Jan. 7 on the new calendar, as have Serbian, Georgian and some other Orthodox.
In the United States, observances vary — even within traditions. Churches in the Greek and Antiochian traditions, along with the Orthodox Church in America, observed Christmas on Dec. 25. Some churches in the Slavic tradition, including Serbian and smaller Russian churches, will observe it Jan. 7.
In the small American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America — with roots in present-day Ukraine and Slovakia — parishes can choose their date. About one-third are on the new calendar.
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