Early Church on birthdays

[Stratory]

Does anyone here know of any early christians references that speak of birthdays in a positive light? I have heard that origin mentions them in a negative way. But do you know of any positive references? If anyone could help with this I would be most gratefu. Thanks so much.

Stratory

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Stratory,

It is good to read your question and have you here in the discussion community. I hope that you'll register for a full account and fill in a profile so that we can get to know you a bit during these discussions.

Your question on views towards birthdays in the early Church struck an interest in me, as I've not directly considered it before. I've gathered together here a few references in early Church writings which might be of interest to you. Where possible, I've provided links to the texts themselves on CCEL (but do keep in mind that the CCEL versions of the texts have many shortcomings).

In general, the Church has never made a great deal out of the birthdays of its members. In the early Church this certainly was, at least partially, a reaction to the celebration of birthdays in the pagan culture by which Christians were surrounded. It was at least common for emperors and imperial nobility to celebrate the anniversary of their birth each year with lavish festivities that served both to entertain and to promote their own popularity; it is less certain how usual it may have been for the 'common man' to engage in personal versions of such celebrations. But the larger, imperial birthday celebrations were certainly grand, and apparently common throughout the Empire and surrounding lands:

Eusebius, in his Church History, in the somewhat disputable eighth book (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-01/Npnf2-01-13.htm) (ch. 6, section 1), mentions the birthday celebrations held by Maximinus (the Emperor and 'tyrant', as Eusebius' characterises him -- certainly correctly), noting that they were magnificent in their grandeur. St Justin Martyr, one of the earliest Christian apologists, writes (in Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 49 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-48.htm#P4443_921903)) of the celebration held by Herodias in honour of her husband's birthday, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, presenting the idea of a royal birthday being celebrated as nothing out of the ordinary. St John Chrysostom, in a commentary on the same Gospel passage (Homily 48 on Matthew (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-10/npnf1-10-54.htm#P4613_1457513)), notes the same.

There is some evidence in Church texts that birthday celebrations may also have been kept among non-imperial persons; i.e. among the common faithful. Canon 52 of the Council of Laodicea (accepted by the universal Church via Canon 1 of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon) notes that 'Marriages and birthday feasts are not to be celebrated in Lent', implying that such celebrations were common enough to warrant a canonical prohibition during the Lenten fast. Blessed Augustine of Hippo implies that same kind of common practice of birthday commemorations in a text written against the Donatists (Answer to the Letters of Petilian, bk. II, ch. 23 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-04/npnf1-04-61.htm)). In this passage he mentions the Donatists' fondness for one of their rank (whom Augustine obviously condemns); but the point of interest is that in his chastising them for granting holy rites to schismatic persons (e.g. the kiss of peace, the sacraments), Augustine also mentions their keeping of the man's birthday 'in large assemblies' -- once again implying that such birthday celebrations may have been fairly common in non-imperial circles.

But there is definitely a strand of strong disapproval of birthday commemorations among Christian writers of the early period. You have already mentioned Origen. Keeping aside for the moment the troubles caused by his speculative philosophy, Origen was certainly not alone in the general sentiment he expressed when writing: 'A certain one of those before us has observed what is written in Genesis about the birthday of Pharaoh, and has told that the worthless man who loves things connected with birth keeps birthday festivals; and we, taking this suggestion from him, find in no Scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man' (Second Tome of the Commentary on Matthew, bk. X, ch. 22 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-10/anf10-46.htm#P7496_1545418)). Plotinus, the greatly influential philosopher, also immensely disliked birthdays as celebratory of the material nature of the body which he saw as inherently evil. Tertullian, another Christian writer with a troubled history in terms of his lifetime adherence to orthodox teaching, seemed to despise birthdays for a rather more immediate cause: it seems that the idols of the Pagan culture around him were honoured each year on their 'birthday' in festivities that Tertullian saw as 'every pomp of the Devil' (On Idolotry, ch. 10 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-03/anf03-07.htm#P696_294231)).

Still, not all Christian mentions of birthday celebrations are negative (see again the rather impassive references, noted above). But generally the term 'birthday' was re-assigned, in the early Church, from the anniversary of one's physical birth to the anniversary of a date on which a special grace was received by God. St Leo the Great used the term on more than one occasion to refer to the date of his episcopal consecration (see Sermon II (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-12/Npnf2-12-174.htm#LOC_P2752_628992) and Sermon III (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-12/Npnf2-12-175.htm#LOC_P2769_633599)).

By far the most common use of the term 'birthday', however, is in commemoration of the date of the death of a martyr. From the very earliest times, the Church seems to have understood this moment of martyrdom as that in which the Christian is ultimately 'reborn' into the Kingdom of Christ -- the one true birth that is the real entrance into definitive, eternal life. Eusebius offers what is probably the earliest record of such usage in his recollections of the holy martyr Polycarp (Church History bk. IV, ch. 15, section 44 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-01/Npnf2-01-09.htm#P2348_1110720)), but it became widespread so soon in Christian history that it is difficult to know when it first became common. Tertullian recollects that, with regard to the Christian departed, 'As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honours' (De Corona ch. 3 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-03/anf03-10.htm#P1019_415012)); and rather well summarises the view common in the early Church in commenting elsewhere on the symbol of the Phoenix as the bird whose 'dying day is its birth-day' (De resurrectione carnis 13 (http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-04/Npnf2-04-05.htm)).

In general, the day of one's birth was not held in nearly such high regard as other dates in a person's life; such as the date of baptism, ordination, martyrdom, or the reception of some other major grace from God. These dates came to be those primarily celebrated among Christians; and soon the celebration of one's Name Day (i.e. the date on which one's name saint is commemorated) began to take precedence. But apart from a few examples of individuals (e.g. Origen) who viewed one's biological birthday in a specifically negative light, such a commemoration will not have been generally disliked in any strong way among Christians, as obviously one's birth is a holy moment and the body one receives therein is a blessed gift (hence, for example, the commemoration of the birthdays of Christ, the Mother of God, many saints, etc). But attention tended to be focused on other religious events in one's life.

I hope this might be of some help to you.

INXC, Matthew