Thousands enjoy merry Christmas in Bethlehem
27. December 2011 - 11:09
Tens of thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims packed the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations Saturday, bringing warm holiday cheer to the traditional birthplace of Jesus on a raw, breezy and rainy night.
With turnout at its highest in more than a decade, proud Palestinian officials said they were praying the celebrations would bring them closer to their dream of independence.
Christians in Turkey festively celebrate Christmas
26. December 2011 - 10:18
The thousands of Christians in Turkey began their Christmas celebrations on December 24th 2011. At the Fener Greek Patriarchate on Sunday morning, many Christians celebrated Christmas Day. Along with local Orthodox Christians, hundreds of Orthodox Christians from different provinces of Turkey and abroad attended the service led by Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew. The service began at 9 a.m. in the Aya Yorgi church located in the garden of the Fener Greek Patriarchate.
Name Day of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch celebrated in Damascus
23. December 2011 - 11:22On December 19, 2011, on the eve of his Name Day, His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV of the Great Antioch and All the East visited the Church of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer – the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Damascus, where he officiated at Great Vespers. Two choirs sang hymns in the Arabic and Church Slavonic languages, the Representation’s site reports.
Primate of Greek Orthodox Church attends concert of Russian church music in AthensPrimate of Greek Orthodox Church attends concert of Russian church music in Athens
23. December 2011 - 11:17
On December 12, 2011, a recital of Russian church music was given at the Megaro Mousikis palace in Athens by the Moscow Synodal Choir, the children’s choir of the Moscow Choral Academy and the orchestra of the Center of Greek Music in Athens. They performed ‘Christmas Oratorio’ by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.
Present at the concert were Archbishop Hieronymos of Athens and All Greece of Athens and All Greece, Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Patriarchate of Constantinople), Greek hierarchs and clergy as well as political and public figures.
Bishop Jonah of Obukhov on pilgrimage to Georgia
22. December 2011 - 10:30
Bishop Jonah of Obukhov, a vicar of the Kiev metropolia, leads a pilgrims’ group from Ukraine to Georgia with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The pilgrims stayed in Georgia from 5-9 December and visited monasteries and churches in Tbilisi, Mtskheta, and other cities. They prayed for the health of Hid Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, official website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reports.
