Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/341

 S. Clemens Ale. on New Testament Chronology. 331 date 11 Tybi for the Baptism originated in this way, but, unless the relation is purely accidental which one can hardly suppose I think it probable that the Calendar-date 25 December for the Nativity, which is of comparatively late introduction*, was preached his Sermon in d. Natalem, 1. 11. 354, the celebration of the Nativity on the 25 Dec. was quite recent, having been introduced at Antioch not ten years before: oUttu} deKarbv eariu eros i ov 577X77 K<xl ypibpifxos rplv avrv t ijfxepa yeykvvrac. It came from the West, where, he argues, or rather as- sumes, it had been long known though there is not a trace of it in the Western Church before the middle of the fourth century. In the Church of Jerusalem, two centuries later, the Nativity was still celebrated on the 6th January, as we learn from a curious passage of Cosmas (a.d. 576) in his Topographia, where he says that "they of Jerusalem cele- brate the Nativity on the feast of Epi- phany (6 Jan.), rightly gathering from S. Luke, that our Lord was precisely 30 years old, dpxop-evos erGiv us rpiaKovra, on the very day of his Baptism : the Church, however, for the purpose of se- curing a due commemoration of both events, appointed the 25 Dec. for the celebration of the Nativity, interposing a period of twelve days in honour of the twelve Apostles." In Egypt, down to A. D. 430,, as also in Cyprus (Epiphan. hair. 51. 29) the Nativity and the Bap- tism continued to be celebrated on the 6 Jan. "Intra iEgypti regionem Epi- phaniorum diem vel dominici baptismi vel secundum carnem nativitatis esse definiunt, et idcirco utriusque sacra- menti solemnitatem non bifarie, ut in occiduis provinciis, sed sub una diei hujus festivitate concelebrant." Cassian. Collat. x. 2. And so perhaps in Gaul, as may appear on comparing Ammian. Marcell. xxi. 2, (of Julian in a.d. 360): "feriarum die quern celebrantes mense Januario Christiani Epiphania dictitant, Vol. I. November, 1854. progressus in eorum (Viennensium) ec- clesiam, sollemniter numine adorato dis- cessit, " with Zonaras, avrbs Se rrjs yeve- 6lov rod awrrjpos Tjjx'epas icpeffrrjKvias eiarjKBev els rbv vabv, ical tt pocKVprj a as tva 6/id5oos rols o-rparidorais Sokt}, &itt)- 6e. The day, 25 Dec, when introduced, was recommended by a mystical fitness, as being the day of the winter solstice, the turning-point of the year after which the days begin to lengthen : thus S. Greg. Nyss. t. II. 772. 7)p,epa...V rj /xetou- aOai rb a kotos dpxercu .. .ov avvTVX'-K'f) tls ytyove Kara rb avro/xarov 77 roiaiJTr) irepl T7)v eopTT]v olKovojxla. So S. Augustin. Enarr. in Psa. cxxxii. 11. "Ille (Jo- annes) natus est, sicut tradit Ecclesia, octavo kalendas Julias, cum jam inci- piunt minui dies : Dominus autem natus octavo kalendas Januarias, quando jam incipiunt crescere." But I do not believe that the day was chosen on that account, still less that it was derived from the Roman brumal feast the Natalis Invicti (sc. Solis) on the 24-5 Dec. (Wernsdorf, de orig. solemn, not. Chr. ex festivitate Natalis Invicti, and against him, Au- gusti Denkto. I. 223). The notion tha& Zacharias, father of John the Baptist was high-priest, and the day of his vi- sion the Day of Atonement, was pro- bably derived from the assumption that the day of the Nativity was 25 Decem- ber, in support of which we then find it urged, e.g. S. Chrysost. u. s. p. 362, and Cosmas u. s. Namely, it was as- sumed that the periods noted in Luke i. are: six or seven days, v. 23, 24; six months entire to the Annunciation, v. 26, 36 ; nine months to the Nativity : the sum, 1 5 months and about one week, to end at 25 Dec. B. c. 2 (which in the fourth century was often assigned as the year of the Nativity), would begin 23
 * In A.D. 386, when S. Chrysostom