“Sleep Lord Jesus, sleep,” Aleksei Dozenko sings, picking up the melody of a Christmas carol that had floated in the consciousness of Orthodox Russia long before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 drove the church underground.

The seven-and-a-half-year-old Dozenko is one of a new generation of children being brought up again in the time-honored traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

After 70 years in the wilderness, the rhythms and festivals of the Eastern Rite and Orthodox churches are reclaiming their place at the heart of the culture and life of Russia, Ukraine, and elsewhere.

When the Soviet Union collapsed after decades of state-sponsored atheism, the Russian church appeared moribund. Now the faith is reviving as young people return to the beliefs and traditions of their parents and grandparents.

I join Canada’s Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, the Hon Jason Kenney, in wishing a blessed and joyous Christmas to Eastern Rite and Orthodox Christians.