The Christmas season isn’t over, at least not for the handful of Orthodox Christian churches that follow the Julian Calendar and are celebrating Christmas on Wednesday with special liturgies, dinners and holiday decorations.
“Universally, it’s accepted as Christmas, but, in our faith, it is really called the Nativity of the Lord,” said Alex Poshyvajlo, a lay leader at St. Michael Orthodox Church in West Deer.
A parish of the Orthodox Church in America, St. Michael’s joins others in the South Side, Monroeville and Pittsburgh to mark one of the holiest days of their faith’s calendar.
Serbian, Russian Orthodox and Ukrainian Orthodox churches sometimes follow the Julian calendar, which falls 13 days behind the more mainstream Gregorian calendar.
The Julian calendar, created under Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, contained inaccuracies, notably not accounting for the extra quarter of a day each year. So Pope Gregory XIII created the Gregorian calendar, which is the most widely accepted calendar worldwide.
Orthodox Christmas is usually observed Jan. 7 as a deeply religious holiday focused on spiritual reflection.
A Christmas Eve feast, Sochelnik, often includes 12 meat-free dishes in honor of the 12 Apostles. St. Michael’s on Liberty Street prepares for the Nativity by decorating the church ahead of a Divine Liturgy.
St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Monroeville began its festivities Tuesday with a Vesperal Liturgy and a special Badnje Vece feast. Services were scheduled for Wednesday morning.
For people who want to participate but can’t get to the church along Haymaker Road, services are livestreamed on YouTube.
St. Vladimir Parish on the South Side posts services to its Facebook page. The church on South 18th Street will celebrate its Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
