Many Hails on Many Days for Christ’s Birth

Tabernacles Rather Than December 25th Was Kept by the Mainstream in Asia Minor for 400 Years

The Scriptures give us dates, times, and schedules that allow us to confirm the approximate time that Mary conceived Yeshua the Christ—around December 25th—and the time of His birth, at the Tabernakelfesten.

Many hails on many days. The Church has never known only one calendar or one rhythm of honor for Christ — and Scripture itself commands no single festival date for His Nativity. What we can know from the Word is a clear timeline of His conception och birth, and what history shows is that the earliest Christians — especially in Asia Minor, Gaul, Britain, and the Celtic world — understood the Incarnation to belong to winter, but the Birth itself to Tabernacles in the autumn. Before Rome’s later standardizations, the Church lived by Hebrew seasons, fasted in winter for the coming of the King, and rejoiced in His manifestation during the Feasts of Israel. Our task is therefore not to attack those who celebrate on December 25, nor to replace one dogma with another, but to restore the older continuity, so that Hebrew-rooted believers, Celtic Christians, and Roman-calendar Christians may all stand side by side in honoring our one King — who is worthy of many days, not only one.

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1. Scriptural Chronology: From Abijah’s Course to the Tabernacles Birth

We begin in the Gospel of Luke with the conception of John the Baptist.

Zacharias was serving at a specific time:

• He belonged to the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5; 1 Chr. 24:1ff).

• His lot fell to burn incense before the veil of the Holy of Holies.

• The course of Abijah is traditionally reckoned as the eighth non-festival Sabbath of the Hebrew year.

Most scholars agree that his time of service landed around the Feast of Pentecost (May / early June). It was then, while he ministered in the holy place with the daily incense, that an Angel of YAHWEH appeared and announced that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son—the forerunner of the Messiah.

Scripture tells us that as soon as his days of ministration were completed, he returned home:

• “And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.” (Luke 1:23)

• Elizabeth then conceived and hid herself five months (Luke 1:24).

The narrative then proceeds to the Annunciation to Mary (Luke 1:26–38). We are told that:

• The angel came to Mary in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.

• The angel informed Mary that Elizabeth was already six months with child.

• Mary then went to visit her.

If Elizabeth conceived shortly after Pentecost (late May / early June), then six months later brings us to late December / early January. At that point, the Angel Gabriel appears to Mary, and she conceives Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

Counting nine months forward from that conception brings us to the Tabernakelfesten (about September 25th most years on the Hebrew calendar), when:

“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us” (John 1:14),

and He lay in a sukkah/booth, wrapped in swaddling clothes—fitting a warmer time of year, safe for a newborn exposed in simple lodgings.

Thus, the Scriptures support:

• Conception: Late December (around December 25th)

• Birth: Feast of Tabernacles (late September)

The dating of December 25th (and nearby traditional Orthodox dates) as the time of the Conception was known to early church scholars. However, Western tradition focused more on January 6th as the feast of the conception of Mary by her mother Anna, while the deeper Incarnation chronology remained less emphasized.

And strikingly, long before Rome ever claimed December 25, the ancient churches of Gaul, Britain, and the East were already fasting and preparing for the Incarnation in the winter season — a testimony that the earliest Christian rhythm itself confirms what Scripture has shown.

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3. The Modern Commercial Hijacking of December 25th

Endast recently have non-Christian commercial interests seized upon the December season as an opportunity for consumerism. In America, after the Great Depression and two world wars, people held onto what little money they had. Powerful interests needed to re-ignite mass spending.

So they:

• Introduced secular “Christmas” music and anti-Christ or Christ-less hymns,

• Dominated radio and newspapers,

• Aimed aggressively at children through lights and spectacle.

These strategies shifted public attention away from Kristus and toward:

• City-center decorations,

• Shop windows,

• Sales campaigns.

In places like Holland, there historically were no secular Christmas carols in Dutch, and decorations in shopping areas were absent. For the first ten of thirteen years I lived there, I saw none of the American-style mall decorations. Only in recent years have small amounts appeared, clearly intended to spur sales. It is a dead cultural American import, arriving quite late.

Similarly, Christmas trees were largely unknown in Anglo-Saxon lands until Queen Victoria popularized them by publishing an image of her family before a tree. After that, everyone wanted one. The Rockefellers and others took the moment to:

• Harness this custom,

• Stage a fake, commercialized sales revolution,

• Exploit base selfish motives.

