Eric Reece
Easter – the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ – is just four weeks away.
While every Sunday is a little Easter for Christians, Easter Sunday is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A lot of planning goes into the Easter celebration, as we want to present the story of the resurrection of Christ for all to see and know Christ has conquered death.
The date for Easter is complicated and involves no less than three calendars: the Julian, Gregorian and Hebrew calendars. The Julian calendar was named after Julius Caesar who proposed it; the Gregorian calendar is an adaptation of the Julian calendar, named after Pope Gregory IXXX. Both of these are solar calendars based on the earth’s trips around the sun.
The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar with months beginning at the new moon.
The early Christian church based the Easter date on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover. The church had to go to the local Hebrew community to get the date of that year’s Passover feast to set the date for Easter. This was the month of Nisan. Because of the difference in calendars, it became confusing.
So, enter Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicea of AD 325.
Constantine – who stopped the persecution of the church by Rome – wanted a church united without constant divisions. Letters were sent out to all the bishops of the church to come and attend the council. This was seen as good for the church and empire.
The main controversy the council would tackle was the disagreement on the relationship of God the Father and God the Son in the Holy Trinity. This is called the Arian controversy and the Nicean Creed was formulated to teach that Christ is, “The only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial to the father.”
After that was settled, then came the question of the date for Easter. Two things were decided: the church would no longer depend on the Hebrew calendar to set the date and Easter would be celebrated the same Sunday by all of Christendom. The date for Easter would be set on the Sunday of the first full moon on or following the Spring equinox, when day and night are of equal length.
As the church continued to have divisions, the Western side – the Roman Catholic and Protestants – used the Gregorian calendar to set the date for Easter. The Eastern slide (the Orthodox) used the Julian calendar. So much for unity.
This year, Easter Sunday is celebrated March 31 in the West and May 5 in the East.
The 1,500th anniversary of the Council of Nicea is next year. The calendars coincide and Easter will be celebrated on the same day: April 20. This is an opportunity for the Christendom to unite and lay aside differences to celebrate Easter.
Whatever your beliefs, I hope you will join one of our local churches for worship this Easter. You have been invited.
Eric Reece is the faith columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, ereece@wnccumc.net.