In pictures: Orthodox Christmas

Members of some Christian Orthodox Churches around the world are celebrating Christmas, which according to the Julian calendar falls on Wednesday.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theofilos III, surrounded by clergy and pilgrims, took part in the Orthodox Christmas procession outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

This girl marked Christmas Eve by lighting a candle to remember relatives at the Main Orthodox Church in the western Bosnian town of Banja Luka.

While in Srebrenica, two men kept themselves warm with a drink as they prepared a traditional meal of roast pig.

In Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, girls in fancy dress costumes lit sparklers as they celebrated the eve of Orthodox Christmas.

Dried oak branches, an Orthodox Christmas symbol, were being offered for sale outside St Marko Church in Belgrade.

This boy watched as oak branches were ceremonially burnt in front of a church in Belgrade.

The midnight service in Moscow's Christ the Saviour cathedral was led by the Russian Orthodox Church's interim leader, Metropolitan Kirill.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attended the service in the ornate cathedral along with his wife, Svetlana.

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