LITTLE NOTES ON CHRISTMAS (1)

We just passed in December and for all human beings just passed the Christmas celebration. Most Christians celebrate Christmas Day on December 25, while others celebrated on January 6/7, for anyone to celebrate on January 13 (Armenia). The question that arises, why is there a difference on the celebration of Christmas?

Must be recognized that the determination of when the date of the birth of Jesus is certainly very difficult to do if not impossible. This is because in the canonical Gospels are not mentioned for sure, even when the apostles were still alive, they also never set a date of birth of Jesus much less to celebrate. That's why can be understood about the rejection of Christmas celebrations conducted by several parties (for example: Jehovah's Witnesses).

There is no clear trace of the Christmas festival before the fourth century; partly because the feast of the Epiphany (In general, this feast was the feast of the appearance of Christ in the flesh, and particularly of the manifestation of Jesus' Messiahship by His baptism in the Jordan River, the festival at once of His birth and His baptism. This feast spread from the East towards the West but when the East adopted from the West the Christmas festival, Epiphany was restricted to the celebration of the baptism of Christ, and made one of the three great reasons for administration of baptism.) in a measure held the place of it; partly because of birth of Christ, the date of which at any rate was uncertain, was less prominent in the Christian mind than His death and resurrection. It was of the Western (Roman) origin, and found its way to the East after the middle of the fourth century for John Chrysostom, in a Homily which was probably preached December 25, 386 AD, speaks of the celebration of the separate day of the Nativity as having been recently introduced in Antioch.

In the Bible, noted that the Angel Gabriel to meet Mary at 6 month after Elizabeth began to contain John the Baptist (Luke 1:26). As mentioned earlier, the historical record of the birth of John the Baptist announced by the angel, we just got in 386 AD from the writings of Church Fathers, John Chrysostom. According to Chrysostom, John the Baptist's birth notification occurs on the Feast of Tabernacle Tabernacle (Yom Kippur), which took place on the 10th of the month Tishri, when the priest Zechariah of the group's Abijah served in the Temple, Jerusalem.

Jewish calendar on the count of certain years have months to 13, so the month after the month of Tishri six may fall in the month Adar Syeni or Nisan. Therefore, the turn of service in the Temple by the priests as defined in the Torah to be shifted each year. This is very difficult and can not be used as a benchmark. But if we look at the Syrian Church traditions originating from the Mar Ephraim the Syrian, stated that the notice of the Angel Gabriel to Mary falls in the month of Nisan.

Church tradition is consistent with the record of John Chrysostom which calculates according to the Syro-Macedonians chronicle, that Mary received good news from the angel Gabriel (Annunciation of Christ) took place on March 25 (Syro-Macedonians: Xanthikos). Based on these calculations and then we get the birth of Jesus is on the 29th of the month Khiahk (this is recorded in the Coptic Didascalia Apostolorum, Khiahk is the fourth month of the Egyptian calendar), which is parallel to the 25th of the month Tebet (Tebet is the ninth month on the calendar Jew), or on December 25 in AD

READING LIST

* Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1964)
* Mar Ignatius Zakka I 'Iwas, At-Taufat ar-Ruhiyyat fii Ash-Shalat al-Fardhiyyat (Allepo: Dar Ar-Raha lin Nasyr, 1990)
* Markus Aziz Khalil, The Coptic Orthodox Church (Montreal, Canada: The Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate)

BETHLEHEM STAR AND THE MAGI

ܘܐܡܪܝܢ ܐܝܟܘ ܡܠܟܐ ܕܝܗܘܕܝܐ ܕܐܬܝܠܕ ܚܙܝܢ ܓܝܪ ܟܘܟܒܗ ܒܡܕܢܚܐ ܘܐܬܝܢ ܠܡܣܓܕ ܠܗ
Wamerein aikuw malka d’yehuwdaya dateyalda chezin geir kawkabah bemedincha watain l’misgad leh
And they said: where is He the King of the Jews who has been born? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.
(Matthew 2:2, Peshitta)

In the Christmas story are the group described the Magi who came from the East to Jerusalem because it had seen a star as a sign of the birth of a Jewish king. Approximately star which can be equated with the Christmas Star or the Star of Bethlehem which guided the Magi had come to find Jesus? Are conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 BC as mentioned by Johannes Kepler, an astronomer at the 17th century AD? Or, Novae star appearance in the year 5 BC, recorded by a Church Father, Clement of Alexandria who lived in the early 2nd century AD? (note that this star was also called by a Chinese astronomer named Ma Tuan Lien, in an ancient Chinese encyclopaedia entitled: Wen Kao Thung Hien. Jack Finegan, quoting Montifiore book, Novum Testamentum, Vol. 4 / 1960, wrote that the two stars that was used as a reference by the Magi.
Let's see one by one these arguments. Apparently conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC was matched with the findings of stone slabs on the ancient tower Zippar, on the banks of the Euphrates river. Thus, where the plate was also well matched with the origin of the people of ancient Babylon. The sound of the inscription on the slab in the language of ancient Babylon: Mullu-Baba zippati U kaiwanu ina. It means: "Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces". Archeology evidence also found in a papyrus from the year 42 AD, which also noted the conjunction of these planets. The papyrus is now kept in Berlin.
This Zippar plate was first discovered by P. Scanable in 1925. According Scanable, in the Zippar city there has been a famous astrological school in the days of ancient Babylon. Interesting fact is when we track the astrological symbol of Babylon. In the Babylonian astrology, the stars are sometimes identified with the nations of their neighbors, but associated with other meanings. From the study of ancient manuscripts Babylonian religion, Pisces represents the end times, as the largest planet Jupiter, the royal planet in Babylonian astrology, symbolizing the Ruler or King. While Saturn symbolizes the Palestinian state. So, based on the way people think of ancient Babylon, astronomical phenomena that can be interpreted that a king had come at that time, his place in the Palestinian territories.
According to the tradition of the East Syrian Church (Assyrian) who is d Iraq, the Magi had mentioned "were apparently speaking Aramaic, had they could come only from the kingdom of Urhai or Edessa." And pull it again, in the Syriac Christian tradition, as related by Mar Mshihazkha in a book entitled: Sources Syriaques, mentioned that the first bishop of Adiabene area directly appointed by the Apostle Thadeus, namely Bishop Mar Pkidha, was a descendant of one of the Magi.
Back to Zippar plate, the plate is there a term in the language of Babylon Kaiwanu, his Aramaic term: Kawkabah. Perhaps the words of the Magi approaching dialect Peshitta text: kawkabah be Chezin Geir medinchah. "We have seen His star rising in the East." In the process of phonetic correspondence, it is common in allied languages studies. Kaiwanu, became Kawkabah, in Aramaic. And the term parallel with the term in Arabic: Kawakib, Kawkabat. It means the same, star or a star.

READING LIST

- Aziz A. Atiya, History of Eastern Christianity (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press)
- Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1964)
- Santala Risto, The Messiah in the New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings (Jerusalem: Koren Ahvah Meshihit, 1996)
- Samuel Hugh Moffett, A History of Christianity in Asia. Vol. I (New York: Orbis Book, 1998)