What Christians should know about Advent

Most Christians celebrate Advent, yet nowhere in the Bible does it mention it or command it to be celebrated. So, where did this tradition originate from, and why do most Christians celebrate it?

The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming” or “arrival.” Further, in Greek, “Advent” is parousia—a word used to represent the coming of Christ in human flesh and his Second Coming.

Christians generally celebrate Advent beginning the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve. It anticipates Christmas, the day of celebrating Christ’s birth, and points toward Christ’s Second Coming.

Christ’s birth was not celebrated for the first three centuries after he was born. In the first century, the early Church set aside one day a week as the Lord’s Day. In the second century, they established Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. By the third century, the Church leaders established Epiphany, which celebrated, God’s incarnation on January 6 at the time when the Magi visited Jesus.

In preparation for the Epiphany, the Council of Saragossa (380 AD) said, “For twenty-one days [starting the 17th of December], to be absent from the Church is not allowed, but rather everyone should frequent it daily.” For the 21 days, later changed to 40 days, it was common for Christians to spend in penance, prayer, and fasting leading up to the Epiphany.

At some point, the Romans set Christmas on the Roman calendar as December 25, a day to honor Jesus’s birthday. However, most Christians did not celebrate Christmas, viewing the Epiphany as more important. It was not until the late fourth century that Christians began observing Christmas. Also, around the late fifth century, they began to join the observation of Advent with Christ’s birth, using it not as a preparation for Epiphany but for the celebration of Christmas.

This change can be seen when the Council of Tours (563 AD) and the Council of Mâcon (581 AD) gave guidelines about observing Advent before Christmas. It can also be seen when Saint Gregory of Tours (490 AD) says of the monks, “They should observe fasting every day during the month of December, up to Christmas day.”

Later Gregory the Great (590-604) reduced the six-week observance of Advent, to the four-week season that Christians still follow today.

Today, Christians anticipate Christmas through Advent in many different ways. They use Advent calendars, special devotionals, an Advent wreath and candles, nativity scenes, Christmas hymns, Scripture readings, prayers, and reflections.

Dr. Mark Mitchell, Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Government at PHC, celebrates Advent by reading On the Incarnation by Athanasius. The week before Advent began, he emailed all PHC’s faculty, staff, and students to invite them to read On the Incarnation with him.

He said, “During this season of Advent, which is both a season of repentance and preparation, may we all reflect with gratitude on the miracle of Christ’s Incarnation, nativity, passion, death, and resurrection. Thanks be to God.”

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