Feast of the Circumcision of Christ

Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
Circumcision of Christ, Menologion of Basil II, 979-984.

The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus in accordance with Jewish tradition, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days)[1] after his birth, the occasion on which the child was formally given his name.[2][3]

The circumcision of Jesus has traditionally been seen, as explained in the popular 14th century work the Golden Legend, as the first time the blood of Christ was shed, and thus the beginning of the process of the redemption of man, and a demonstration that Christ was fully human, and of his obedience to Biblical law.

The feast day appears on 1 January in the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church[4]. It also appears in the pre-1960 General Roman Calendar,[5] and is celebrated by some churches of the Anglican Communion and virtually all Lutheran churches.

Contents

Eastern Orthodox Church

The feast is celebrated with an All-Night Vigil, beginning the evening of December 31. The hymns of the feast are combined with those for Saint Basil the Great. After the Divine Liturgy the next morning, Russian Orthodox churches often celebrate a New Year Molieben (service of intercession) to pray for God's blessing for the beginning of the civil New Year (Orthodox commemorate the Indiction, or Ecclesiastical New Year, on September 1).

On the Julian calendar, 1 January will correspond, until 2100, to 14 January on the Gregorian Calendar.[6] Accordingly, in Russia, 14 January in the civil calendar is known as "The Old New Year", since it corresponds to 1 January in the Julian Calendar, still used by the Church.

Roman Catholic Church

Until the 15th century the Catholic Church celebrated the Circumcision and what is now the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus together. The emphasis on the latter in the preaching of Saint Bernardino of Siena appears to be the origin of the de-coupling. Until 1960, the General Roman Calendar gave 1 January as the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and the Octave of the Nativity. In the 1960 rubrical and calendrical revision under Pope John XXIII, incorporated into his 1962 Roman Missal (whose continued use is authorized by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum), 1 January is called simply the Octave of the Nativity. Since 1969, the General Roman Calendar celebrates 1 January as the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, referring to it also as the Octave of the Nativity. Pope Paul VI designated the day as a World Day of Peace in 1974.[7]

Anglican communion

The Anglican communion's Book of Common Prayer liturgy celebrates this day as the Circumcision of Christ. Since 1979, the Common Worship liturgy lists the feast as the "Feast of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ".[8]

Lutheran Church

Since it was a feast of Christ and related directly to Scriptural passages (notably Luke 2:21), the Feast of Circumcision was retained by churches of the Lutheran Reformation. It remains on most Lutheran liturgical calendars to this day, although there has been a general move to call it "The Name of Jesus."[9] Martin Luther preached at least one notable sermon on this feast day which is still available in his Church Postils, and up until the late 1970s, Lutheran hymnbooks would contain several hymns relating to this subject.

See also

References

  1. ^ In the northern European calculation, which abstracts from the day from which the count begins, the interval was of seven days.
  2. ^ Luke 2:21 (King James Version): "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
  3. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Feast of the Circumcision
  4. ^ Greek Orthodox Archdiocese calendar of Holy Days
  5. ^ General Roman Calendar as in 1954
  6. ^ Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarchate of Moscow
  7. ^ The Daily Catholic, Volume 11, No. 278, December 2000.
  8. ^ New Book of Festivals and Commemorations by Philip H. Pfatteicher 2008 ISBN 080062128X Holy Name of Jesus pages3-5
  9. ^ As in the Lutheran Book of Worship, page 10. Copyright 1978, Augsburg Fortress.,

External links


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