Orthodox Christmas celebrations commence Friday night

For Baltic, Hellenic, Arabic and Coptic households in Eastern Orthodox Churches, midnight mass and traditional holiday food come on a different calendar.

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Deacons walk down the aisle during the Procession of the Lamb during the Orthodox Christmas celebrations at St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Mission Church on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.

Deacons walk down the aisle during the Procession of the Lamb during the Orthodox Christmas celebrations at St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Mission Church on Friday.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

While many who celebrate Christmas in Chicago are taking down their holiday lights and freezing the last of their fruitcakes, Orthodox Christians are just getting started.

Orthodox Christmas starts at midnight Saturday in churches that follow the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar. Orthodox Christians balked when the Vatican standardized the Gregorian calendar in 1582 and now celebrate annually on Jan. 7.

Orthodox Christians number about 260 million, or around 12% of Christians worldwide, according to the Pew Research Center. The first Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in Chicago were founded by Greek, Russian and Serbian immigrants.

Celebrations look and feel similar to those of Christians in the Western world in December, said Rev. James Mikhail, priest at St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Mission Church in Logan Square. 

The holiday also commemorates the birth of Jesus and is celebrated with religious services, large meals and family gatherings, Mikhail said. Some Orthodox Christians exchange gifts, while others do so nearly three weeks earlier, to commemorate the Feast of St. Nicholas.

Across Chicago, Eastern Christians with roots in the Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Ethiopian and Coptic orthodox traditions will bring elements of their cultures to the weekend’s festivities.

Rev. James Mikhail blesses the bread to be used during the Orthodox Christmas celebrations at St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Mission Church on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.

Rev. James Mikhail blesses the bread to be used during the Orthodox Christmas celebrations Friday at St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Mission Church.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time

At St. Paul, about 150 congregation members will join Friday night services, when clergy members and children will participate in a ritual procession through the church to offer round breads made with yeast to the altar. The priest then chooses one bread to symbolize the “lamb of God” — or the removal of sin with the birth of Jesus — in the Christian tradition. 

Some Orthodox Christians also fast from meat and dairy for 40 days before they mark the birth of Jesus, echoing the time Moses waited to receive the word of God in the Old Testament, Mikhail said.

Though the liturgy typically goes until midnight, St. Paul, to accommodate families, will finish at 10:30 p.m., followed by a feast.

The menu at St. Paul’s will include beef kofta and chicken kebabs, labor-intensive stuffed grape leaves, and “any dessert you can think of — people will go crazy with cheesecakes and chocolate cakes,” Mikhail said. 

Rev. James Mikhail leads a prayer at St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Mission Church during the Orthodox Christmas celebrations on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.

Rev. James Mikhail leads a prayer at St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Mission Church during the Orthodox Christmas celebrations on Friday.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Elsewhere in the city, traditional holiday foods from Ethiopia, Ukraine, Russia and Greece will grace holiday tables. Grilled beef sausages, stuffed cabbage and Česnica — a buttery Christmas bread — offer residents a taste of the Balkans. Meanwhile, many Ethiopian households will have eaten vegan dishes, such as red lentils and Kik Alicha, a split pea stew, prior to ending their fast Saturday.

Though Chicago’s Coptic Orthodox churches are tight-knit and meet once a month, Christmas is a time for individual congregations to hold each other close, Mikhail said. 

For those with young kids or hectic work schedules, Orthodox Christmas can be a time to reconnect, drawing more congregants than other services.

“Every congregation has its own kind of demographic,” Mikhail said. “We have a lot of people that work on weekends and a lot of people that travel, a lot of young professionals…people will make it a point to take that time off.” 

Two of the four Coptic Orthodox Churches in the Chicago area — St. Mark’s in Burr Ridge and St. Mary’s in Palatine — will offer separate services in English and Arabic. A third, St. George’s in Monee, will switch between English and Arabic during the liturgy.

A Greek Orthodox priest celebrates Christian Orthodox Christmas Eve in Bethlehem.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, center, smiles at the Church of the Nativity, during Christian Orthodox Christmas Eve in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday. Some Orthodox churches in Chicago will wrap up celebrations over midnight, while others will host traditional meals and multilingual services.

Nasser Nasser/Associated Press

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