In some ways, it resembles more modern constructs like Kwanza—man-made seasonal systems serving ideological or commercial goals.

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4. December 25th as a Date of Theological Weight

Even granting all of the above, December 25th remains a powerful and meaningful date.

It is:

• De mathematical center between Israel’s major High Holy Days in the spring and fall,

• A time most will agree is the “advent” of something very good in nature, as it marks the rebirth of light after the darkest days.

Theologically we affirm:

“For by Him (the Son) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible… all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” (Col. 1:16–17; see also Rom. 11:36)

Thus:

• Nine months after December 25th falls on the major fall holy day of Tabernakel, often around September 25th,

• Many believe this to be the day of Christ’s birth (His “Great Birthday” in Constitutions of the Holy Apostles / Didascalia),

  Others – reading the earliest church-orders – understand December 25 primarily as the conception, with the birth nine months later at Tabernacles, preserving both winter and fall feasts in one Incarnational arc.

• På darkest day (winter solstice / December 25th), Christ comes as the light of the world.

Others note that nine months before December 25th lands around Passover, the pivotal spring feast that begins Israel’s sacred year. This is why some early Fathers held March 25th as vital—the spring equinox once used to mark the start of the year. Since that date has equal light and darkness, and heralds increasing daylight, some counted March 25th as the conception, with December 25th as the birth.

In any case, we say:

Many hails on many days to celebrate the coming of our King into the world.
All hail to our King Yahshua (Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the God of Israel)!

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5. Neo-Culdees, Anti-Christmas Laws, and a Better Way

There are various neo-Culdee Protestant branches today who refuse Christmas as “un-Biblical.” In early America, some of our neo-Culdee ancestors even passed public laws forbidding Christmas. The reasoning:

• Christmas was deemed pagan and thus sacrilegious,

• Anyone caught celebrating could be fined.

While every community has a right to local self-determination in moral codes, such rigid prohibition may not be the best approach everywhere.

Många Orthodox communities do not keep the later paganized customs (trees, Santa, etc.) but simply honor our King on December 25th. They should not be attacked merely for doing so. The aim of this article is to promote comradery within the Body of Christ:

One faith, one hope, one baptism.

Our approach is positive:

• If others do not yet see these things, they may in time.

• We are called to esteem others better than ourselves,

• To serve our brethren, not attack them.

We should not separate from other members of Christ’s Body just because they celebrate Him more on one day than another. All who truly belong to Christ will continue in Him and will desire to celebrate Him more and more, not less.

Let us encourage that growth until we all come into:

“The unity of the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

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6. Two Camps: Hebrew Feast Keepers and Those Who Don’t Realize They Keep Them

This article chiefly addresses the division between:

1. Those who consciously keep the original Hebrew Feastsoch

2. Those who don’t — or don’t realize they are keeping them in Christian form.

Many do not realize that the Feasts, Sabbateroch Kostlagar were:

• Very popular in historic Christendom,

• Retained in much of the official doctrine and practice of the Church, though now often neglected and unknown.

On one side, some feast-keepers attack others as ignorant, but such accusations are themselves ignorant, because:

• Genuine pagan practices are shunned by the Orthodox,

• All the Biblical feasts (and additional Christian observances) were historically celebrated and encouraged.

We win not by attacking, but by:

• Pointing to the truth positively,

• Citing real historical and biblical evidence.

The entire Church, when faithful, has always encouraged celebrating Christ, because all feasts point toward His victories, to be fulfilled in believers’ lives both personally och nationally.

Popular myths, propaganda on both sides, and illiteracy are no excuse. The evidence often stares us in the face.

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7. The Visit of the Wise Men: Clearing Common Myths

Consider the wise men:

• The Bible never says there were three—only “wise men.”

• It does not say Christ was an infant when they arrived.

• The Greek word used can refer to a young child several years old.

The size of their caravans is hinted at by Herod’s response: they brought so much gold, frankincense, and myrrh that he ordered a massacre of all young Hebrew males in the region.

There are many myths and fables about Christmas that are absent from the biblical and early Orthodox sources. The factual narrative differs significantly from what is popular and commercial.

We can show a lot about the real birthdate of Christ, but for our purposes it is enough to say: we rejoice in every opportunity to hail our great King of Kings, Yahshua, the only-begotten Son who will return as Judge. He has fulfilled many prophecies, and many Scriptures speak of Him as a sun, with the promise that the redeemed will shine as the sun.

Therefore:

• That His conception or birth aligns with the rebirth of the sun (December 25th) is not inherently pagan—it is profoundly biblical.

