FIXING CHRISTMAS? I wasnt aware that the Church fathers had calculated the Saviours date of birth by reference to the information relating to the conception of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5) and the priestly functions exercised by the latters father, Zechariah (as explained in Luke 1:8-9, which itself refers to rituals the initiation of which is described in the First Book of Chronicles). The references to the passages in Chronicles (and the translations offered for them) appear to me to be elatively fragile foundations for the argument put forward in the video, and the assertion that many biblical scholars both ancient and modern believe that Zechariah served in the Temple on the 2nd course of the year which fell on the Jewish feast of repentance called Yom Kippur - is lamentably vague. Nevertheless, the argument has force by reason of the huge symbolic relevance of Atonement as the central theme of the Baptists preaching (see Luke 1:77). Yom Kippur falls in the week of 22-30 September in the Roman calendar, and the Church has traditionally held that the date of the Baptists conception fell on 23 September. Luke says that Our Lady conceived in the sixth month of Elizabeths pregnancy (Luke 1:36), and, if calculated from 23 September, the beginning of the sixth month will be March 6. The Church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March - which is why the birth of Christ was celebrated 9 months later on 25 December. We know that until the destruction of the Temple, in AD 70, Christianity was symbiotic with evolving currents in Judaism, and looked for leadership not to Rome, but to the Church in Jerusalem (under the brother of Jesus, James). Enlightened rationalists will often tell you that Christmas was cynically fixed by reference to the Roman Saturnalia to compensate pagan Roman converts for the loss of a midwinter festival given over in its pagan form to gluttony, indulgence, riot and misrule, which sounds all too familiar - but the more enlightened, rational and probable explanation is to be found in the conscious piety of a movement deeply nourished by its roots in Jewish ritual, practice and spirituality.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 09:58:51 +0000
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