Residents of Southern Russia celebrate Christmas with mass liturgies and festivities

On the Christmas Eve, tens of thousands of residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD) and the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) visited solemn worship services at Orthodox churches. In many cities of the south of Russia, the celebrations were continued with mass festivities, entertainments, concerts, and sporting events.

In Volgograd, the authorities organize a race in carnival costumes, which was attended by about 200 people, the "Volgogradskaya Pravda" reports with reference to the press service of the Mayor's Office.

At Christmas night, in the Volgograd Region, thousands of believers attended worship services at churches.

At night of January 7, Christmas worship services took place in 480 churches of the Krasnodar Territory, and they were attended by more than 300,000 people, reports the press service of the regional administration.

In Sochi, according to the police, about 3000 people visited the Temple of Archangel Michael, the main temple of the city.

The Rostov Region held 260 solemn ceremonies in honour of Christmas.

In Kalmykia, the main Christmas worship services were held by Justinian, Archbishop of Elista and Kalmykia, at the Kazan Cathedral of the city of Elista.

In the cities of Stavropol, Nevinnomyssk, and Kislovodsk, during the Christmas worship services, the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) arranged field kitchens to distribute tea and porridge to everyone.

In Chechnya, during the celebration of Christmas, security was provided by rescuers.

In North Ossetia, the police also have been transferred to the enhanced regime of service.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.