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The changing date of Easter |
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Wednesday, 12 March 2008 |
Rev. John C. Blackford
Religion Columnist
Holy Week begins in a few days, and Easter will be on Sunday, March 23, which is an early date. You may be asking, “How early and late can Easter fall?” and “How is the date set?”
The answers: “As early as March 22nd and as late as April 25th; and “By an ancient formula, which is not uniform in the Christian church.”
There are three streams of tradition which are the bases for determining the date of Easter. Two of them are Christian, and the third, the earliest, is from the Hebrew (Old Testament) Scriptures which go back to the time of the law-giver, Moses, about 1450 B.C.
In the book of Exodus, also known as Second Moses, we read of the sufferings of the Hebrew people in the country of Egypt under a king or “pharaoh,” who enslaved them. Because they were his chosen people, God delivered them through a series of judgments upon the Egyptians, culminating in the deaths of the firstborn of their tormenters and also of their cattle, an event which persuaded the pharaoh to let the Hebrews leave his country.
On the same night the plague of death struck the Egyptians, the Hebrews were commanded to hold a service of worship, called the “Passover,” which centered in the sacrifice of a lamb by each household. While death was visiting the homes of Egypt, it “passed over” the dwellings of God’s people; hence, the term “Passover,” which occurred in the first month of their year, and corresponds to our month of April. (See Exodus 12).
Annually, and for centuries, the Jewish people observed Passover and the sacrifice of a lamb as they commemorated their deliverance from bondage.
And so it was on the evening of the day we call “Maundy Thursday.” On the day before the crucifixion Jesus and his disciples kept the Passover in an upper room in Jerusalem, at which time the Lord’s Supper (or Holy Communion, or the Eucharist) was instituted. Three years before, at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, John the Baptist had declared that Jesus was “the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” (St. John 1:29 – NIV).
In doing so he implied that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Passover account, and that after our Lord’s death no more blood sacrifices would be required.
The Christian church has taught this great truth for 2000 years, linking it with the Savior’s crucifixion and subsequent resurrection three days after his death. However, there has been a difference of opinion as to their dating.
At the important church council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., called by the Roman emperor, Constantine, to settle doctrinal issues, the date of Easter was also set. It was to be “the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox after the Jewish Passover.”
Although there have been differences among Christians over the years regarding the date of Easter, there was general acceptance of the decision of the Nicene Council for the church’s first millennium.
Then in 1054 the eastern and western branches of Christendom divided in what has been called “The Great Schism,” in which the principle issue was the primacy of the bishop of Rome, or the pope. The eastern churches, which we know as Orthodox, made their center the city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey), and the western churches chose Rome as their seat of power, with the pope as supreme leader.
The Church of Rome eventually eliminated the words, “after the Jewish Passover,” from the formula for setting the date for Easter, and so for churches in the west Easter is “the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.”
Many of the Orthodox retain the older form, going back to the days for the Jewish Passover, in setting the day for Easter. Because of the movements in the Jewish calendar, the Orthodox plan their date for Easter for a time before the end of the Passover season (eight days long), but always after Passover begins.
This year Passover is April 20-27, and the Orthodox Easter will be April 27th, the last day of Passover.
There has been considerable discussion about fixing the date of Easter, perhaps the first or second Sunday in April, as a matter of convenience for busy people with full schedules and crowded agenda, and living in a secularized age.
But it is doubtful that this change will come, at least in the foreseeable future. In a time of change people seem to want to hold to some of the old traditions, and the date of Easter is one of them.
The writer hopes and prays that this rather technical approach to one of the most important days of the church year will not cause any one to lose sight of the marvelous significance of the Easter event --- the triumph of life over death, and the promise of eternal life for every believer.
An old hymn expresses it beautifully: “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart!”
May he live within your heart!
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