March.25.04: Light for the Day - "When is Easter?" -- 1 Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ has not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain." -- Matthew 28:1-9 1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn ..... ------------ http://www.holidays.net/easter/eadates.htm Easter 2004 Ash Wednesday is 25 February Palm Sunday is 4 April Good Friday is 9 April (Western) Easter Sunday is 11 April (Orthodox) Easter Sunday is 11 April  ---------------------------------- When is Easter? Christmas is December 25; Valentine's Day is February 14; Halloween is October 31 -- but when is Easter?  Each year we have to look at a calendar to find out when Easter is, for this moveable feast can occur any time from March 22 to April 25. Why is this so? ++++++ The yearly celebration of Jesus' resurrection is the oldest feast of the Christian Church, and the resurrection has been the central belief of the Christian faith from the beginning.  As Paul said, if Christ is not risen, our preaching is in vain and we are a people most miserable (I Corinthians 15:12-14).  Of course, every Sunday's worship is a celebration of the risen Lord, but a special day for the resurrection has been part of the life of the church from its early days. ++++++ The earliest Christians celebrated the resurrection on the fourteenth of Nisan (our March-April), the date of the Jewish Passover. Jewish days were reckoned from evening to evening, so Jesus had celebrated His Last Supper the evening of the Passover and was crucified the day of the Passover.  Early Christians celebrating the Passover worshiped Jesus as the Paschal Lamb and Redeemer. --------- No Quickie Christians As more and more people were added to the early church, the church began to organize training sessions for the new converts or catechumens before they were baptized.  Sometimes the period of instruction would last two or three years. The baptism of these catechumens was often scheduled for Easter Sunday, with the baptismal candidates often fasting two or three days before. They held a vigil Saturday night and at the sun's first rays on Sunday eagerly proclaimed, "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!"  After baptism the Christians were given white robes to wear the following week to symbolize their new life in Christ.  The practices of the Lenten fast before Easter and wearing new clothes on Easter Sunday had their beginnings in these catechumen customs. Some of the Gentile Christians began celebrating Easter in the nearest Sunday to the Passover, since Jesus actually arose on a Sunday. This especially became the case in the western part of the Roman Empire. In Rome itself, different congregations celebrated Easter on different days! ----------- Setting the Date During the first three centuries of the Church, when believers were frequently under persecution, there was little effort to establish uniform observances of the Christian festivals.  However, when Constantine became emperor and Christianity was no longer illegal, it was possible to consider more carefully the date of Easter. One of the purposes of the Council of Nicea in 325 was to settle that date. The Council of Nicea accordingly required the feast of the resurrection to be celebrated on a Sunday and never on the Jewish Passover. Easter was to be the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.  --------------- But Which Calendar? The ruling of the Council was not immediately accepted everywhere.  It did not sit well for those who had been celebrating the resurrection on the Passover to suddenly be declared heretics.  Confusion was also caused by Rome and Alexandria having different dates for fixing the spring equinox, sometimes resulting in different Easter dates. Eventually, however, the ruling of the Council of Nicea was accepted by all the church, and the date of Easter was between March 22 and April 25.  In the sixteenth century the West accepted the new Gregorian calendar while the Eastern and Russian churches kept the Julian calendar. Because of this, Easter is again celebrated on different dates. ---------------- It's the Meaning that Matters In spite of the differences among the churches surrounding the celebration of Jesus' resurrection, there has been through the ages an unanimous agreement that the Resurrection is a most joyous event and the basis of all Christian hope.  As Francis Weiser beautifully wrote, Easter Sunday is a dazzling diamond that radiates the splendor of Redemption and Resurrection into the hearts of the faithful everywhere.  Its various facets cast the brilliance of eternity over the twilight of time, and enrapture the soul with the deathless pledge of a Second Spring. The keener are the eyes of faith, the more penetrating is the vision of personal immortality behind the veil of death:  When Christ rose, Death itself died. -------------- Where Did Lent Come From? Many of the churches had various periods of fasting before Easter. Some had one or two days, others several weeks. At the end of the sixth century, Pope Gregory I established a forty day period of fasting and repentance, using the forty of Israel, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus in the wilderness as patterns to follow. It was Gregory who fixed the beginning of Lent as Ash Wednesday, with ashes placed on the head as a reminder that "dust thou art and to dust returneth." ++++++++ -- Matthew 28:1-9 1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. 5 But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 "And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you." 8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!"  So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.