Old-style Orthodox Christians celebrate Birth of God

Chisinau, 7 January /MOLDPRES/ - The old-style Orthodox Christians today celebrate the Birth of God (Christmas), which is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the year, being preceded by a 40-day Christmas Fast.  Liturgies are officiated in the churches from all over Moldova on this occasion.     

On Christmas in the morning, believers usually go the holy Liturgy and then, at noon, families convene at the traditional holiday dinner. The Birth of God, as a rule, is a family holiday, focused on prayer, spirituality and the happiness of the Birth of the Savior.

One of the main customs of Christmas is the singing of carols. Also, one of the old traditions is ‘’going with icon’ – a kind of singing of carols, made by village priests with the Icon of the Birth of God, blessing the houses, households and the Christians, Also, housewives bake pies for Christmas.  

On the occasion of the holiday, Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova, Most Right Reverend Vladimir stressed that the Birth of God would bring light to the homes of all believers.

The old-style Christmas is marked in Belarus, communities from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Armenia, Georgia, etc. The tradition to celebrate the Birth of God according to the old-style calendar was also preserved in Serbia and Montenegro, as the Serbian Orthodox Church continues to be guided by the Julian calendar, just as several cantons from Switzerland.    

The old-style Christmas is marked according to the Julian calendar on 7 January. The believers who are guided by the Gregorian calendar celebrated the Christmas on 25 December.  

To allow everybody to celebrate in the family, the authorities took the decision to declare the days of 25 December, as well as 7 and 8 January as days off.