Today in South Ossetia Christmas is being celebrated, as well as throughout the Orthodox world. On the night of January 7 in Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Tskhinval, the night Christmas liturgy was chanted by the opposing Greek Old Calendar Church representative, the Bishop Ambrose Mefonsky.
Christmas is a great Christian festival, established in memory of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. In the Orthodox Church it is the specific to Christianity concept of a mystical community of church members ("the faithful"), in which is realized the unity of a man with God through joint participation in the " blessed ordinance" (first of all, in the Eucharist). Christmas is one of the Twelve Great Feasts. In view of the liturgical memory and celebration of the major secret (along with the Paschal) of saving the human race - God Incarnation and coming of Christ, -virgin-born - this is one of the most important days of the liturgical year and one of the most important holiday in the majority of the Christian denominations.
