In John's Testimony about Jesus, St John the baptist says this about Jesus:
"He must increase and I must decrease."
What does this statement mean?
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher in the early first century AD. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus. Scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus' early followers had previously been followers of John. Some scholars maintain that John was influenced by the semi-ascetic Essenes...
But the connection between John the Baptist and Jesus is much much deeper: They were cousins born exactly six months apart.
At the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to inform her that she would conceive of the Holy Ghost, he also informed her that Elizabeth, her cousin, was already six months pregnant with John the Baptist (Luke 1:36).
Considering that Jesus was born on Christmas day, the 25th of December, John the Baptist, who was conceived six months earlier was born six months earlier, on the 24th of June, which is celebrated as the Nativity of John the Baptist.
The Nativity of John the Baptist is one of the oldest festivals of the Christian church, being listed as a principal festival in 506 when it was celebrated in the same way as the Nativity of Jesus: it was a day of rest and was celebrated with three Masses: a vigil, at dawn, and at midday.
Now Christ was born on the 25th of December. At the time of the birth of Jesus, 25th of December was known as Brumalia. Brumalia was an ancient Roman, winter solstice festival. The name Brumalia comes from "brvma", [ˈbruːma] meaning "Winter solstice".
Brumalia was always celebrated on VIII Kal. Ian. (Servius A. 7.720). The eighth day before the Kalends of January was always December 25th in the Julian calendar, because December always had 31 days.
John the Baptist, being born exactly six months earlier, was born on the 24th of June. If at the time of the birth of Jesus, 25th of December was the winter solstice day, 24th of June, the date exactly six months away must have been the day of the summer solstice. So John the Baptist was born on the day of the summer solstice.
So Christ was born on the day of the Winter solstice, the shortest day, after which days start getting longer. And John the Baptist was born on the day of the Summer solstice, the longest day, after which days start getting shorter.
And so finally here is my proposed explanation for John's statement about Jesus: "He must increase and I must decrease". It is the light of the sun, the duration of the day that increases from winter solstice (birth of Jesus) to summer solstice, and decreases from summer solstice (birth of John the baptist) to winter solstice.
Is this solar symbolism a coincidence?
Really fascinating. In his book The White Goddess, Robert Graves describes the Druidic Summer Solstice as the moment in the year when the young Oak sapling is struck by thunder and the gnarled Holly tree takes precedence.
ReplyDeleteJohn/johanne/Oannes(Sumer sage)/Janus(Roman annular)/ana.l ~ cana.l (torus tube of time-flow). Summer's Sol/Sheo/desert, Winter's Ice- star?
ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong student of history, I read your blogs with great interest, and appreciate that you do extensive research before positing a theory. However, in this case you are trying to draw a correlation where there is none. The theory is unusual, but flawed on 3 major points:
ReplyDelete1) Jesus was not born on 25 December; that was a myth perpetrated by St Patrick when faced with the Druid festival of the winter solstice, and the fertility rites of Yule. He correlated the 2 events to more easily convert the pagans. The Scriptures state that Jesus was born “while shepherds guard their flocks by night,” which is in the spring, when the lambs are born and vulnerable to predators. The only place that Jesus could have been born during both lambing season and December would have been in Australia, not in Bethlehem. Thus, John was likely born in October and Jesus the following April.
2) The Christian symbol of the cross evolved from Jesus, the Christ, dying for our sins on a Roman cross. Originally, His symbol was the fish. While your analysis of the celestial movements is interesting, it is not relevant to the Christian cross.
3) John said “He must increase (become greater) and I must decrease (become less)” because he knew that Jesus was the Christ. The Scriptures say that John “leapt in the womb for joy” because he recognized Jesus (the Son of God) even before birth. The Scriptures also state that John said “After me will come one…the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Again, this has nothing to do with astronomical placement. ~ Renée Orander
Christmas Day on December the 25th can be dated back to the 4th century long before the time of St Patrick. Lambs in Palestine were not born at the time of our spring but actually around December/January. The climate is different there, you know.
DeleteThen take it as the PR manipulation of the early Christian church trying to complete with existing pagan rituals and festivals. Theories based on scripture also don't take account of the variations between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The point being made here is that the dates chosen by the church (as opposed to the actual dates of events) were based on replacing the traditional seasonal festivals with Christian equivalents. Like a form of cultural colonialism.
Delete3. He must increase I must decrease means that from the time of Nativity of John (summer solstice) day shortens, decreses and from Nativity of Jesus (winter solstice) day shortens, decreses. Both celebrations are yearly, circular because the religion it self is a celebration of a yearly cycle and Jesus represents it.
Delete2. The cross is a symbol of a year. Latin cross with 1 long, 2 medium and 1 short sides represent a year and sides represent the lengths of days during solstices and equinoxes. First symbol was fishes (2 of them) and not a fish. It has strong celestial meaning in terms of a great year and astrological eras same as the ram and symbology around it have in earlier Judaism.
The Gospels are full of allegory.
ReplyDelete