30th December, 2014
By Jonathan Ekene Ifeanyi
Just a year ago, the General Overseer of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor W.F Kumuyi, warned his church members during their annual National December Convention which held on Saturday Dec 21st, 2013 against celebrating Christmas, because according to him it is “idolatrous and unscriptural.”
Kumuyi said: “We don’t celebrate Christmas. It actually came from idolatrous background. That is why you don’t hear us sing what they call Christmas carol, never! We always say it is the December retreat. We are only gathering together because it is the holiday period, we love the Lord more, and rededicate ourselves more.
“When you find anybody coming in, or any leader, trying to introduce the idolatry of mystery Babylon, that they call Christmas and you want to bring all the Christmas carol, saying that is the day that Jesus was born, and you don’t find that in the Acts of the Apostles or in the early church, then you don’t find that in the church either. If you don’t know that before, now you know.”
Monsignor Gabriel Osu’s response to Kumuyi was simply unfortunate! He said the following to journalists during an interview: “I don’t know what he means by saying the practice of celebrating Christmas is wrong. Is he saying that Christ wasn’t born? That he didn’t come to die for us? Does he not celebrate his own birthday? Do Kumuyi’s pastors not celebrate him? It is not everything I react to; some people just seek attention. If Kumuyi is a Christian, then he must believe in Christ.
“The celebration of Christmas didn’t just start today; it is too public an event for anyone to say that they don’t know what it is about. If Kumuyi is condemning the commercialisation of Christmas, I can understand that. Christ came to redeem us from our lost state; this was actualised through his coming, his birth; that is why we celebrate Christmas. It is the fulfilment of God’s promise.
“Kumuyi is just saying what he feels; he is not making any doctrinal statement.”
I hold that these statements were unfortunate because the Monsignor didn’t give the right answer. In fact, the impression he gives is that the man is actually a “pastor”! Of course that has been the general attitude of many church leaders since the Second Vatican Council, and it is this acknowledgement that gives the heretics the boldness to continue polluting the world with their heresies. The Catholic Church teaches that those who claim to be Christians while rejecting her doctrines can never be saved until they renounce their errors and return back to her. That is why people like Kumuyi are regarded by true Catholics as non-Christians, period.
First, Kumuyi said: “We are only gathering together because it is the holiday period.” The word “holiday” is actually derived from “holy” and “day.” It refers to the holy days when the Catholic Church celebrates her holy feasts—it was modern secularism that “liberated” the word from its original Catholic meaning! Now December period is seen as a holy day period only because Jesus Christ was born during this period! Does Kumuyi know this?
The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336 AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th of December. Those who ask the question, “where is it in the bible?” are not really Christians. If they were, they would have known that the Church existed for about four centuries before the bible was approved and declared to be a Holy Book. And who did this approval? It was the Catholic pope!
In effect, people like Kumuyi are saying that Christians who lived from the time of Christ till the third century when the bible was approved—including the Apostles themselves—were all practising idolatry because the Bible simply did not exist then, rather it was Catholic tradition, which is older than the Bible, that existed. By holding that Christmas is pagan simply because it cannot be found in the Bible, Kumuyi is saying in effect that all Christian practices must be written in the Bible. This is simply unchristian statement! In the Gospel according to St. John (John 21:25) we read, and I quote the original writing:
“στι δ κα λλα πολλ σα ποησεν Ιησος, τινα ν γρφηται καθ ν, οδ ατν ομαι τν κσμον χωρσαι τ γραφμενα βιβλα.”
Translated: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.”
Here St. John makes it clear that the story about the Son of God is simply beyond what can merely be written in “books,” not just “a book.”
Some heretics—more advanced than Kumuyi—hold that Christ could not have been born in December since Saint Luke describes shepherds herding in the neighbouring fields of Bethlehem. Shepherds do not herd during the winter. Thus, Christ was not born in winter, they argue. Bethlehem is situated at the latitude of 31.7. As the great Cornelius a Lapide remarks during his lifetime, one could still see shepherds and sheep in the fields of Italy during late December, and Italy is at higher latitude than Bethlehem.
Now we move on to establishing the birthday of Christ from Sacred Scripture in two steps. The first step is to use Scripture to determine the birthday of Saint John the Baptist. The next step is using Saint John the Baptist’s birthday as the key for finding Christ’s birthday. We can discover that Christ was born in late December by observing first the time of year in which Saint Luke describes Saint Zacharias in the temple. This provides us with the approximate conception date of Saint John the Baptist. From there we can follow the chronology that Saint Luke gives, and that lands us at the end of December.
Saint Luke reports that Zacharias served in the “course of Abias” (Luke 1:5) which Scripture records as the eighth course among the twenty-four priestly courses (Neh 12:17). Each shift of priests served one week in the temple for two times each year. The course of Abias served during the eighth week and the thirty-second week in the annual cycle. However, when did the cycle of courses begin?
