Center Fr Senye Admasu Head priest and Chief Administrator, right side Kesis Samson (priest), left Kesis Melaku

Saturday 7 January 2023

Ottawa’s Ethiopian-Canadian community celebrated the Orthodox Christian Christmas in style at the St Tekle Haimanot Church on Merivale Road. Black Ottawa Scene brings you pics of this significant religious event courtesy of community icon Abebe Engedasaw.

Children’s choir

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What is Orthodox Christmas, and why is it in the spotlight this year?

By Sophie Tanno, CNN Fri January 6, 2023

A girl lights a candle before the start of the Orthodox Christmas in St. Michael's Monastery of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, January 6, 2023.

A girl lights a candle before the start of the Orthodox Christmas in St. Michael’s Monastery of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, January 6, 2023.Bela Szandelszky/APCNN — 

For much of the Western world, Christmas is celebrated on December 25, according to the Gregorian calendar. Yet in a distinction that dates back centuries, Orthodox Christians follow the Julian calendar and mark the festival on January 7 instead.

Orthodox Christmas – and the long-standing rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox groups – has been thrust into the spotlight this year by Russian President Vladmir Putin’s call for a temporary 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to allow Orthodox followers to attend Christmas services. Putin’s proposal was swiftly dismissed as “hypocrisy” and “propaganda” by Ukrainian officials, and shelling has continued from both sides.

Orthodox Christians are estimated to number between 200 and 300 million people globally. Majority-Orthodox countries include Russia, Ukraine and Greece, whose churches are part of the Eastern Orthodox branch, which is also followed by the majority of Christians in the Middle East. There are also significant Orthodox communities in Egypt and Ethiopia, most of whom belong to the smaller Oriental Orthodox branch.

Prior to Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine, Kyiv had been pushing to establish its own independent Orthodox Church separate from Moscow, and the schism only widened in the wake of Putin’s invasion last year. In October, a branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox church announced it would allow its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25, rather than January 7.

As Orthodox Christmas falls on Saturday, here are answers to some of the key questions.

Why do Orthodox Christians celebrate on January 7?

Dispute within the Christian faith over when to officially recognize the birth of Jesus Christ dates back centuries.

Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 decided to standardize Christian holidays with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, which put the birth of Jesus Christ as December 25. The Orthodox Church split into its own branch of Christianity during the Great Schism of 1054, following years of increasing tensions over religious and political differences.

As a result, Orthodox Christians chose not to adopt Pope Gregory’s new calendar and continued to adhere to the Julian calendar.

Source: CNN