§ 77. THE C1IEISTMA8 CYCLE. 395
18 constantly repeated. How many children are a[ipareiitly only born to suffer, and to die ; but in truth the pains of their earthly birth are soon absorbed by the joys of their heavenly birth, and their temporary cross is rewarded by an eternal crown.
Eight days after Christinas the church celebrated, though not till after the sixth or seventh century, the Circumcision and the Naming of Jesus. Of still later origin is the Christian ISTew Teak's festival, which falls on the same day as the Circumcision. The pagan Romans solemnized the turn of the year, like the Saturnalia, with revels. The church teachers, in reaction, made the l^ew Year a day of penance and prayer. Thus Augustine, in a sermon : " Separate yourselves from the heathen, and at the change of the year do the opposite of what they do. They give each other gifts; give ye alms instead. They sing worldly songs ; read ye the word of God. They throng the theatre ; come ye to the church. They drink themselves drunken : do ve fast."
The feast of Epiphany,' on the contrary, on the sixth of January, is older, as we have already observed, than Christmas itself, and is mentioned by Clement of Alexandria. It refers in general to the manifestation of Christ in the world, and originally bore the twofold character of a celebration of the birth and the baptism of Jesus. After the introduction of Christmas, it lost its reference to the birth. The Eastern church commemorated on this day especially the baptism of Christ, or the manifestation of His Messiahship, and together with this the first manifestation of His miraculous power at the marriage at Cana. Tlie Western church, more Gentile-Christian in its origin, gave this festival, after the fourth century, a special reference to the adoration of the infant Jesus by the wise men from the east," under the name of the feast of the Three Kings, and transformed it into a festival of Gentile missions ; considering the wise men as the representatives of the nobler heathen
* T^ eirKpivfia, or iTri^avla, Xpicrr <pafla, also dfocpafia. Comp vol. i. § 99,
» Matt. ii. 1-11.
iOO THIRD PEEIOD, A.D. iVl 1-500.
world.' TI1U8 at the same time tlie original connection of tiie teast with the birth of Clirist was preserved. Epiphany forms the close of the Christmas Cycle. It was an early custom tc announce the term of the Easter observance on the day of Epiphany by tlie so-called Jfpistolce paschales, or jpdfMfjbara ira- (T-^uXia. This was done especially by the bishop of Alexandria, where astronomy most flourished, and the occasion was improved for edifying instructions and for the discussion of iro poiiant religious questions of the day.
§ 78. TTie Kader Cycle.
Easter is the oldest and greatest annual festival of the church. As to its essential idea and observance, it was bom witli the Christian Sunday on the morning of the resurrection.* Like the passover with tlie Jews, it originally marked the beginning of the church year. It revolves entirely about the person and tlie work of Christ, being devoted to the great saving fact of his passion and resurrection. "We have already spoken of the origin and character of this festival,' and shall confine ourselves here to the alterations and enlargements which it underwent after the Nicene age.
The Easter festival proper was preceded by a forty days' season of repentance and fasting, called Quadkagesima, at least
^ Augustine, Sermo 203 : " Hodiemo die niauifcstatus redemptor omnium gentium," &c. The transformation of the Persian magi or priest-philosophers into three kings (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar) by the mediaeval legend was a hasty inference from the triplicity of the gifts and from Ps. Ixxii. 10, 11. The legend brings us at last to the cathedral at Cologne, where the bodies of the three saint-kings are to this day exhibited and worshipped.
' The late Dr. Fried. Strauss of Berlin, an eminent writer on the church year (Das evangelische Kirchenjahr, p. 218), says: "Das hcilige Osterfest ist das christliche Fest schlechthin. Es Lst nicht bios Hauptfost, sondem das Fest, das cinmal im Jahre voUstJindig auftiitt, aber in alien andern Festcn von irgcnd eincr Scitc wiederkehrt, und eben dadurch diese zu Festen macht. Nanntc man doch jcden Festtag, ja ■aogar jeden Sonntog aus dieseni Grunde rffV's patrhalis. Dahcr musstc cs auch das urspriingliche Fest in dcm umfassendsten Sinne des Wortcs sein. Man kann nicht sagen, in welcher christlichen Zeit es entstanden sei ; ee ist mit der Eirchc entstanden, und die Kirche ist mit ihra entstanden."
'Vol. u. §61 (p. 206 sqq.).