He is Risen!
Part 2
In my last
post we concluded with a brief look at the ‘Paschal Controversy’. In this post
I want to explore the reasons that Easter is no longer associated with the time
of the Passover (though from time to time the two coincide, as this year 2014).
This will necessitate a glimpse of the Jewish calendar, and what happened at
the Council of Nicaea that changed everything.
The Jewish
calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. They have twelve months, each one
being either 29 or 30 days long, alternating. The problem is that there are
12.4 lunar cycles in a solar cycle. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to
work out that 12 months of 29 or 30 days gives a year of 354 days, eleven days
short of a full year. That means the Passover comes eleven days earlier each
year than the previous year. Without some adjustment, Passover would soon be
happening in December, October or at any other time during the year. So, to
balance the lunar cycles with the solar year, an extra month (a ‘leap month’)
is added every two or three years. This has the effect of Passover moving around,
but only within the months of March and April. Therefore, Passover, being on
the 14th day of Nisan (the first month in the Jewish calendar)
always falls around the middle of the lunar cycle in March/April. Just as a
birthday for example in our calendar will be on the same date each year, but a
different day, so too is the 14th of Nisan. The difference is that
the day is not simply one day different from the year before, but will be
eleven days earlier for two or three years, then will jump forward when the
additional month is included.
As we saw
previously, some of the early Christians celebrated Easter at the time of the
Passover, while others celebrated it on the Sunday following Passover. Also as
we saw, while there were differences, these did not detract from the unity it
enjoyed; the early Christians did not allow those differences to become
divisions.
Earlier in
the history of the church, it was clearly established that certain days were
celebrated by Christians. Origen states:
“We
ourselves are accustomed to observe certain days. For example, there is the
Lord’s Day, the Preparation, Easter, and Pentecost...they require some sensible
(ie things appealing to the senses) memorials to prevent spiritual things from
passing completely away from their minds.”
However, by the
end of the fourth century (390AD and following), the Christian calendar had
developed to include more ‘holy days’ than these only:
“Brethren,
observe the festival days. First of all, there is the birthday that you are to
celebrate on the twenty-fifth of the ninth month [ie December 25th].
After that, let the Epiphany be to you the most honoured, in which the Lord
made to you a display of His own divinity. And let that feast take place on the
sixth of the tenth month [ie January 6th, by our calendar]. After that,
the fast of the Lord is to be observed by you as containing a memorial of our
Lord’s manner of life and teaching. But let this solemnity be observed before
the fast of Easter, beginning from the second day of the week and ending at the
Day of the Preparation. After those solemnities, breaking your fast, begin the
holy week of Easter, all of you fasting in this week, with fear and
trembling...From Easter, count forty days, from the Lord’s Day to the fifth day
of the week, and celebrate the feast of the Ascension of the Lord.” [Apostolic
Constitutions (compiled c AD 390)]
So what changes did the Council of
Nicaea introduce? The Council of Nicaea was convened to discuss heresy that was
infiltrating the church at that time. They also addressed other issues, one of
which was establishing a more set date for Easter.
The Roman Emperor Constantine was the
son of a Christian mother (Helena) and a pagan father. Constantine himself
professed conversion to Christianity and declared that there would be no more
persecution of the Christian church in the Roman Empire. This was good news for
the Christians who had suffered greatly for their faith under Constantine’s
predecessors. But not content with simply allowing religious freedom,
Constantine wanted a say in how the church was run. He convened Councils of
Bishops from time to time, over which he appointed himself overseer, or ‘chair’,
to discuss matters of doctrine and practice. One of these Councils was the
Council of Nicaea in AD 325. The original purpose was to discuss what to do
about certain heresies that were infiltrating the church at that time, but the
Council members also discussed many other issues, including the date that
Easter was celebrated. Between the Emperor and the Bishops, they determined
that Easter should no longer be tied to the Jewish Passover, but should be the
Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox (established in
the ecclesiastical calendar as 21st March).
“Easter
was first created during the First Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD, which was the
first ecumenical conference of bishops of the Christian Church convoked by the
Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, just 13 years after his conversion to
Christianity following the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312AD. Constantine
declared Easter would replace the Hebrew Passover and be observed the annual
Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox.” [Eusebius, Life of Constantine]
“An important historical
result of the difference in reckoning the date of Easter was that the Christian
churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion
and in which old traditions were strong, observed [the Resurrection] according
to the date of the Passover festival. The churches of the West, descendants of
Greco-Roman civilization, celebrated Easter on a Sunday.
