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Day: January 10, 2024
Christmas in Georgia – December 25 or January 7
Every year as the Christmas holidays approach, the controversy over the date of Christmas is revived in themedia. When should it be celebrated in Georgia – December 25 or January 7?
Almost everyone – from ordinary users of social networks to politicians – is involved in the debate. This issue has long gone beyond the religious context and has acquired political content in the context of Georgia’s liberation from Russian influence and its accession to the Western world.
An ancient Georgian Christmas song begins with the following words: “On December twenty-fifth Christ was born in Bethlehem”.
In fact, the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7.
Where did the difference in dates come from?
Today 15 Orthodox churches are universally recognized in the world. Of these, 11 celebrate Christmas on December 25. Only four celebrate this holiday on January 7 — the churches of Russia, Serbia, Jerusalem and Georgia. This means that calling January 7 “Orthodox Christmas” is incorrect, since for most of the Orthodox world Christmas falls on January 25.
The difference in the dates for celebrating Christmas originated in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar of Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. Many European countries very quickly moved to the new style, while for some countries it took centuries. Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar only in 1918, after the establishment of the Soviet government. However, the Russian Orthodox Church followed and still follows the Julian calendar. Orthodox churches close to the Russian Orthodox Church and under its influence – the Serbian, Georgian, and Jerusalem churches – also use the Julian calendar.
Christmas was not considered a holiday in the Soviet Union. After its collapse, the countries that were part of the USSR decided for themselves when they would celebrate Christmas. For example, in Belarus, since 1991, i.e. since the day of independence, two Christmases have been celebrated — December 25 and January 7. Both are considered public holidays.
Initially, Moldova chose the Orthodox date — January 7. But in 2013, in parallel with its efforts to join the European Union, it also recognized December 25 as a Christmas holiday.
Christmas in Tbilisi. Photo: Georgian parliament website
Ukraine celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the first time this year
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church has been celebrating Christmas on January 7 for many years. However, as in Georgia, the issue of transition to the new Gregorian calendar was constantly raised there, because the recognition of December 25 as the date of Christmas was also associated with an approach to the Western world.
After Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, the discussion on this issue became more urgent. Finally the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church declared December 25 as the date of Christmas, calling the decision “difficult” but “well thought-out.”
In July 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law that officially decided to celebrate Christmas in the country on December 25. This day was declared a holiday in Ukraine, and January 7 lost its status as a holiday.
According to the joint position of the Ukrainian government and the church, the celebration of Christmas on January 7 is “perceived as connected to Russian church culture.”
“The adoption of the law will allow us to break away from Russian traditions and strengthen the national unity of Ukraine,” an explanatory note to the bill reads.
In 2023, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the first time.
In a video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed to the political side of the issue and a symbol of the country’s unity. “Today all Ukrainians are together. We all meet Christmas together. On one date, as one big family, as one nation, as one, united country. And today our joint prayer is stronger than ever. A people’s prayer. It will unite millions of voices today – more than ever before. And it will resound today, without the time difference of two weeks. And will sound together with Europe and the world.”
At the same time, there is another Orthodox Church (non-autocephalous) in Ukraine that is affiliated with and influenced by the Russian Church. This church still celebrates Christmas on January 7.
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What arguments do supporters of celebrating Christmas on December 25 in Georgia put forward?
On December 25, in the Georgian segment of social networks one can often find congratulations of the following content: “Congratulations on the real, not Russian Christmas”. Also on this day, many call on the Georgian Orthodox Church to declare December 25 as the date of Christmas in Georgia.
The main argument that supporters of this idea make is that only the “Russian world” celebrates Christmas on January 7. They demand that the Georgian Orthodox Church switch to a unified Orthodox calendar that is not subject to Russian influence.
Supporters of this idea believe that if Georgia declares December 25 as the date of Christmas, it would take an important step toward getting rid of the influence of the Russian Church.
Georgian writer Lasha Bugadze is among those who believe that moving the date of Christmas to December 25 will be a symbolic act of moving away from Russia and closer to the Europe. In his January 7 Facebook post, he called it a “Russian Christmas.”
