Lithuanian President congratulates Orthodox Christians on Christmas Day

On January 7, 2025, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda congratulated the country’s Orthodox Christians and Old Believers on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. In Lithuania, the majority of Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas in the old style, in connection with which the press service of the country’s president published a corresponding congratulatory message. In the text, Nauseda drew attention to the fact that Orthodox and Catholic traditions coexist peacefully in Lithuania, which unites all Lithuanian citizens. LRT.LT reported that.

“I wish you a Merry Christmas and prosperity in the year 2025 from Christmas! May Christmas morning bring you the joy of fulfilled wishes, new hope and harmony in everyday life. We in Lithuania have a really happy opportunity to celebrate Christmas twice — both in the Catholic and Protestant rites and in the traditions of Eastern Christianity. We have twice as many Christmas miracles and twice as much grace. May this realization unite us into a strong, building and developing Lithuanian society filled with faith, hope and love,” — the President said.

As we reported earlier, on January 6, 2025, the official website of the President of the Republic of Poland published a Merry Christmas greeting that the head of state, Andrzej Duda, addressed to the Primate, clergy and faithful of the Polish Orthodox Church. Most of the POC celebrates Christmas according to the old style on January 7, and therefore the President of Poland congratulated the Orthodox Poles on the eve of Christmas.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who congratulated Ukrainians on the holiday on December 25 according to the Gregorian calendar, did not react to Christmas in the old style. Neither on January 6 nor 7 did the official media of the Office of the President of Ukraine react to the fact that a third of the country’s population celebrates this holiday according to the Julian calendar.