What is celebrated on December 23: everything about this day

On December 23, Orthodox believers honor the memory of the martyrs in Crete: Theodulus, Sathornina, Europa, Gelasius, and St. Paul, Bishop of Neocesarea. Anatoliy, Anhelina Hanna, Hryhoriy, Yevhen, Yevdokiya, Kostyantyn and Yakiv celebrate their name days.

The world celebrates World Snowboard Day, and Ukraine celebrates the Day of Military Operational Control Officers of all levels. OBOZ.UA tells about the holidays and significant events of this day.

What holidays are celebrated on December 23

According to the New Julian calendar, December 23 commemorates the martyrs of Crete: Theodulus, Sathorninus, Europa, Gelasius, and other saints. The third century was a time of severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Little information has been preserved about the lives of the holy martyrs of Crete. According to church tradition, they were ordinary people who professed Christianity. When the persecution of Christians began, they openly confessed their faith and renounced the worship of pagan gods.

St. Paul, Bishop of Neocesarea, was one of the most revered saints of the early Christian Church. He lived in the III-IV centuries, during a period of heated religious disputes and brutal persecution of Christians. Despite all the difficulties, St. Paul remained true to his beliefs and became a shining example of courage and faith.

On December 23, Ukraine celebrates the Day of Military Operational Control Officers of all levels. The holiday is dedicated to military personnel who provide operational control and communications in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Their work is a strategic component, without which the effective functioning of the army is impossible. Operational control servicemen play a critical role in ensuring the country's defense capability. They are responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information, making decisions, and coordinating the actions of troops.

Also, countries around the world celebrate on December 23:

• Flag Day in Sweden;
• Birthday of the Emperor of Japan;
• National Baking Day and Peppercorn Day in the United States.

Notable historical events on December 23

• 1846 - Brothers George and Michael Boeing founded a bicycle company, which is now engaged in aircraft construction and air transportation.
• 1913 - The first flight of the Ilya Muromets airplane by I. Sikorsky took place.
• 1947 - American scientists Walter Brattain and William Shockley demonstrated their invention, the transistor, at Bell Laboratories.
• 1954 - The first successful kidney transplant in the world. Ronald Herrick donated a kidney to his twin brother Richard. The transplantation took place at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1968 - American astronauts Bormann, Lovell and Anders became the first people to orbit the Moon.
• 1972 - Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, is destroyed by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake. More than 10 thousand people were killed.
• 1972 - 73 days after the crash of Air Force Flight 571 in the Andes, 16 victims of the crash were rescued. Based on these events, in 1993, director Frank Marshall made the movie The Living.
• 1973 - Tu-124 crashes near Lviv, 17 people are killed.
• 1990 - In a national referendum, 88% of Slovenian citizens voted in favor of the country's independence from Yugoslavia.
• 1995 - In India, during New Year's celebrations, 540 people, including 170 children, died in a fire in Dabwala.
• 2015 - Russian hackers launch a cyberattack on Ukrainian energy companies.

Who was born on December 23

• 1790 - Jean-François Champollion, French historian, orientalist, linguist. Recognized founder of Egyptology, who managed to decipher hieroglyphics.
• 1878 - Stepan Tymoshenko, Ukrainian, American, and German scientist. Father of theoretical mechanics. The founder of the theory of strength of materials, the theory of elasticity and oscillations.
• 1925 - Pierre Beregovoy, French Prime Minister of Ukrainian descent.
• 1956 - David Michael "Dave" Murray, guitarist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
• 1964 - Eddie Vedder, American musician and co-founder of Pearl Jam.
• 1968 - Carla Bruni, Italian-French model, pop singer, wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy
• 1999 - Maksym Liakh, soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, participant of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).

Died on this day:

• 1789 - Charles-Michel Epe, one of the founders of sign language education.
• 1890 - Ivan K. Zaitsev, Ukrainian and Russian portrait painter, author of the memoirs "Memoirs of an Old Teacher" about Taras Shevchenko.
• 1907 - Pierre Jules César Janssen, French astronomer who was the first to discover the new chemical element helium in the Sun.
• 1934 - Georg Alice Müller, German philosopher, one of the first experimental psychologists. He was a professor in Göttingen and Chernivtsi.
• 1973 - Gerard Peter Kuiper, Dutch and American astronomer.
• 2007 - Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist.

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