Christmas mass conducted at Fener Greek Patriarchate in Istanbul

Fener-Greek Patriarch Bartholomew (R) officiates Christmas Mass held with the participation of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias (L), at the church in the Fener Greek Patriarchate’s garden, in Istanbul, Turkey on 25 December 2019. [Şebnem Coşkun – Anadolu Agency]

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias celebrated Christmas Mass on Wednesday at the Fener Greek Patriarchate in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, Anadolu reports.

The mass, officiated by Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, began at 9 a.m. local time (0600GMT) at the church in the patriarchate’s garden.

At the mass, the faithful lit candles and prayed. For Christians, Christmas marks the birth of Jesus Christ.

One of the cornerstone celebrations of Christian culture, Christmas is observed by most non-Orthodox Christians every Dec. 25, but next Jan. 7 for some, due to a difference in calendars.

The Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul serves as the leading authority for the majority of Orthodox churches in the world.

READ: Greece expels Libyan ambassador over agreements with Turkey

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.