Tommaso Federici
taken from 30-day, year XVIII, November 2000, p. 63-68.
It was not an arbitrary choice to supplant the ancient pagan festivals. Recent findings corroborate the historical reliability of the date of Christmas. When the Church celebrates the birth of Jesus in the third decade of December, draws the continued memory of the first evangelical Christian community regarding the facts and the places that happened. Tommaso Federici, professor emeritus of biblical theology, takes stock of recent evidence and findings that confirm the historicity of the date of Christmas A preamble generally is hired and assumes without question the already old news that the celebration of Christmas in the first half of the fourth century was introduced by the Church of Rome for ideological reasons. It would have been paid to December 25 to counter a dangerous pagan celebration, Christmas invicti Solis (Mithra was, as is likely, or was a titration of a Roman emperor). This festival was set at the winter solstice (21-22 December), when the sun resumed its course toward its triumphant increasing shine. So in Christian circles, going up to nine months, it had set March 25 to celebrate the announcement to Mary of Nazareth Virgin and her Immaculate Conception of the Son and Savior. As a result, six months before the birth of the Lord had also put the memory of the birth of the prophet and his forerunner and John the baptist. On the other hand, the Christian West not celebrating the announcement of the birth of John the father, the priest Zaccaria. Instead, and very long time, is commemorated in the East Syrian on the first Sunday of the "Time of the Annunciation (Subari), which includes five other Sundays the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, the Visitation, the birth of John the Baptist, the 's announcement to Joseph, the genealogy of the Lord according to Matthew. The Byzantine East, from time immemorial and always, also celebrates the September 23 announcement to Zechariah. We have four dates in succession evangelical chasing intersect, namely i) the announcement to Zacharias and II) six months after the Annunciation to Mary, III), respectively nine three months after the first two dates, the birth of John the Baptist, and IV), respectively, six months after that date, and of course nine months after the Annunciation, the Birth of our Lord and Savior. The contact person for so-called "liturgical" of this would then Christmas, December 25th, on which, we assume, were placed the feast of the Annunciation nine months earlier, and the birth of John the Baptist first six months. Historians and liturgists different assumptions about this place more or less accepted. The problem is that over the centuries have II-IV had been made several dates, which took account of astronomical calculations, or theological ideas. A given "historical" external, that it was not biblical, patristic and liturgical, and that brings a confirmation to scholars, was not yet known. A reference: the announcement to Zacharias Luke has some of his care to situate the story. Thus, for example, cites "the decree of Caesar Augustus for the long census of Quirinius (about 7-6 BC), during which occurred the birth of the Lord (Lk 2, 1-2). Also refers fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar (about 27-28 AD), when John the Baptist began his preaching preparation of the Lord (Lk 3, 1). It notes: "And Jesus himself was starting [his ministry after Baptism, Luke 3, 21-22] almost 30 years" (Lk 3, 23), having done about 33 or 34 years. According to his evocative account of the Gospel, the same Angel of the Lord, Gabriel, six months before the Annunciation to Mary (Luke 1: 26-38), the conclusion of the solemn celebration of sacrificial shrine daily announced in the elderly priest Zechariah that his wife, barren and old, Elizabeth , would conceive a child, intended to prepare a people to Him who was to come (Luke 1: 5-25). Luke is concerned to situate this with a precision that refers to a given known by all. So that tells Zechariah belonged to the class [priestly, Ephemera] of Abijah "(Luke 1, 5), and while Gabriel is" exercised the priesthood in turn [taxis] of his order [ephemera] "(Lk 1, 8). Thus refers to a general fact without difficulty, and a specific and timely, which presents a problem. The first fact, we all know, was that in the sanctuary of Jerusalem, according to the narrative of the chronicler, David himself had ordered that the "sons of Aaron were distinct in 24 táxeis, Hebrew sebaot, the" shift "perennial (1 Cr 24 , 1-7.19). These "classes", in alternating order unchanging liturgical service had to pay for a week "from Saturday to Saturday," twice a year. The list of the priestly classes to the destruction of the temple (the year 70 AD) according to the text of the Septuagint was determined by drawing lots, like this: I) Iarib, II) Idei, III) Charim, IV) Seorim, V) Mecha , VI) Miamin, VII) Kos, VIII) Abia, IX) Joshua, X) Seneca, XI) Eliasib, XII) Iakim, XIII) Occhoffa, XIV) Isbaal, XV) Belgium, XVI) Emmer, XVII) Chez, XVIII) Afessi, XIX) Fetaia, XX) Ezekil, XXI) Jachin, XXII) Gamoul, XXIII) Dalaia, XXIV) Maasai (the list in 1 Chr 24, 