When people discover I am a pastor it often leads to questions they have about God or the church. This was the case the other day when at the YMCA an older gentleman asked me: "Why is Easter so late this year?" As I always try to find the answer when asked, I collected the following data to share with him. Yet its not the first time I've been asked that question. So I offer this to you in case you wondered or have been asked the same. Why does the celebration of Easter vary so much? The answer lies below! Enjoy!
Why Does the Day to Celebrate Easter Vary So Much from Year to Year?
This year most
Christians in the Western hemisphere will celebrate Easter on Sunday, April 21,
which is much later than last year’s April 1, or 2008’s Easter, which fell on
March 23. This may make it “seem” like Easter is late this year,
but according to the lunar calendar, it's right on time! Easter
Sunday is known as a "movable feast" because unlike Christmas (which
always falls on Dec. 25), the celebration of Easter within the church does not
adhere to a single date. Rather, it always falls within a certain time
period – on a specific Sunday between March 22 and April 25. This
is because – NOTE: Easter is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on,
or after, the Northern Hemisphere’s vernal equinox (spring equinox).
Scripture puts Jesus’
death following the Jewish Passover, celebrated on a full moon in Spring. So,
early Christians decided to commemorate Jesus’ resurrection according to that
Jewish calendar tradition. In an effort to standardize this, in 325 A.D. at the
Council of Nicaea, the Western Church compiled information about lunar cycles
into an ecclesiastical full moon table and made March 21 the standard date of
the vernal equinox.
One
of the more noteworthy contradictions of this dating will be Easter in the year
2038. Astronomically, Easter should fall on March 28 that
year, but because the equinox falls on Saturday, March 20 in that year, and the
full moon occurs the next day, Easter will be observed on April
25 – its latest possible date given the lunar cycle's length of about
a month. So, while Easter may feel "late" this year, the 2038
celebration will take place even later.
Same Easter, Different Day
At
the Council in Nicaea (called for the purpose of seeking to create greater
unity in a Church encompassing many peoples and cultures), the council thought
they had finalized a universal date for Easter. However, what they didn't count
on was a later split in the church which occurred in 1054. The “Great Schism”
of 1054 became the dividing point for the church.
The
Roman Empire had already divided itself into the Eastern (Byzantine) and
Western (Roman) Empires, and even though the church tried to maintain a
semblance of universal unity, it soon divided as well. Not only did the Eastern
and Western halves form their own separate empires, they also chose their own
spiritual heads for each church (Pope Leo the IX for the Western church, and
the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius for the Eastern or Orthodox
church). They split over doctrinal an “head of the church” issues, but when it
came to Easter, both still believed Easter should be celebrated on the first
Sunday after the first full moon to follow the Spring equinox.
Yet
in 1582 (528 years later) the Catholic Church switched over from the Julian
calendar to the Gregorian calendar. The Julian Calendar proposed by Julius
Caesar in 46 B.C. took the place of the old Roman calendar on 1 January
45 BC, by royal edict. This was the predominant calendar of the Roman
world and most of Europe until it was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar put
forth in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.
The
Julian calendar has two types of years: "normal" years of 365 days
and “leap” years of 366 days. There is a simple cycle of three
"normal" years followed by a “leap” year, and this pattern repeats
forever without exception. The Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days
long. Consequently, the Julian year drifts over time with respect to the solar
year which is 365.24217 days. The Julian calendar did not
compensate for this difference and as a result, even with “leap” years, the
calendar year gains about three days every four centuries. This
discrepancy was largely corrected by the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582.
The
Orthodox Church still holds to the original Nicaean Council's formula for
Easter, but by using a different calendar system, the vernal equinox (which now
falls on March 21 under the Gregorian calendar), is on April 3 under the Julian
calendar. Therefore, the Eastern Orthodox Easter this year is April 28.
The two churches celebrate the same Easter holiday, but on two different days.
Whereas the “Catholic” Easter falls anywhere between March 22 and April 25, the
“Orthodox” Easter now falls anywhere between April 4 and May 8.
In
rare instances the dates align and Easter is celebrated simultaneously. For
example, both the Orthodox and Catholic Easter fell on the same day in 2010,
2011, 2014 and in 2017. However, with the way the two calendars work, they will
not fall on the same day again until 2034.
I
know some people will not care about such things, but some will. For those who
did, today was your day! Yet,
regardless of the day Easter is celebrated on, the more important fact is what
we celebrate -- the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!
For as the apostle Paul tells us, it was Jesus' resurrection that
"declared" (proved) Him to be the Son of God. As Romans 1:1-4
states: "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God -- the Gospel he promised
beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who
as to his human nature was a descendant of of David, and who through the Spirit
of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God through his
resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord."
Though
the disciples confessed Jesus to be the "Son of God" right up until
He went to the cross, when He died from the suffering inflicted by
crucifixion, it left them all disillusioned, questioning everything, and hiding
in fear and despair from the authorities. That is, until they saw, encountered
and touched His resurrected body! Then all doubt was erased! For through that
miracle He was, "declared with power (God put a divine
exclamation point on it!) to be the Son of God... Jesus Christ our
Lord." So, regardless of the day we celebrate it (I
prefer it later in the Spring!) it is that event we look forward to,
honor, and rejoice in in our hearts. To Him be glory in the Church, now and
forever more. Amen.
Living in the Hope of Jesus' Resurrection,
Pastor Jeff
