🎧 02:33 - 09:54 (07:20)

So the word Advent comes from the Latin, add the Nirei to come to. And you'll sometimes see the word Adventus, which means arrival. So from a religious perspective, Advent is part of Christian religious preparation for Christmas. Just as a note of clarity, like we were talking about non-Orthodox, like not not the Orthodox churches, but like Catholicism,

most Protestant denominations. Right. There are other versions of Advent within those other religions, but they, they're on a slightly different calendar and they don't track quite the same way.

Right. So the common version of Advent that our listeners are probably most familiar with runs over four Sundays leading up to Christmas ending on Christmas Eve. So for example, the year that we're recording this in 2023, Advent is on the shorter side because Christmas Eve is on a Sunday. So this is from Sunday, December 3rd to Sunday, December 24th. This period is intended to be a time of reflection and preparation for the Christmas holiday. And it's also considered a preparation for the second coming of Christ in, I would say in some denominations. That was like not a big part of it in my upbringing.

Yeah, there are some Catholic churches that really go in on that in my experience and some that do

not. So some churches celebrated it more generally as a season to focus on and honor Christ. Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year and depending on the denomination, Advent celebrations might include an Advent wreath with those four Sundays represented. Those Sundays usually each have their own theme. A lot of times it's hope, peace, joy and love. And the use of a wreath to celebrate Advent is tied to German Lutheran Johann Vickern, who introduced it as a visual countdown to Christmas in his church at a home for boys in 1838.

And we'll come back to that. Advent has been around at least since the 4th century when Bishop Perpetus of Tours set up a pre Christmas fast as part of his church's calendar. Similar pre Christmas observations rapidly spread to other parts of Europe and it took different forms then often dependent on location. So there was a version of it that lasted for six Sundays. Pope Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great, reduced it to four Sundays during his papacy that ran from 590 to 604. And while they appear to have been some efforts to confine Advent just to December, that timeframe was not adopted by the Catholic Church, right? So Advent can start in November. The longer version may have been intended to include epiphany. That would account for that six weeks that goes past Christmas and beyond. But that's a little bit unclear. It doesn't really match up to some of the original dates mentioned, but there is a pretty popular theory that includes epiphany in that early instances of Advent may have tied not just to a Christmas countdown, but to the preparation for the baptisms that would normally happen to coincide with epiphany. The start of the Advent season, going back to Bishop Perpetus, appears to have initially coincided with the death of St. Martin in a fast that follows the feast of St. Martin. That begins in early November. So that would have initially included the stretch from early November to Christmas, not into January. And that might account for the six Sunday length.

By the 18th century, the idea of Advent had been deeply cemented as an important part of the religious calendar. There had also been more lore and tradition established regarding Advent. In the 1775 book, the moveable feasts, fasts and other annual observances of the Catholic Church, the Reverend Dr. Albin Butler wrote this about Advent. Quote, Advent is a time of penance and devotion before Christmas, appointed by the church to serve as a preparation to that great solemnity of the birth of Christ. Festivals were commanded by God himself in the old law to commemorate his principal benefits and mercies that men might be more perfectly instructed in them. Bear them always in mind, be always thankful for them, and stirred up to dispose themselves to receive the fruits of these wonderful mysteries. The festivals of the new law of grace ought to be celebrated with so much the greater preparation and devotion as the mysteries which we commemorate transcend those of the old law, which how wonderful of ever were no more than weak types and figures and empty shadows of them.

By the time of Butler's writing, the rules of Advent timing within the Catholic Church were firmly established, though he notes that there continued to be differing observations regionally. He establishes the four Sundays of Advent as falling from the Sunday nearest St. Andrews day on either side of it. So even if the Sunday was before it or after it, whichever was closest, that's where it started. He also notes in the text that a 40 day advent was in place at one time as a sort of parallel to Lent and was established in 581 at the Council of Macomb. That version was 40 days no matter how many Sundays were involved. It was also sometimes called St. Martin's Lent rather than Advent. Butler also notes that in Milan in the late 18th century, the six week Advent, which includes six Sundays, was still being observed when he wrote this. So late 18th century. According to Butler's research, in the 10th century, Pope Nicholas I also endorsed the four Sunday version rather than 40 days. Up to that point, monks in England and Ireland particularly had continued to observe the 40 day rule fasting most of the day and then eating one meal in the evening. Butler concludes his discussion of the varying Advent calendar dates by saying quote, almost the whole Latin church in conformity with the Roman has long since reduced advent to the uniform rule of four weeks or at least four Sundays, beginning about the end of November from the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Andrew. So

we just mentioned fasting and even the rules around that have been wildly different depending on the time and place that Council of Macomb in 581 that we mentioned laid out a proposed fasting schedule of three days a week Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the whole 40 days. And even on days that weren't fasting days, meat was to be avoided. Some churches encouraged both fasting and quote, abstinence from cohabitation in the married state. Some observances of Advent focused more on spiritual preparation for the Christmas holiday and its meaning within the church rather than requiring physical observation through fasting or abstinence from sexual intercourse. Even in Butler's book, he notes that quote, in monastic orders, the fast of Advent has always been looked upon as less rigorous and less solemn than that of Lent. The bottom line is that even though there are church recognized dates and practices of Advent, even within any religious denomination, different areas or even individual churches can still define for themselves a lot of the specifics about how this period is observed and celebrated.

