What does the Orthodox Church teach about Christmas?

Will the real holy day please stand up Among the many misguided ideas of Christmas is the modern Santa Claus. His real life is mocked; he is not the fat and jolly sort that Coca-Cola commercialism has promoted him to be. St. Nicholas was known for giving gifts in stockings to the needy, early in the 4th century. It is good to remember and follow his example of sacrificial giving. He was a bishop who struck the heretic Arius in the face for his blasphemies against the Son of God and His Most Pure Mother. The day of his commemoration is about 3 weeks before the Nativity of the Lord. Webster's dictionary says that the word “Christmas” comes from the Middle English “Christemasse”, from just before the 12th century, “Christ's Mass” of the Pope’s church. I have never found any good source for using the term “mass” today; it comes from that vast wasteland of Papism. The Protestants have continued in erroneous inventions of Christmas themselves. We should not even use the term “Christmas” out of hand, unless we are certain that the temptations of such are put in check. Matthew 12:36 ‘But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.’ Likewise the term “Xmas” has no good place. About 1000 years ago the Western Christians changed the worship from bread and wine to a wafer. The Protestants worship went worse with things like the wafer and grape juice. How anyone would want to follow them by titling anything “mass” is beyond me. As the Western Churches (Roman Catholics and Protestants) have been in such errors for 1,000 years there is really no way we should participate with their terminology. Whichever way we think of it “Christmas” is a religious concept to those who celebrate it and it is a false one. If we want to do what is right we should not go out of our way to practice or participate in such terms with them. As far as designating this holy day it is best to use the common way of expression used by the early Church. We should not use the pagan/secular names for months or days, like December or Wednesday. According to the practice of the Lord’s Church, The Nativity of the Lord would be stated this year this way. “The first day of the 30th week after Pentecost, in the 7515th year from Adam and Eve.” If I have my calculations right. The commemoration of the birth of the Lord (more closely titled, The Nativity of our Lord) falls on the Old Julian calendar date of December 25th. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII hired pagans to create his New Gregorian calendar that changed existing dates by days. This ‘out of order’ calendar of the pope is what our godless society uses today. Now, the original and actual December 25th falls on what most know as January 6th/7th. There are records of different dates being recognized as the Lord's Nativity. I see the Old Calendar date as being more correctly assigned, because those with the best judgment used it, it has been used for the longest time and by the most people. At this present time there is no way to come to a better conclusion. I see no good reason for recognizing twice in a single year one holy day, so I stay with the time tested one. To mix up holy days only sows yet even more discord among an already fouled faith of the popes and the rest. About the question of pagan holidays being used by godly people. Many claim that we should not even celebrate a day of the Lord’s Nativity due to it previously being of pagan origin. I do not see how pagans can have a monopoly on any given day. It certainly would be wrong to do the practices of pagans. To recognize a day of God's plan, where His Son is given to us, is not wrong. It further shows what God actually has done and gives us the opportunity to give Him more glory, dedicate more time to that specific thought and make it more a part of our life. I believe we should stop and remove any contradictory pagan practices that the world may have previously adhered to, but we cannot remove a whole day from the calendar just because somebody wrongly claims it is paganism. There are so many pagan festivals that it would be a practical impossibility to avoid all of them anyway. God set a calendar with dates of recognizing His plan for mankind. Pagans cannot overrule what God has done. Those who say that godly people cannot use a pagan day (which God actually made in the first place) is missing the whole point and oppose the celebration of holy days which God in His infinite wisdom instituted long before them. There are also people who question the use of Christmas trees, the Yule log, holly, mistletoe, etc. I really do not know of any good source for the use of such items in the home. I personally think that the trees are a waste of time and money for something that makes a complete mess and is not easily disposed of. Till I find some good reason to use such decorations I will not. I also think that the words of the holy prophet Jeremiah should make us reconsider doing such things. Jeremiah 10:2-4 Thus saith the LORD, Learn ye not the ways of the heathen, and be not alarmed at the signs of the sky; for they are alarmed at them, falling on their faces. For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image. They are beautified with silver and gold; they fix them with hammers and nails. (LXX) If somebody who celebrates Christmas wants to give me a gift I will accept it, if it is not overtly bad, I will then use it for what is good if I can. However, I will not participate in that day's gift giving for the purpose of the heretics Christmas, for that is not the time to be celebrating. It is never wrong to give good gifts. No matter what gift I might give I think it should be helpful and practical. I think that things made personally are best, those that are hand crafted, or something of a spiritual nature would apply best. We should not be expecting anything, but only be thinking of what it is we can give away and do without. Also, there is the shame of all the Christmas parties before their time. This is not how it should be at all. There is a time known as Advent, a time of preparation, where we deny ourselves, looking forward to the feast of the Nativity of our Lord. The time for exuberance is not before but during and immediately after the feast. It has been forgotten that we should not celebrate early. Parties that are done early destroy the whole purpose of having holy days in the first place. The purpose is to make all the time we are given more spiritually profitable. Most people understand Christmas Eve as being the whole day before Christmas. Really the evening is the first part of the day, so the day starts with the evening. In Genesis it is explained, “there was evening and there was morning” (one day). So, all these Eve's should be understood as just the evening before, which is really the first part of that one day. There is another point to make, about Poinsettia’s. In America they are a hybrid mutation, man-made and the use of them comes from Papists. There is really no good example for the way they are used nowadays. In a time when everybody works to be so traditional they seem to be inventing. For me I simply would not even consider having something which tries to out do God’s design, like the development of the modernist Poinsettia. There is almost nothing left that is the way God planned it, nearly everything is genetically altered and fake. We truly do live in more of a make-believe world than we know. My goal is to get away from it all somehow. The bottom line is this. I hope, with all tenaciousness, to keep what I have found which is good. That would include not using the heretic terminology of “Christmas” and not following the questionable practices of the papal calendar and not having pagan-like decorated trees, etc. To decorate during a time when restraint is called for (the Nativity fast) makes no sense at all. I do not wish to be mean-spirited toward others who follow a different way, but if others would reconsider these things for themselves I think it would be nice.

