The Origin of the Feast of the Nativity in the Patristic Perspective

Table Of Contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• About the author
• About the book
• This eBook can be cited
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• The State of Research: Existing Hypotheses and Theories
• When and Where Do Nativity and Epiphany Originate?
• Why Did There Appear New Holidays?
• Work’s Structure
• Part I: “Preparation” for Two New Feasts (Up to A.D. 325): Interpretations of the Earliest Patristic Testimonies
• The First Dating of Jesus’s Birth and Methods of Determining It
• The Spring Dates in Clement of Alexandria
• The Dating of Birth as Part of the Paschal Calculatio: Hippolytus and the Computist of A.D. 243
• The Main Earliest Keys to Calculate the Date of Jesus’s Birth
• Jesus’s Nativity on the Sixth Day
• The December 25 Dating Unknown Until A.D. 325
• The First Dating of Jesus’s Baptism and the Epiphany
• Basilidian and “the Other” Date: January 10 and January 6
• January 10 in the Gnostic Tradition
• January 6 in the Ecclesiastical Sources
• Background of the Epiphany Day of January 6
• The Year 325: Borderline Date for Setting the Nativity and Baptism Feasts
• The First Council of Nicaea and the Issue of Epiphany Beginnings
• Did Constantine the Great Introduce the New Feasts?
• Did the Old Nativity in Bethlehem Exist?
• Part II: The Origins of the Bethlehem Epiphaneia and Roman Natale
• The Bethlehem Epiphany on January 6
• Basilica above the Nativity Grotto and Foundation of the Feast
• The Epiphany as the Celebration of Jesus’s Birth
• Three Other Forms of the Epiphany in the East
• Roman Feast of the Nativity on December 25
• Oldest Testimonies from Rome
• First Nativity or Epiphany in the West: Debatable Issues
• Part III: The Patristic Explanations of the Origins of the Nativity and Epiphany
• Explanations Based on the Biblical and Liturgical Background
• The Date of John the Baptist’s Conception
• The Biblical Symbolism of Light and Sun
• References to the Christian Tradition
• Apostolic Origin of the Feasts
• Historical and Apocryphal Justifications
• References to the Pagan Cults in the Early Writings on the Nativity and Epiphany
• Weak Traces of Competition Against the December Solar Cult
• Exceptional Theories by Epiphanius of Salamis
• Criticism of Solar Cults Not Related to the Winter Solstice
• General Conclusions
• The Cut-off Date: 325
• The Period of Preparation for New Holidays
• When and Where Were Christmas and the Epiphany Established?
• The Development of Both Holidays
• The Beginnings of Christmas in the Eyes of the First Generation of Witnesses
• Bibliography
• Index of Names
• Series Index