Christmas in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok

Saturday, 12 January 2013, 13:07

At Christmas, on the 7th of January, for the Greek Catholics of Khabarovsk city (Russia) the Christmas Liturgy was celebrated. In the Far East it happens only once a year. The Mass was celebrated by the coordinator for Greek Catholics on the territory, which corresponds to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Joseph at Irkutsk city, by the parochial priest, Father Theodore Matsapula, IW. This was reported by the press service of the Ordinary for the Catholics of the Byzantine rite in the Russian Federation.

In addition, during the Holiday, there was one adult person baptized adult and one couple took the sacrament of marriage.

Moreover, on the 8^th of January, for the first time at Christmas, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in Vladivostok. It should be noted that this city is inhabited by the Greek Catholics, who were moved back then, in the years of repression, as well as a number of those, who in our time have come here in search of work.

After the liturgy, just as in Khabarovsk, so in Vladivostok, all the faithful had the possibility to glorify the Birth of Christ with the carols at the feast table, giving thanks to God, who does not leave them without the church care even in the Far East.

UGCC Department of Information