Last updated: 9 hours ago
The majority of Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas on January 7, with midnight services especially popular. During two decades in power, Putin generally has marked Christmas outside Moscow, often at relatively little-known provincial churches Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church held its main midnight Christmas service at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, led by the Patriarch Kirill, an elaborate ceremony with dozens of clerics led by church head Patriarch Kirill chanting and holding long candles while masked worshipers watched. In Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, hundreds of worshipers gathered outside Saint Sava Temple, the largest Serbian Orthodox church, for Christmas Eve midnight mass.
