Christmas

Tzegemariam

Hello everyone,

How do you feel about opening presents before our Christmas(Jan.7th)??? :-\

Thank you
May God Bless

mabsoota

if your family or friends are not orthodox, (or if they are greek/other related orthodox) they will celebrate Christmas on 25th, so it's ok to celebrate 2 Christmases. (i can't imagine any reason against celebrating Jesus Christ for an extra day, especially if you have the chance to share your faith with your non-orthodox friends when you join them on 25th for falafel and grape juice)
the early Christians did not fix the date of Christmas until about 200 or 300 AD, and even then they did not exchange presents; this tradition came much later, so, in my opinion, is not a very important tradition, and does not have to be followed. the byzantine church changed the date till 25th quite a long time ago, and now most of eastern europe and many of the arabic-speaking countries celebrate then. as far as i can tell, its only the oriental orthodox and the churches that are linked with moscow (russian, ukranian, macedonian, serbian and moldavian) that keep to the old calendar.

having said that, it's nice to give and receive presents and to practice self-control, like opening presents at a certain time.
so, what i would ask myself is, why do i want to open my present now? if it's because i am inpatient, then it is probably better to wait. if it is because my friend is standing in front of me and wants to know if i like her present, then i think it's ok to open it.
i visited my relatives (far away, protestant) 2 weeks before the 25th, and opened one of the many small presents they gave to my family then. i saved the others for when i celebrated with my family on 25th, except for one which i have saved for 7th jan. i probably should have saved more of them as they were not 'fasting' presents (chocolate etc) and they have mostly been eaten!
so another reason to save your present till 'our' Christmas, is that, if it is something yummy to eat, you won't be tempted!

also those who have presents, should be grateful and share with those who don't (even sharing your chocolate!) and if you don't have presents, may God give you spiritual riches are supply all your needs.
'blessed are the poor'

Unknown

[quote author=Tzegemariam link=topic=8627.msg108752#msg108752 date=1262021341]
Hello everyone,

How do you feel about opening presents before our Christmas(Jan.7th)??? :-\

Thank you
May God Bless


There's no harm in it. At least you got presents. Having said that, the sales are on after the 25th December  - so that means ONE thing:

God wants us to celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January.

childoforthodoxy

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ,

I hope this message finds you well. I think that it is important to understand a few things about this discussion before it continues any further...

On the issue of the date of the birth of Christ as it is celebrated in the Church, namely, whether it is on the 25th of December of the 7th of January: (I have copied the following from a website for ease of understanding)

The calendar in common use today, known as the Gregorian calendar, was created in 1582 to replace the previously used Julian calendar. The Julian calendar, established in 46 B.C. by Julius Caesar, had 12 months, with three years of 365 days, followed by a fourth year of 366 days. The calendar was still just slightly longer than the solar year (by about 11 minutes per year), so by the time the year 1500 rolled around the calendar was 10 days out of synch with the sun.

To remedy the deficiencies in the Julian calendar, Pope Gregory XIII replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar (named after himself) in 1582. The new Gregorian calendar dropped 10 days from the month of October for the first year only, to get back in sync with the solar cycle. It also retained the leap year every four years, except century years not divisible by 400 (to keep the accumulation problem from recurring).

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The 10 day difference mentioned above has now become a 13 day difference over the years, and in years to come, will become a 14 day difference. As of now, if we are to calculate the date in the Gregorian calendar that corresponds to January 7th as designated in the Julian calendar, the date is found to be December 25. As such, it is the same date, with two different calendars.

More importantly... I think, in my own weakness, that the celebration of Christ's birth is what is of importance, and not a mere 13 day difference. Let us look forward to celebrating His birth in eagerness, knowing why it is that we celebrate His birth rather than what time He was born in the flesh.

QT, I am unsure as to whether you were simply being sarcastic in your last post or not. I will assume that you were, but for others who might actually think in this manner, that God has indicated that we celebrate the birth of Christ in the flesh on the 7th by means of store sales... let us not bring God down to our earthly level and try to find things here and there that support our arguments by inventing reasoning that does not exist.

childoforthodoxy