Catholic Online Forum

The Pope wants a common date for Easter.

The Catholic mystic, Myrna Nazzour of Damascus, receives locutions that this is the Lord's desire.

The Orthodox mystic, Vassula Ryden, has repeatedly recorded dictation to the same effect.

The Council of Churches and various ecumenical get-togethers have hammered out mutually satisfactory compromises which were described in the previous COL forum.

Even the secular world sees many advantages from such a rationalisation.

Is there nothing other than prayer that individuals can do about this scandal which has been discussed for nearly a century?

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"... all the trees, as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ... when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near." Lk 21:30,31

Would it be wrong for individual Christians to celebrate Easter on more than one day?

Seems like one day is mighty short to celebrate the greatest victory of all time!

Kevin,

Seems like one day is mighty short to celebrate the greatest victory of all time!

Actually, every Sunday is supposed to be a celebration of the First Easter.

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Tony Liotta

Jesus is weeping again.
"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Lk 9:62)
"No one can serve two masters; ...... You cannot serve God and mammon", (i.e., money, wealth, prosperity). (Matt. 6:24)

Kevin,

I think that I share your underlying opinion, namely, that various dates for Easter or Christmas or anything else is a mere detail.

When last in Jerusalem, a Jewish Rabbi, told me what a good thing two Easters were. You can have twice the festival and the presents.

However I realize that God's ways are not our ways.

Past history shows us that many saints, including that Englishman, The Venerable Bede, have worked and prayed over this problem.

It is not a new one and it has always been treated as serious.

What is unusual is that our particular discordance has lasted so much longer than the many previous occasions, and this when communications and knowledge of Astronomy is so much better!

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"... all the trees, as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ... when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near." Lk 21:30,31

I seek your help in eliminating my ignorance...

How do the different churches determine when Easter is celebrated? In other words, what differences are we attempting to reconcile?

Elsie

Both East and West use the basic calculation:

The 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Vernal Equinox.

However, 2 things cause a divergence.

1) Determination of the Vernal Equinox: This is March 21 on both calendars, but on the Julian (Old) Calendar, this winds up being 13 days later than the civil or Gregorian Calendar. The Orthodox use the date of March 21 (April 3) , rather than the actual day in which the length of night and day are equal.

2) Sometimes Pascha and the Jewish Passover will coincide and the Orthodox will then delay Pascha by a week. This is to observe the Nicean Council's canon that Pascha not be "celebrated with the Jews." There is some debate about what this actually means, but the Orthodox interpret it in a way so that they move the celebration. The West will not and sometimes Western Easter and the Jewish Passover coincide.

Regarding 2... Some interpret the prohibition of celebrating with the Jews as meaning Christians should not go to Jewish services an then come to the Christian Church. This used to happen in the early centuries when many of the Christians had converted from Judaism. They often maintained connections to both practices. So simply refraining from attending the Jewish services would fulfill the prohibition.

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Fr. James

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Acquire the Holy Spirit and thousands around you will be saved. - St. Seraphim of Sarov

The reason Catholics (and every one else) have different Easter than Orthodox is because, Orthodox Easter falls on the first Sunday after passover every year. This makes sense time line wise because after all the Last Supper was a celebration of passover. How could he have died and ressurected before the last supper? Catholics Easter usually happens before Jewish passover which does not make sense. If the Catholics want to change to having Easter after passover than that is fine. But don't expect the Orthodox people to celebrate until after the passover. This is the right way, and after some Catholic cleric claims it is God's will to have Easter on any other day than after passover, then that makes me believe even more how wrong the Catholic Church is and how right the Orthodox Church is.

Every 4 years Catholic and Orthodox easter falls on the same day, and is still after passover.