nativity

“My soul’s above the sea and whistling a dream,” he sang, a passage from the Nativity oratorio “El Niño” by John Adams, in which Tines makes his Met debut this month.

All Eastern Orthodox agree that Dec. 25 is the date of Christmas, or the Feast of the Nativity, as they call it.

Other Nativity scenes across Bethlehem are surrounded by barbed wire.

Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arriving from Jerusalem for the traditional procession to the Church of the Nativity, told the sparse crowd that Christmas was a “reason to hope” despite the war and violence.

Before he entered the Church of Nativity, he said this was "a very sad Christmas".