7-18). The second fact is that Zechariah then belonged to the "round of Abia, the eighth. The problem that arises is that Luke wrote this when the weather is still active, and then everyone could learn about its functions, and notes "when" was operating in the "round of Abia." Also, do not say which of the two annual rotations Zechariah received the announcement of the Angel in the sanctuary. It seems that over the centuries no one has taken care to bring back the memory, or to do some research. The same common mother, the Church of Jerusalem, Judeo-Christian Aramaic language, which traditionally (at least for two centuries) was led by the blood relatives of Jesus, James and his successors do not seem to be cured of this particular, that contemporaries went without saying. The "round of Abia" by a certain date in 1953 the great French specialist Annie Jaubert, in "Le calendrier des Jubilees et de la secta de Qumran. Bibliques Ses origines, "in" Vetus Testamentum ", Suppl. 3 (1953) pp. 250-264, had studied the calendar of the Book of Jubilees, a Jewish apocryphal very important, which dates from the late sec. II BC Now many snippets of that calendar, found in the caves of Qumran, showed not only that it was taken up by the Essenes who lived there (about sec. BC-II century. I AD), but it was still in use. This calendar is solar, and gives names to the months, but called them with the number of succession. The researcher had also published several other important articles on this, see also his voice "calendar of Qumran," in "Encyclopedia of the Bible" 2 (1969) pp. 35 to 38. And in a famous monograph, "La date de la Cene, liturgies Calendrier Biblique et chrétienne," Bibliques Études, Paris 1957, had also reconstructed the sequence of events of Holy Week, identifying in a convincing way (unless someone's dissent) on Tuesday, Thursday and not the date of the Lord's Supper. For its part, also specializes Shemarjahu Talmon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, worked on the documents of Qumran and the calendar of Jubilees, and was able to clarify the order of 24 rounds take place weekly priests in the temple, then still in function. The results were delivered in "The Calendar Reckoning of the Sect from the Judean Desert. Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls," in "Hierosolymitana Scripta, vol. IV, Jerusalem 1958, pp. 162-199; it comes from a thorough and important, but it must be said, passed almost unnoticed by the general circuit, but not Annie Jaubert. Now, the list indicates that Professor Talmon reconstructs the "round of Abia (Ab-Jah), prescribed for twice a year, occurred as follows: I) the first time, from 8 to 14 of the third month of the calendar and II) the second time from 24 to 30 of the eighth month of the calendar. Now according to the solar calendar (not the moon, as is the current Jewish calendar), this second time around is the last week of September. As also noted Ammassari Antonio, "Origins of the Christmas calendar," in "Euntes Docete" 45 (1992) pp. 11-16, Luke, with details on the "turn of Abia", dates back to a precious Judeo-Christian Jerusalem, which the narrator of accurate history (Luke 1, 1-4) has tracked, and offers the possibility of reconstructing some historical dates. Thus the Byzantine rite in the September 23 commemoration of the annunciation to Zechariah, and preserves a historic date certain, and almost precisely (perhaps with a decal of one or two days). Historical dates of the New Testament's main historical dating life of the Lord shall cover the main event: the resurrection in the unanimous report of the four Gospels (and the rest of the Apostolic Tradition of the New Testament, see 1 Cor 15, 3-7) came to ' dawn of Sunday, April 9 in the year 30 AD, some astronomical data, so that his death occurred at about 15 pm on Friday, April 7 of that year 30. According to the data obtained recent survey as mentioned above, is a network of other impressive historical dates. The cycle of John the Baptist has established the historical date (approximately) of 24 September in our Gregorian calendar year 7-6 a. C. for the divine message given to his father Zechariah. In the present task, it would fall by 1 a. C., but we know that from the sixth century there was an error of about six or five years on the actual date of the birth of the Lord. The birth of John the Baptist nine months later (Luke 1: 57-66) (approximately) June 24, is a historic day. But then, the cycle of Christ the Lord, that Luke puts in the form of a diptych with the mirror image of the Baptist, the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary of Nazareth "in the sixth month" after conception of Elizabeth (Luke 1, 28) appears to be another historic day. And accordingly, and finally, is a historic date to the birth of the Lord on Dec. 25, or 15 months after the announcement to Zacharias, nine months after the Annunciation to the Mother inviolate, six months after the birth of John the Baptist. The holy circumcision eight days after birth, according to the law of Moses (Lev 12, 1-3), is an historic day. And so, forty days after birth, Feb. 2, the "presentation" of the Lord to the temple again according to