Josef Heinrich Friedlieb has convincingly established that the first priestly course of Jojarib was on duty during the destruction of Jerusalem on the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av. (Leben J. Christi des Erlösers. Münster, 1887, p. 312). Thus the priestly course of Jojarib was on duty during the second week of Av. Consequently, the priestly course of Abias (the course of Saint Zacharias) was undoubtedly serving during the second week of the Jewish month of Tishri—the very week of the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of Tishri. In our calendar, the Day of Atonement would land anywhere from September 22 to October 8.
Zacharias and Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist immediately after Zacharias served his course. This entails that Saint John the Baptist would have been conceived somewhere around the end of September, placing John’s birth at the end of June, confirming the Catholic Church’s celebration of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on June 24.
The second-century Protoevangelium of Saint James also confirms a late September conception of the Baptist since the work depicts Saint Zacharias as High Priest and as entering the Holy of Holies—not merely the holy place with the altar of incense. This, says Dr Taylor Marshall, is a factual mistake because Zacharias was not the high priest, but one of the chief priests.
Still, the Protoevangelium regards Zacharias as a high priest and this associates him with the Day of Atonement, which lands on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (roughly the end of our September). Immediately after this entry into the temple and message of the Archangel Gabriel, Zacharias and Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist. Allowing for forty weeks of gestation, this places the birth of John the Baptist at the end of June—once again confirming the Catholic date for the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on June 24.
The rest of the dating is rather simple. We read that just after the Immaculate Virgin Mary conceived Christ, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. This means that John the Baptist was six months older than Our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 1:24-27, 36). If you add six months to June 24 you get December 24-25 as the birthday of Christ. Then, if you subtract nine months from December 25 you get that the Annunciation was March 25. All the dates match up perfectly. So then, if John the Baptist was conceived shortly after the Jewish Day of the Atonement, then the traditional Catholic dates are essentially correct. The birth of Christ would be about or on December 25.
Sacred Tradition also confirms December 25 as the birthday of the Son of God. The source of this ancient tradition is the Blessed Virgin Mary herself. Ask any mother about the birth of her children, she will not only give you the date of the birth, but she will be able to rattle off the time, the location, the weather, the weight of the baby, the length of the baby, and a number of other details. Now would the Blessed Virgin Mary ever forget the birth of her Son Jesus Christ who was conceived without human seed, proclaimed by angels, born in a miraculous way, and visited by Magi? She knew from the moment of His incarnation in her stainless womb that He was the Son of God and Messiah. Would she ever forget that day? Again, would the Apostles be interested in hearing Mary tell the story? Of course they would. Do you think the holy Apostle who wrote, “And the Word was made flesh,” was not interested in the minute details of His birth? Like “How old is he?” “When was he born?” Don’t you think people asked this question of Mary?
Christmas is celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God. The name ‘Christmas’ comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass is a reenactment of the Holy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, where Christians remember that Jesus died for us and then came back to life. ‘Christ-Mass’ was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at Midnight! So we get the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.
Christmas is now celebrated by people around the world, whether they are Christians or not, indicating that Jesus Christ is the King of the whole world, who will judge all mankind on the last day, whether they are Christians or not. Christmas is a time when family and friends come together and remember the good things they have. People, and especially children, also like Christmas as it is a time when you give and receive presents!
However, it is also that time of the year when the devils are fully vigilant—when many Christians encounter claims that pagan deities predating Jesus Christ were born on December 25. In popular films, Internet videos, and other media you can find long lists of gods who were supposedly born on the same day.
This idea is not limited to unbelievers and heretics. Many “Christians” claim that the date of Christmas was intended to provide an alternative to pagan celebrations. In some ways it has simply become a pious legend!
Of all the deities of whom people make this claim, only three can be found to come close: Saturn, Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun), and Mithras.
Saturnalia was the feast dedicated to the Roman god Saturn. Established around 220 B.C., this feast was originally celebrated on December 17. Eventually the feast was extended to last an entire week, ending on December 23. The supposed connection to Christmas is based on the proximity of the two festivals to each other.
This can be found repeatedly on the Internet. In his article ‘Saturnalia: The Reason We Celebrate Christmas in December’, (quoted by Jon Sorensen in his piece ‘Why December 25?’) columnist Mark Whittington explains:
“It has been suggested that Christians in the 4th Century assigned December 25th as Christ’s birthday (and hence Christmas) because pagans already observed this day as a holiday. In this way the problem of eliminating an already popular holiday would be sidestepped, thus making the Christianizing of the population easier.”
