The 1st January appears as an ecclesiastical festival at Rome for the first time at the beginning of the ninth century, where it is called from the first Circumcisio Domini, the name which it bears among the Greeks, Syrians, and Copts.
We have already observed that in the Gregorian sacramentary the 1st January is simply called Octava Domini. The same is also the case in the Calendar of St Geneviève, edited by Fronteau, which was written between 714 and 731.[366] In the Homiliarium of Charlemagne compiled by Paul the Deacon between 786 and 797, the day is still called in octavas Domini, i.e. Calendas Januarias.[367] The change of name must have been effected shortly after this. Although among the sermons of Zeno of Verona,[368] there is one on the circumcision of our Lord, this only proves that he treated of this subject in his discourse, and affords no evidence for the existence of the festival. In the Calendar of Charlemagne, edited by Piper, dating from between 731 and 781, the name Circumcisio occurs, so too in the list of Festivals of Sonnatius. On the other hand, the Gregorian sacramentary written, under Archbishop Otgar, about 840 for the monastery of St Alban near Mainz, has only Octava Domini.
The idea and date of this festival are derived from St Luke ii. 21, since eight days after birth our Lord was circumcised and received His human name, which, according to Jewish usage, was given at the same time. Later on, a special feast in honour of the Holy Name was instituted and appointed for the second Sunday after Epiphany. Its celebration was permitted to the Franciscans by Clement VII. in 1530, but the cultus of the Holy Name is due in a great measure to the influence of St Bernardine of Siena. On 20th December 1721, Innocent XIII. appointed this feast to be observed by the whole Church.
The Liturgy makes no reference to the commencement of the civil year, although in the lectionary of Silos this day is called Caput Anni.
4. The Epiphany
As the name Epiphany implies, the origin and early celebration of this festival is to be sought in the East. Among the Syrians, it is called denho, or “Going forth,” in the sense of “oriens ex alto” (St Luke i. 78). Among the Greeks, it goes by the name of τά ἐπιφάνια or ἡ ἐπιφάνιος sc. ἡμέρα, and θεοφάνεια. For the most part, the Latins employed the Greek name, or an equivalent, such as Festivitas Declarationis, used by Leo the Great, manifestatio, by Fulgentius, or apparitio by others.[369] The root, from which the Greek ἐπιφαίνω is derived, was employed to describe the dawn, and the adjective ἐπιφανής was applied to the appearances of the gods bringing help to men.
These names sufficiently disclose the idea commemorated by the feast—the commemoration of the appearance of the Son of God on earth in general, with special reference to those occasions in His life on which His divine sonship was revealed in some distinctive manner. Prominent among those occasions were His Nativity, the worship of the three wise men from the East, the baptism in Jordan with its accompanying theophany, and the miracles through which He manifested His divine power, especially the first miracle at the marriage in Cana. Accordingly people spoke of divine manifestations, in the plural, for the name dies epiphaniarum sive manifestationum was known to the heathen.[370]
The feast was kept on the 6th January. The first indication that this day was marked in some special way in the Christian Calendar is given by Clement of Alexandria, who says that some of the orthodox in his day regarded it as the birth-day of Christ, while the Basilidians observed the 10th January.[371] This of course does not prove that the 6th January was observed at that time in Alexandria as a festival. Origen omits it from the list of festivals he gives in C. Cels., 8, 22. It appears, however, among the writings of Hippolytus, in an earnest exhortation which he addressed to a candidate for baptism shortly before the day of the “Divine Manifestations” (εἰς τὰ ἅγια ἐπιφάνεια), when baptism was to be received. He starts with the baptism of Jesus, and then treats of the effects of baptism, and of worthy preparation for its reception.[372] A much later writer, who is however not to be quite disregarded, Bishop John of Nicæa in the ninth century, traces back the institution of the festival to disciples of St John.
Epiphany commemorates several events in the life of Jesus by which He manifested His divinity. One of these is His baptism by St John in Jordan,[373] for, according to the scriptural narrative, at the time of His baptism a voice from heaven was heard proclaiming Jesus to be the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost visibly appeared in bodily shape as a dove. The baptism in Jordan is the special event commemorated by Epiphany among the Easterns, e.g., in the oldest Coptic Calendar Epiphany is called Dies Baptismi Sanctificati, and in a later one Immersio Domini.[374] The earliest existing sermon on the day—the homily of Hippolytus—treats exclusively of the baptism of Jesus. Chrysostom, in addition to the baptism, speaks of our Lord’s second coming in Judgment as an event commemorated by the festival. On account of its connection with the baptism, this festival has among the Greeks the secondary title of “Feast of Lights,” (ἑορτὴ τῶν φώτων);[375] and in Ireland, contrary to the ancient custom of the Church, solemn baptism was administered on this day.[376]
The second event commemorated on the 6th January is the visit of the three Wise Men who, by their gifts, recognised Christ as God and Man and Redeemer, and worshipped Him as the long expected King of the Jews. The Wise Men found the divine Child still in Bethlehem, though no longer in the stable, as artists usually represent the scene, but in a roofed house[377] where His parents were temporarily lodged. The evangelists give no indication how long after the Nativity this took place.