CHRONOLOGICAL CALCULATIONS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE ORIGIN OF THE TRADITIONAL DATES OF CHRISTMAS AND THE EPIPHANY

Abstract

The analysis of the chronological information presented by Clement of Alexandria inChapter 21 of his «Stromata» reveals some chronological systems which served as a basis forthe works of the famous Christian apologist Clement of Alexandria. One of these systemsbased on the Egyptian calendar relates the creation of the world to the autumnal equinox.This system is connected with the Alexandrian Judaic-Hellenistic tradition. It’s due to thistradition that Christmas is celebrated on the sixth of January or the eleventh of Tybi accord-ing to the fixed Egyptian calendar. Clement himself considered this date as the date of theEpiphany. According to the flexible Egyptian calendar, which was widely used among schol-ars, the same date corresponds to the 25thof December, 27 A.D. and is considered to be thedate of the Epiphany. This fact allows us to assume that 25 December as the recently knowndate of Christmas is closely related to the early Egyptian tradition. This hypothesis enables usto explain the traditional Roman date of the Crucifixion, namely 25 March, which was testi-fied to by Tertullian at the turn of the third century