An illustration of the ancient Roman Calendar of 354 A.D. (Chronograph of Filocalus), which marks December 25 as “Natalis Invicti” (Birth of the Unconquered Sun). Not Yeshua!
Why Sextus Julius Africanus and the Early Fathers Do Not Justify **“Christmas”**
In every age, the people of God face the same temptation: to cling to what comforts the emotions, even when it requires reshaping history or softening truth. In our own time, this temptation has resurfaced with renewed vigor around the defense of Christmas—not merely as a cultural observance, but as something now being retrofitted into the practices of the “early church”.
“Declare The Word; and stand by it zealously in season and out of season; rebuke, reprove, through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when men will not listen to sound doctrine; but they will add for themselves other teachers for the itching in their ears; and they will turn away their ears from The Truth, and they will turn to fables.” 2 Tim 2-3
To accomplish this, modern teachers increasingly appeal to early Christian writers, especially Sextus Julius Africanus, Hippolytus, and others, implying that December 25 was universally recognized and celebrated by the earliest believers, free from pagan syncretism. This claim collapses under scrutiny. It is a very seductive deceit.
What follows is not an attack on sentiment, nor a denial of sincere devotion. It is a call to historical honesty, biblical sobriety, and pastoral responsibility.
1. Sextus Julius Africanus: Chronologist, Not Liturgist
Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160–240 CE) is often cited as the “earliest witness” to December 25. The claim rests on fragments of his lost work, Chronographiai, preserved later by writers such as Eusebius and George Syncellus.
What Africanus actually did
Africanus was engaged in chronology:
•Synchronizing biblical genealogies
•Dating Creation
•Aligning Israelite history with Greek Olympiads and Roman reigns
Within that framework, he calculated:
•The conception of Yeshua as March 25, based on Jewish ideas of integral age (prophets conceived and dying on the same calendar date). This was an honest effort, but not rooted in sound Biblical interpretation. He did not understand the Jewish feasts completely.
•Led to a birth calculation of December 25. The anchor date and focus was March 25
What Africanus did not do
•He did not institute a feast called ‘christ mass’.
•He did not prescribe worship, nor even indicate any celebration whatsoever.
•He did not describe a “Mass”.
•He did not attach theological meaning to the date itself
There is no evidence—none—that Africanus or his contemporaries celebrated an annual Nativity festival.
Africanus himself demonstrates restraint elsewhere:
•In his Letter to Origen, he rejects the Susanna narrative as a later Greek fabrication, showing concern for textual integrity and resistance to myth-making. Santa and his reindeer, his ‘north pole workshop’, and his divine attributes are nothing but mythical.
To conscript Africanus as a defender of “Christmas” is to violate his own method.
Primary sources:
•Africanus fragments preserved in Eusebius, Chronicle
• George Syncellus, Chronography
•Africanus, Letter to Origen (on Susanna)
2. Hippolytus of Rome: A Disputed Line, Not a Feast
Hippolytus (c. 170–235) is another favorite citation, often via a line in his Commentary on Daniel that appears to date Yeshua’s birth to December 25.
Scholars note:
•The line appears in later manuscripts
•Its originality is textually disputed; in other words, he may not have even said it.
•Even if authentic, it is—again—chronological, not liturgical
There is:
•No mention of celebration
•No annual observance
•No ecclesial enforcement
A date on questionable parchment does not equal a holy day in practice.
Primary source:
•Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel (textual tradition debated)
3. Clement of Alexandria: Evidence Against Christmas
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–215) unintentionally dismantles the early-Christmas argument.
In Stromata 1.21, Clement notes that some Christians speculated about Yeshua’s birth. These are Greek, gentile believers who largely already divorced themselves from the Judaic foundation:
•April
•May
•November
What is decisive:
• December 25 is not mentioned
•Clement treats the discussion as speculative curiosity, not worship
If December 25 were a recognized feast, Clement—writing in one of Christianity’s intellectual centers—would have known.
