Philo of Alexandria saw in the sun the image of the divine logos or of the Deity especially ("De Somniis," 1:85). In an Ambrosian hymn Christ is invoked by "O sol salutis," and so on. At the time of Marcus Aurelius, Meliton, in his work,54 περὶ λούτρου, called Christ the Ἥλιος ἀνατολῆς ... μόνος ἥλιος οὗτος ἀνέτειλεν ἁπ' οὐρανοῦ.[1]
Still more important is a passage from Pseudo-Cyprian:55
"O quam præclara providentia ut illo die quo factus est sol, in ipso die nasceretur Christus, v. Kal. Apr. feria IV, et ideo de ipso ad plebem dicebat Malachias propheta: 'Orietur vobis sol iustitiæ et curatio est in pennis ejus,' hic est sol iustitiæ cuis in pennis curatio præostendebatur."[2] 56
In a work nominally attributed to John Chrysostomus, "De Solstitiis et Aequinoctiis,57 occurs this passage:
"Sed et dominus nascitur mense Decembri hiemis tempore, VIII. Kal. Januarias, quando oleæ maturæ præmuntur ut unctio, id est Chrisma, nascatur—sed et Invicti natalem appellant. Quis utique tam invictus nisi dominus noster qui mortem subactam devicit? Vel quod dicant Solis esse natalem, ipse est sol iustitiæ, de quo Malachias propheta dixit: 'Dominus lucis ac noctis conditor et discretor qui a phopheta Sol iustitiæ cognominatus est.'"[3]
- ↑ Helios, the rising sun—the only sun rising from heaven!
- ↑ "O, how remarkable a providence that Christ should be born on the same day on which the sun moves onward, V. Kal. of April the fourth holiday, and for this reason the prophet Malachi spoke to the people concerning Christ: 'Unto you shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, this is the sun of righteousness in whose wings healing shall be displayed.'"
- ↑ Moreover the Lord is born in the month of December in the winter on the 8th Kal. of January when the ripe olives are gathered, so that the oil, that is the chrism, may be produced, moreover they call it the birthday of the Unconquered One. Who in any case is as unconquered as our Lord, who conquered death itself? Or why should they call it the birthday of
