Bethlehem is to become the site of an unusual summit January 7, 2000, the Orthodox Church's Christmas day.

The heads of all the world's Eastern Orthodox churches and presidents of predominantly Orthodox countries are expected to convene for millennium celebrations at the invitation of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Diodorus of Jerusalem. However, there is already speculation as to whether the Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, will be able to attend, given his frequent illnesses. His deputy chief of staff, Sergei Prikhodko, confirmed this month that President Yeltsin planned to be in Bethlehem January 6 and 7. The statement followed the Russian president's return from a week in hospital due to pneumonia.

Hieromonk Mark Golovkov, an official with the Moscow Patriarchate's representation in Jerusalem, told Ecumenical News International (ENI) in a telephone interview that as of this month, Presidents Costis Stephanopoulos of Greece, Glafcos Clerides of Cyprus, Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Emil Constantinecu of Romania, Petru Lucinschi of Moldova and Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia were expected to attend the Orthodox Christmas celebration in Bethlehem.

Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has also been invited but it is thought that it will be unlikely that he will attend because he risks arrest as an indicted war criminal.

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Large groups of pilgrims and government officials are expected to attend and people outside will be able to follow the service on giant television screens erected outside the church in the recently renovated Manger Square. Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow, who leads the world's biggest Orthodox Church, is expected to arrive in the Holy Land with more than 1,000 Russian pilgrims.

Although ...