Constantine the Great, Roman emperor, convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325. The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover was thus avoided.” [Apologies – forgot to make a note of where this quote came from].
What motivated Constantine and the
Bishops to make this change? Constantine himself leaves us in no doubt about
that – he did not want the Christian celebration of Easter to coincide with the
Passover, because he held a deep hatred of the Jews. Following the Council of
Nicaea, he wrote a letter to the Bishops in which he stated:
"...
it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast
we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their
hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with
blindness of soul. ... Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable
Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way."
(Eusebius, Life of Constantine)
From a letter to the bishops who were not present at the First Council of Nicaea Constantine stated:
"It
was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in
the celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands having been stained
with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded. ... Let
us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. ...
avoiding all contact with that evil way. ... who, after having compassed the
death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason,
but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them. ...
a people so utterly depraved. ... Therefore, this irregularity must be
corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those
parricides and the murderers of our Lord. ... no single point in common with
the perjury of the Jews." (Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History”
”
“At the council we also
considered the issue of our holiest day, Easter, and it was determined by
common consent that everyone, everywhere should celebrate it on one and the
same day. For what can be more appropriate, or what more solemn, than that this
feast from which we have received the hope of immortality, should be kept by
all without variation, using the same order and a clear arrangement? And in the
first place, it seemed very unworthy for us to keep this most sacred feast
following the custom of the Jews, a people who have soiled their hands in a most
terrible outrage, and have thus polluted their souls, and are now deservedly
blind. Since we have cast aside their way of calculating the date of the
festival, we can ensure that future generations can celebrate this observance
at the more accurate time which we have kept from the first day of the passion
until the present time. (4.) Therefore
have nothing in common with that most hostile people, the Jews. We have
received another way from the Savior. In our holy religion we have set before
us a course which is both valid and accurate. Let us unanimously pursue this.
Let us, most honored brothers, withdraw ourselves from that detestable
association. (5.) It
is truly most absurd for them to boast that we are incapable of rightly
observing these things without their instruction. On what subject are they
competent to form a correct judgment, who, after that murder of their Lord lost
their senses, and are led not by any rational motive, but by an uncontrollable
impulsiveness to wherever their innate fury may drive them? This is why even in
this matter they do not perceive the truth, so that they constantly err in the
utmost degree, and will celebrate the Feast of Passover a second time in the
same year instead of making a suitable correction. (6.) Why
then should we follow the example of those who are acknowledged to be infected
with serious error? Surely we should never allow Easter to be kept twice in one
and the same year! But even if these considerations were not laid before you,
you should still be careful, both by diligence and prayer, that your pure souls
should have nothing in common, or even seem to do so, with the customs of men
so utterly depraved.
(7.) This
should also be considered: In a matter so important and of such religious
significance, the slightest disagreement is most irreverent. (8.) For
our Savior left us only one day to be observed in remembrance of our
deliverance, that is the day of his most holy passion. He also wished his
catholic church to be one; the members of which are still cared for by one
Spirit, that is by the will of God, however much they may be scattered in
various places. (9.) Let
the good sense consistent with your sacred character consider how grievous and
inappropriate it is, that on the same days some should be observing fasts,
while others are celebrating feasts; and after the days of Easter some should
celebrate festivities and enjoyments, while others submit to appointed
fastings. For this reason Divine Providence directed that we put into effect an
appropriate correction and establish uniformity of practice, as I suppose you
are all aware.
(10.) So
first, it was desirable to change the situation so that we have nothing in
common with that nation of father-killers who slew their Lord. Second, the
order which is observed by all the churches of the western, southern, and
northern parts, and by some also in the eastern is quite suitable. Therefore,
at the current time, we all thought it was proper that you, intelligent as you
are, would also cheerfully accept what is observed with such general unanimity
of sentiment in the city of Rome, throughout Italy, Africa, all Egypt, Spain,
France, Britain, Libya, the whole of Greece, and the dioceses of Asia, Pontus,
and Cilicia. I pledged myself that this solution would satisfy you after you
carefully examined it, especially as I considered that not only are the
majority of congregations located in the places just mentioned, but also that
we all have a most sacred obligation, to unite in desiring whatever common
sense seems to demand, and what has no association with the perjury of the
Jews. (11.) But
to sum up matters briefly, it was determined by common consent that the most
holy festival of Easter should be solemnized on one and the same day; for it is
not at all decent that there should be in such a sacred serious matter any
difference. It is quite commendable to adopt this option which has nothing to
do with any strange errors, nor deviates from what is right.”
In my next post, I will be looking at the significance of this change.
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