Synaxarium

On this day in the year 5501 since the creation of the world according to our glorious Church's reckoning, we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ incarnate in the flesh from the Virgin Saint Mary. This was according to the divine will which had previously decreed that Augustus Caesar issue his order for a census of the entire inhabited world. For this reason, Joseph of Nazareth took the Virgin with him to Bethlehem to register there, because he was of the tribe of Judah and the house of David, and Bethlehem is the village of David. When they arrived there, her time came and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them to lodge. In that region, shepherds were keeping watch over their flock by night. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and a light from heaven shone upon them. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, is born to you in the city of David. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Suddenly, with the angel appeared a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men."

After the angels had gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing which the Lord has made known to us." They came quickly and found the child with Mary, Joseph, and Salome. The place was filled with light, and they knew that the message they had been told was true. They bowed down to the child and returned, praising and glorifying God for all they had heard and seen. They proclaimed what they had witnessed and heard. On this day, the prophecies of the prophets about the birth of the Lord from a virgin were fulfilled. Isaiah the prophet said, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Ezekiel spoke of this wondrous mystery, "The Lord said to me, 'This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.'" About this newborn, Daniel the prophet said, "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." Jeremiah the prophet said, "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as king and prosper, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely. And this is the name by which he shall be called: The Lord is our righteousness."

We must now turn our minds toward the manger of Bethlehem, where the Son of God lay incarnate in the flesh at His birth, contemplating in silence and fitting calm the mystery of the divine incarnation and His birth in a manger for our salvation. Knowing that by this He teaches us to despise the world and all its vanities, urging us to humility, love of neighbor, and striving for their good, and to live in virtue, piety, and Christian manners, not ignorant of the great dignity granted to us through the mystery of the divine incarnation. Since we have kept the fast that has ended, and this glorious feast has come upon us, let us meet it with all that is good and pure, extending our hands to comfort the weak, meet the needs of the poor, and establish reconciliation and peace among our brethren, following our Lord who by His incarnation made eternal peace. We pray to Him to have mercy on us, forgive our sins, bless our gatherings, preserve for us the life of the great Father, the Most Reverend Anba ... Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, and to prolong his reign for many years, granting the Church peace and the growth of its people in virtue. May He bring us back to such a blessed day while we are filled with the grace of the Redeemer Lord Jesus who incarnated for our salvation. To Him be glory and honor forever and ever, world without end. Amen.

The Masses of the feasts of the Nativity, Theophany, and Resurrection must end after midnight, even if only slightly, so that communion is not taken twice in one day.

The Coptic Church relies on the Coptic calendar inherited from our ancestors the Pharaohs, which has been in use since Christianity entered Egypt. The Eastern Churches use the Julian calendar derived from the Coptic calendar, while the Western Churches use the Gregorian calendar, which is a modified Julian calendar.

The Coptic Calendar:

The Coptic calendar is the Pharaonic calendar, the oldest calendar on earth, dating back at least to 4241 BC. The ancient Egyptians based their calendar on the star Sirius, called "Seirios" in Greek and "Sothis" in Egyptian, the brightest star in the sky belonging to the constellation Ursa Major, about 8.5 light years from Earth. Its heliacal rising on the eastern horizon before sunrise marked the day the Nile flood reached the capital "Memphis." They calculated the period between two risings as 365 and a quarter days and divided the year into three main seasons:

1 – The Flood season "Akhet"

2 – The Planting season "Peret"

3 – The Harvest season "Shemu"

They then divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each, adding the remaining five and a quarter days as a small month called "Nesi" or "the little month," which had five days in common years and six days in leap years every four years. The total days in a common year were 365, and in a leap year 366.

This division was very accurate for the agricultural year, which is why the Egyptians adopted it rather than basing their calendar on the sun, although they knew and worshiped the sun god Ra, whose name appears in the names of some kings like Khafre, Menkaure, Menkau-Ra, and Ramses (son of Ra), as well as in place names like Cairo (Kahi Ra, meaning land of Ra), Matariya or Batariya (house of Ra), and the city of Ramses in the land of Goshen (Exodus 1:11; Genesis 47:11; Exodus 12:27; Numbers 33:3,6).

The Julian Calendar:

The Roman year was a solar year divided into twelve months with 365 days, remaining so until the time of Emperor Julius Caesar, who noticed the difference between this calendar and the Egyptian one. In 45 BC, he ordered the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes to set March 25 (Azar) as the vernal equinox, making the Roman year exactly like the Egyptian year with 365 days and 6 hours (a quarter day), based on the Earth's orbit around the sun.

He made the year consist of 12 months only, assigning January 31 days, February 30 days in leap years and 29 in common years, March 31 days, April 30 days, May 31 days, June 30 days, July 30 days, August 30 days, September 30 days, October 31 days, November 30 days, and December 31 days.

When Augustus Caesar came to power, he renamed the eighth month following July as August in his honor and made it 31 days, reducing February to 28 days in common years and 29 in leap years. This calendar remained in use in East and West until Pope Gregory XIII of Rome in 1582 noticed errors in fixed feasts due to the Julian solar calendar lagging behind the Coptic Sothic calendar by 11 minutes and 14 seconds, accumulating to 10 days by the late 16th century. He corrected this, known as the Gregorian reform or Gregorian calendar, which the West uses to this day.

