Volunteers clad in Santa Claus costumes throw their hats in the air as they gather to deliver gifts to the poor in downtown Seoul (Seoul National Capital Area) ROK.
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Christmas at St Adalbert of Prague Roman Catholic parish in Kaliningrad (Kaliningrad Oblast. Northwestern Federal District) RF.
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British travellers Liam Wadeson (left), Jemma Wild and Ashley Colotta, (right), frolic in the waves as they celebrate Christmas Day at Bondi Beach in Sydney (Sydney Region. New South Wales) AUSTRALIA.
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The choir at Shrine of Mary Help of Christian Church sings during Christmas Mass in Nairobi (Nairobi County. Nairobi Metro Area) KENYA.
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A Chinese man prays during Christmas Eve mass of at the South Cathedral official Catholic church in Beijing (Beijing Municipality) PRC.
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Members of a local parachute club wearing Santa Claus costumes fly past residential buildings dropping presents to pedestrians during a promotional event celebrating Christmas in Guiyang (Guizhou Province) PRC.
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A Pakistani Christian family gathers around a fire to warm themselves from the evening cold in an alley of a Christian neighbourhood decorated with festive lights for Christmas in Islamabad (Islamabad Capital Area) PAKISTAN.
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Men look at a Christmas tree, with pictures of the 43 missing trainee teachers, in the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training Raul Isidro Burgos College in Ayotzinapa, on the outskirts of Chilpancingo de los Bravo (Guerrero) MEXICO.
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On Christmas Eve, a Palestinian dressed as Santa Claus holds balloons at Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem (Bethlehem Governorate) PALESTINE.
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A man exits an illuminated Church on Christmas Eve in Ahmedabad (Ahmedabad District. Gujarat State) INDIA.
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Archbishop Paolo Pezzi (centre) during Midnight Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow (Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.
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Indian girls pose for photos near decorative statues of Santa Claus outside a church on Christmas in Mumbai (Mumbai City District. Maharashtra State) INDIA.
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A US Army soldier from the 3 Cavalry Regiment dressed as Santa Claus greets fellow soldiers eating Christmas lunch at Forward Operating Base Gamberi in Laghman Province of Afghanistan.
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Pope Francisco Bergoglio kissed the statue of baby Jesus as he arrived to lead Christmas Midnight Mass at St Peter Basilica in Vatican City. He prayed for peace in the Ukraine and decried the “brutal persecution” of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria in his traditional Christmas address, known as the Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world).
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Christmas is one of the main Christian holidays. It’s an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus, observed as a religious and cultural tradition among billions of people across the world. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world’s nations, and a great number of non-Christian people celebrate it. According to the Gregorian calendar, the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant churches celebrate Christmas on 25 December. Roman Emperor Theodosius II made the decision to celebrate Christmas on 25 December at the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431.
Advent precedes Christmas, which starts four weeks before Christmas. This period is supposed to prepare the faithful the birth of Jesus. The festive customs associated in various countries with Christmas mix pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins. Popular customs of the holiday include gift giving, completing an Advent calendar, Christmas music and carolling, a special meal, and the display of various Christmas decorations, such as Christmas trees, Christmas lights, and garlands.
Christmas is associated with Santa Claus, also known as also known as St Nicholas and Father Christmas, a cultural figure with legendary, folkloric, and historic origins. In many Western cultures, folklore has it that Santa Claus brings presents to the homes of good children the night before Christmas. According to early Roman Christian traditions, three special liturgies are served on Christmas… a midnight Mass, a Mass at dawn, and a Mass during the day. In the Roman Catholic Church, Christmas celebrations last for eight days, from 25 December to 1 January, a period known as the Octave.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) tracks Santa Claus when he leaves his official residence in the North Pole and flies around the world in his sleigh. NORAD has tracked Santa’s journey for more than 50 years. As gift-giving and many other Christmas customs involve heightened economic activity, the holiday became a key sales period for retailers and businesses all around the world. Groups and schools often perform Nativity plays and Christmas pageants during the holiday period. They depict the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. The tradition dates from the 10th-century Roman Empire.
