Millions of Orthodox Christians attended midnight masses marking the Christmas holiday, a celebration overshadowed for many by the conflict in Ukraine.
In Russia, home to the largest number of Orthodox Christians, believers joined overnight services January 7 at churches in Moscow and across the country.
In Ukraine, where a majority of Christians identify as Orthodox, this was the first Christmas that was officially designated by the government to be observed not on January 7, but on December 25, in line with Roman Catholic and many Western Christian traditions.
Despite the official designation, made by President Volodymr Zelenskiy in July, thousands of Ukrainians crowded church sanctuaries across the country, including at the renowned Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery, for midnight services.
Zelenskiy’s order was a further sign of Ukraine’s effort to push away from Russian-dominated traditions, amid a devastating war whose full-scale invasion is nearing its second anniversary.
Ukraine’s Orthodox Church broke away from centuries-old control by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2019, although the rift has not been fully resolved. Another, smaller branch of Ukrainian Orthodoxy remains loyal to Moscow, and the two sides have squabbled over control of the Kyiv monastery.
SEE ALSO: Holy Eviction: What's Going On With The Standoff At Kyiv's Famous Monastery Of The Caves?A sizable minority of Ukrainian Christians, particularly in western Ukraine, are Catholic.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin was joined by relatives of soldiers killed in the Ukraine war for private Christmas services at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence, on Moscow’s western suburbs.
In a Kremlin statement congratulating Orthodox Christians, Putin highlighted the “efforts of religious organizations aimed at supporting our heroes -- participants in the special military operation,” as the Kremlin refers to the Ukraine invasion.
SEE ALSO: Live Briefing: Russia Invades UkraineUnlike last year, Putin made no call for a holiday cease-fire.
Western estimates put the Russian toll -- dead and wounded -- since the launch of the invasion in February 2022 at more than 320,000. Ukrainian figures are believed to be comparable.
In Belarus, where Christmas is officially celebrated with public holidays on both December 25 and on January 7, the country’s leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, said in a statement that he was “convinced that by preserving the Orthodox traditions of mercy and moral purity, together we will create the best future for our native Belarus.”
Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus for 30 years, calls himself an “Orthodox atheist.”
In Montenegro, meanwhile, two rival factions of the national Orthodox Church scuffled and argued during a traditional bonfire ceremony held January 6 in Cetinje, the country's historic royal capital. The tensions stem mainly from a dispute last September where the two factions chose competing clerics to head the Montenegrin church.
SEE ALSO: Keeping The Flame Alive: Christmas In The BalkansIn Serbia, Orthodox believers observed the holiday by burning oak branches at services outside churches and temples, including hundreds who gathered at the St. Sava Temple -- the biggest Orthodox church in the Balkans.