The History of Advent

Happy New Year! Well, liturgically speaking anyway, as we now enter the season of Advent. This period in the Church’s calendar is one where we encounter themes of expectation, preparation and penance. Advent, derived from the Latin adventus meaning ‘coming’, can be most fruitfully regarded as a period of dual preparation. Firstly we look, over the next four weeks, toward the celebration of the birth of Christ our Saviour and secondly we prepare for His second coming in fulfilment of the scriptures.

Though the exact institution of the liturgical season of Advent in the Church’s calendar is a little obscure, we understand the celebration of the Nativity of Lord to have been established some time in the late 4th century (some celebrating it on Dec 25th others on Jan 6th), and as such a suitable preparatory period would have accompanied this. A Synod held in 590 established that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 11th November until the Feast of the Nativity would be observed according to the Lenten rite. By the beginning of the 7th century matters were formalised and Advent was celebrated over five consecutive Sundays until this number was reduced to the present four under Pope Gregory VII, whose papacy ran from 1073 until 1085.

A heavy emphasis was traditionally laid upon fasting and other works of penance, further emphasised by the use of the liturgical colour purple, signifying both penance and by its royal connotations, the coming of Christ as our King. Today we often see a shift of emphasis from the more penitential origins of Advent to one focused upon ‘joyful expectation’. However, it would be wise for us to try and strike a balance in our own spiritual preparations as it is only in truly humbling ourselves before God, in full awareness of our sinful nature, that we can realise the importance of the coming of Christ the Redeemer in our lives.