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🎧 02:33 - 09:54 (07:20)

So the word Advent comes from the Latin, add the Nirei to come to. And you'll sometimes see the word Adventus, which means arrival. So from a religious perspective, Advent is part of Christian religious preparation for Christmas. Just as a note of clarity, like we were talking about non-Orthodox, like not not the Orthodox churches, but like Catholicism,

most Protestant denominations. Right. There are other versions of Advent within those other religions, but they, they're on a slightly different calendar and they don't track quite the same way.

Right. So the common version of Advent that our listeners are probably most familiar with runs over four Sundays leading up to Christmas ending on Christmas Eve. So for example, the year that we're recording this in 2023, Advent is on the shorter side because Christmas Eve is on a Sunday. So this is from Sunday, December 3rd to Sunday, December 24th. This period is intended to be a time of reflection and preparation for the Christmas holiday. And it's also considered a preparation for the second coming of Christ in, I would say in some denominations. That was like not a big part of it in my upbringing.

Yeah, there are some Catholic churches that really go in on that in my experience and some that do

not. So some churches celebrated it more generally as a season to focus on and honor Christ. Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year and depending on the denomination, Advent celebrations might include an Advent wreath with those four Sundays represented. Those Sundays usually each have their own theme. A lot of times it's hope, peace, joy and love. And the use of a wreath to celebrate Advent is tied to German Lutheran Johann Vickern, who introduced it as a visual countdown to Christmas in his church at a home for boys in 1838.

And we'll come back to that. Advent has been around at least since the 4th century when Bishop Perpetus of Tours set up a pre Christmas fast as part of his church's calendar. Similar pre Christmas observations rapidly spread to other parts of Europe and it took different forms then often dependent on location. So there was a version of it that lasted for six Sundays. Pope Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great, reduced it to four Sundays during his papacy that ran from 590 to 604. And while they appear to have been some efforts to confine Advent just to December, that timeframe was not adopted by the Catholic Church, right? So Advent can start in November. The longer version may have been intended to include epiphany. That would account for that six weeks that goes past Christmas and beyond. But that's a little bit unclear. It doesn't really match up to some of the original dates mentioned, but there is a pretty popular theory that includes epiphany in that early instances of Advent may have tied not just to a Christmas countdown, but to the preparation for the baptisms that would normally happen to coincide with epiphany. The start of the Advent season, going back to Bishop Perpetus, appears to have initially coincided with the death of St. Martin in a fast that follows the feast of St. Martin. That begins in early November. So that would have initially included the stretch from early November to Christmas, not into January. And that might account for the six Sunday length.

By the 18th century, the idea of Advent had been deeply cemented as an important part of the religious calendar. There had also been more lore and tradition established regarding Advent. In the 1775 book, the moveable feasts, fasts and other annual observances of the Catholic Church, the Reverend Dr. Albin Butler wrote this about Advent. Quote, Advent is a time of penance and devotion before Christmas, appointed by the church to serve as a preparation to that great solemnity of the birth of Christ. Festivals were commanded by God himself in the old law to commemorate his principal benefits and mercies that men might be more perfectly instructed in them. Bear them always in mind, be always thankful for them, and stirred up to dispose themselves to receive the fruits of these wonderful mysteries. The festivals of the new law of grace ought to be celebrated with so much the greater preparation and devotion as the mysteries which we commemorate transcend those of the old law, which how wonderful of ever were no more than weak types and figures and empty shadows of them.

By the time of Butler's writing, the rules of Advent timing within the Catholic Church were firmly established, though he notes that there continued to be differing observations regionally. He establishes the four Sundays of Advent as falling from the Sunday nearest St. Andrews day on either side of it. So even if the Sunday was before it or after it, whichever was closest, that's where it started. He also notes in the text that a 40 day advent was in place at one time as a sort of parallel to Lent and was established in 581 at the Council of Macomb. That version was 40 days no matter how many Sundays were involved. It was also sometimes called St. Martin's Lent rather than Advent. Butler also notes that in Milan in the late 18th century, the six week Advent, which includes six Sundays, was still being observed when he wrote this. So late 18th century. According to Butler's research, in the 10th century, Pope Nicholas I also endorsed the four Sunday version rather than 40 days. Up to that point, monks in England and Ireland particularly had continued to observe the 40 day rule fasting most of the day and then eating one meal in the evening. Butler concludes his discussion of the varying Advent calendar dates by saying quote, almost the whole Latin church in conformity with the Roman has long since reduced advent to the uniform rule of four weeks or at least four Sundays, beginning about the end of November from the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Andrew. So

we just mentioned fasting and even the rules around that have been wildly different depending on the time and place that Council of Macomb in 581 that we mentioned laid out a proposed fasting schedule of three days a week Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the whole 40 days. And even on days that weren't fasting days, meat was to be avoided. Some churches encouraged both fasting and quote, abstinence from cohabitation in the married state. Some observances of Advent focused more on spiritual preparation for the Christmas holiday and its meaning within the church rather than requiring physical observation through fasting or abstinence from sexual intercourse. Even in Butler's book, he notes that quote, in monastic orders, the fast of Advent has always been looked upon as less rigorous and less solemn than that of Lent. The bottom line is that even though there are church recognized dates and practices of Advent, even within any religious denomination, different areas or even individual churches can still define for themselves a lot of the specifics about how this period is observed and celebrated.

Created with Snipd | Highlight & Take Notes from Podcasts