Since ancient times, Christians have used the Christian calendar (also called the liturgical year) to orient themselves to the two most significant seasons in the yearly Christian cycle of time: Christmas and Easter. Within such a calendar, every day has a vital and traditionally sacred place relative to the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ.
Because the Christian year is rooted in the liturgical observances of ancient Judaism, it should not surprise us that over time different strains of Christianity developed different variations on the Christian year. Typically, though, the Protestant church year runs as follows.
The Advent-Christmas-Epiphany Cycle
Advent -- Rather than on Jan. 1, the Christian new year begins on the Sunday that falls nearest Nov. 30, which this year is on Nov. 28. That Sunday through the next three Sundays --- in other words, the time encompassing the four Sundays before Christmas -- is known as the season of Advent (which is Latin for "coming"). During this time the church, liturgically, spiritually and practically, prepares for the glory of Christmas day.
Christmas -- While Christmas Day is celebrated on Dec. 25, the Christmas season lasts the 12 days from Dec. 25 to the Feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6. (This is where the "12 Days of Christmas" comes from.)
Epiphany -- Epiphany is Greek for "manifestation," "show," "revealed." During this season Christians focus on God manifesting as Jesus, on his sacrifice and the atonement. It is also a time when churches tend to focus on their missional work: If Jesus gave his all to save believers, then believers must give their all to save others. Epiphany runs from the close of Christmastide (a traditional word for the Christmas season) on Jan. 6 to the beginning of Lent (see below).
Ordinary Time -- This does not mean "boring time where nothing interesting happens." The term derives from the word "ordinal," as in "numbered." And, indeed, the Sundays that fall within Ordinary Time are often designated in such ways as The Third Sunday After Pentecost, or The Second Sunday Before Lent. Ordinary Time refers to any period of time that falls outside the major seasons of the liturgical year. Where within the times of Christmas and Easter we focus on specific aspects of Christ's life and meaning to us, during Ordinary Time we think about what Christ means to the entirety of our lives. It is, after all, during the "ordinary times" of our life that Christ can, and should, mean as much to us as he does at any other.
The Easter Cycle
Lent -- A 40-day period (based on the 40 days of temptation that Jesus faced in the wilderness) of fasting, prayer, self-examination and repentance, in anticipation of the day Christ sacrificed himself in atonement for the sins of all mankind.
Holy Week -- Sometimes called Passion Week, because of the awesome and terrible events that unfolded between the days of Palm Sunday (when Jesus triumphantly rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey) and Holy Saturday (when Jesus was buried after his passion and crucifixion on Good Friday).
Easter -- Yay! Easter is the most important, most ancient festival of the Christian church year. Every Sunday of the Easter season, which lasts 50 days overall, is a celebration of the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is, as they say, risen indeed.
Pentecost -- This day celebrates the occasion of the Holy Spirit first descending upon Christ's disciples. Pentecost is the last day of the Easter season, meaning it falls on the 50th day after Easter. Pentecost Sunday is a traditional day for baptism and the confirmation of new Christians.
Ordinary Time -- From the day of Pentecost to the First Sunday of Advent.
Within the Christian liturgical calendar are of course a great many significant days. Ash Wednesday (the first of the forty days of Lent), the Baptism of the Lord (usually celebrated on the first Sunday after the Epiphany), and Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost when we celebrate the Trinity) are but three such days.
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Advent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Christian Calendar
Gregorian calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seasons of the Christian Church Year
God's math and measures, and times are not mans math or measures no times, either. The end comes in God's time not mans time. And I WILL, means it will come by me, not by man. Even Christ said. It is NOT for you to know the time, only my father. Those who think they are to bring about armageddon are very foolish.
This was anathema to Christians. The only reason Christians chose Dec 25 to celebrate xmas was to usurp the pagan holiday of Saturnalia. Xians did not choose that date to celebrate vernal equinox.
I recommend reading Sir James Frazer's classic, "The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion"
It is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes. It was aimed at a broad literate audience raised on tales as told in such publications as Thomas Bulfinch's The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes (1855). It offered a modernist approach to discussing religion, treating it dispassionately[1] as a cultural phenomenon rather than from a theological perspective. The impact of The Golden Bough on contemporary European literature was substantial.
Cultures all over the world have chosen the solstices and equinoxes for celebrations. They have borrowed and adapted and tweaked from each other's traditions from centuries. That doesn't mean anything was stolen from anyone.
2) Where is my thanks for giving you free lessons on Christianity?
The religion of Christianity was first conceptualized, articulated and preached in dogmatic fashion by Paul - the erstwhile Saul. There were other factions of people who followed a closer practice to what Jesus taught and they were the Gnostics. Valentinus was their greatest theologian. Although the "official" Christian Church tried to kill them all, Gnostic Christianity survived to the present day.
In the 4th century Constantine convened the Nicea Council circa 325 ce and declared all those who did not conform to the Nicene Creed as heretics - a crime punishable by death.
The Christians then began a campaign of religious persecution- killing all suspected of paganism, Gnostic Christianity, etc. and burned all scriptures that was not voted on at the Council of Nicea. They purged countless gospels; some survived when Gnostics hid them away.