Primary source:
•Clement, Stromata 1.21
4. Origen: Birthdays as Pagan Practice
Origen (c. 185–253), one of the most influential theologians of the pre-Constantinian “church”, speaks plainly:
Only sinners—Pharaoh and Herod—celebrate their birthdays. (cf. Homilies on Leviticus)
For Origen:
•Birthday celebrations were pagan
•Not fitting for saints
•Certainly not appropriate for the Messiah
This alone makes an early Nativity feast theologically implausible.
Primary source:
•Origen, Homilies on Leviticus (and parallels)
5. Tertullian’s Silence
Tertullian (c. 155–240) is meticulous in describing Christian practice:
•Pascha (Passover, later dubbed ‘Easter’)
•Fasting cycles
•Martyr commemorations
He says nothing about a birth feast.
Silence from such a detailed writer is not accidental.
Primary sources:
•Tertullian, De Corona
• Ad Nationes
• Apology
6. When December 25 Becomes a Feast
The first clear evidence of December 25 as a Christian feast appears in Rome, mid-4th century:
• Depositio Martyrum (354 CE)
This is:
•Post-Constantine
•Post-Nicaea (325 CE)
•Within the rise of imperial Christianity [where the ‘church’ was married to the state, and forced people into submission, exiled Jewish believers, and eventually killed anyone who disagreed].
This period also coincides with:
• Sol Invictus (Dec 25) seen on the Roman calendar from this timeframe in the image above
• Saturnalia (Dec 16-25) seen on the Roman calendar from this timeframe in the image above
•State-level religious consolidation
•Mission strategy toward pagan populations
This is not speculation—it is chronology.
7. “Christ-Mass” Is Inherently Catholic and Post-Nicene
A final clarification must be made plainly.
A Mass requires:
•A sacrificial priesthood [did not exist with Sextus Africanus, or anyone pre-Constantine]
•A developed, catholic Eucharistic theology [did not exist with Sextus Africanus, or anyone pre-Constantine]
•A fixed liturgical calendar [did not exist with Sextus Africanus, or anyone pre-Constantine, except the Judaic festal calendar which many early believers, Jewish and Gentile, still kept; see James Parkes’ “Conflict…”]
•Centralized ecclesial authority [did not exist with Sextus Africanus, or anyone pre-Constantine; the congregations were independent]
These elements do not exist in apostolic or sub-apostolic “Christianity”.
Whatever one believes theologically about apostolic succession, historically:
•The Catholic Church as an institutional system emerges after 325 CE
•Christmas as a Mass belongs to that system: it’s in the name.
To claim otherwise is theology posed as history.
8. A Firm and Compassionate Rebuke
This must be said with clarity and charity:
To teachers who use Africanus, Hippolytus, or the early fathers to retrofit Christmas into the early church:
you are not guarding the flock—you are scratching itching ears.
You are collapsing:
•Chronology into celebration
•Calculation into command
•Later tradition into apostolic practice; The Apostles were Jews who celebrated God’s Appointed Times. “Unprove” that with scripture, and I’ll be right there with you.
This does not strengthen faith; it weakens trust.
Believers deserve the truth:
•Even when it challenges cherished customs
•Even when it separates devotion from tradition
Christmas may be emotionally meaningful. That is not the question. The question is whether it is biblical and historically honest to claim it as apostolic.
On that point, the early sources are clear.
“We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” — 2 Corinthians 13:8
Let us love the people of God enough to tell them the truth—without myth, without fear, and without apology. Protestants who appeal to ‘early church history’ in order to support Christmas are being very Catholic. We have SEVEN feasts from God, which beautifully paint the whole picture of Yeshua’s Saving ministry, both His first appearing, and His eventual second appearing. Christmas is a horrible distraction celebrated by Christians, pagans, unbelievers, and every ilk the world over, it is a perversion of truth, and an emotional millstone that keeps people anchored in myth and not truth.