• Many say He was conceived on this date, not born.

• In any case, we celebrate His coming into the Earth and look forward to the coming Kingdom of Christ on earth.

Some argue Christmas is sacrilegious because pagan gods are said to share the same date and even Passover-oriented death myths. But this does not disqualify Christ or the date:

“All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.” (John 10:8)

The pagan figures are counterfeits. Only Jesus is real; He truly ascended into heaven.

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8. Tabernacles as the “Great Birthday” and the Place of Epiphany

De Hebrew feasts were always the principal celebration seasons, with:

• Trumpets (often Sept. 25) understood by some as a “Great Birthday,”

• Tabernacles as the season most fitting for His Nativity.

It is more likely, then, that December 25th är conception date, and that Tabernakel (or possibly Trumpets) marks His birth.

Eastern traditions sometimes emphasize Epiphany (January 6th) as the key date for:

• His manifestation as Son of God,

• De descent of the Holy Spirit at the Jordan,

• His public revelation as the beloved Son.

Since Hebrew months vary by a couple of weeks each year, Epiphany can still correspond to the nine months before the fall feasts, keeping the same Incarnation–Nativity pattern.

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9. Orthodox Continuity of Sabbaths and Feasts

To understand why December 25th did not dominate early Christian practice for centuries, we must first remember that the ancient Church — East, West, and Celtic — continued to walk in a rhythm rooted in Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, even as newly developing commemorations (such as a winter Nativity date) gradually entered the calendar.

A. St. John Chrysostom: December 25 Was Unknown in the East

Even as late as the fourth century, the East did not universally keep December 25th.
Chrysostom admitted in a Christmas sermon at Antioch (386 AD):

“It is not ten years since this day [Christmas Day on December 25] was clearly known to us, but it has been familiar from the beginning to those who dwell in the West. The Romans who have celebrated it for a long time, and from ancient tradition, have transmitted the knowledge of it to us.”
— Addis & Arnold, A Catholic Dictionary (1893), p. 178

Thus, December 25 was Western, and only recently imported into Antioch.

Chrysostom is further credited as the one who finally secured Eastern use of this date:

“…the feast of Christ’s Nativity was kept in Rome on 25 December… It was introduced by St. John Chrysostom into Constantinople and definitively adopted in 395.”
— Thurston, “Christian Calendar,” Catholic Encyclopedia (1908)

B. Sabbath and Hebrew Feasts in Apostolic-Era Churches

Many assume that early Christianity abandoned Hebrew feasts. The historical record shows the opposite.

Polycarp (d. c. 156) — disciple of the Apostle John — upheld:

• de seventh-day Sabbath

• Passover

• Unleavened Bread

• Pentecost

• The Last Great Day of Tabernacles

Polycrates of Ephesus (late 2nd century), head bishop of Asia Minor, presided over a synod defending Passover. In his letter to Victor of Rome, he insisted on:

• Keeping Passover on the biblical 14th

• Removing leaven

• Upholding the succession of the Apostle John

• Refusing Roman pressure to change dates

(Eusebius, History of the Church, V.24.2–7)

Rome attempted to excommunicate Asia Minor’s bishops — but the Asian churches continued their biblical festival cycle for centuries.

St. Apollinaris of Hierapolis also wrote in defense of biblical feast days.

C. Tabernacles in Orthodox Eschatology

De 3rd–4th century bishop St. Methodius of Olympus wrote:

“These things (the feasts), being like shadows, foretell the resurrection and the raising of our tabernacle, and that in the seventh thousand years we shall celebrate the great feast of true Tabernacles in the new creation.”
— Banquet of the Ten Virgins, IX.1

Tabernacles, for Methodius, was not “Jewish” — it was Christian eschatology, pointing to the world-to-come.

This directly harmonizes with the thesis of this article:
Tabernacles is the feast most naturally associated with the Nativity, when He “tabernacled among us” (John 1:14).

D. Chrysostom vs. Ongoing Feast-Keeping

Chrysostom himself demonstrates that Hebrew feast observance was still widespread among Christians.

I Homily I Against the Jews (387 AD, Antioch), he complains:

“The Jews are soon to march upon us one after the other and in quick succession: the feast of Trumpets, the feast of Tabernacles, the fasts. There are many in our ranks who say they think as we do, yet some of these go to watch the festivals and others join the Jews in keeping their feasts and observing their fasts.”

Here Chrysostom is upset not because it no longer happened —
but because many Christians still kept Trumpets and Tabernacles.

