Clement of Alexandria and the Original date of Christmas as December 25th

Previously I posted a summary of my article which I added as an appendix to my translation of Hippolytus of Rome’s Commentary on Daniel.  In it I argue that Hippolytus did in fact believe that Jesus was born on December 25. After I wrote this appendix  I added a shorter appendix on Clement of Alexandria which I am posting online here. Below is the article itself but without footnotes, I didn’t have nearly as much time to research this article as I had with the previous one, comments are welcome.

Aside from Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria (wrote 193-215 AD) is the other writer with a claim to being the earliest person to date the birth of Jesus.  In his work entitled “Stromata” he writes:

From the birth of Christ, therefore, to the death of Commodus are, in all, 194 years, 1 month, 13 days. And there are those who have determined not only the year of our Savior’s genesis, but even the day, which they say took place in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus on the 25th of Pachon… And treating of his passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the sixteenth year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth, but others the 25th of Pharmuthi and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi the Savior suffered. Indeed, others say that he came to be on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi.” ~Stromata 1.21.145-146 [my translation]

Here is a summary of the dates Clement gives for Jesus, conception, birth, and death:

Conception=24th or 25th of Pharmuthi;   25th of Pachon
Birth=194 years, 1 month, 13 days from the death of Commodus
Death=25th of Phamenoth; 19th or 25th of Pharmuthi

Clement’s dates for Jesus’ life are difficult to determine because he may have used a mobile Egyptian calendar  and because he gives different dates for Commodus’ reign in other places in this work .  However, one can safely conclude that Clement seems to be using the same method of calculating Jesus’ conception, birth, and death as Hippolytus.

Clearly Clement believed that Jesus died on the Passover which, like Hippolytus, he places on either the 25th of Phamenoth, the Vernal Equinox in the Egyptian Calendar, or the 19th or 25th of Pharmuthi.

He further believes that Jesus was conceived on the 25th of Pachon or the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi, of which the latter two dates correspond closely to two of the three dates of the Passover he gives for Jesus’ death, just like Hippolytus.  (Clement clearly believed that the term “genesis” referred to conception because he says so specifically in the same work “It is not therefore frequent intercourse by the parents, but the reception of it [the seed] in the womb which corresponds with genesis.” ~Clement of Alexandria Stromata 3.12.83.2)

Lastly, like Hippolytus, he believes Jesus was born sometime in late fall or early winter, given Commodus’ date of death. [Dio Cassius (73.22.4-5) says that Commodus died on December 31st 193 AD. Using this date Clement would have believed Jesus was born in mid November. However if he was using the Egyptian mobile calendar he could have been referring to as late as early January. This calendar only had 365 days and no leap years so it lost roughly one day ever 4 years. See Mosshammer (2008) p.18.]

Now because Clement believed Jesus was conceived on the 24th or 25th of a month it seems likely he would place his birth on the 24th or the 25th of a month, which could very well correspond to December 25th.

In summary Clement seems to quote sources which used the same method as Hippolytus himself to calculate Jesus’ conception, birth, and death .  Clement, like Hippolytus, dates Jesus’ death to the Passover and possibly also the Vernal Equinox, he seems to date his conception to the Passover, and he dates his birth to late fall or early winter.  He also gives 4 different dates that are on the 25th of a month, coinciding with Hippolytus’ belief that Jesus was conceived, born, and died all on the 25th of a month.  Given that Clement is quoting from several sources it is quite possible that one of his sources actually includes Hippolytus himself.

In a few weeks I hope to post some new testimonies that I’ve discovered concerning Papias.  I have never seen them published before, they are nothing earth shattering but interesting nonetheless.