User:Icem4k/Work space2: Difference between revisions

==History==

[[File:Hortus Deliciarum, Die Geburt Christi.JPG|thumb|300px|''Nativity of Christ'' – medieval illustration from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)]]

The Chronography of 354 AD contains early evidence of the celebration on December 25 of a Christian liturgical feast of the birth of Jesus. This was in Rome, while in Eastern Christianity the birth of Jesus was already celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January 6.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=Wainwright+%22epiphany+is+older%22&btnG= |title=Geoffrey Wainwright, Karen Beth Westerfield Tucker (editors), ''The Oxford History of Christian Worship'' (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3), p. 65 |publisher=Google |accessdate=February 3, 2012}}</ref><ref name=Roy>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Traditional_Festivals_An_Multicultur.html?id=ANxZYgEACAAJ= |title=Christian Roy, ''Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural Encyclopedia'' (ABC-CLIO 2005 ISBN 978-1-57607-089-5) p. 146 |publisher=Google.com |accessdate=February 3, 2012}}</ref> The December 25 celebration was imported into the East later: in Antioch by John Chrysostom towards the end of the 4th century,<ref name=Roy/> probably in 388, and in Alexandria only in the following century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=Hastings+%22been+between+400+and+432%22&btnG= |title=James Hastings, John A. Selbie (editors), ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics'' (reproduction by Kessinger Publishing Company 2003 ISBN 978-0-7661-3676-2), Part 6, pp. 603–604 |publisher=Google |accessdate=February 3, 2012}}</ref> Even in the West, the January 6 celebration of the nativity of Jesus seems to have continued until after 380.<ref>Hastings and Selbie, p. 605</ref> In 245, Origen of Alexandria, writing about {{bibleverse||Leviticus|12:1–8|ESV}}, commented that Scripture mentions only sinners as ''celebrating'' their birthdays, namely Pharaoh, who then had his chief baker hanged ({{bibleverse||Genesis|40:20–22|ESV}}), and Herod, who then had John the Baptist beheaded ({{bibleverse||Mark|6:21–27|ESV}}), and mentions saints as ''cursing'' the day of their birth, namely Jeremiah ({{bibleverse||Jeremiah|20:14–15|ESV}}) and Job ({{bibleverse||Job|3:1–16|ESV}}).<ref name="Origin">Origen, "Levit., Hom. VIII"; ''Migne P.G.'', XII, 495.<br />partially quoted in "[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10709a.htm Natal Day]", ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1911.</ref> In 303, Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods, a passage cited as evidence that Arnobius was unaware of any nativity celebration.<ref>McCracken, George, ''Arnobius of Sicca, the Case Against the Pagans'', Volume 2, p. 83, . "Therefore if this is a fact, how can Jupiter be god if it is agreed that god is everlasting, while the other is represented by you to have a birthday, and frightened by the new experience, to have squalled like an infant."<br />G. Brunner, "Arnobius eine Zeuge gegen das Weihnachtsfest? " JLW 13 (1936) pp. 178–181.</ref> Since Christmas does not celebrate Christ's birth "as God" but "as man", this is not evidence against Christmas being a feast at this time.<ref name="CathChrit" /> The fact the Donatists of North Africa celebrated Christmas may indicate that the feast was established by the time that church was created in 311.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7n3IqxsT0RMC&pg=PA10&dq=Donatists+Christmas&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0W65VJ3xFpLO7Qa1soG4CA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Donatists%20Christmas&f=false Thomas Comerford Lawler (editor), ''Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany'' (of Saint Augustine). Paulist Press 1952 ISBN 978-0-80910137-5, p. 10]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.ie/books?id=6MXPEMbpjoAC&pg=PA169&dq=Donatists+Christmas&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0W65VJ3xFpLO7Qa1soG4CA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Donatists%20Christmas&f=false Susan K. Roll, ''Toward the Origin of Christmas'' (Peeters Publishers 1995 ISBN 978-90-3900531-6),  p. 169]</ref>

  |first=Bob

  |last=Minzesheimer

[[File:ChristAsSol.jpg|thumb|right|Mosaic of Jesus as ''Christo Sole'' (Christ the Sun) in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica in Rome.<ref>Kelly, Joseph F., ''The Origins of Christmas'', Liturgical Press, 2004, p. 67-69.</ref>]]