The Rev. Michael Kabel of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church and his congregation celebrated Christmas Eve on Friday. The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese welcomes the public to all of its services.

“It’s a beautiful experience, we involved all the senses. We have the icons for people to see, we have the incense to smell, the chanting of the hymns. At liturgy you taste the Holy Communion. We involve the whole person,” he said.

“We sing the ethnic Christmas carols. We have our own carols, they’re very beautiful,” he said. The service includes icons representing the birth of Christ. An icon screen is placed in front of the altar with doors that open and close on different figures during the service.

Kabel said it is a distinct liturgy, with chanting and singing, but no musical accompaniment.

“One of the major hymns that we sing is ‘God is with us.’ Christ has come, he’s taken on human flesh, he’s become one of us, and we celebrate that he did that so we can be saved.”

Following the service was a Kuba play, a morality play from Slovakia, where many of the parishioners’ families originally came from.

“It shows the conversion of the shepherds as they experience the birth of Christ,” Kabel said.

The Feast of the Nativity was Tuesday, with a pre-festive service Thursday. Festivities Saturday, Jan. 7, begin at 9:30 a.m. with singing of carols and a divine liturgy for the Feast of the Nativity at 10 a.m.

At 10 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, they will celebrate a Divine Liturgy for the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos — or the designation of Mary as mother of Jesus. At 9 a.m. Monday there will be a divine liturgy marking the Sunday after the Nativity and the Feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr.

On Dec. 19 the church celebrated its patron saint, Nicholas of Myra, the 4th century bishop who would eventually help inspire the figure of Santa Claus in popular culture.

Kabel said the celebrations include traditions originating from the church’s mission work in many different countries.

“They tried to baptize as much of the customs that they could, so each group of Orthodox from different countries have special traditions that they have for the holidays,” he said. “For us, we have been preparing for Christmas for 40 days. It’s like a Lenten fasting period, a time when we don’t eat meat or dairy products.”

He said the period is also marked by prayers, fasting and confession.

“So when Christmas is here, we’re ready to celebrate it in a worldly fashion, that’s part of the tradition,” he said.

Parishioners also have a Holy Supper before coming to the Nativity service for the Orthodox Christmas Eve, with 12 dishes in honor of the 12 Apostles.

There are other Orthodox churches in the area such as St. John the Divine in Wheeling and the Life-Giving Fountain in Martins Ferry, but neither celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7.

“Most of the services in this country have switched, and they use the Gregorian Calendar or the new calendar,” Kabel said. “Many of the Old Country churches and the Netherland churches where these people came from, they will still use this old calendar or the Julian Calendar. … Those who celebrate on Dec. 25 still do all of these wonderful ethnic customs, they just do it 13 days different from us.”

He noted the Julian Calendar was created in 45 B.C. and “loses time” over the centuries since it does not precisely match the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. The Gregorian Calendar was created in 1582 by order of the Roman Catholic Church.

“On the Julian Calendar, Jan. 7 is actually Dec. 25,” he said, adding it was up to different Orthodox groups whether to accept which calendar, since the faith does not have the same central authority as the Catholic Church.

He said different groups follow the same doctrinal creed, but each also has traditions tracing back to Greek, Russian, Serbian and other origins.

“They’re not a different faith, they’re not different sects,” Kabel said. “It represents how that faith developed in particular countries.”

Kabel said some churches have a designated choir to sing during services. The parishioners sing during the services at St. Nicholas.

“The carols that we sing, it’s not the usual American carols,” he said. “It’s the ethnic carols from Eastern Europe. … We sing them with a lot of gusto, and if people don’t come to church during any other time of the year, they usually come for Christmas and Easter as well. Christmas we can get filled up.

“If anybody wants to come and experience it, they’re welcome to come. We don’t have any COVID restrictions at this time. The only restrictions so to speak we might have is common sense. If someone’s not feeling well, they should probably stay home.”

The church is located at 70600 Barton Road in Barton.