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 CHRISTMAS

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CHRISTMAS

and was added to the greater manifestations cele- brated on 6 January; partly because at the baptism- manifestation many codices (e. g. Codex Bezae) wrongly give the Divine words as av el 6 wis /wv 6 i-7)t6s, iyu ai]ii.tfiov ~te-/ivviiKa ere (Thou art. my be-

the festival. But Julius died in 352, and by 385 Cyril had made no change; indeed, Jerome, writing about 411 (in Ezech., P. L., XXV, 18), reproves Palestine for keeping Christ's birthday (when He hid Himself) on the Manifestation feast. Cosmas Indicopleustes

loved S.>n. this day have I begotten thee) in lieu of suggests (P. G., LXXXYIII, 197) that even in the

eb56K7)<Ta (in thee I am well pleased), read in I. uke. iii. 22. Abraham Ecchelensis (Labbe, II, Iiil' i quotes the Constitutions of the Alexandrian Church for a dies Nativitatis et Epiphanke inXica;an times; Epiphanius (User., li.ed. Dindorf, 1860, II, 483) quotes an extraordinary semi-Gnostic ceremony at Alexandria in which, on the night of 5-6 January, a cross-stamped Kore was carried in procession round a crypt, to the chant, "To-day at this hour Kore gave

middle of the sixth century Jerusalem was peculiar in combining the two commemorations, arguing from Luke, iii, 23 that Christ's baptism day was the anniversary of His birthday. The commemoration, however, of David and James the Apostle on 25 December at Jerusalem accounts for the deferred feast. Usener, arguing from the "Laudatio S. Ste- phani"ofBasilof Seleucia (c. 430. — P. G., LXXXV, 469), thinks that Juvenal tried at least to introduce

birth to the Eternal"; John Cassian records in his this feast, but that Cyril's greater name attracted

"Collations" (X, 2 in P. L., XLIX, 820), written that event to his own period.

41S-427, that the Egyptian monasteries still observe In Antioch, on the feast of St. Philogonius, Chrys-

I he "ancient custom"; but on 29 Choiak (25 December) ostom preached an important sermon. The year

and 1 January, 433, Paul of Emesa preached before was almost certainly 386, though Clinton gives 387,

Cyril of Alexandria, and his sermons (see Mansi, IV, and Usener, by a long rearrangement of the saint's

293; appendix to Act. Cone. Eph.) show that the De- sermons, 388 (Religionsgeschichtl. Untersuch., pp.

cember celebration was then firmly established there, 227-240). But between February, 386, when Flavian

and calendars prove its permanence. The December ordained Chrysostom priest, and December is ample

feast therefore reached Egypt between 427 and 433. time for the preaching of all the sermons under dis-

In Cyprus, at the end of the fourth century, Epiph- eussion. (See Kellner, Heortologie, Freiburg, 1906,

inius asserts against the Alogi (Ha?r., li, 16, 24 in p. 97, n. 3.) In view of a reaction to certain Jewish

1'. G-, XLI, 919, 931) that Christ was born on 6 Janu- rites and feasts, Chrysostom tries to unite Antioch in

ary and baptized on 8 November. Ephraem Syrus celebrating Christ's birth on 25 December, part of the

(whose hymns belong to Epiphany, not to Christmas) community having already kept it on that day for at

proves that Mesopotamia still put the birth feast thir- teen days after the winter solstice, i. e. 6 January; Armenia likewise ignored, and still ignores, the December festival. (Cf. Euthvmius, "Pan. Dogm.", 23 in P. G.. (XXX, 117.5; Niceph., "Hist. Eccl.",

least ten years. In the West, he says, the feast was thus kept, 6.i>w$ei>; its introduction into Antioch he had always sought, conservatives always resisted. This time he was successful ; in a crowded church he defended the new custom. It was no novelty; from

XVIII, 53 in P. G.. CXI. VII, 440; Isaac, Catholicos Thrace to Cadiz this feast was observed — rightly, since

of Armenia in eleventh or twelfth century, "Adv. its miraculously rapid diffusion proved its genuineness.

