Source: Ma’an News Agency BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Orthodox, Assyrian, Coptic, and Ethiopian patriarchs arrived in Bethlehem on Monday to commence the celebration of Eastern Orthodox Christmas, which takes place on Tuesday. The Assyrian patriarch was first to arrive, followed by the Coptic Patriarch and Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, while the Ethiopian patriarch is expected to arrive later. Most Eastern Orthodox Christian denominations celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on January 7th, in contrast to the Western Christian tradition of celebrating on December 25. Armenian denominations, meanwhile, celebrate Christmas on January 6th. The Eastern Orthodox date is in accordance…
Browsing: Orthodox Christian Christmas
Source: The Vancouver Sun by Douglas Todd Orthodox Archbishop Lazar Puhalo is four days away from completing his annual 40-day Nativity fast. He refrains from meat, eggs, dairy products, anger, envy and other questionable habits during this time to “discipline the soul.” The 73-year-old leader of an Orthodox monastery in a remote corner of the Fraser Valley says of self-denial: “It is an attempt to control what usually controls us.” The hierarch’s fast will end on Christmas Eve – as it does for hundreds of millions of Orthodox Christians around the world. Orthodox Christians prefer to refer to that which…