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One of the most important holidays of the year comes to Russian Catholics, TASS reports. They celebrate Christmas on December 25 according to the Gregorian calendar, which is two weeks ahead of the Julian calendar. This is why Christmas has already come to Catholic and some Protestant communities in our country. Millions of Christians in Russia and around the globe met in Christmas Eve in churches.
Orthodox Christians of ten local churches - Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Romanian, Bulgarian, Cyprus, Hellas, Albanian, Czechoslovak and American - also celebrate Christmas today, Pravmir website reports.
On Christmas Eve, Christians traditionally go to church, gather at the table with relatives, break bread and eat coliphia with other Lenten dishes.
Festive services began the day before and are held today in all Catholic churches of the country. Archbishop Paolo Pezzi held a mass in the Moscow Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Churches were decorated with nativity scenes and hosted organ concerts and Christmas fairs in their walls. The number of Catholics in Russia reaches a million. Most of them live in the most western region of the country - the Kaliningrad region.
The followers of the Roman Catholic Church usually celebrate Christmas at the family table. This holiday celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In Bethlehem, thousands of pilgrims came to the West Bank, which is traditionally considered to be the place of his birth. There are more than a billion Catholics in the world.
For the first time after seven years of war, Christmas is celebrated in Syria. The streets of Damascus were decorated with trees and the authorities organized a procession of musicians and a carnival for the citizens. In Aleppo, hundreds of residents came to the festive mass at the church of Elijah the Prophet, one of the largest in the city. Observers noted that representatives of many nationalities gathered under the arches of the churches - the holiday united Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Russians.
Russkiy Mir
