Photos: Byzantine Orthodox Christmas

An Eastern Orthodox priest leads the mass at the Church of Nativity, a week ahead of Eastern Orthodox Christmas, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem December 31, 2006. REUTERS/Oleg Popov (WEST BANK)


Ukrainian girls wearing traditional costumes sing Kolyadky or Ukrainian Christmas Carols, as a part of Orthodox Christmas Eve celebrations in downtown Kiev, the Ukraine's capital, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, like some other Orthodox churches including the one in Russia, observes Christmas on Jan. 7 because it retained the Julian calendar for its liturgical schedule when countries switched to the Gregorian calendar. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)



Children sing carols during a Christmas Eve performance in Lviv, Ukraine January 6, 2007. Orthodox and Greek Catholic Ukrainians will celebrate Christmas on January 7. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich (UKRAINE)

A girl wearing the national clothes sings carols after a Christmas mass in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv January 7, 2007. Orthodox and Greek Catholic Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on Sunday. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich (UKRAINE)

Children wearing the national clothes sing carols after a Christmas mass in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv January 7, 2007. Orthodox and Greek Catholic Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on Sunday. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich (UKRAINE)

A child lights a candle during a Christmas mass at a church in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donensk January 7, 2007. Orthodox and Greek Catholic Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on Sunday. REUTERS/Valeriy Belokryl (UKRAINE)

A woman makes the sign of the cross during a Christmas service in the Christ the Saviour cathedral in Moscow early January 7, 2007. Most Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar on January 7, two weeks after most western Christian churches that abide by the Gregorian calendar. REUTERS/Alexander Natruskin (RUSSIA)

A Bosnian Serb man lights candles for the dead during a church service at the main Bosnian Orthodox church in Sarajevo, on Orthodox Christmas Day, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007. Bosnian Serbs, as Orthodox Christians, celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar. (AP Photo/Hidajet Delic)

A Palestinian man takes part in the morning mass a day after Orthodox Christmas at the Church of Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem January 8, 2007. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK)

An woman takes part in the morning mass a day after Orthodox Christmas at the Church of Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem January 8, 2007. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK)


Greek Bishop Theophiliktos leads the morning mass a day after Orthodox Christmas at the Church of Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem January 8, 2007. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK)


Heading the Orthodox Christmas Eve procession, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Holy Land Theofilos arrives at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday Jan. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Holy Land Theofilos, center, prays at the Grotto of the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birth place of Jesus Christ according to Christian tradition, during the Orthodox Christmas Eve procession in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Saturday Jan. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III leads a service on the eve of Orthodox Christmas in Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the Biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem. Greek Orthodox followers huddled under doorways around Manger Square in Bethlehem as bouts of heavy rain marked the start of Christmas Eve celebrations at Christ's birthplace. Photo:Musa al-Shaer/AFP



Mario Tarinas, a 27-year old Greek Orthodox man, holds up a wooden cross thrown into the water by Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, not pictured, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007. Three Greek Orthodox men dove into Istanbul's frigid Golden Horn waterway in celebration of Epiphany. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Mario Tarinas, a 27-year old Greek Orthodox man, right, is blessed by the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007, after he retrieved a wooden cross first from the Golden Horn waterway . Three Greek Orthodox faithful braved the cold winter weather to dive into Istanbul's Golden Horn and retrieve a wooden cross thrown by the patriarch in a ceremony commemorating Epiphany or the baptism of Jesus Christ. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I holds a wooden cross during a ceremony to mark the Epiphany in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007. Three Greek Orthodox faithful braved the cold winter weather to dive into Istanbul's Golden Horn and retrieve a wooden cross in a ceremony commemorating Epiphany or the baptism of Jesus Christ. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, threw the cross into the cold water and three worshippers jumped in to retrieve it. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)


Greek Orthodox nuns walk at the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birth place of Jesus Christ according to Christian tradition, prior to the Orthodox Christmas Eve Mass in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Saturday Jan. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)