What does the Orthodox Church teach about Christmas?
The Orthodox Christian church calls Christmas "Christougennia" (Christ's Birth). It is the second most important feast in the Orthodox calendar, the first being Pascha (Easter).





For more information I would recommend checking out the Greek Orthodox Church in America's website. http://www.goarch.org/en/special/listen_...
Reply:I agree totally. I want Christmas to be a more spiritual holy day also. I enjoyed reading your message.
Reply:Your forgot that the X in Xmas is the Greek symobol for Christ


Christ's Mass is the best meaning of Christmas
Reply:I love Christmas, don't you?


Merry Christmas in Greek is pronounced KahLAH


HreesTOU yeh nah! - Καλά Χριστούγεννα, Remember the ol Sammy Davis Christmas song?


Well, we believe it is the Birthday of our Lord Jesus.


Some Orthodox Choose to celebrate in January sometime after the New Years Celebration, but the important thing is that Jesus was born, lived, was crucified, and resurrected by God the Father. Amen.


I Cr 13;8a
Reply:Did you know when Jesus was really born? Of course, not at wintertime for that will be contradictory to the accounts in the Bible. Neither on December 25 nor on January 6/7. The date that the Holy Spirit revealed to us is May 23. I first heard this date in 1983. It was only in 2004 that I did a study if the revelation is right or wrong. After two years, in 2006, I found it to be true and correct. The year, believe it or not, is 33 BC. Jesus was therefore 32 solar years old when He died or 33 lunar years. The results of my study is found at http://www.geocities.com/peacecrusader88...





I would like to emphasize that the date came from the Holy Spirit Himself. I did not pick it out from thin air. I just checked it out. Did you know that had I proven Him to be wrong, I would have withdrawn by belief in Him? Did you know that He risked His credibility by giving such date? He also gave the date when Jesus was crucified and died—August 17. The year is 1 BC. I found it true and correct as well in 2003 after four years of study. The results are at http://www.geocities.com/peacecrusader88...





Who do you think could be right in both dates?
Reply:It looks like you are a bit of an old calendarists there.


The isue that we use the civil calender is going to be irelevant but I as an Orthodox Christian beleive it is qute important to celebrate the birth of Christ as well as his passin and resurection. I love the Icon of the Nativity.....and plato all Orhtodox Icons of Christ use the greek charitcers of Ic Xc


for Jeusus Christ. I have no objection to X-mass


and hestia the term you just used is only the greek term.
Reply:you do realize that you ask....we answer.





if the game was you ask, you answer....you wouldn't need us. and with long winded crap like that, guess what? you don't have us.
Reply:Ohh my God!!!!