Armenos", I,xii,5inP.G.,CXXII, 1193; Neale,"Holy Besides, Zachary, who, as high-priest, entered the

Eastern Church". Introd., p. 796.) In Cappadocia, Temple on the Day of Atonement, received therefore

Gregory of Nyssa's sermons on St. Basil (who died announcement of John's conception in September;

before 1 January, 379) and the two following, six months later Christ was conceived, i. e. in March,

preached on St. Stephen's feast (P. G.. XLVI, 788; and born accordingly in December. cf. 7(11. 721), prove that in 3S0 the 25th of December Finally, though never at Rome, on authority he

was already celebrated there, unless, following Use- knows that the census papers of the Holy Family are

ner's too ingenious arguments (Religionsgeschichtliche still there. [This appeal to Roman archives is as old

I'ntersuchungen, Bonn, 1889, 247-250), one were to as Justin Martyr (Apol., I, 34, 35) and Tertullian

place those sermons in 383. Also, Asterius of (Adv. Marc. IV. 7. 19). Julius, in the Cyrilline for-

Amaseia (fifth century) and Amphilochius of Iconium geries, is said to have calculated the date from Jose-

(contemporary of Basil and Gregory) show that in phus, on the same unwarranted assumptions about

their dioceses both the feasts of Epiphany and Xativ- Zachary as did Chrysostom.] Rome, therefore, has

it v were separate (P. G., XL, 337, XXXIX, 36). In observed 25 December long enough to allow of Chrys-

385, Silvia of Bordeaux (or Etheria, as it seems clear ostom speaking at least in 388 as above (P. G.,

she should be called) was profoundly impressed by XLVIII, 752, XLIX, 351). In 379 or 380 Gregory

the splendid Childhood feasts at Jerusalem. They Xazianzen made himself tt,apxo^ of the new feast,

had a definitely "Nativity" colouring; the bishop i. e. its initiator, in Constantinople, where, since the

proceeded nightly to Bethlehem, returning to Jerusa- death of Valens, orthodoxy was reviving. His three

[em for the day celebrations. The Presentation was Homilies (see Horn, xxxviii in P. G., XXXY1 i were

celebrated forty days after. But this calculation preached on successive days ( Usener, op. eit., p. 253)

starts from 6 January, and the feast lasted during the in the private chapel called Anastasia. ( to his exile.

(Peregr. Sylv., ed. Geyer, pp. in 381, the feast disappeared. 75 sqq.) Again (p. 101) she mentions as high fes-. According, however, to John of Xikiu, Honorius,

rivals Easter and Epiphany alone. In 385, therefore, when he was present on a visit, arranged with Arca- 25 December was not observed at Jerusalem. This ,-dius for the observation of the feast on the I.'"

checks the so-called correspondence between Cyril of man date. Kellner puts this visit in 395; Baum-

Jenisalem C'.In li.siii and Pope Julius I (337-352), stark (Oriens Chr., 1902, 441 146), between 398 and

quoted by John of Xikiu (c. 900) to convert Armenia 402. The latter relies on a letter of Jacob ol I

in i 1 '' December (see P. I... VIII, 964 sqq.). Cyril quoted by George of Beelt&n, asserting that Christmas

declares that his clergy cannot, on the single feast of was brought to Constantinople by Arcadius andChrys-

Birth and Baptism, make a double procession to ostom from Italy, where, ''according to the histo-

Bethlehem and Jordan. (This later practice is here as ries", it had been kept from Apostolic times. Chrys-

anachronism.) He asks Julius to assign the true ostom's episcopate fasted from 398 to 402; the feast

date of the nativity "from census documents brought would therefore have been introduced between these

by Tit ": Julius assigns 25 December, dates by Chrysostom bishop, as at Antioch by

Another document (Cotelier, Patr. Apost., 1, 316, ed. Chrysostom priest. But Lubeck (Hist. Jahrbuch.,

17241 makes Julius write thus to Juvenal of Jeru- XXVIII, 1. 1907, pp. 109-118) proves I'.aumstark's

salem (c. 425 158 . adding that Gregory Xazianzen evidence invalid. More important, but scarcely

at Constantinople was bring criticized for "halving" better accredited, is Frl.es' contention (Zcitschrift f.