There is also the myth that Christians condemned the pagan festivities of October 31 by replacing it with All Hallows Eve, the day before the Feast of All Saints in the West. It is often recorded that in 601 AD Pope Gregory I issued a now famous edict to his missionaries concerning the native beliefs and customs of the peoples he hoped to convert. Rather than try to obliterate native peoples’ customs and beliefs, the pope instructed his missionaries to use them: if a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued veneration. Though this is true, this edict is likely not the reason why November 1 became the Feast of All Saints in the West.
Both the Feast of All Saints and the Feast of All Souls evolved in the life of the Church independently of paganism and Halloween. Let us first address the Feast of All Saints. The exact origins of this celebration are uncertain, although, after the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313, a common commemoration of the Saints, especially the martyrs, appeared in various areas throughout the Church. For instance, in the East, the city of Edessa celebrated this feast on May 13; the Syrians, on the Friday after Easter; and the city of Antioch, on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Both St. Ephraim (d. 373) and St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) attest to this feast day in their preaching. In the West, a commemoration for all the Saints also was celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The primary reason for establishing a common feast day was because of the desire to honor the great number of martyrs, especially during the persecution of Emperor Diocletion (284-305), the worst and most extensive of the persecutions. Quite simply, there were not enough days of the year for a feast day for each martyr and many of them died in groups. A common feast day for all Saints, therefore, seemed most appropriate.
In 609, the Emperor Phocas gave the Pantheon in Rome to Pope Boniface IV, who rededicated it on May 13 under the title St. Maria ad Martyres (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). Whether the Pope purposefully chose May 13 because of the date of the popular celebration already established in the East or whether this was just a happy coincidence is open to debate.
The designation of November 1 as the Feast of All Saints occurred over time. Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated an oratory in the original St. Peter’s Basilica in honor of all the Saints on November 1, and this date then became the official date for the celebration of the Feast of All Saints in Rome. St. Bede (d. 735) recorded the celebration of All Saints Day on November 1 in England, and such a celebration also existed in Salzburg, Austria. Ado of Vienne (d. 875) recounted how Pope Gregory IV asked King Louis the Pious (778-840) to proclaim November 1 as All Saints Day throughout the Frankish Empire. Sacramentaries of the ninth and tenth centuries also placed the feast of All Saints on the liturgical calendar on November 1.
According to an early Church historian, John Beleth (d. 1165), Pope Gregory IV (827-844) officially declared November 1 the Feast of All Saints, transferring it from May 13. However, Sicard of Cremona (d. 1215) recorded that Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) finally suppressed May 13 and mandated November 1 as the date to celebrate the Feast of All Saints. In all, we find the Papal Church establishing a liturgical feast day in honor of the Saints independent of any pagan influence. Particular ethnic groups developed their own lore, which was merged with the celebration. For this reason, little ones (and some big ones) still dress in a variety of costumes and pretend for the evening to be ghosts, witches, vampires, monsters, ninjas, pirates and so on, without any thought of paganism. Nevertheless, All Saints Day clearly arose from a genuine Christian devotion independent of paganism.
Conclusion
I wonder today if my interest in Halloween and the macabre stems from my New England roots. After all, New England gave us the masters of American gothic and horror literature like Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorn, H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. Our history in New England is deeply rooted in the folk-lore of Europe, as is evidenced in the Salem and Boston witch trials and the tales of “true” vampire legends in Rhode Island and Maine. Our tales of the paranormal are unlike anywhere else in the United States, and everywhere you go you are surrounded by these legends. Though these are all things that interest me and have made me proud to be a New Englander, I think my love for Halloween stems a bit deeper. Demons, evil, death, fear, vice, pain and suffering do exist and are a part of human existence. As Christians we have the weapons and the answers to overcome these and they go hand in hand with the hope which our faith brings us. Apart from this reality, I don’t think I would enjoy Halloween as much. It is the connection between faith and fear that is even behind all the great classic monster stories we hear about on Halloween, like Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Headless Horseman, and so on, and in these romanticized gothic tales vice is always spoken against and demoted while virtue and selflessness is promoted.
As an Orthodox Christian, I do not want to come out as a proponent of Halloween since it is not an Orthodox feast I feel the need to defend. The reason I am trying to bring some awareness of the truth about Halloween is because as an Orthodox Christian I believe it is my duty to speak the truth and expose error in a spirit of love and concern, especially when other Orthodox spread ignorance. Halloween is a part of our society and especially of our children’s lives, and an answer from an Orthodox Christian perspective is needed. It does not help our Christian witness in the world to distort information to make our message sound better. In fact, it does just the opposite and I believe those capable of discovering the truth will be judged for disseminating that which is unfounded. We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and truth to be above propagating errors. It is the proclamation of the truth which brings freedom and respect, and a pure heart which makes all things pure.
~Adapted from Mystagogy: The Website of John Sanidopoulos, http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/10/orthodoxy-and-halloween-seperating-fact.html.