the law of Moses (Lev 12, 4-8), which marks the hypapantê, the meeting with his people, is an historic day. "Problems liturgical" The date of Christmas was around a cluster of problems. First is the fact that some churches are overlapping and sometimes confused with December 25 January 6, the day that the accumulated memory of the events surrounding the birth of the Savior. Then, most importantly, no clear distinction between memory of a fact, which can last for generations, about the devotion to this fact, which can be expressed with a non-liturgical worship, and the establishment of a party "liturgical" with its date and with a proper officiating, including the Liturgy of the Hours and the holy mysteries of the divine. Here goes the light, as it usually is neglected, the incredible memory of the Christian communities as to evangelical events, and places that saw their occurrence. The Annunciation, for example, was entered in the formulation of some "baptismal symbol" oldest already in the second century. It was performed in the same period in Christian primitive, as in the Catacombs of Priscilla. In Nazareth itself, as has been demonstrated beautifully the archeology, the site of the Annunciation was preserved and revered by the local community without interruption, and was visited by an uninterrupted flow of pilgrims, devotees, who down the centuries also left graffiti written and moving, to this day. When you start the worship liturgy "of the Mother of God, sent in the fifth century, there was the big party to liturgical dell'Euaggelismós, the annunciation to Mary. This acquired such an extraordinary resonance of the Fathers in the West ranks among the "dawn of our redemption" (with Christmas, the Magi and the wedding at Cana), and in the East was considered so solemn and almost overwhelming, that her date in the Byzantine rite abolishes even on Sundays and on Holy Thursday, Good Friday just gives, and if it falls on Sunday the celebration of the Resurrection divided so that half of the Canon celebrates Easter and half of the Canon of the Annunciation. In Bethlehem, even before the construction of the Basilica of Constantine (the first three decades of the fourth century), the Christian community had kept the memory and the veneration of the continuous rise of the birth of the Lord. In Egypt, the Coptic Church preserved with uninterrupted devotion the memory of places where the holy family stayed in his flight (Mt 2, 13-18), where churches were built even officiated. We can speak here of the holy places of Palestine, especially those of Jerusalem of the Anastasis, the Resurrection (so reductively called "holy tomb) and Golgotha, the Upper Room, the" Mount of Galilee "which is to Ascension of Gethsemane, Bethany, the Sheep's Pool (John 5, 1-9), where a church was built, the place of the "Dormition of the Mother of God in Kidron, and so on. On all these places there is a precious documentation, impressive and uninterrupted throughout the centuries to us, the pilgrims who visit us always with serious sacrifices and dangers, and left written accounts and descriptions of which were the object of veneration, of devotion and customs of the inhabitants and visitors. The problem of interest here is the choice of dates for the celebrations "liturgical" themselves. As for the celebration "liturgical" in the sense discussed above, the Lord, his ever-Virgin Mother of John the Baptist, the choices are not arbitrary, from ideologies or ingenious calculations? Do not think so. On September 23 and 24 June for the announcement and the birth of John the Baptist, and March 25 and December 25 for the Annunciation of the Lord and for his birth, were not arbitrary, and ideologies do not come from the carry-over . The churches had memories preserved unbroken, and when they decided to make him famous "liturgical" did nothing but punish the immemorial usage of popular devotion. It should be borne in mind also just noticed that the churches shall notify each "date" of their celebrations, and so for example the "testimony of the martyrs," they called the "birthplace of the martyrs" to the glory of heaven. For special occasions, such as the feasts of the Lord, the apostles, the martyrs, the holy bishops of local Churches, and also those from the fifth century of the Mother of God, the Church adopted welcomes suggestions from sister churches. In practice, almost all the great feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God come from the East Palestine, and were accepted with great enthusiasm from the churches of the Empire, and before the great schisms of the fifth century, Christians of the immense labor. Christmas, as it seems, came from Rome, and was accepted, albeit reluctantly, by all the Churches. With this, you want to say that the churches had the possibility of checks and verifications, and it must be said that our forefathers were not gullible, but often rightly suspicious, so as to reject any attempt of illegal and illegitimate cult "not proven" . The Evangelist Luke in all this no small part, when appropriate and skilled with hints refers to dates and places and events and people.
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