September 1
Beginning of Indication
The first Ecumenical Council held, in Nicea in the year 325, decreed that the Church year should begin on September 1. This month of September was, for the Hebrews, the beginning of the civil year (Exodus 23:16), the month of gathering the harvest and of the offering of thanks to God. It was on this feast that the Lord Jesus Christ entered the synagogue in Nazareth ( Luke 4:16-21), opened the book of Isaiah and read the words:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn. (Isaiah 61:1-2)
The month of September is also important in the history of Christianity, because Emperor Constantine the Great was victorious over Maxentius, an enemy of the Christian Faith, in September. Following this victory, Constantine granted freedom of confession to the Christian Faith throughout the Roman Empire. For a long time the civil year in the Christian world followed the Church year, with its beginning on September 1. The civil year was later changed, and its beginning transferred to January 1.