Candles lit for Orthodox Christmas

Russian Tamara Smirnova places a candle during a Christmas service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow

MOSCOW, Russia -- Orthodox Christians in Europe are holding services to celebrate Christmas.

While the Greek Orthodox Church celebrated Christmas on Sunday, Orthodox Christians in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia held their celebrations on Monday according to the old Julian calendar.

In Russia, January 7 festivities have returned after declining under communism.

Midnight mass was celebrated by 3,000 people in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral, while President Vladimir Putin attended a late night service in the Uspensky Cathedral at Vladimir, 250 kilometres (150 miles) east of the capital.

In a Christmas message, the head of state highlighted the church's role in "strengthening, together with ... other traditional religions, the spiritual health of our compatriots, developing patriotism, and promoting civil peace and concord."

Services were held in most of Russia's 14,000 Orthodox churches and 569 monasteries, both on Sunday and Monday.

On January 14, the Orthodox Christian church will celebrate New Year.

The Orthodox church retained the Julian calendar when its Catholic and Protestant counterparts opted for the Gregorian in 1582.