Christmas and Constantine

Did Constantine Invent Christmas?

The following information is only a small part of what is available dealing with proposed dates for the birth of Jesus, and Emperor Constantine’s role in determining that date. Efforts to determine the date of Jesus’ birth can be traced back two millennia, and the history is extremely complicated. For my purposes, this material demonstrates two things: (1) that efforts to determine and set a “festival” date for the birth of Jesus were going on long before Constantine became the emperor of Rome, and (2) that December 25 was already in the mix before Constantine was born.

My understanding is that, whatever role pagan and astronomical influences played in the determination of December 25 as the birthday of Jesus, that date was already in place in the western Roman empire (not in the East, however) before the reign of Constantine. He simply legalized (or made official) what was already being practiced. The reason the specific date of December 25 was chosen is explained below.

The last two weeks (more or less) of December was a festive time in the Roman calendar. The winter solstice, Saturn (the Roman god of agriculture), natalis solis invicti (the Roman “birth of the unconquered sun”) and the birthday of Mithras (the “god of light”), were celebrated during December. People from much of the Roman empire converged on Rome for the celebrations; many local citizens took off time from work. What better opportunity to introduce Jesus to the pagan hordes than at a time when so many people were celebrating, unencumbered by the drudgery of daily life ? The church’s idea was to convert some of these people to Christianity.

The following are selections from a number of websites.

Some church leaders… opposed the idea of a birth celebration. Origen (c.185-c.254) preached that it would be wrong to honor Christ in the same way Pharaoh and Herod were honored. Birthdays were for pagan gods.

Not all of Origen’s contemporaries agreed that Christ’s birthday shouldn’t be celebrated, and some began to speculate on the date (actual records were apparently long lost). Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) favored May 20 but noted that others had argued for April 18, April 19, and May 28. Hippolytus (c.170-c.236) championed January 2. November 17, November 20, and March 25 all had backers as well. A Latin treatise written around 243 pegged March 21, because that was believed to be the date on which God created the sun. Polycarp (c.69-c.155) had followed the same line of reasoning to conclude that Christ’s birth and baptism most likely occurred on Wednesday, because the sun was created on the fourth day.

The eventual choice of December 25, made perhaps as early as 273, reflects a convergence of Origen’s concern about pagan gods and the church’s identification of God’s son with the celestial sun. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti (the Roman “birth of the unconquered sun”), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian “Sun of Righteousness” whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival.

Western Christians first celebrated Christmas on December 25 in 336, after Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the empire’s favored religion. Eastern churches, however, held on to January 6 as the date for Christ’s birth and his baptism.

Most easterners eventually adopted December 25, celebrating Christ’s birth on the earlier date and his baptism on the latter, but the Armenian church celebrates his birth on January 6.

The idea that December 25 is Christ’s birthday was popularized by Sextus Julius Africanus in “Chronographiai” (AD 221), an early reference book for Christians. This identification did not at first inspire feasting or celebration. In 245, the theologian Origen denounced the idea of celebrating the birthday of Jesus “as if he were a king pharaoh.” Only sinners, not saints, celebrate their birthdays, Origen contended.

As Constantine ended persecution, Christians began to debate the nature of Christ. Some argued that he was the divine word made flesh (see John 1:14), others that he was born human and infused with the Holy Spirit at the time of his baptism (see Mark 1:9-11). A feast celebrating Christ’s birth gave the church an opportunity to promote the intermediate view that Christ was divine from the time of his incarnation. Mary, a minor figure for early Christians, gained prominence as the “theotokos,” or god-bearer. There were Christmas celebrations in Rome as early as 336. December 25 was added to the calendar as a feast day in 350. [ that is, it became official at that time ]

Early Celebration: Alexandria

The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt. About A.D. 200, Clement of Alexandria (Strom., I, xxi in P.G., VIII, 888) says that certain Egyptian theologians “over curiously” assign, not the year alone, but the day of Christ’s birth, placing it on 25 Pachon (20 May) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus. [Ideler (Chron., II, 397, n.) They did this believing that the ninth month, in which Christ was born, was the ninth of their own calendar.] Others reached the date of 24 or 25 Pharmuthi (19 or 20 April). With Clement’s evidence may be mentioned the “De paschæ computus”, written in 243 and falsely ascribed to Cyprian (P.L., IV, 963 sqq.), which places Christ’s birth on 28 March, because on that day the material sun was created. But Lupi has shown (Zaccaria, Dissertazioni ecc. del p. A.M. Lupi, Faenza, 1785, p. 219) that there is no month in the year to which respectable authorities have not assigned Christ’s birth. Clement, however, also tells us that the Basilidians celebrated the Epiphany, and with it, probably, the Nativity, on 15 or 11 Tybi (10 or 6 January).

The History of Christmas (www.Ask.com)

"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians thought it

an abomination to honor the pagan god (Saturn). The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.

But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan

customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbade this kind of

celebration, but it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would

be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the

birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of

Rome, Julius I, chose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

The Early Christians

To avoid persecution during the Roman pagan festival, early Christians decked their homes with Saturnalia holly. As Christian numbers increased and their customs prevailed, the celebrations took on a Christian observance. But the early church actually did not celebrate the birth of Christ in December until Telesphorus, who was the second Bishop of Rome from 125 to 136AD, declared that Church services should be held during this time to celebrate "The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour." However, since no-one was quite sure in which month Christ was born, Nativity was often held in September, which was during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets (modern-day Rosh Hashanah). In fact, for more than 300 years, people observed the birth of Jesus on various dates.

In the year 274AD, solstice fell on 25th December. Roman Emperor Aurelian proclaimed the date as "Natalis Solis Invicti," the festival of the birth of the invincible sun. In 320 AD, Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.

In 325AD, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, introduced Christmas as an immovable feast on 25 December. He also introduced Sunday as a holy day in a new 7-day week, and introduced movable feasts (Easter). In 354AD, Bishop Liberius of Rome officially ordered his members to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December.

However, even though Constantine officiated 25 December as the birthday of Christ, Christians, recognizing the date as a pagan festival, did not share in the emperor's good meaning.

As can be seen, the determination of the date assigned to the birth of Jesus has a long and varied history, and is intertwined with paganism. However, it is unlikely that Constantine single-handedly decided that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. Because he was emperor, his edict had the force of law, but he probably chose it from a number of possibilities, December 25 being one of the more widely accepted dates.