1 Actually Christmas in the same in the Orthodox Church...it's Easter that's messed up. Unless we're talking two different Orthodox Churches. Or living in parallel universes. Or something. Forgive me. I'm still in shock that we spawned a blogchild together and I don't remember that special moment. (Honestly, I've never blacked out like that before.)

2 The original post is correct. The western, or Roman, christian churches celebrate christmas on 25 december. The eastern, or Orthodox, christian churches celebrate christmas on 7 January. Easter is the same date for all christian churches. It may be that senator Kerry was with a group of orthodox christian Cambodians for christmas 1968 (january 1969). This is not likely as less than 1% of cambodians are western christians, and there are no orthodox churches in the country. However, it is possible. It is not likely they would celebrate loudly during a covert operation in a hostile country. A lucid and interesting discussion of the julian and gregorian calendars can be found at www.goarc.org/en/ourfaith/ Posted by: Bob

3 thanks for clearing that up! I've been having a screaming match with her via e-mail all day long!!

4 You've been having a screaming match with who?? Certainly not me. Now, the difference for us - regarding Christmas - is that my Orthodox church celebrates December 25. Easter? I gave up trying to explain it to people. I always offer to work Western Eastern and ask for Orthodox off and get it.

5 Screaming? I meant 'lovers quarrel'. You must go to one of those liberal Unitarian Orthodox churches....... Last time I checked, the OFFICIAL stance of Orthodoxy was that Christmas is in January. It may be that most Orthodox Christians celebrate on Dec. 25, but theologically Orthodoxy goes by the Julian Calendar. On this point I'm pretty positive. You can check this article if you don't believe me: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1105210.stm

6 I'm Orthodox and I will explain. Pascha (Greek for Passover) is what the Orthodox call the Feast of the Ressurection, known as Easter in the Occident. It varies from year to year because we date it using the Julian Calendar. All Orthodox jurisdictions do this! Every four years it is the same as the western Gregorian Easter, such as 2003 when all christians celebrated it on April 11, yet in 2004 the Orthodox will celebrate it on May first while the West will celebrate it March 27. The Orthodox Church is split on the calendar issue for non-Paschal feasts, such as Christmas. In 1920 Patriarch Meletios Metazaxis of Constantinople, whose rumored to have been a freemason, un-canonically changed to the Gregorian calendar and many jurisdictions followed suit after several years, including the jurisdiction I belong to. However the majority of Orthodox Christians who belong to jurisdictions such as Russia, the largest by far, Serbia, Jerusalem, Bulgaria, and others maintained using the Julian Calendar for all feasts. Some local parishes and diocese broke off from their jurisdiction when it accepted the Gregorian Calendar and are known as Old Caledarist. By the way, this is not a 'theological' issue, in fact such disputes are commong in church history. Personally I think my jurisdiction should return to celebrating Christmas according to the Julian calendar, but whether we do or not does not matter because no one knows when Our Lord Jesus Christ was really born! The reason why this is a big deal to Orthodox is Unity! Many like me believe that Patriarch Metazaxis was trying to unify the Orthodox with the West and that's why he changed the calendar. He instead should have been concerned about the Unity of the One True Orthodox Church. With regard to Cambodia I cannot help you, maybe it was an Orthodox mission? I don't know. If you're still confused go here: www.orthodoxinfo .com Asking your prayers Augustine

7 Greek Orthodox Christmas = Dec 25th Every other Orthodox chruch = Jan 7th Orthodox Easter is celebrated using the old calender and can't come before Jewish Passover so the Orthodox Easter is on the same day as the western Easter every few years, but usualy is after.

8 how do they celebrate christmas?