Is X-mas an attempt to take Christ out of Christmas?

Is “X-Mas” an attempt to take “Christ” out of “Christmas?”   Tweet   “Happy Holidays!” “Holiday Tree.” “Seasons Greetings.” For years our increasingly secular culture has worked hard to expunge “Christ” from “Christmas.”   So it is understandable that serious Christians would be suspicious of using “Xmas” to refer to the feast of Christ’s birth.   But keep in mind that the X in Xmas is not an English letter X. It is the Greek letter “Chi” which in English is “CH” and as such is part of the ancient Catholic monogram for Christ, the Chi-Ro that we see often on altars, chalices, etc. It looks like a “P” with and “X” superimposed on the stem of the “P”, but it is really the equivalent in Greek of the first three letters of Christ-- CH and R.   So originally “X-mas” was not intended to knock Christ out of Christmas but is simply an abbreviation of “Christ”-mas. It derives not from some modern secular agenda, but an ancient Christian custom of representing the name of our Lord with a Greek monogram.   Follow Us - Join us on Facebook     Join us on Twitter   For more Catholic resources to feed your faith, visit the Crossroads Initiative Homepage.   To sign up for our free weekly e-mail with Dr. D'Ambrosio's commentary on the Sunday readings, liturgical feasts, updates on where Dr. D will be speaking, a chance to WIN a FREE CD and MORE, CLICK HERE!

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