When preaching on Pentecost, however, he acknowledged it as a valid Christian festival — evidence that the boundary between “Jewish” and “Christian” feasts was still not fully severed in practice.

E. Britain, Syria, and the Wider World

Chrysostom also testifies that biblical faith and Scripture-rooted practice existed far from Rome:

“Though thou shouldest go to the ocean to the British Isles, there thou shouldest hear all men everywhere discoursing matters out of the Scriptures with another voice but not another faith.”
— Orat. O Theos Xristos

De British church, like Asia Minor, remained Sabbatarian, Passover-keeping, and tied to the Hebrew calendar far beyond the Roman reforms.

F. Other Witnesses

Eusebius of Caesarea wrote of the “Ebionites” approvingly:

“They observe the Sabbath and the rest of the Jewish ceremonial, but on Sunday celebrate rites like ours…”
— Commentary on the Psalms (PG 23, 1171–72)

He himself — like all Eastern and Western churches of his era — still kept Saturday liturgically.

St. Palladius of Galatia (disciple of Chrysostom), in Historia Lausiaca (419–420 AD), describes Sabbath communion practice:

“…when the Sabbath dawns… Agape Saturday… commanded… offer the communion bread…”

St. Jerome (c. 404 AD) wrote of the Nazarenes:

“…the believing Jews do well in observing the precepts of the law, i.e. …keeping the Jewish Sabbath… They believe in Christ the Son of God born of the Virgin Mary…”
— Letter 75 / 112, NPNF, Vol. 1

Summary of This Witness

Taken together:

• The biblical feasts — especially Trumpeter och Tabernakel — continued within the Church long after Rome.

• December 25 was late in reaching the East and Britain, unknown even in Antioch until Chrysostom’s lifetime.

• The earliest Church calendar was not Roman winter-centric, but Passover → Pentecost → Tabernacles → Sabbath rooted.

This context explains why December 25 did not — and could not — originally dominate:
the Church’s center of gravity was not winter, but the feasts of YHWH, fulfilled in Christ.

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10. The Didascalia in Context: A Witness — Not a Replacement — of the Hebrew Feasts

We now briefly consider the Didascalia / Apostolic Constitutions, a late Church-order text often cited by Roman commentators to justify fixed festival dates. Unlike Scripture — which is inspired, guarded, and incorruptible — the Didascalia is a government-era compilation, edited, expanded, and redacted across centuries by those living under imperial powers. It must therefore be handled carefully, as a historical echo, not a divine mandate.

The text reads in Book V, chapter 13:

“Brethren, observe the festival days; and first of all the birthday which you are to celebrate on the twenty-fifth of the ninth month; after which let the Epiphany be to you the most honoured… and let it take place on the sixth of the tenth month; after which the fast of Lent is to be observed…”

And in Book VIII, we read:

“Let them rest on the festival of His birth, because on it the unexpected favour was granted to men, that Jesus Christ, the Logos of God, should be born of the Virgin Mary, for the salvation of the world.”

A. Why This Text Cannot Be Used to Overwrite Hebrew Dates

Because this document is not Scripture, and because it emerged in the very period when Christians were being fed to beasts and emperors were issuing decrees over the churches, no believer with discernment should treat it as a final authority on sacred time. Imperial Rome could rename, assignoch codify, but only Scripture can determine.

Indeed, the same Didascalia instructs believers to consult the Hebrews to know when Passover should be kept — proving its own submission to older authority. Rome — both Eastern and Western imperial Rome — was often secular first, theological second. Its decrees were as much about economy, armory, and state control as about worship.

B. What the Didascalia Actually Shows — A Memory, Not a Mandate

What is most valuable in the Didascalia is not its alleged “birthday date,”
but that it remembers:

1️⃣ the Church rested on a day in memory of Christ,
2️⃣ it still followed Hebrew reckoning for equinox and Passover,
3️⃣ and that winter held significance as a point of Incarnation,
 —not necessarily Nativity.

The internal clues — especially that the vernal equinox occurs in the twelfth month, Dystros (March) and that Lent follows immediately after Epiphany — tell us this document reflects a Syrian–Byzantine spring-anchored calendar, not the later Roman civil one.

In that older reckoning:

• 9th month ≈ mid-winter

• 10th month ≈ early January

• 12th month = March (equinox)

Thus the Didascalia is consistent with — but secondary to — the Hebrew–Scriptural timeline:

➡ Incarnation/conception ≈ mid-winter
➡ Nativity ≈ Tabernakel (autumn), when “the Word tabernacled among us” (John 1:14)

C. Rome’s Political Date Is Not Automatically Correct

Some Roman historians later pointed to the Didascalia and claimed:
“See — here is December 25 — the birth!”

