Some 62,000 Orthodox Christians in Israel are celebrating a quiet Christmas this weekend as the war in Gaza rages.
While most Christians celebrate this holiday on December 25, Orthodox Christians follow the Julian calendar and this year mark this holiday on Sunday, January 7.
Armenian Christians celebrate this holiday on January 6. Armenians in Jerusalem will celebrate Christmas from January 18 to 19.
Israel is home to about 187,900 Christians, the Central Bureau of Statistics said last month, or 1.9% of the population. According to the Foreign Ministry, about a third of Israeli Christians are Orthodox.
Between 800 and 1,000 Christians live in Gaza, according to various reports. However, it is unclear how many of them are Orthodox. A report released this weekend by NPR said that “about 250 people have taken refuge in Gaza’s Greek Orthodox church and say they are too afraid to do anything but pray for peace.”
Christmas in Israel
“I’m going to say that I feel desperate to be happy,” Maryan Saba, 23, told NPR from St. Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza City, where she is sheltering.
Christmas and New Year celebrations in BethlehemJerusalem, Nazareth and other parts of Israel have been generally calm this year, as Christians in the region have shown solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Israel and Gaza.
Manger Square, home to the Church of the Nativity, where Jesus is believed to have been born in a cave below, was devoid of a Christmas tree and decorations. The midnight mass usually attracts tens of thousands of people. This year, only hundreds of people participated.
“Our hearts are broken because of the war,” said Jerusalem father Benny Dibitonto. The Jerusalem Post. “Our parishioners are at war. Our brothers and sisters in Gaza are suffering. We pray for them all – for both sides, of course.”
On Friday, January 5, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem shared photos of the reading of the “Royal Hours of Christmas” at the monastic and patriarchal church of Saints Constantine and Helena.
The service was presided over by Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilus III and included the participation of the Fathers of the Holy Sepulcher, the Church’s general secretariat said.
