On Thursday, January 18, Archbishop Nourhan Manojian, Patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, made his solemn entry into Bethlehem for the Christmas celebrations. Parishioners and pilgrims, together with numerous civil and religious authorities, welcomed him. After the reception, the Patriarch, accompanied by bishops and religious from the Armenian Church, visited the convent inside the complex of the Basilica of the Nativity. Although in Armenia and throughout the Orthodox world the Christmas festivities begin on January 6, in the Holy Land they start on the 18th: a solemnity that culminates with midnight mass.