As everyone is busy chasing resolutions for the new year, Christians in Russia are getting into the Christmas spirit — they are waiting to break their 40-day fast with a giant feast joined by ...

“Today is a culmination of 40 days of fasting. We’re celebrating ... which is much older than the Gregorian calendar,” said Sorochka. The Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve mass brings together ...

and the day when those who have observed the rules of the Christmas fast receive communion in churches. Christmas Day and Christmas Eve are celebrated on January 6 by all Orthodox churches and ...

Christianity was initially allegiant to the calendar revised by Roman Emperor ... two times for Christmas cheer The followers of Orthodox traditions inaugurate the spirit of Christmas with a 40-day ...

The countdown to the Orthodox Easter is set to begin on March 3, when Greece celebrates “Kathara Deftera,” Greek for “Clean ...

Vladimir Putin met the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, on Tuesday with gifts he asked the Patriarch to bless for troops fighting in Ukraine. The meeting at a Christmas ...

Thousands of Russians celebrating the Orthodox Christian feast day of Epiphany, where worshippers bathe in the icy waters of frozen lakes and rivers, have been forced to cancel their traditional ...

Vladimir Putin and the patriarch of Russia’s Orthodox Church sent ... on January 7 in line with the Julian calendar, has been a vocal supporter of the Russian president’s brutal invasion ...

A man steps down to plunge as a cross is reflected in icy water before celebrating the Orthodox Epiphany in the Stroginskaya floodplain in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander ...

In April 2018, he hosted Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in Albania and called for “an immediate end to Russia’s fratricidal war against Ukraine,” La Croix International reported.