Today the Church remembers Pope St. Julius, Bishop of Rome
Ora pro nobis.
Julius was a native of Rome and the son the son of a Roman named Rusticus. He was elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337 AD. Julius was soon involved in the Arian controversy, which not only made him famous but also was the origin for the Catholic belief that the Bishop of Rome is the head of the Church with universal jurisdiction.
Arianism is the rejected, heretical belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father, with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before "time" by God the Father; therefore, Jesus was not coeternal with God the Father, but at the same time Jesus began to exist outside time as time applies only to the creations of God. Jesus was therefore considered a creature but not like the other creatures. The First Ecumenical Council of Nicea rejected this teaching. St. Athanasius I, Pope of Alexandria (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373 AD), also called Athanasius the Great, was the chief defender of Trinitarianism against Arianism . In addition to the conflict with the Arians (including powerful and influential Arian churchmen led by Eusebius of Nicomedia, the new Patriarch of Constantinople), he struggled against the Emperors Constantine, Constantius II, Julian the Apostate and Valens (all supporters of Arianism). He was deposed and exiled from Alexandria five times by Arian heretics. After the followers of Eusebius of Nicomedia, who had recently become the patriarch of Constantinople, renewed their deposition of Athanasius of Alexandria at a synod held in Antioch in 341 AD, they resolved to send delegates to Constans, emperor of the West, and also to Julius, Bishop of Rome, setting forth the grounds on which they had proceeded. Julius, after expressing an opinion favourable to Athanasius, adroitly invited both parties to lay the case before a synod to be presided over by himself. This proposal, however, the Arian Eastern bishops declined to accept. On the second banishment of Athanasius from Alexandria, he came to Rome, and was recognised as a regular bishop by the synod presided over by Julius in 342 AD. Julius sent a letter to the Eastern bishops that is an early instance of the claims of primacy for the bishop of Rome. Even if Athanasius and his companions were somewhat to blame, the letter runs, the Alexandrian Church should first have written to the pope. "Can you be ignorant," writes Julius, "that this is the custom, that we should be written to first, so that from here what is just may be defined" (Epistle of Julius to Antioch, c. xxii).
Julius convened a synod in Rome in 340 or 341 AD after two bishops had been elected to replace Athanasius by opposing parties, which neither group attended, and in a letter to the bishops under the jurisdiction of Eusebius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Julius declared that Athanasius was the rightful bishop of Alexandria and reinstated him. The matter was not finally settled until the Council of Sardica (Sofia), summoned by emperors Constans and Constantius in 342 or 343 AD, which ultimately declared Julius' action correct and that any deposed bishop had the right of appeal to the Pope in Rome.
It was through the influence of Julius that, at a later date, the council of Sardica in Illyria was held, which was attended by only seventy-six Eastern bishops, who speedily withdrew to Philippopolis and deposed Julius at the council of Philippopolis, along with Athanasius and others. (This was an early sign of the schism to come between the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.) The three hundred Western bishops who remained, confirmed the previous decisions of the Roman synod and issued a number of decrees regarding church discipline. The first canon forbade the transfer of bishops from one see to another, for if frequently made, it was seen to encourage covetousness and ambition.
By its 3rd, 4th, and 5th decrees relating to the rights of revision claimed by Julius, the council of Sardica perceptibly helped forward the claims of the bishop of Rome that he and his successors were the head of all Churches and had universal jurisdiction, a claim that is still rejected by the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglicans, and Protestants.
Some have stated that, around 350 AD, Julius I declared December 25 as the official date of the birth of Jesus; this is based on a letter quoted only in a 9th-century source, but this letter is a forgery. At the time, this was one of the commonly believed dates for Jesus' birth and was used by Hippolytus of Rome in his Commentary on Daniel around 200 AD. It is claimed that Pope Julius declared December 25th as Christmas after patriarch Cyril of Jerusalem asked for clarification on what date historical records stored in Rome indicate as Jesus' birth. This claim, like the 9th century letter, is a fabrication.
The actual date of Jesus's birth is unknown. It has been noted that the 25th of December is two days after the end of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Some have speculated that part of the reason this date was chosen may have been because Julius was trying to create a Christian alternative to Saturnalia, but Saturnalia continued to be celebrated until at least the mid-5th c. AD.
Saturnalia had a rival contender as the possible forerunner of the Western date of Christmas: the festival of ‘dies natalis solis invicti’, ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’. The Philocalian calendar also states that December 25th was a Roman civil holiday honouring the cult of sol invicta. With its origins in Syria and the monotheistic cult of Mithras, sol invicta certainly has similarities to the worship of Jesus. The cult was introduced into the empire in AD 274 by Emperor Aurelian (214-275), who effectively made it a state religion, putting its emblem on Roman coins.
Sol invicta succeeded because of its ability to assimilate aspects of Jupiter and other deities into its figure of the Sun King, reflecting the absolute power of ‘divine’emperors. But despite efforts by later pagan emperors to control Saturnalia and absorb the festival into the official cult, the sol invicta ended up looking very much like the old Saturnalia. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, was brought up in the sol invicta cult, in what was by then already a predominantly monotheist empire. It is therefore possible that the date established for Christmas was intended to replace this festival rather than Saturnalia. Another reason for the decision may have been because, in 274 AD, the Roman emperor Aurelian declared 25 December the birthdate of Sol Invictus and that Julius I allegedly may have thought that he could attract more converts to Christianity by allowing them to continue to celebrate on the same day, but this cannot be historically verified. It is most likely that the date of Christmas derives from the concept in Judaism that links the time of the deaths of prophets to their conception or birth. From this, early ecclesiastical number-crunchers extrapolated that the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy following the Annunciation on March 25th would produce a December 25th date for the birth of Christ.
Julius I died in Rome on 12 April 352 AD.
Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy. We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
