RUSSIA: Millions of people across Russia celebrated Orthodox Christmas yesterday, filling the many new churches which have sprung up across the country as religion finds its place in post-Soviet life.
Church bells rang in the holiday, celebrated 13 days after other Christian Churches celebrated the birth of Christ, according to the old calendar followed by the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, took time off from his skiing holiday in the Urals to attend midnight mass at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God, built two years ago in the small village of Agapovka in the Chelyaninsk region. The church, built in traditional Russian style with seven cupolas, can hold just 100 worshippers, leaving most of the village's 6,500 residents waiting outside in sub-zero temperatures to catch a glimpse of the president.
Religion, in particular Russian Orthodoxy, has taken an increasingly important place in public life with the presidency of Mr Putin, a professed believer, the latest step being a new education ministry plan to teach Orthodox culture in public schools.
Orthodox Christmas has been a public holiday since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.- (AFP)