“Where there is religion, it is obvious that the argument is absurd. You want to celebrate Christmas according to Julius Caesar’s calendar (January 7), and you want to celebrate Christmas according to Pope Gregory’s calendar (December 25)… But not absurd is the threat that implies a tie to Russia. “January 7″ today is a political date, not a religious date. If it were not political, neither the Ukrainian Church would have started celebrating Christmas on December 25, nor the greatest patriarch of Georgia, St. Ambrosius (Helaia), would have tried to restore the tradition of December 25!”
Those who believe that the church should remain in the Julian calendar system are guided by anti-church and anti-scientific myths and serve anti-Western propaganda, theologian Beka Mindiashvili believes.
According to him, the Georgian Church is governed by the old and astronomically inaccurate Julian calendar:
“In the fourth century, December 25 – the period of the winter equinox – was established as the date for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. There is a global ecclesiastical consensus on this issue (including that of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches). Christmas should coincide with a period of decreasing time of darkness and increasing day, of light, because, according to the Church, the true light that has entered the world is Christ. Modern “calendar schismatics” claim that our December 25th is not really December 25th, i.e. the equinox does not occur at that time, but the longest night in 14 days is January 7th.”
Beka Mindiashvili also reminds opponents of the idea that in the past the patriarchs of the Georgian Church have tried to support Georgia’s transition to the new calendar.
“In 1924, the Georgian Church under the leadership of Patriarch Amvrosy Khelaya switched to the new style, but due to the unpreparedness of the flock and the chaos created by the communists, it later returned to the old style.
Also [Patriarchs] Kyrion, Leonid, and after them Christopher and Callistratus, quite naturally and in accordance with church logic, were active supporters of the calendar reform,” Mindiashvili notes.
“The transition to the new style was ultimately impossible because of Soviet tyranny, incredible persecution of the Church, terror and repression, the Georgian Church was unable to carry out calendar reform and in fact remained on the old style. So now we celebrate Christmas together with the schismatic patriarchate of Russia and some of its satellites. That is why and in this sense Christmas on January 7 is called “Russian Christmas”. And there is nothing wrong with that, because the worldwide Orthodox Apostolic Church still celebrates Christmas on December 25 according to the ancient sacred tradition.”
In the archives there is indeed a historical document, the decision of the Holy Synod of 1927, which decided that it was necessary to correct the church calendar and celebrate Christmas according to the new style – December 25.
“This decision was signed by four patriarchs of Georgia: Christopher (Tsitskishvili), Kallistrat (Tsintsadze), Melchizedek (Pkhaladze) and Efrem (Sidamonidze). Two of them – Kallistrat (Tsintsadze) and Bishop Stefan (Vasil) Karbelashvili – have been canonized,” Deacon Ilia Chigladze, who shared this document on Facebook, said:
And this is the second decision in favor of the transition of the Georgian Church to the new style. The first was a decree of the 1923 Catholic Council, which was in effect until the spring of 1925, and was suspended due to church unrest.
“We are told that December 25 is Catholic Christmas. But that is a mistake. Why Catholic or Protestant Christmas, when the vast majority of Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on this very day? We must realize that celebrating Christmas on December 25 will not be an innovative decision or reform; on the contrary, it is a return to the original tradition that protects the sanctity of the church calendar,” Deacon Ilia Chigladze says.
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The position of the Church and the government
This year government officials also responded to the controversy on Facebook. “Supporters of January 7” attempted to portray the “supporters of December 25” as anti-national forces, and the celebration of Christmas on January 7 as a national, Georgian-Church tradition that “pseudo-liberals” are taking away from the Georgian people.
Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze published a post that read:
“I would like to remind the pseudo-liberals that the Christian world has been celebrating Christmas according to the Julian calendar since 325, when history had not yet conceived of Russia. At the end of the XVI century the Pope established a calendar different from the Julian calendar, and the Orthodox Church followed the Julian calendar even when the Russian Orthodox Church, unlike the Georgian Orthodox Church, had not even received autocephaly. That is, Orthodox Christmas is first Georgian and then Russian… I wish pseudo-liberals with all my heart and soul to abandon the search for Russia in everything Georgian, to discard pseudo-liberalism and follow the truth. I congratulate every Georgian Orthodox Christian once again and wish you a Merry Christmas.”
