Today, I thought I would set considerations of controversy and dispute aside and address a lighter subject more fitting to this marvelous time of year.
Now that December has begun, many are preparing to celebrate that Glorious Day on which the Son of God was born to bring the promised hope of salvation to fulfillment.
In the course of my years as an active Pastor, I was asked often whether December 25th is the actual date on which Christ was born of the Blessed Virgin in Bethlehem.
Since the exact date of Christ's Birth is not recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, many different dates have been suggested for the celebration of Christmas down through the centuries.
Even though most Christian Churches now celebrate Christmas on December 25th, there is no single explanation for the choice of this particular date which seems to have become universally accepted.
There are a number of theories about the origin of the date of Christmas, but these remain hotly debated by historians and theologians alike. The theories generally fall into the following categories.
Some scholars suggest that all Christian Churches originally celebrated Christmas on January 6th, associating the Birth of Jesus with His Baptism in the Jordan. These same scholars believe that, beginning in the 4th Century, the Western Church changed the date to December 25th to override the pagan celebration of the Roman feast day, the "Birth of the Unconquered Sun" (Natalis Sol Invictus), observed just days after the midwinter solstice when the hours of sunlight began to lengthen each day.
Since Christians in the West continued to observe pagan feasts, the Church sought to temper these idolatries and give them a Christian significance. And so, the Western Church thought it appropriate to choose December 25 to celebrate that moment when the darkness of sin was overcome by the Light of Christ's presence in the world.
Other scholars hold that Jesus was born during the Jewish Festival of Lights (Hannaka, the 25th of Kislev). Kislev is the month generally accepted as corresponding to our month of December.
There are other scholars who have proposed a theory which seems to be growing in acceptance over the past few decades.
These scholars believe that the date of Christmas actually is based upon the dating of the the death of Christ on Good Friday. The exact date of Jesus death is not stated in the Gospels. But wishing to commemorate this most sacred day, the Early Christian Church calculated that it occurred on March 25th.
It was an ancient and venerated custom to believe that the holy men and women of the Old Testament died at "an integral age", that is, on the anniversary of the date of their conception. Therefore, according to this view, since Good Friday was calculated to have occurred on March 25th, and since Jesus would certainly be thought to have died at "an integral age", the early Christian Church could only have imagined that he would have been conceived on March 25th and been born exactly 9 months later on December 25th.
Needless to say, these are theories. There may be those who disagree about the origin of the date of Christmas, but those who believe that Christ Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the World will always agree that the world has been forever changed by the Birth of the Divine Child on that first Christmas morn.
As the days of December bring us closer to Christmas Day, I pray that this Christmas and every Christmas will be a day of rebirth for all of us, God's beloved children.
Have a great Advent Season preparing for the celebration of the Birth of Jesus. God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment