Martin (built by Perpetuus). The Council bid members of the church to fast or eat lightly three days a week during November and daily in December until December 25. Just as Lent was a period of spiritual preparation for the joy of Easter, St. Martin’s Fast was an analogous time to prepare for the joy of Christmas. Both Lents were seasons of preparation marked by repentance for one’s sins and by fasting. In 581, the Council of Mâcon extended St. Martin’s Fast to include all of Gaul, and during the following two centuries the practice spread to Germany and England. By the end of the eighth century, a penitential period of prayer and fasting before Christmas was observed throughout most of Europe.
Meanwhile, the evolution of Advent was quite different in Italy. Christmas was a time of high festivity with feasting, celebrating, and abundant drinking, owing to the pagan joy of the Saturnalia and Deus Sol Invictus being transformed to joy over Jesus’ birth. The New Year’s festival was transferred from its pagan festivities to a focus on the Parousia, the end of the world with the glorious return of Christ and the Last Judgment. Fasting was not observed in the south, where joyful celebrations included the preparations for Christmas, which began on Christmas Eve.
During the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) inaugurated a season of preparation for Christmas called Advent, composed prayers and responses, and preached from a series of readings appropriate to the season. One late November a great storm ravaged the Roman countryside and Gregory used the Gospel of Luke 21:25-33 to comfort the people. Since this sermon took place on the first Sunday of December and the gospel reading focused on Christ’s second coming, it has been kept by the church to this day as the reading for the First Sunday of Advent.4 In addition, Gregory preached a number of homilies urging the church to blend the boisterous celebrations of Christmas with the already popular affection for the expectant Virgin. These sermons and the French acceptance of the Roman liturgy began the centuries-long integration of the clash between the festive Roman observances and the penitential period practiced in the north.
The ninth century opened with the solemn practices of fasting and penitence from Spain and Gaul and the feasting and merrymaking of Italy struggling toward synthesis. Rome adopted the penitential character and fasting. In the north, the season was shortened to five weeks and the liturgical texts of Rome were used. As a result, the solemnity and seriousness of the north began to mellow and the indulgence of the south became more reserved.
Finally, to alleviate the confusion produced by clashing practices, eleventh-century Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) decreed the observance of a season of Advent that was to last through the four Sundays before December 25, beginning on the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew (Symbol 34), November 30, and ending on December 24—making the Advent season as long as four complete weeks or as short as three weeks and one day, just as is observed today. He declared that Advent would consist of two themes: 1) waiting with joy for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and 2) preparing with reverence for the second coming of Christ at the end of time. The fusion of joy and penitence, of expectation and hope, of birth and judgment set the foundation for the fertile Advent season we have today.
By the end of the thirteenth century, the Advent season had developed a theology that incorporated the threefold coming of Christ: first, it recalled the coming of Jesus in the flesh at Christmas (Symbols 1-14); second, it anticipated Christ’s return, or Second Advent, on the Day of Judgment (Symbol 15); and finally, it announced Christ’s coming into our hearts daily to transform our lives into Christ’s likeness (Symbol 16). The whole work of Christ was summed up in these short weeks of anticipation.
However, attitudes common at the close of the first millennium overwhelmed the paradoxical character of Advent and it became characterized as penitential, dwelling on the end of the world, judgment, anger, death, gloom, terror, horror, relics, purgatory, and indulgences. Advent during the Middle Ages became a mini-Lent. This spirit of penance is still found in some of the readings, but Advent today is also meant to be a joyful season.
Laxity and excess in the church led to a Reformation during the 1500s. Martin Luther and others challenged unbiblical practices and beliefs in the church. As a result, reform occurred within the church and denominations emerged. Advent observances ranged from mild to nonexistent. The Roman Catholic Church reaffirmed a solemn but joyful waiting period of four weeks with serious yet eager preparations for the Lord. Other reformers, more radical than Luther, eliminated the liturgical calendar altogether, including celebrations of Easter and Christmas. Only Sunday worship was commemorated, and all Sundays were the same. Over time, the radical groups mellowed to allow observances of Christmas and Easter, but an Advent season vanished among most Protestant groups.
The liturgically oriented Protestant denominations, especially the Anglican (Episcopal) and Lutheran branches, have recently developed a new appreciation for the richness of past patterns of worship and have returned to some historical forms of worship. When interest in church history flowered, the roots of worship were rediscovered and recovered. The process is ongoing today as the misunderstood and eclipsed Advent season is finding new meaning among many denominations. Confusion still prevails among denominations about what to do with Advent. Some use it as an opportunity to begin the Christmas season early, while others hold to its penitential rigors, which almost negate the joyful anticipation of the coming of Christ. More and more denominations, however, are learning about and celebrating a joyful yet penitential Advent. Advent wreaths (Symbols 21-24) are prevalent in many churches anticipating the coming of Christ. A common lectionary is read, proclaiming our longing for God’s grace in our lives, our waiting for the birth of Christ, and our anticipation of the return of Christ, the Victorious Judge. Annually, Christians are invited to reflect on the mystery of Emmanuel, “God-with-us,” while praying Maranatha!, “Come, Lord Jesus!” The Christian year dawns across denominational lines with Advent’s heralding of God’s ever-new arrival of Christ—at Bethlehem, at the end of time and in our daily lives.
Chapter 3
Biblical Markings
The Old Testament is filled with longing: longing for God, for justice, for the eternal king. Israel, aware of her corruption, places her hope in God-with-us, the Messiah whose divine presence will conclusively vanquish evil. Advent appeals for salvation and the coming Messiah, echoing the Old Testament longing for God. The weeks of Advent recognize Hebrew ancestors whose hearts burned with messianic longing: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Daniel and Esther. Advent becomes Christmas Eve with the recollection of Adam and Eve, the opening of human history and the primal longing for God-with-us (see Symbol 55).
This is the season where we relive the story of Israel and its expectations.
—Raymond E. Brown
The coming of God as Messiah, who was and is and is to come, defines Advent. The source for this threefold coming—the past Incarnation, the future coming in glory at the end of time, and the present daily visitation of Christ—is scripture. Because the daily visitation theme historically developed after the themes of Incarnation (see below) and Last Judgment (p. 21), it normally is listed as the third theme. The past Incarnation and future coming of Christ fold seamlessly into the present.
The Biblical Foundation of Advent Themes: Hope for Christ’s Coming
The Past: Incarnation
Old Testament stories tell of God’s promise to be with us and of God’s marvelous activity that ushers in salvation for the whole world. Allusions to the incarnational coming of God swim throughout the Old Testament and are the source for a path of twelve messianic markings, a series of lessons and carols,
