Great Feast

Nativity of Christ

Christmas

Icon: Nativity of Christ
Nativity (15th c., Annunciation Cathedral in Moscow) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

When: December 25 (Old Calendar: 13 days later on the civil calendar).

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The Church rejoices that the eternal Son of God became a true human being, born of the Virgin Mary, to save the world.

It is preceded by the forty-day Nativity Fast and followed by twelve fast-free days of celebration. The services include the Royal Hours on the eve and an all-night vigil or Divine Liturgy.

The icon shows Christ in a cave-manger, Mary resting nearby, the ox and donkey, angels and shepherds, the Magi following the star, and Joseph sitting apart, troubled by doubts.

Written for this app in our own words from the Gospels and long-standing Church tradition. All Great Feasts & Holy Week · Calendar