25 December 2014
Sputnik International
Voices from Russia 
“Stop Blaming Everything on Russia”: Descendants of First Wave White Guard Émigrés Address Appeal to EU Leaders
Tags: Christian, Christianity, civil unrest, EU, European Union, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, political commentary, politics, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Russia, Russian, Russian history, Russian Orthodox Church, Ukraine, Ukrainian Civil War, war and conflict
Christ and Anti-Christ
Ilya Glaznov
1999
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Over 100 descendants of First Wave White Guard Russian nobility residing in the EU addressed European nations with a call to stop irrationally alienating Russia and give an unbiased appraisal to the current Ukrainian crisis. On Thursday, Rossiiskaya Gazeta published an open letter written by Prince Dmitri Shakhovskoy and his wife, Princess Tamara, signed by over 100 people representing the diaspora of the so-called first-wave emigration. Prince Shakhovskoy wrote, “The aggressive hostility that Russia faces now lacks any rationality and the double standard policy simply exceeds all limits. They accuse Russia of all sorts of crimes, they pronounce it guilty a priori and without any evidence, whilst they show other countries surprising leniency, in particular, when human rights are concerned. We can’t put up with daily slander targeting modern Russia, its leaders, and its president, who are slapped with sanctions and smeared with dirt, in contradiction to basic reason”.
The émigrés also said that the fact that European officials and media consistently silenced the facts about the cruel shelling of civilians in the eastern Ukraine conducted by the junta military with support of paramilitary groups brandishing Nazi symbols outraged them. Another disturbing fact was the full blockade of the Donbass region by the Kiev junta, which seeks to destroy a region that it still claims to be part of Ukrainian territory.
The letter stated that junta forces also allow numerous attacks on Russian Orthodox churches, condone acts of violence against it, even extending to murders of priests, destruction of church buildings, and staging repressions against Russian Orthodox believers. It said, “We can’t remain indifferent and silent in the face of planned elimination of the Donbass population, open Russophobia, and hypocritical approaches that contradict the interests of European nations themselves. We hope that the countries that in their time had shown hospitality to our families will again set on the path of reason and impartiality”. {This shows the inner patriotism, spotless honour, and upright character of the families of Tsarist White Guard officers and soldiers: editor}.
Earlier, the RF Federal Assembly suggested that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe launch an international panel to investigate crimes against humanity in Europe, such as the tragedy in Odessa or mass executions of civilians near Donetsk in Novorossiya. The proposal mirrors an address to international organisations, and national parliaments and governments, calling to investigate crimes against civilians in the warzone in Novorossiya, passed by the RF Gosduma in October this year.
25 December 2014
RT
http://rt.com/politics/217551-russia-emigrants-letter-history/
Editor:
Let’s keep it short and focused. This shows that Victor Potapov, Alexander Webster, Rod Dreher, Jonas Paffhausen, and John Whiteford are traitors who support the enemies of Christ’s Church. All of them should bow before all Russian Orthodox Christians and ask forgiveness for their support of the ravening Republican and godless “Evangelical” enemies of our holy motherland. I’d like to see that. Many other Russian Orthodox people would like to see that. However, if these amoral pigs refuse to do so… I think that you know what I’m saying.
It’s time for all of us in the Russian Orthodox diaspora to rise to defend Holy Rus… it’s our spiritual homeland… our cultural norm and standard. You may have godless Crapitalistic Sectarian Anglo America or you can have Communitarian Orthodox Holy Rus (but all people of all faiths (including secularism) of good will are welcome, make no mistake on that). Shall we have Christ or Anti-Christ? Read the Apocalypse of St John the Theologian… you’d see that the descriptions of the Anti-Christ’s faith are disturbingly close to “Evangelical” notions. Holy Rus must prevail… or a Dark Night, in many diverse ways, will fall down on us all.
Pray for the victory of Holy Orthodoxy and its allies over the godless Anglo American hegemonists (especially, their “Evangelical” attack dogs… that isn’t a religion… it’s an apologia for American Self-Centred Individualism… “Me n’ Jayzuss”, indeed!). We’re Christians… that’s our duty… that’s what we should do. God wills it…
BMD