nd that some communities of Christians celebrated the
festival on the 1st or 6th of January; others on the 29th of March,
the time of the Jewish Passover: while others observed it on the 29th
of September, or Feast of Tabernacles. The Oriental Christians
generally were of opinion that both the birth and baptism of Christ
took place on the 6th of January. Julius I., Bishop of Rome (A.D.
337-352), contended that the 25th of December was the date of Christ's
birth, a view to which the majority of the Eastern Church ultimately
came round, while the Church of the West adopted from their brethren
in the East the view that the baptism was on the 6th of January. It
is, at any rate, certain that after St. Chrysostom Christmas was
observed on the 25th of December in East and West alike, except in the
Armenian Church, which still remains faithful to January 6th. St.
Chrysostom, who died in the beginning of the fifth century, informs
us, in one of his Epistles, that Julius, on the solicitation of St.
Cyril of Jerusalem, caused strict inquiries to be made on the subject,
and thereafter, following what seemed to be the best authenticated
tradition, settled authoritatively the 25th of December as the
anniversary of Christ's birth, the _Festorum omnium metropolis_, as it
is styled by Chrysostom. It may be observed, however, that some have
represented this fixing of the day to have been accomplished by St.
Telesphorus, who was Bishop of Rome A.D. 127-139, but the authority
for the assertion is very doubtful. There is good ground for
maintaining that Easter and its accessory celebrations mark with
tolerable accuracy the anniversaries of the Passion and Resurrection
of our Lord, because we know that the events themselves took place at
the period of the Jewish Passover; but no such precision of date can
be adduced as regards Christmas. Dr. Geikie[1] says: "The _season_ at
which Christ was born is inferred from the fact that He was six months
younger than John, respecting the date of whose birth we have the help
of knowing the time of the annunciation during his father's
ministrations in Jerusalem. Still, the whole subject is very
uncertain. Ewald appears to fix the date of the birth as five years
earlier than our era. Petavius and Usher fix it as on the 25th of
December, five years before our era; Bengel, on the 25th of December,
four years before our era; Anger and Winer, four years before our era,
in the spring; Scaliger, three years befo