ISTANBUL
As Orthodox Christians start to celebrate the birth and baptism of Jesus Christ across theOrthodox world, the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate also celebrated the day with a special mass and traditional cross-throwing ceremony in Istanbul.
Believers started to reach Fener Greek OrthodoxPatriarchate during the early hours of Monday and participated in the special mass led by Metropolitan Bishop Tranupoltos Germanos in Hagia Yorgi Church adjacent to the patriarchate’s garden.
After a four-hour ceremony, a group of priests and members of the congregation went to the Fener dock, where the patriarch threw a large cross into the sea. Men assembled as part of the group then jumped into the freezing water, swimming to reach the cross and bring it back to dry land.
Forty-seven year old Giorgos Alexandridis, who travelled from Greece to partake in the ceremonies, was the first to reach the cross and return it to the patriarch, who awarded him with a golden cross pendant.
Due to a difference in calendars, January 6 marks Christmas Eve for many Orthodox churches and Christmas will be celebrated on January 7 rather than December 25.
The majority of 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. The former calendar runs 13 days behind the latter.
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