But even Roman bishops of the 4th century did not claim the date from Scripture.
Instead, they justified it partly on creation-symbolism — the “rebirth of the sun,”
which even the heathen recognized, and which God may have used as a schoolmaster
to teach the nations — as it is written:
“The heavens declare the glory of God… there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19).

That God may have allowed Rome to adopt a conception-day aligned with nature’s witness
does not mean Rome determined the true Nativity.

D. The Hebrew and Celtic Continuity Was Older — and Stronger

While Rome slowly pushed December 25 outward — even Chrysostom admits Antioch only received it “less than ten years ago” — the older churches:

• Gaul,

• Storbritannien,

• the Celtic monasteries,

• the Sabbatarian Nazarenes,

• the saints beyond Hadrian’s Wall,

continued to keep Tabernakel, Passoveroch Sabbat, and did not celebrate a Roman Nativity.

Rome could not conquer these regions.
It is said:

“Where the arms of Rome could not reach, the Gospel reached.”

Even Augustine of Canterbury complained to the Pope that:

• the Churches of Gaul,

• and bishops in Britain,

predated Rome, held greater antiquity, and possessed creedal purity Rome did not.

The Roman Church was a banking and academic hub, but not necessarily the spiritual center.
For most of Christian history — until St. Margaret imposed Roman customs on Scotland —
Sunday, December 25, and Roman feasts were unknown there.

E. The Real Lesson of the Didascalia

The Didascalia is therefore not a pillar to prove Rome’s feast,
but a window into a Church that still:

• recognized Hebraic time,

• rested on the memory of Christ,

• but had begun — under empire — to add days of remembrance.

Christ Himself foretold this:

“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them — and then they will fast in those days.” (Mark 2:20)

Many days — plural.
Många fasts.
Många memorials.

All legitimate endast when they lead to Him —
och never when they replace His Feasts.

F. Why We Acknowledge — But Do Not Submit to — Rome’s Date

We therefore say:

• December 25 may reflect the conception,

• Tabernacles reflects the Birth,

• och Scripture and Hebrew calendar remain the first authority.

Rome’s date survived, even preserved indirectly in the Mozarabic Annunciation (Dec. 18)
och Celtic Advent fast,
but that does not make it the universal standard.

It is simply one day among many for believers to hail their King —
without despising the older ways,
or exalting imperial decrees.

The Didascalia may speak of a “birthday” on the 25th of the ninth month — but Scripture and the Hebrew pattern teach us a greater thing: the Word became flesh in winter, but He was born in booths. And the Church of God, before Rome, knew this — and kept it.

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11. Conclusion

The evidence from:

• Scripture (Luke 1, John 1),

• Hebrew calendar patterns,

• Early Christian practice in Asia Minor,

• Church Orders (Didascalia / Apostolic Constitutions),

• Patristic testimony (Polycarp, Polycrates, Methodius, Chrysostom),

consistently points to:

• Tabernacles (or nearby Fall Feasts) as the time of Christ’s birth,

• Late December (around December 25th) as the likely time of His conception,

• The Feasts of YAHWEH remaining central in Orthodox practice for centuries.

Rather than dividing over dates, let us:

• Rejoice in all the ways the Church has honored Christ’s coming,

• Restore the original feasts as fulfilled in Him,

• Celebrate His Incarnation, Birth, and Manifestation with understanding and charity.

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For Further Study

Read the accompanying article:
“Advent in the Historic Church: The Incarnation, the Celtic Tradition, and the Continuity of Sacred Time”
(on CelticOrthodoxy.com / Institute of Theology: https://celticorthodoxy.com/2025/11/advent-in-the-historic-church-the-incarnation-the-celtic-tradition-and-the-continuity-of-sacred-time/)

eller

“THE BIBLICAL LIGHT HAS COME: Why December 25 Belongs to Christ — Even If He Was Born at Tabernacles (the inversion, “the shadow of things to come…”, the photo negative)”

Why December 25 Belongs to Christ — Even If He Was Born at Tabernacles**

A theological, historical, and creation-based defense for honoring Christ on December 25 — without surrendering truth, Hebrew continuity, or ancient orthodoxy.

https://celticorthodoxy.com/2025/12/dec-25th-birth-or-conception/