The Gregorian Calendar:

Pope Gregory XIII noticed the difference in fixed feast dates caused by the Julian calendar compared to the time of the Council of Nicaea, which was based on the Coptic calendar in 325 AD, amounting to ten days. The vernal equinox, which was March 21 (Azar) or 25 Baramhat at Nicaea, had shifted to March 11 (Azar) by 1825. He consulted theologians who found no theological or ecclesiastical reason for this, as it was an astronomical matter. Astronomers, especially Lilius and Calvius, explained that the Earth takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to orbit the sun, while the Julian calendar counted 365 days and 6 hours, a difference of 11 minutes and 14 seconds, accumulating one day every 128 years. These days accumulated from Nicaea in 325 to 1825 to ten days.

To correct this, Pope Gregory ordered that people go to sleep on October 5 and wake up on October 15, skipping ten days to realign the calendar, similar to how we adjust clocks for daylight saving time. A rule was also set to prevent future accumulation by omitting three leap days every 400 years because every 400 years contain 100 leap years in the Julian calendar, which counts every fourth year as leap without exception.

The Gregorian calendar excludes century years (those ending with two zeros) from being leap years unless divisible by 400. Thus, years 1600 and 2000 are leap years in both calendars, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 are leap years in the Julian calendar and common years in the Gregorian calendar.

This means a difference of three days between the Julian and Gregorian calendars every 400 years, ensuring the vernal equinox and fixed feasts return to their positions at the time of the Council of Nicaea.

This is why the Western Church celebrates Christmas on December 25, while the Eastern Church celebrates it on January 7 according to their Julian calendar. It is worth noting that this difference is currently 13 days and will increase in the future. What will the West do then?

We Copts celebrate on the Coptic calendar on the night of 29 Kiahk every three years, in common years divisible by 4 with a remainder of 3. In the fourth year divisible by 4 without remainder, we celebrate on the night of 28 Kiahk so that the actual gestation period of Christ remains fixed at nine full months from the Annunciation on 29 Baramhat to the Nativity, which is 275 days according to our Coptic calendar. This date corresponds to one of the two calendars because the difference causes a full day shift every 128 years, moving the corresponding day in the Western calendar by one full day.

If Christmas falls on 28 Kiahk (January 7), then the night of 28 is the eve of the feast, and the readings of 29 Kiahk are read at the evening liturgy. The day 29 (January 8) is the feast day with the morning liturgy and readings of 29 Kiahk, even if it is a Sunday. On Paramoun 27 Kiahk (January 6), the readings of 28 Kiahk are read.

If 30 Kiahk falls on a Sunday, the readings of 30 Kiahk are read, and the fifth Sunday readings are not read because they would be repeated and are not suitable for the second day of the feast.

The Glorious Nativity Feast Occasions:

29 Kiahk is the Glorious Nativity Feast in common years divisible by four with a remainder, when the month of Nesi has five days. In leap years divisible by four without remainder, Christmas is on 28 Kiahk because Nesi has six days. This keeps the gestation period of Christ fixed at 275 days, the natural gestation period between the Annunciation on 29 Baramhat and the Nativity. This repeats every four Coptic years and is independent of the Julian or Gregorian calendars.

The events of the birth and life of our Lord Jesus Christ were determined according to the history of the Roman Empire, which ruled the Jewish nation at that time. From this, Christians determined their own calendar, starting from the birth of Christ.

The Roman calendar was based on the founding of the city of Rome.

The early Christians announced their own calendar after the end of Roman persecution.

In the early sixth century, the Roman monk Dionysius Exiguus (or Dionysius the Scythian) called for the Roman calendar to begin from the birth of Christ rather than the founding of Rome, as was previously followed.

Dionysius's call succeeded, and the Christian world began using the Christian era calendar from the year 532 AD.

About Dionysius:

He set the date of Christ's birth as the year 573 from the founding of Rome, considering it year 1 AD.

Researchers discovered that Dionysius's calendar had an error of about four years later, meaning Christ was born four years before this date. However, since the calendar had been in use for a long time and was linked to many countries, and changing it might cause confusion, they only corrected it theologically and it remains in use today.

Facts on which researchers based their correction of Dionysius's calendar:

1 – The Jewish historian Josephus dated the death of Herod to the year 750 from the founding of Rome, corresponding to 4 BC. Since Jesus was born during Herod's reign, his birth would be late 749 or early 750 Roman years.

2 – According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus began his public ministry in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar's reign, who ruled the Roman Empire in the year 765 from Rome's founding. Jesus was about thirty years old then, so his birth would be in 750 Roman years, i.e., 4 BC.

3 – Some ancient historians like Severus Salbicius and Nicephorus Callistus stated that Jesus was born 42 years before the assassination of Julius Caesar, which was in 792 Roman years, making Jesus's birth in 750 Roman years, i.e., 4 BC, according to Dionysius's reckoning.

On this day, we commemorate the martyrdom of Saint Elias, Bishop of the Monastery of Al-Mahraq in Qusiya. May his prayers be with us, and to our Lord be glory forever and ever. Amen.