Nette Erinnerung (englisch)
Gottfried Helms
http://sdhammika.blogspot.com/2009/12/early-christians-all-of-whom-were.html
Besinnliche Erinnerung an den Ursprung des Weihnachtsfestes...
Gottfried
P.s. kenne mich selbst leider zuwenig �ber diese
Historie aus - falls S.Dhammika an einigen Stellen
fehlgeht, bitte Korrektur
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Peace On Earth, Goodwill To All
The early Christians, all of whom were Jewish, in
keeping with Jewish custom did not celebrate any
birthdays, including that of Jesus, considering it to be
a pagan practice. Jesus instructed his followers to
celebrate his death (Luke 22:19) but not his birth.
Not until several hundred years after his life was
Jesus� birth celebrated. According to the new
Encyclopedia Britannica, some early Christians �wished
the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival
marking the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, �Birthday of the
Unconquered Sun��. This festival was celebrated with
gift giving and feasting as is done today.
Interestingly, several early Christian writers connected
the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus. One of
these, Cyprian, wrote �Oh, how wonderfully acted
Providence that on that day on which that Sun was
born...Christ should also be born�. St John Chrysostom
commented sourly, �They call it the �Birthday of the
Unconquered Sun�. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our
Lord�.
The Bible gives no hint of the date of Jesus� birth, but
in about AD 200,Clement of Alexandria wrote that a group
in Egypt celebrated the nativity on Pachon which is the
25th of May. The early church father Tertullian does not
mention Christmas as an important religious feast day
for the church in Roman north Africa. However, in
Chronographai, a reference work published in 221, Sextus
Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on
the spring equinox, for the first time popularizing the
idea that Jesus was born on December 25th.
De Pascha Computus, a calendar of Christian feasts
produced in 243, gives March 28 as the date of the
nativity.
In 245, the theologian Origen wrote that, �only sinners
(like Pharaoh and Herod)� celebrated their birthdays.
In 303, Arnobis ridiculed the idea of celebrating the
birthdays of gods, which suggests that Christmas was not
yet a feast at this time.
One of the earliest reference to the date of the
nativity as December 25 is in the Chronography compiled
in Rome in 354. In the East (Byzantium) early Christians
celebrated the birth of Jesus as part of Epiphany
(January 6), although this festival emphasized
celebration of the Jesus� baptism rather than his birth.
It wasn�t until the early Middle Ages that the 25th of
December became firmly established as the date of
Jesus� birth but even then it was still not a widely
celebrated feast. Most early Protestant reformers were
hostile to Christmas celebrations, condemning it
(correctly) as �pagan� and as �the trappings of popery�.
In 1647 the Puritan Christians in England actually
banned Christmas. They were particularly critical of
people meeting together to sing carols. The ban was not
lifted until 1660 although for decades after
celebrations were subdued and few people went to church.
Christians in the American colony of Boston outlawed the
celebration of Christmas in 1659 and although the ban
was lifted 22 years later.
It did not really become a popular celebration until the
mid 1800�s.
Nowadays Christmas, which is a lovely celebration, is
severally threatened, not by being banned but by
commercialism. The beautiful imagery of the young mother
and her husband, the child in the manger, the barnyard
animals gathered around, the three wise men and the star
have been almost completely taken over by Santa Claus
and plastic Christmas trees.
The cheerful �Happy Christmas� has been �politically
corrected� to �Happy Holiday� and the blessing �Peace on
earth, goodwill to all�, has been replaced by �I want
the new Nintendo game!�.
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