Christmas Sermon of 634
A sermon preached in Jerusalem by its patriarch at Christmas 634, when Arab forces held Bethlehem and the congregation could not go there. It is a datable Christian testimony from Palestine to the first stage of the Arab conquest.
Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, preached this sermon in the church of the Mother of God inside the city. Custom was to keep the feast at Bethlehem. He explains to the congregation why they cannot: the “godless Saracens” hold the place and threaten to kill anyone who leaves the walls. The sermon’s heading says that the feast fell on a Sunday, which 25 December did in 634; M. J. de Goeje proposed that year, and Usener accepted it.
The sermon is evidence from the moment itself, before anyone knew how the invasion would end. In the passages used here Sophronius does not describe a new religion. He speaks of Saracens, Ishmaelites and Hagarenes, the old biblical and Roman names for the Arabs, and treats their success as a punishment for the sins of Christians that repentance will reverse.
Cited in
- AD 637/638, estimated date