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Whereas Epiphany had spread from the East to the West, the spread of Christmas went the opposite direction. When Did Christmas Begin, and How Did It Spread?
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Epiphany was established in the East and moved westward. The word epiphany means “manifestation” or “revelation.” Thus, the holiday celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the magi (see Simeon’s prophecy in Luke 2:32). (Epiphany means "manifestation," and it is a holiday celebrating "the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the magi" each year on January 6."** So it makes sense that a holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus would eventually find its way into the church calendar.Īt first, the holiday known as Epiphany fulfilled this need. In other words, without the birth, there would be no life, death, and resurrection. 307–407 A.D.), one of the great Christian preachers of Church history, remarked that "without the birth of Christ there were also no baptism, passion, resurrection, or ascension, and no outpouring of the Holy Ghost hence no feast of Epiphany, of Easter, or of Pentecost." They focused primarily on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the redemption He accomplished, which became the "centre of the weekly worship and the church year." However, a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ was inevitable. "The day and month of the birth of Christ are nowhere stated in the gospel history, and cannot be certainly determined."ĭating the birth of Jesus, and indeed the birth of Jesus itself, was not a focus of the Early Church. Challenge 2: Unknown Date of Jesus's Birth However, unlike those other holidays, there does not seem to have been an Old Testament feast day corresponding to the birth of the Messiah. Easter (celebrating Christ's resurrection from the dead) corresponds to Passover, and Pentecost (when God sent the Holy Spirit to Christians) corresponds to Shavuot. These holidays have corresponding feast days established by the Lord in the Old Testament. The holidays known as Easter and Pentecost make sense for a religion like Christianity, that sprung from biblical Judaism. So, where did Christmas come from? The Challenges-and Need-for a Holiday Celebrating Christ's Birth Challenge 1: No Corresponding Old Testament Festival
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No one can measure the joy and blessing which from year to year flow forth upon all ages of life from the contemplation of the holy child Jesus in his heavenly innocence and divine humility.Īlthough we take it for granted that Christmas comes around every December nowadays, it was not originally part of the church calendar. It denotes the advent of the true golden age, of the freedom and equality of all the redeemed before God and in God. It kindles in mid-winter a holy fire of love and gratitude, and preaches in the longest night the rising of the Sun of life and the glory of the Lord. It continues to be, in the entire Catholic world and in the greater part of Protestant Christendom, the grand jubilee of children, on which innumerable gifts celebrate the infinite love of God in the gift of his only-begotten Son. It is of all the festivals the one most thoroughly interwoven with the popular and family life, and stands at the head of the great feasts in the Western church year.
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It is occupied, therefore, with the event which forms the centre and turning-point of the history of the world. Is the celebration of the incarnation of the Son of God. In 1889, Church historian Philip Schaff* wrote that Christmas, Today, we are faced with two alternatives: the chaotic cacophony of “Xmas” and its rampant commercialism, and the solid, true, peace of real Christmas, which commemorates the coming of God in human flesh to save His people from their sins and transform the world. real peace, light and hope in a dark and hopeless world. Further, Christmas fulfills what the pagan holidays were longing for but could not provide, i.e. Christmas is a Christian holiday which in a sense has pagan origins, but which upon further investigation represents the Christian takeover and redemption of heathen celebrations, co-opting them and bringing them under the authority of Christ.