The Church before St. Constantine the Great did not celebrate the birth of Christ. As is still the case now, the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord were more significant in the church calendar than the day of His birth in the world. The fact that the incarnation of the Son of God was a historical event is one of the core beliefs of an Orthodox Christian. In the Creed (To symbolon tis pisteos) adopted at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicea in 325, a Christian says “I believe”, and among the points of faith is the fact that Christ “came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” The statement about His death and resurrection is more specific: “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate [emphasis mine], he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” The ancient Church celebrated the events of Christ coming into the world and His baptism in one single feast that included both the Nativity and Theophany. Similarly to St. Paul’s speech at the stadium in Athens (Acts 17:23–34), the Church used what she could to fill it with new meaning. We see this in the troparion of the feast, implicitly referencing the late Roman cult of the Invincible Sun (Sol Invictus), where Christ is referred to as “The Sun of Righteousness.” The ancient Church was not as homogeneous in practice and teaching as we are now. There were various explanations of the day when Christ was born. The most reasonable tradition of calculating of the year and date of Christ’s church seems to be the following: - We know that the Second Temple was destroyed in AD 70.
- Rewinding the sequences of priestly terms of service, we get to “Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah” (Luke 1:5).
- John the Forerunner was conceived after the miraculous announcement by an angel when Zechariah was serving in the Temple.
- The priestly division of Abijah served from September 16 to 23 in the year 747 from the foundation of Rome.
- Fast-forwarding six months ahead from the date of St. John the Baptist’s conception, and we have the date of Annunciation and supernatural conception of the Lord.
- Adding nine months to the date of the Annunciation (March 25/April 7), we have the date of Christ’s birth.
Despite the crucifixion of the Lord by Romans, there is a remarkable recognition of the Roman imperial authority in the service for the feast: “When Augustus became supreme ruler of the world, the many kingdoms among the people came to an end. Likewise, when You became Incarnate of the Immaculate One, the worship of many gods had to cease. The cities came under a universal power, and the Gentiles believed in one supreme Divinity. Nations were registered in the name of Caesar Augustus, and we, the faithful, were registered in your divine name, O Incarnate One. O Lord, great is your mercy; glory to You!” (Doxastikon for the Nativity at Lauds, translation credit: Metropolitan Cantor Institute) I believe the examples here show that while there was always an element of fleeing from the world in the Christian community, there was also always an intention to find the common denominators with the world we live in. Source: “Rozhdestvo Khristovo,” Azbuka Very [The A,B,C of the Faith]
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