Christians basically stole pagan holidays - Xmas was originally Saturnalia. and Easter was Beltane.
In this sense, Christianity is an artificial religion with no connection to the real Christ; Paul himself was born long after Jesus died and the four Gospels were written by political activists who never met Jesus.
2) Jesus taught that he was the fulfillment of Mosaic law, not its destroyer. There is no evidence Jesus knew anything of Buddhism.
3) We have little evidence as to what "the Gnostics" taught -- there were many groups who could be called "gnostics," including, to some extent, the Jewish ascetic group called the Essenes. We only have scraps of information about various counter teachings to what Jesus' own apostles taught.
4) Going by the events and rulers of the time cited by Paul and other apostles in the writings of the New Testament -- Paul, then Saul, was born a Roman citizen of Jewish parents, about the same approximate time as Jesus of Nazareth. Saul went to school in Jerusalem under the famous scholar Gameliel, which was prior to the execution of Jesus ((Acts 22:3)) Approximately two years after the crucifixion, Saul was an enthusiastic witness at the stoning death of Stephen, the first official Christian martyr (Acts 7:58; 8:1). Another two years after that event when he had become a persecutor of Christians, he converted.
Timeline from one source: http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/paul/timeline.cfm
(continued)
He was attacked by religious leaders ( Pharisees ) for working on the Sabbath - by healing people . He told his followers to forget the Judaic law of an eye for an eye, and forgive your enemies...on and on he repudiated Mosaic law and adhered to an eastern mysticism so, although there is no evidence, it seems very likely he traveled to and studied in India. If you want to get technical, one can claim there is no conclusive evidence Jesus lived to begin with.
3) We know exactly what the Gnostics taught. Their greatest theologian which defined their Christianity was Valentinus. The early Gnostics saved many Gospels from burning by the Roman church and you can buy these Gospels at any Barnes and Noble book store. There are plenty of Gnostic Christians today...I suggest you pick up a copy of a journal called "Gnosis".
The Dead Sea Scrolls also reveal much about the Essenes.
4) When you quote the New Testament to make Biblical points you are begging the question. Fallacious logic.
Continued...
The Roman church then declared Gnostic Christians to be heretics, burned their gospels and sentenced them to death. Pagans were persecuted and and pagan holidays criminalized. What these Christians did was steal the pagan holidays and rename them. Yuletide was renamed Christmas and Beltane was renamed Easter.
This is why we have pagan rituals still connected with xmas such as the xmas tree, mistletoe, the yule log, etc. And the rabbit was a pagan symbol of fertility - Beltane was a celebration of spring and the time of earth's fertility.
Pagans observed the seasons, revered nature and celebrated the equinoxes and solstices ( Yuletide, Beltane, Samhain, Harvest ). Christians considered nature sinful, hunted down and killed anyone suspected of celebrating nature-based holidays.
In 316, he called for the Council of Nicea to settle the Arian dispute.
Christianity (particularly that Christianity espoused by the pope) was made the official state religion in 380. The emporer who issued the edict of Thessalonica was Theodosius I, not Constantine.
Apparently Christmas itself wasn't fully recognized as a Catholic feast until the late 4th century, but there is evidence that it was celebrated in the early 3rd century.
As for gnosticism, I think it's important to ask which gnosticism you're talking about. Clearly some forms of gnositicism continued (as they do to this day).
well Christianity stole special holidays from the pagans ..so I think it is more in line with the old pagan religions regarding some holidays . . particularly the Winter solstice . . than with Judaism . . . Easter is a moveable feast . .and does partake of both the old pagan religions and Judaism . . . but then the Jews only became monotheistic about the 6th century Bc . . . so I suspect some of their holidays have their roots in the old religious festivals in the Middle East . . .
Christmas is the Saturnalia . . and the solstice . . . and it was a time for gift giving . . . . Christ apparently wasn't born until the summer according to some sources . . but oh those early christians had to win converts . . . so they took on the ancient holy days to give themselves legitimacy . . .
Just because a group of Bishops under the undue influence of the Emperor Constantine chose these times for the celebration of events beyond the scale of time? In the end it does not matter.
If humanity needs these holidays to express the procession of the wheel of time, it does not matter.
(cf. chronological) and kairos (season).
When the liturgy begins, the deacon turns to the people and says: "now is the time (kairos) for the Lord to act."
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die ...
A time to weep, and a time to laugh...
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Just continuing though, I do think that we miss some of the idea of the sacredness of life through our highly commercialized culture. I'm not arguing for any type of fundamentalism or even any religion as such. I am just stating that we have in the Jungian idea of the "Collective Unconscious" a tradition of setting life time and space apart as a way to experience Xairos, sacred time. Great post, F/F.
Did you ever wonder if Jesus felt these hands as he was on the cross...and if he did, in some manner, in any manner...did he recognise them as supportive...or did he fear or wonder what the sensation was to him...Could it be sometimes..when we feel distracted or crowded...we are really only receiving support, through time and space of a thousand people who have come after us...and are thinking of us and sending their love back to us?
(I mean, I say this as a February baby -- that month would really be miserable if I didn't get a birthday party out of it!)