With flickering candles and ancient chants, millions of Orthodox Christians in Southern California and the world today celebrate Christmas.
"Peace from God! Christ is born!" is the exclamation heard in Serbian Orthodox churches. In Armenian parishes, water was blessed Wednesday and drunk by the faithful as a sign of the cleansing of their hearts and minds as they observed both the birth and baptism of Jesus. In Russian Orthodox parishes, where typically there are no pews, believers stood for three-hour traditional Christmas Eve services early this morning.
Although firm numbers are elusive, Orthodox churches in the region estimate that they have about 40,000 parishioners throughout Southern California. The number is considerably smaller than the size of the ethnic populations from which the churches draw--primarily Americans of Armenian, Russian, Greek and Eastern European origin--because in many communities, large numbers of people have stopped attending their ancestral churches as they have assimilated into American society.
Part of the reason for that assimilation is the difficulty of accommodating secular obligations and distinct religious traditions in a culturally diverse society. Christmas helps illustrate those problems, said Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America.
Unlike Dec. 25, the date observed by Western churches, Orthodox Christmas is not a legal holiday. Some Orthodox Christians must choose between attending church and showing up for work or going to school. "It's a working day," Hovsepian said. "You can never tell how many will show up for church [Christmas Day]."
At St. Steven's Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Alhambra, a ranking priest said he wrote more than the usual number of notes to public schools asking them to excuse absences of Orthodox children so that they could be at church and family celebrations.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said that as a matter of course it grants excused absences to students for religious observances, although pupils are usually expected to make up homework.
It's sometimes harder for working adults.
"Some people like contractors are doing bids on Thursday. When you're bidding a job, it's your bread and butter. It's hard to say, 'I can't bid because it's Orthodox Christmas,' " said the Very Rev. Nicholas Ceko, dean of St. Steven's.
