Circumcision of the lord

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Depiction around 1475 on the Pacher Altar in St. Wolfgang

On the feast of the circumcision of the Lord ( Latin Circumcisio Domini ), also called the circumcision festival (Latin Festum circumcisionis ), several denominations commemorate the circumcision of Jesus eight days after the feast of his birth. The circumcision festival is celebrated on January 1st, the octave day of Christmas .

Biblical report

Circumcision of Jesus, Brabant winged retable, around 1480

In the second chapter , the evangelist Luke reports that Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day of his life according to Jewish custom ( Gen 17: 10-14  EU ) . At the same time, and this is what Lk 2.21  EU emphasizes, the name Jesus was given to him.

History of the festival

In the dispute with the docetists who contested the incarnation , circumcision was used as an argument that Jesus Christ is "true man and true God".

In Spain and Gaul a festival "Circumcision and naming of the Lord" developed in the course of the 6th century . Century was also taken over by Rome. In the Roman Catholic Church, the festival was celebrated until the reform of 1969 .

Beginning of the year

Today's usual beginning of the year on January 1st was just one of many common ones in the Middle Ages. Medievalists therefore refer to it as the “ circumcision style ”.

present

In the Orthodox Churches , the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Syro-Malabar Church, as well as the Anglican Church , the circumcision and the naming of Christ on January 1st are still commemorated today, as is the case in some Old Catholic and Protestant churches. The Roman Catholic Church commits since the renewed basic order of the liturgical year from 1969 January 1 as the Octave of Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God , the daily Gospel continues Luke 2.16 to 21 (Circumcision of Jesus). The festival still exists today in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite .

In 2018 the theologian Jan-Heiner Tück promoted the reintroduction of the festival in the Roman Catholic Church: as a reminder of the Jewish identity of Jesus and - in the sense of ecumenism - as a return to the practice of the other Christian churches, which kept the festival of circumcision. The theologian Manfred Hauke contradicted his argument by pointing out that the associated abolition of the solemn feast of the Mother of God, which is currently in the Catholic liturgical calendar, would abolish the Marian commemoration in the Christmas festival group, which is closely linked to the Incarnation of the Son of God.

See also

literature

  • Hans-Helmar Auel (Ed.): Undiscovered holidays: the church year as a festival of faith (= service to the word , volume 89). Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-59353-8 .
  • Alfred Kall: Church year and customs: material book for religious instruction. Kössel, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-466-36310-1 .
  • Udo Körner: God on the wrong track: Texts for Advent and Christmas. Pustet, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7917-1813-4 .

Web links

Commons : Circumcision of Jesus  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Proof of circumcision . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 2, Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig / Vienna 1905, p.  750 .
  2. Hans-Helmar Auel (ed.): Undiscovered holidays: the church year as a festival of faith. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 978-3-525-59353-0 , p. 27. In Google books
  3. In most Orthodox churches, the liturgical festivals are still celebrated according to the Julian calendar . January 1st then falls - currently - on January 14th of the Gregorian calendar .
  4. Jesus was a Jew. And it would be a strong sign against anti-Semitism if the Catholic Church would remind people of this again . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , December 29, 2018.
  5. Not a suitable remedy for anti-Semitism . In: Die Tagespost , January 7, 2019.