Monday, 12 December 2011

Christmas: How It All Started, part 6

The 25th of December was announced as the official date for Christmas by Julius 1st who was pope from 337 to 352AD. It was a blatant attempt to replace various forms of winter pagan worship with something Christian-centred and was observed by the "Western" churches in Italy, France, Spain and Britain. However, the "Eastern" churches in Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt were being run from Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), not Rome, and chose their own date -the 6th of January- to be Christmas Day. By the beginning of the 5th century East and West had coordinated their practise, holding the 25th of December as the date of the birth of Christ and the 6th of January as the anniversary of the visit of the wise men, or Magi (also known as "Epiphany", the revealing of Jesus to the non-Jews). A difference arose again in the 18th century when the West adopted the Gregorian calendar, which led to an adjustment of 12 days, while the East retained the old calendar.

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

Friday, 2 December 2011

Christmas: How It All Started, part 5

So why the 25th of December?

Few, if any, early Christian celebrated the birthday of Jesus. There was no precedent for celebrating birthdays in Judaism or Christianity. None of the birth dates of any of the important figures in the Bible are known -not Adam, or Soloman, or Moses. Only two birthdays are mentioned in the Bible, those of Pharoah (Genesis 40:16-22) and King Herod (Matthew 14:6-10 and Mark 6:21-27) and celebrating birthdays was considered to have pagan overtones. Those who did commemorate his birth (not knowing when it actually was) chose to do so in spring as it is the time associated with new life. Though the evidence is very sketchy, for some reason tradition holds that Christ's birthday has been celebrated since 98AD and in 137AD the Pope (possibly Pope Hyginus) ordered that Christ's birthday should be celebrated as a solemn feast. Solemn, as in, reverent and respectful, not just an excuse for a party.

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK