A great feast of the Lord

The Nativity of Christ

Also called Christmas

The Church keeps the birth of the Son of God in the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem. Righteous Joseph, her betrothed, brought her to Bethlehem and watched as shepherds and Magi came to worship the Christ Child. The Church remembers them on the feast as well: the shepherds who were watching their flocks, and the Magi Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar.

The dates

Kept on: 25 December (7 January on the Old Calendar)
Next, New Calendar: 25 December 2026
Next, Old Calendar: 7 January 2027

The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.

How the day is kept

Forty days of the Nativity Fast lead up to the feast: simpler food, more prayer and more giving. Many families begin the fast by setting up or tidying the icon corner, with Christ, the Mother of God and a lamp.

Orthodox Christians greet one another with “Christ is born!” and answer “Glorify Him!”

The day after the feast the Church honors the Mother of God who gave birth to Christ, and on the eighth day it keeps the Circumcision of the Lord, when the Child was given the name Jesus, together with St Basil the Great.