The issue is yet another political manipulation and the government’s opponents are trying to speculate to accuse Georgian Dream of moving in the direction of Russia, says Mikhail Sarjveladze, chairman of the parliamentary committee for the protection of human rights and civil integration:
“I have no feeling that any dogmatic issue, i.e. a church issue, can be a symbol of association with Russia. The goal is to find arguments to replicate a pre-announced, non-existent fact in order to accuse the government of moving in a certain direction, which they themselves declare, given their PR strategy.”
The position of the Church is unequivocal: “To refine or improve the calendar or to make any changes in it without proper justification or consent is very harmful to the unity of the Church. This question was decided at the First Ecumenical Council, and it remains only within the competence of the Ecumenical Council to change it… There is no such justification for the inevitable necessity of a new style, and therefore no universal agreement has been reached… Every Orthodox believer who considers himself a member of the Church must know by which calendar his Church lives. Therefore, as members of the Mother Church, we are obliged to celebrate Christmas and all other Christian holidays only according to the old style,” the official website of the Georgian Orthodox Church reads.
Overfishing in Abkhazia
In Abkhazia, during the peak of the winter fishing season, the government plans to nearly double the quota for catching khamsa, a small fish belonging to the anchovy family. Social media users are expressing concerns that the authorities, in their pursuit of profit, are openly compromising the environment.
Overfishing of khamsa could potentially lead to a disaster for all entire marine fauna.
Before the start of the season, the Abkhazian government approved a quota of 27 thousand tons for all fishing companies to catch the fish. I
Typically, this quota is set based on input from the ecological service. But by the end of December, the allocated volume had already been caught, prompting authorities to hastily raise the quota by an additional 25 thousand tons.
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“Our ecologists, along with those from the Azov-Black Sea Institute, recommend increasing the catch by another 25 thousand tons. The cabinet of ministers has not yet approved this decision. At the ministry of agriculture, we are preparing a document for government approval,” agriculture minister Beslan Jopua stated.
The export of raw fish is banned in Abkhazia, with all catches directed to local fish processing enterprises for the production of fish meal. Abkhazia hosts eight such enterprises, collectively designed to handle much larger fish volumes than the permitted 27 thousand tons.
Consequently, there is a prevailing opinion on social networks that the owners of these enterprises lobbied for the quota increase.
“There is no oversight from the ministry of agriculture… Overfishing khamsa poses a disaster for all fauna, disrupting the food chain. Predators like mackerel and lifer, among others, will be left without a food source, including dolphins,” explained one social media user.
In general, local residents have a lot of complaints about fish factories. All these factories are located on the seashore and they pour their production waste into the sea, as a result of which the seabed near the shore is covered with a greasy film.
“In winter, the water is usually clear, a little heavy with salt. But now it’s just a dead swamp!”, director Viola Kokoskir, who takes sea baths all year round, says.
She says that in early January she found an exhausted seabird on the shore, unable to take off because its wings were stuck together by the oily mass. The woman had to take the bird home and “resuscitate” it for several days before releasing it back.
Toponyms and terminology used by the author, as well as views, opinions and strategies expressed by them are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of JAMnews or any employees thereof. JAMnews reserves the right to delete comments it considers to be offensive, inflammatory, threatening or otherwise unacceptable
PORN AGAIN
THE woman whose X-rated relationship with Anthony Weiner secured his downfall has revealed in a new interview how she “capitalized” on the sexting scandal by doing porn.
Sydney Leather claims that people already thought she was a “w****” after her raunchy texts with convicted sex offender Weiner torpedoed his 2013 New York City Mayoral run.
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Sydney Leather claims she ‘capitalized’ with porn after the sex scandalCredit: Instagram/Sydney Leathers
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She had an X-rated relationship with Anthony WeinerCredit: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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He had previously been outed for sending explicit photos to women
Weiner was married to Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin at the time the sexts were revealed, coming only a year after a previous lewd photo led to his departure from Congress.
He messaged Indiana native Leather, then 22 years old, under the alias “Carlos Danger.”
Leathers, now 31, has since become a star in porn, performing on Pornhub and OnlyFans, while going to college and getting her degree.
“I felt like the societal stigma was already there in such a real way,” Leathers told The Business of Business in a new Q&A.
