Fourth Sunday of Advent

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
22nd December 2019

On the Antiquity of the Christmas Celebration

Dear Faithful, 

As Christmas approaches, it is well to remember that beautiful practices of our Faith like that of the celebration of the Nativity were instituted deep in antiquity. I think this is an important reality that has been lost in the Post-Conciliar Church and the modern world is the great link that we as Catholics have with the ancient world of our forefathers in the Faith. The Faith and its practices were not mere inventions but realities inspired by the Holy Ghost to lead us into the fullness of Christ.

The celebration of Mass at midnight on Christmas Eve goes back to the earliest of times. This celebration was instituted about 130 AD by Pope St. Telesphorus. We find the following passage in the Liber Pontificalis which was likely first compiled in the 5th or 6th century:

"(Telesphorus) appointed that at the season of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Masses should be celebrated during the night, for in general no one presumed to celebrate Mass before Tierce, the hour when Our Lord ascended the Cross. And that at the opening of the Sacrifice, the angelic hymn should be repeated, namely: 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' etc. but only upon the night of the Lord's Nativity."  Taken from Loomis: Liber Pontificalis (Book of the Popes), p. 12.

On 25 December, 380 AD, St. Gregory of Nazianzus delivered a sermon in Constantinople in which he referred to the day as "The Feast of God's Appearing, or of the Nativity: both names are used, both titles given to the one reality … . The name of the feast, then, is 'Theophany' because he has appeared, but 'Nativity' because he has been born".  Oration XXXVIII.3.

The Nativity first was celebrated in Alexandria on 25 December, 432 AD, when Paul, Bishop of Emesa, preached before Cyril on Mary as Mother of God (Theotokos). Eventually, the time between the Nativity and Epiphany became known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.

St. John Chrysostom in his homily In Diem Natalem ("On the Birthday") delivered on 20 December, 386 AD, remarks that it has been less than ten years since the festival had been introduced at Antioch. "A feast is approaching which is the most solemn and awe-inspiring of all feasts … . What is it? The Birth of Christ according to the flesh. In this feast the Epiphany, Holy Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost have their beginning and their purpose. For if Christ hadn't been born according to the flesh, he wouldn't have been Baptised, which is Epiphany. He wouldn't have been Crucified, which is Easter. He wouldn't have sent the Spirit, which is Pentecost. So from this event, as from some spring, different rivers flow - these feasts of ours are born."  John Chrysostom, Homily VI: On St. Philogonius (23-24).