Circumcision of the Lord

In recent decades, it has been increasingly emphasized that Jesus of Nazareth was born into a family that followed the religious prescriptions of biblical Israel of his time. Among these religious prescriptions was the requirement that a boy should be circumcised seven days after his birth—as a sign of the covenant that God, according to biblical tradition, made with Abraham. Consequently, the Gospel of Luke reports that Jesus was also circumcised as a boy.

In remembrance of this biblical tradition, various Christian traditions, therefore, celebrate the "Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord" (Circumcision Domini) on the seventh day after the birth of the Lord on December 25—for example, Orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition, the Anglican Community, or Catholic Eastern churches. In light of the recent debate about the increasing antisemitism in Germany, the Catholic theologian Jan-Heiner Tück from Vienna called on the Catholic Church in 2021 to reintroduce the feast into the Roman calendar, from which it had been removed following the liturgical reform initiated by the Second Vatican Council. This proposal was taken up by the then Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Reinhard Cardinal Marx, and forwarded to Rome. However, no reaction has been received from there so far.

The "Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord" is the second feast within the Christmas season, commemorating the Jewish roots of Jesus and his family. The commemoration of the birth of the Lord on December 25th seems to have originated in Rome in the 4th century, where the feast day was likely intended to Christianize the worship of the sun god during the winter solstice. Its conclusion is marked by the feast of the "Presentation of the Lord in the Temple" on February 2nd.