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Leathers became a fan on Pornhub and OnlyFansCredit: Instagram/Sydney Leathers
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She said she has also gone to college since the scandalCredit: Instagram/Sydney Leathers
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Leathers hit out at Weiner saying he would make an NFT from one of his picturesCredit: Instagram/Sydney Leathers
“And with it being my legal name, I just felt like it wasn’t much of a leap to then do porn. It was just like, ‘Oh, well, people already think I’m a whore.’”
Leathers added that she is “blessed” with a porn-star-sounding name and so it was a natural step.
She did hit out at Weiner, however, after he mentioned in a recent interview with the New York Times that he wants to “cash in” on the photo that first got him into trouble in 2011.
In May of that year, he had used his public Twitter profile to send a sexually explicit photograph of himself to a woman who was following him.
After initially denying he sent the link, Weiner later admitted to exchanging messages and photos of a sexual nature with about six women and resigned from Congress.
Weiner, who is a registered sex offender, had mentioned plans to sell the initial picture as an NFT, a nonfungible token that can be traded on blockchain technology.
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She said she now focuses on her workCredit: Instagram/Sydney Leathers
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Leathers said she could have become homeless after the scandalCredit: Instagram/Sydney Leathers
“I don’t know the rules behind like sex offenders selling [such an NFT], but it seems sketchy. … And it seems like his parole officer, or whoever he checks in with needs to be like, ‘Hey, not a good idea,’” Leathers claimed.
In the interview, Leathers also compared herself to Monica Lewinsky as she suggested that she did not have the same support available when she lost her job in 2013 when the scandal erupted.
“It was upsetting, like, I’m somebody who comes from a family who has nothing,” Leathers said.
“No shade to Monica Lewinsky, I think she’s great. But she comes from a different situation. She was never going to potentially be homeless because of what she went through.
“I literally could have been homeless. I didn’t have anybody to like, live with, and recuperate. I didn’t have anybody who could help me make rent. I had no one, I was on my own.”
Leathers has also said she’s come a long way since the scandal almost a decade ago.
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Weiner was wrapped up in several sexting scandalsCredit: Handout
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The scandal with Leathers destroyed Weiner’s mayoral campaignCredit: AP:Associated Press
“I’ve been in trauma therapy. I went to college, I got my degree,” she told the publication.
“For everybody who thought I was a ‘fame whore’ — I stayed in the Midwest. Like you know what I mean? I didn’t move to LA seeking fame. I’m a very like normal, boring person actually,” the Indiana resident added.
“Now I focus on my job. My job is really like my passion. And then my other passion is helping stray cats. I foster kittens, I get stray cats spayed and neutered in my community.”
Weiner is a registered sex offender after having served time for sending explicit photos to a 15-year-old girl in 2016.
The former congressman represented New York’s 9th district, having taken over from current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer when Schumer won his Senate race in 1999.
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Weiner was married to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin at the timeCredit: Reuters
Weiner was well-liked by the voting population, winning seven terms between January 1999 and June 2011, and never receiving less than 60 percent of the vote.
He was also well-connected, as his wife, Huma Abedin, served as one of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aides. Former President Bill Clinton even officiated their wedding.
The couple is currently estranged after Abedin filed for divorce but then withdrew the motion.
The ex-representative has a number of sexting scandals under his belt, resigning from office in 2011 after the racy photos he sent to a woman were publicized on Twitter.
He also texted with a 17-year-old girl from Delaware, which was investigated by cops.
When confronted about communicating with the girl, Weiner denied sending any inappropriate messages.
On May 29, 2017, the rep pleaded guilty to another unrelated sexting charge after sending a sexually explicit image to a minor.
He was sentenced to 21 months in jail, paid a $10,000 fine, and had to register as a sex offender.
Sex offender ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner denies his underage sexting scandal caused Hillary Clinton to lose 2016 election to Donald Trump
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Anthony Weiner sexting 2016 was a setup – GS https://t.co/rx8KKS7y6P pic.twitter.com/ls1em1N4uD— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 10, 2024
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7:50 AM 1/10/2024 – TWEETS in 100 Brief Posts: Did Netanyahu interfere in Election 2016? … James Kallstrom: The man… pic.twitter.com/gktjeD7BEn— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 10, 2024
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Anthony Weiner sexting 2016 was a setup – GS https://t.co/rx8KKS7y6P pic.twitter.com/ls1em1N4uD— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 10, 2024