On the southern tip of Africa, a small piece of Moscow is etched inside a very special Russian Orthodox Church built in glorious gold on a hilltop near Johannesburg.
A home away from home for some 10,000 Russian-speakers living in South Africa, the church is the only one south of the equator in Africa.
"It's a common thing for people, if they are not in their motherland they need something to feel the close connection to their native country," said Father Ioann Lapidus.
"And one of the most important things is religion. The first wish is always for their own church."
The Russian Orthodox Parish of Saint Sergius of Radonezh held its first church service in March 2003 after being built for a "couple of million of dollars" to meet the needs of Russian-speakers in South Africa.
Architectual "masters" from Russia had to be flown in to oversee the construction of the brilliantly white building with its traditional five golden domes symbolising Jesus Christ and the four evangelists.
"This is a very unique church. It has unique architecture and it is the only one below the equator on the African continent," Lapidus told AFP on a tour of the church building visible from the main road to Midrand, some 35 kilometres (20 miles) north of Johannesburg.
"The shape of the building is traditional, classical for a Moscow style in the 17th or maybe 16th century. The project was done by an architect from St Petersburg in Russia.
"We had to invite masters from Russia and some groups of architects and masters in golden works to come here and make the golden shape of the domes. The domes are covered with gold, a special sort of gold in very thin layers."
The five domes symbolise the universe, and each has a cross on its top -- "as the symbol of salvation to the universe" -- with the largest cross bearing a bright golden medallion in the middle.
"According to ancient tradition, Christ is the sun which rises in the east and shines all over the world," Lapidus explained.
Inside the light and spacious church building, large icons of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and Saint Sergius, who the parish has been dedicated to, are painted on a dark wooden panel.
Here, at least a hundred Russian-speakers gather every week to practise their religion and celebrate religious holidays.
Believing in the so-called "Old Calender", their Christmas falls on January 7, two weeks after the widely celebrated Christmas of December 25.
So in South Africa, where Christmas celebrations have almost been forgotten again, a handful of worshippers this week attended a special midnight service at the Johannesburg Russian Orthodox Church to celebrate their Christmas.
The small group gathered inside the candle-lit church with soft choir music drifting through the latenight air. Women wore scarves to cover their heads while some men dressed in traditional black robes.
They paid special tribute to Saint Sergius of Radonezh whose icon has a small golden button etched inside with what is believed to be parts of holy relics he used.
"From Moscow, a small part of the holy relics of Saint Sergius was brought here and now all Orthodox Russian people can feel the relations from Moscow to here in South Africa," Lapidus said.
"This relation with the Mother Country is very important for everybody; to feel the relations despite the distance of 11,000 kilometres from Moscow, it is a very important thing."