Dear brethren,

With the start of the Fast of Nativity (Advent) and the approach of Christmas according to the Western calendar, the question again arises for the reason behind celebrating Christmas on different dates. We’ll try to clarify this in a simple way.

The Coptic Church defined the date of celebrating Christmas on the Egyptian calendar according to chapter 18 of Didascalia: “brethren, watch the days of feasts of which the birth of our Lord is the first, complete it on the 25^th day of the 9^th month of the Hebrews, which is the 29^th of the 4^th month (Kiahk) of the Egyptians”.

So the Copts were – and still are – celebrating Christmas on the 29^th of Kiahk. This is the Coptic calendar which is related to all their feasts, as well as their liturgical and civil life. This continued till the start of the last quarter of the 19^th century, and specifically the year 1875 AD in the time of reigning of Khedive Ismail, when the Coptic calendar was stopped and was replaced by the Western calendar on the first of Tut 1592 AM, equivalent to September 11, 1875 AD.

As for the Western calendar, it was first known as the “Julian Calendar” in reference to Julius Caesar, who by the help of an Egyptian astronomer from Alexandria copied the ancient Egyptian calendar on the year 42 BC, but it was amended in the order of months, making the odds 31 days and the evens 30 days only, except for the month of February where he made 29 days and increased to 30 days every four years. Then Augustus Caesar altered this arrangement to what we know now, making the month of August 31 days, and thus February swinging between 28 and 29 days.

When the first Ecumenical council of Nicea was held in 325 AD, it fixed March 21^st as the vernal equinox upon which Easter is determined. During the reign of Pope Gregory XIII in the year 1582 AD, vernal equinox occurred on March 11^th instead of March 21^st, ten days behind the Council of Nicea. Until this year (1582 AD) Kiahk 29^th coincided with December 25^th, so Egypt until the second half of the 16^th century was celebrating Christmas on the 25^th of December, but according to its Coptic calendar and not the Western one, i.e. Kiahk 29.

On October 5^th, 1582 AD the council of Cardinals met in Rome, and decided that October 5^th is to become October 15^th, in order to correct the error in the vernal equinox. People woke up on October 6^th on the year 1582 AD to find themselves on the day of October 16, and this amendment is what is known as the “Gregorian amendment.” The following year; 1583 AD, the Copts celebrated Christmas as usual on Kiahk 29, but this time it coincided with January 4^th, with a difference of ten days. Then, according to the Julian calendar another 3 days were added over the following years, bringing Christmas, which the Copts celebrate on Kiahk 29^th to fall on January 7^th, with a difference of 13 days from December 25^th.

Please remember the church, the priests, the servants and their services always in your prayers, and may the blessings of St. Mary and St. Mercurius and the blessing of the Nativity fast be with us always, Amen.

Fr. Youssef Halim & Fr. Luke Istafanous

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