02/12/2025
Dear Friend,
Valentine’s Day is a special holiday that we celebrate by expressing our love to one another. Have you ever wondered how it all started? The holiday's origin might stem from the ancient pagan festival of Lupercalia, which predated Christianity. Similar to the modern Valentine's Day holiday, the Roman festival was celebrated in the middle of February and involved feasting and pairing of partners.
The theory goes that as Romans turned away from their pagan beliefs and embraced Christianity, the holiday evolved into one honoring St. Valentine. Lupercalia was eventually outlawed at the end of the 5th century, right around the time Pope Gelasius declared February 14th as St. Valentine's Day.
According to tradition, during the third century, on February 14th, (in two different years), Emperor Claudius II of Rome executed two different men named Valentine. . One account of St. Valentine says that he was a priest who was arrested for defying a Roman decree that forbade soldiers from marrying. He was executed for the crime of continuing to wed lovers, in secret.
Another story contends that it was all to do with an imprisoned priest, who fell in love with one of his visitors, and began writing letters to her. Before his ex*****on, the priest sent the woman a letter, signed "From your Valentine." Both of these stories have romantic undertones and cannot be officially verified. All we can say is that Valentine's Day was named for a martyred St. Valentine.
We may not know with certainty about the origins of Valentine’s Day, we do, however, know for a fact that God’s love is the ultimate love that we can celebrate each day; standing in awe before our God, for the immense love He poured out on us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We will forever embrace His eternal and sacrificial love, imprinted on our hearts. He is our first love. May Christ’s love overflow in the life of our union as couples, family, friendship, church, and all other relationships.
In Christ,
Hagop Haroutunian
