Ukrainians celebrate Orthodox Christmas in reclaimed church


              People gather for the Christmas service in the Assumption Cathedral in Lavra, the Monastery of the Caves, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. Saturday service was conducted by Ukrainian patriarchate for the first time after Lavra had been under Russia's influence for hundreds of years and was subordinated to Russia. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
            
              A priest holds a candle during an Orthodox Christmas service inside the nearly 1,000-year-old Pechersk Lavra Cathedral of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. Hundreds of Ukrainians heard the Orthodox Christmas service in the Ukrainian language for the first time at Kyiv’s 1,000-year-old Lavra Cathedral on Orthodox Christmas Day, a demonstration of independence from the Russian orthodox church. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna)
            
              Metropolitan Epiphanius, center right, and priests deliver an Orthodox Christmas service inside the nearly 1,000-year-old Pechersk Lavra Cathedral of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. Hundreds of Ukrainians heard the Orthodox Christmas service in the Ukrainian language for the first time at Kyiv’s 1,000-year-old Lavra Cathedral on Orthodox Christmas Day, a demonstration of independence from the Russian orthodox church. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna)
Ukrainians celebrate Orthodox Christmas in reclaimed church