If the suggestion were correct, says Sorensen, one would expect to find at least a single reference by early Christians to support it. Instead we find scores of quotations from Church Fathers indicating a desire to distance themselves from pagan religions.
The feast of Sol Invictus was the attempt by the Roman emperor Aurelian to reform the cult of Sol, the Roman sun god, and reintroduce it to his people, inaugurating Sol’s temple and holding games for the first time in AD 274. Not only was this festival not annual, it also cannot be historically documented as having been established on December 25 by Aurelian (cf. Steven HijMans, Sol Invictus, The Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas, Mouseion, Series III, vol. 3, pp. 377-398 in ‘Why December 25?’)).
Sorensen continues: “According to inscriptions on candle votives and other ancient works of art, there is a link between Mithras and Sol Invictus. In some cases it appears the Mithraists believed that Mithras and Sol were two different manifestations of the same god. In others they appear to be two gods united as one. These connections are difficult to understand given our limited knowledge of the Mithraic belief system, but they are important because they help to explain why skeptics claim the birthday of Mithras was celebrated on December 25.”
A manuscript known as the Chronography of 354 shows the birth of Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25. Given the fact that the Mithraists equated their god with Sol in one way or another, it is understandable that they may have appropriated the date as their own. The problem for the skeptic is that no evidence exists to suggest that Aurelian was a Mithraist, or that he even had Mithraism in mind when he instituted the feast of Sol Invictus. The connection of Mithra to December 25 is only coincidental.
The deathblow to both the Mithras and Sol Invictus parallels, writes Sorensen, is that the Chronography of 354 is the earliest mention of any pagan god being celebrated on December 25. The celebration of the birth of Christ by Christians is also mentioned on the calendar as having been celebrated on that day, which diminishes the likelihood that the pagan feast came first. At the very least, it negates the claim that it can be proved from the historical record that any December 25 pagan festival predates the Christian tradition.
Although the date of Christ’s birth is not given to us in Scripture, we have already proved that nevertheless we can still use the Scripture to prove the birthday of Our Saviour. Moreover, there is documented evidence that December 25 was already of some significance to Christians prior to AD 354. One example can be found in the writings of Hyppolytus of Rome, who explains in his Commentary on the book of Daniel (c. AD 204) that the Lord’s birth was believed to have occurred on that day. He writes:
“For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, was December 25th, Wednesday, while Augustus was in his forty-second year, but from Adam, five thousand and five hundred years. He suffered in the thirty-third year, March 25th, Friday, the eighteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, while Rufus and Roubellion were Consuls.”
The Catholic Church, from at least the second century, has claimed that Christ was born on December 25. Note also in the quote above the special significance of March 25, which marks the death of Christ (March 25 was assumed to corresponded to the Hebrew month Nisan 14 – the traditional date of crucifixion). Christ, as the perfect man, was believed to have been conceived and died on the same day—March 25. In his Chronicon, Saint Hippolytus states that the earth was created on March 25, 5500 B.C. Thus, March 25 was identified by the Church Fathers as the Creation date of the universe, as the date of the Annunciation and Incarnation of Christ, and also as the date of the Death of Christ Our Saviour.
In the Syrian Church, March 25 or the Feast of the Annunciation was seen as one of the most important feasts of the entire year. It denoted the day that God took up his abode in the womb of the Virgin. In fact, if the Annunciation and Good Friday came into conflict on the calendar, the Annunciation trumped it—so important was the day in Syrian tradition. It goes without saying that the Syrian Church preserved some of the most ancient Christian traditions and had a sweet and profound devotion for Mary and the Incarnation of Christ.
Now then, March 25 was enshrined in the early Christian tradition, and from this date it is easy to discern the date of Christ’s birth. March 25 (Christ conceived by the Holy Ghost) plus nine months brings us to December 25 (the birth of Christ at Bethlehem).
Saint Augustine confirms this tradition of March 25 as the Messianic conception and December 25 as His birth in his book De Trinitate, (4, 5):
“For Christ is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.”
In about AD 400, Saint Augustine also noted how the schismatic Donatists celebrated December 25 as the birth of Christ, but that the schismatics refused to celebrate Epiphany on January 6, since they regarded Epiphany as a new feast without a basis in Apostolic Tradition. The Donatist schism originated in AD 311 which may indicate that the Latin Church was celebrating a December 25 Christmas (but not a January 6 Epiphany) before AD 311. Whichever is the case, the liturgical celebration of Christ’s birth was commemorated in Rome on December 25 long before Christianity became legalized and long before our earliest record of a pagan feast for the birthday of the Unconquered Sun. For these reasons, it is reasonable and right to hold that Christ was born on December 25 in 1 BC and that he died and rose again in March of AD 33.
•Ifeanyi, a writer and classicist, wrote from Victoria Island, Lagos.