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THE CHRISTMAS AND THE THEOPHANY: is one of the five major feasts of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is dedicated to the birthday and the baptism of God’s son; Jesus Christ. The first mention of the Lord's birthday celebration was in the third century AD. In the East Christ’s birth celebration was associated with the Theophany; the celebration of the baptism on January the 6th. However, in 336 AD, the Holy Church of Rome has officially decided that Christ’s birth celebration would be fixed on 25th of December. Fixing this date probably was intended replacing the popular feast of the deity of the sun; Mithra’s celebration day with the feast of the sun of justice; Jesus Christ’s birthday. Later, starting with Assyria (nowadays` Syria) in the fourth century, and the rest of the East in the mid-fifth century (Alexandria, Antioquia, Constantinople) have changed Christ’s birthday celebration into 25th of December, and the date January the 6th stayed as the day of the Theophany. In 451 AD, the council of Chalcedon has finalized 25th of December as the birth date of Jesus Christ, whilst the Church of Jerusalem continued to celebrate it on January the 6th until 549 AD. It is only the Armenian Apostolic Church that remained on 6th of January as a fixed date to celebrate the birth and baptism of Jesus Christ. This is the first holy feast of the year calendar of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The ritual starts at the evening of January the 5th, with the Candlelight ceremony, preceded by a seven-day fasting period. The holy liturgy is accompanied by the announcement of the good tiding “Christ is Born and Revealed”. After the liturgy the fast is solved, and the festivity season begins, which lasts until 13th of the same month. During these days, Christians greet each other with this tiding expression “Christ is Born and Revealed”, and the response is “Great tidings to you and us”. The main ceremony took place on January the 6th, through the holy liturgy that includes the majestic blessing performance of the water of the well. It refers to the baptism of the lord and the great presid of the sanctification of the water. On January the 7th, like all the major feasts of the Church; it is followed by the Commemoration Day when the believers visit the graveyards of their loved ones after the holy liturgy. The celebrations end on the 13th of January; with the naming ceremony of Jesus Christ. This celebration is dedicated to the process of bringing seven-day old baby Jesus to the church, and to his circumcision process on the 8th day.                                     

Ritual Music:

The ritual music of Christmas is attributed to the father of the Armenians historians Movses of Khoren (according to the sources; Movses’ music of Christmas, Candlemass Day and the Assumption Day of Holy Virgin Mary, are 120 songs in total), the most popular one amongst them is “The Great Presid”. There are two popular spiritual songs that performed during the ceremony of Water Blessing; “The Magnificent One” by Gregory III Pahlavuni (12th century AD), “Today; With the Paternal Voice” by Hovhannes of Yerzengaie (13th century AD) and “Multitudes Angels” by Nersess the Graceful.

Iconography:

According to the gospels Mathews and Lucas, the birth of Christ has a rich iconography in the Christian Art. It is also considered one of the exceptional and current arts in the traditional atmosphere; it is a striving fresh formation topic. The scenes of Christ’s birth which includes the oldest illustrated examples of ancient Palestine are preserved on the walls of the primitive cave churches in Cappadocia and on the silk drapery of Rome’s Saint Sanctorum. The famous monumental slab of Odzoun, and the “Worship of the Mages” miniature of the “Gospel of Holy Echmiadzin”, which dates back to the (6th century AD); are considered amongst the oldest Armenian models that represents the motif of the Christmas. According to the Christian belief, baby Jesus, son of God, was born in the famous cave of Bethlehem, and probably was wrapped in cloths or might was just naked. On his right side stood Virgin Mary, while on the left side there was an ox and a donkey. In the upper part it is commonly depicted the Angles, while in the lower part there were the shepherds and the mages. Whereas on the front side of the image, and in the lowest part of it; stands the notable Saint Joseph. Sometimes, in this part, there is the depiction of Eve and Solemia bathing the baby Christ in the pool. The finest implementations of the theme in the Armenian Art are the miniatures produced by Toros Rasslini, Gregory Tsaghkouni, Hovhannes Sandghakavanetsi, and also the fresco painting of the church of Saint Akhtamar Monastery (921 AD).                            

Source: Encyclopedia of “Christian Armenia”, editor in chief Hovhannes Ayvazyan, Yerevan, 2002, page 939-940. (in Armenian).