{"product_id":"2940013191426","title":"A righte Merrie Christmasse!!!","description":"The day on which Jesus Christ died is plainly distinguishable, but the\u003cbr\u003eday of His birth is open to very much question, and, literally, is\u003cbr\u003eonly conjectural; so that the 25th December must be taken purely as\u003cbr\u003ethe day on which His birth is celebrated, and not as His absolute\u003cbr\u003enatal day. In this matter we can only follow the traditions of the\u003cbr\u003eChurch, and tradition alone has little value.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the second and early third centuries of our æra, we only know that\u003cbr\u003ethe festivals, other than Sundays and days set apart for the\u003cbr\u003eremembrance of particular martyrs, were the Passover, Pentecost, and\u003cbr\u003ethe Epiphany, the baptism or manifestation of our Lord, when came \"a\u003cbr\u003evoice from Heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well\u003cbr\u003epleased.\" This seems always to have been fixed for the 6th of January,\u003cbr\u003eand with it was incorporated the commemoration of His birth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTitus Flavius Clemens, generally known as Clemens of Alexandria, lived\u003cbr\u003eexactly at this time, and was a contemporary of Origen. He speaks\u003cbr\u003eplainly on the subject, and shows the uncertainty, even at that early\u003cbr\u003eepoch of Christianity, of fixing the date:[1] \"There are those who,\u003cbr\u003ewith an over-busy curiosity, attempt to fix not only the year, but the\u003cbr\u003edate of our Saviour's birth, who, they say, was born in the\u003cbr\u003etwenty-eighth year of Augustus, on the 25th of the month Pachon,\"\u003cbr\u003e_i.e._ the 20th of May. And in another place he says: \"Some say that\u003cbr\u003eHe was born on the 24th or 25th of the month Pharmuthi,\" which would\u003cbr\u003ebe the 19th or 20th of April.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Footnote 1: _Stromat._, L. 1, pp. 407-408, ed. Oxon., 1715.]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, perhaps, the best source of information is from the _Mémoires\u003cbr\u003epour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique des six premiers Siècles_, by\u003cbr\u003eLouis Sebastian le Nain de Tillemont, written at the very commencement\u003cbr\u003eof the eighteenth century,[2] and I have no hesitation in appending a\u003cbr\u003eportion of his fourth note, which treats \"_Upon the day and year of\u003cbr\u003ethe birth of Jesus Christ_.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Footnote 2: Translated by T. Deacon in 1733-35, pp. 335-336.]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is thought that Jesus Christ was born in the night, because it was\u003cbr\u003enight when the angel declared His birth to the shepherds: in which S.\u003cbr\u003eAugustin says that He literally fulfilled David's words, _Ante\u003cbr\u003eluciferum genuite_.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The tradition of the Church, says this father, is that it was upon\u003cbr\u003ethe 25th of December. Casaubon acknowledges that we should not\u003cbr\u003eimmediately reject it upon the pretence that it is too cold a season\u003cbr\u003efor cattle to be at pasture, there being a great deal of difference\u003cbr\u003ebetween these countries and Judæa; and he assures us that, even in\u003cbr\u003eEngland, they leave the cows in the field all the year round.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"S. Chrysostom alleges several reasons to prove that Jesus Christ was\u003cbr\u003ereally born upon the 25th of December; but they are weak enough,\u003cbr\u003eexcept that which he assures of, that it has always been the belief of\u003cbr\u003ethe Western Churches. S. Epiphanius, who will have the day to have\u003cbr\u003ebeen the 6th of January, places it but at twelve days' distance. S.\u003cbr\u003eClement of Alexandria says that, in his time, some fixed the birth of\u003cbr\u003eJesus Christ upon the 19th or 20th April; others, on the 20th of May.\u003cbr\u003eHe speaks of it as not seeing anything certain in it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is cited from one John of Nice, that it was only under Pope Julius\u003cbr\u003ethat the Festival of the Nativity was fixed at Rome upon the 25th of\u003cbr\u003eDecember. Father Combesisius, who has published the epistle of this\u003cbr\u003eauthor, confesses that he is very modern: to which we may add that he\u003cbr\u003eis full of idle stories, and entirely ignorant of the history and\u003cbr\u003ediscipline of antiquity. So that it is better to rest upon the\u003cbr\u003etestimony of S. Chrysostom, who asserts that, for a long time before,\u003cbr\u003eand by very ancient tradition, it was celebrated upon the 25th of\u003cbr\u003eDecember in the West, that is, in all the countries which reach from\u003cbr\u003eThrace to Cadiz, and to the farthest parts of Spain. He names Rome\u003cbr\u003eparticularly; and thinks that it might be found there that this was\u003cbr\u003ethe true day of our Saviour's birth, by consulting the registers of\u003cbr\u003ethe description of Judæa made at that time, supposing them still to be\u003cbr\u003epreserved there. We find this festival placed upon the 25th of\u003cbr\u003eDecember in the ancient Roman Calendar, which was probably made in the\u003cbr\u003eyear 354....\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We find by S. Basil's homily upon the birth of our Lord that a\u003cbr\u003efestival in commemoration of it was observed in Cappadocia, provided\u003cbr\u003ethat this homily is all his; but I am not of opinion that it appears\u003cbr\u003efrom thence either that this was done in January rather than December\u003cbr\u003eor any other month in the year, or that this festival was joined with\u003cbr\u003ethat of the Baptism.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073551188208,"sku":"2940013191426","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013191426_p0.jpg?v=1763578081","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013191426","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}