Russia? They hold their observance on January 5th and is one of the reasons why the Eastern Church split with Rome.
They fear the unnatural influences of the western churches since the fall of Communism. The Russian Orthodox was tolerated by the government, as long as they didn’t cause problems. Since Christmas is not the Birthday of Christ, wouldn't it be easy to just adopt their way of doing things in the country, instead of trying to change people’s minds about it?
2006-12-29 00:30:16 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No, it would be pointless.
Split between two churches occured way before the West adopted Gregorian calendar (which caused the difference).
Reason for split was worship of icons, something Orthodox church will never give up, and West will never accept.
Moreover, Russian Orthodox chuch was, is and will remain a part and instrument of Russian State. So it can't exactly merge with Catholic or other foreign church.
PS It's January 7th, not 5th.
2006-12-29 00:31:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sorry...Orthodox Christians do not "worship" icons anymore than we Catholics worship statues....its what both REPRESENT!
Orthodox Christians keep the observance of Christmas on January 7th (not 5th) because the Gregorian calendar was promulgated by a pope -- Gregory XIII in 1582, to be exact. Since the Orthodox do not accept the pope as having any jurisdiction over them, they very naturally reject this change in calendar. Rather they maintain the use of the calendar promulgated by Julius Caesar in 46 BC to update the Roman calendar in use then.
By the way....all Orthodox do accept the pope as being the successor of Peter and as having primacy over the church of the West -- they do not accept him as having primacy over the Eastern churches.
True, in Scripture no-one celebrated Christmas....no-one celebrated Easter for that matter, either. Most Christians (Catholics, Orthodox, Episcopalians, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) ALL follow Sacred Tradition in the celebrating these 2 major feasts iof the church. They do not buy into the "bible alone" theory (neither does the bible itself, for that matter!) -- which of course, can lead one straight into bible-olatry. After all, Mark was the first to write a Gospel -- in approximately 63 AD. Prior to that, oral tradition was the norm. In fact, Paul three times uses the term "MY gospel": see Romans 2:16; romans 16:25 and 2 Tim 2:8.
Actually the words "Christmas" and "Easter" are in the bible -- on the same page as the terms "Trinity", and "Incarnation" and the ruling to move the Sabbath to a Sunday!!!!! Wonder why some Christian sects accept certain aspects of "Sacred Tradition" while vehemently denying others??????
2006-12-29 01:38:19 · answer #2 · answered by The Carmelite 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some Eastern Orthodox Churches, namely the ones in Bulgaria, Romania and even Greece celebrate Christmas on December 25th. Maybe the Russian Orthodox could do the same.
2007-01-01 01:21:14 · answer #3 · answered by XIII 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why celebrate it at all?
The Bible does not say we should. The Bible does not record anybody celebrating the BIRTHDAY of Jesus. The early church did not celebrate it. It was adopted into the church at Rome in the 4th century.
But yes, give a choice of Dec. 25 and Jan 5, the latter would be preferable since the former is dedicated to sun worship.
2006-12-29 00:43:38 · answer #4 · answered by flandargo 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Russian Church or The Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: ??????? ???????????? ???????; or ?????????? ?????????? (the latter designation being yet another official call[3]) on condition that 194eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3; ????????? ?????????? ???????????? ??????? before the reinstitution in 194eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3), additionally ordinary with the aid of fact the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a physique of Christians who characterize an autocephalous eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow, in communion with the different eastern Orthodox church buildings.
2016-10-06 04:03:23 · answer #5 · answered by lyon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suppose so. No person currently living knows the exact date anyway. The point is God was born. Most importantly, is Easter, which should be celebrated.
2006-12-29 00:34:25 · answer #6 · answered by RB 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think everyone should observe it on April 6th when he really was born. Shepherds don't watch their flocks by night in December. There is no grass to graze on.
2006-12-29 00:37:17 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
freedom of religion - celebrate the birth of Christ however you wish, with whatever traditions you choose
2006-12-29 00:35:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