Letter
CCXXXII. Placed in
376. Maran, Vit. Bas. xxxv., thinks that this
letter is to be placed either in the last days of 375, if the
Nativity was celebrated on December 25, or in the beginning of 376,
if it followed after the Epiphany. The Oriental usage up to
the end of the fourth century, was to celebrate the Nativity and
Baptism on January 6. St. Chrysostom, in the homily on the
birthday of our Saviour, delivered c. 386, speaks of the separation
of the celebration of the Nativity from that of the Epiphany as
comparatively recent. cf. D.C.A., 1, pp.
361, 617.