Charlotte church with roots in Serbia marks Christmas in January

Members of Charlotte’s St. Simeon Serbian Orthodox Church celebrated the birth of Jesus on Wednesday night.

Like many other Orthodox Christians in Charlotte and around the world, they follow a different calendar than Catholics and Protestants, so Christmas comes later.

At St. Simeon, a church of about 100 families on Mallard Creek Road, the Holy Liturgy was led by the Rev. Theodore Kyritsis – a retired Greek Orthodox priest who is pastor at the church, founded about two decades ago.

In calculating their liturgical calendar, Orthodox Christian churches with roots in Slavic countries such as Russia and Serbia go by the Julian calendar, which was introduced by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and was in effect when Jesus was born 2,000 years ago.

Protestants and Catholics, who celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, follow the Gregorian calendar, named for Pope Gregory XIII, who refined the Julian calendar in 1582. Tim Funk

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Charlotte church with roots in Serbia marks Christmas in January."