7 Interesting Facts About Christmas

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, December 24, 2017

Some Churches Celebrate in January

Orthodox Christians are beginning their Christmas celebrations Tuesday. Members of the Greek Orthodox clergy are pictured here outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem January 6, 2015. | (Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

While for most churches Dec. 25 is the date for Christmas, many congregations, especially those in the Orthodox Church, celebrate Christmas in January.

Often this date can be Jan. 6, also called the Epiphany, or Jan. 7. The difference in dates derives from a difference in calendars.

Archimandrite Christopher Calin, dean of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection, told The Christian Post in a 2011 interview that technically it is the same date.

"The majority of the Orthodox churches worldwide use the Julian calendar, created under the reign of Julius Caesar in 45 BC, and have not adopted the Gregorian calendar, proposed by Latin Pope Gregory of Rome in 1582," explained Archimandrite Calin.

"December 25 on the Julian calendar actually falls on January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. So strictly speaking, Christmas is still kept on December 25, which just happens to fall 13 days later on the Julian calendar."