Conference yukon::christian_v7

"Rain On Your Easter Parade" by David A. Ingraham
-------------------------------------------------
The preacher greeted his Easter morning crowd with a cheerful, "Merry
Christmas!"  When the twittering and chuckling finally settled, he explained
that since he would not see many of today's flock again until next Easter, he
wanted to give them a holiday greeting in advance.  Although its commercial
value pales in comparison to Christmas, Easter is the most important holiday
on the church calendar.  Attendance is traditionally higher on Easter Sunday
than on any other day.  Sermons and lessons on the resurrection of Christ abound
and in many churches, the Gospel of Jesus Christ emanates from the pulpit to
ears that may not hear it again until next year.  Easter bonnets, Easter
bunnies, Easter lilies, Easter eggs, baby chickens, and hot cross buns all lend
their ornamentation to the day when Christendom celebrates the resurrection of
Christ.  Nothing is so central to Church doctrine than the event thus
celebrated: "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain...And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet
in your sins." (1 Corinthians 15:14,17).  So what is the connection between the
foregoing ornaments of Easter such as rabbits, buns, and eggs, and the
resurrection of our Lord?  The answer to that question may rain on your Easter
parade.

Easter in Babylon
-----------------
The first hint of something amiss is the word "Easter."  Almost any resource
material will cite a Teutonic goddess by a similar name, "Eostre" or "Eastre."
"Eostre was the deity of both the dawn and spring, and 'the pagan symbol of
fertility.'  At her festival in April, sacred fires were lighted on the hills,
especially in the Nordic lands.  (At this same season, ancient Romans observed
the Feast of the Vernal Equinox)." (Krythe, 98)

Further investigation of this Teutonic name traces it back to Ostera, then
Astarte, then to Ishtar (once pronounced as we do "Easter").  Since Ishtar,
whole alternate name is Semiramis, was the wife of Nimrod, the priest and king
of Babylon, we can trace a direct line between the word "Easter" and the origins
of pagan religion.  According to legend, when Nimrod died, he proceeded to
become the Sun-god while Semiramis (Easter) proceeded to have an illegitimate
son named Tammuz, whom she claimed was the son of her deified Nimrod.  She
apparently claimed Tammuz was the promised seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) and
demanded worship for both herself as well as Tammuz.  With only slight effort
one can imagine that the mother soon was worshiped as much or more than her
bastard son.  Tammuz was later symbolized by a golden calf as the son of the
Sun-god, Nimrod (Woodrow, 9-10; Exodus 32:1-6).  Moreover, when we discover
where and how the blessed Mother originated, the plot both thickens and worsens!

As the legend continues, an egg of wondrous size fell from heaven one day and
landed in the Euphrates River.  Some equally wondrous fishes managed to roll the
egg to shore whereupon several doves descended from heaven and incubated the
remarkable find.  Soon, out popped Ishtar (or Semiramis), the goddess of Easter.
The egg eventually became the universal symbol of fertility, and as such, can be
traced in pagan cultures worldwide (Woodrow, 153).  Predictably, it also became
the symbol of the goddess herself.  Therefore, at the very least, we have traced
both the name "Easter" and an element of its celebration, the "Ishtar Egg," to
Babylon.  Most significantly, both the egg and its hatchling predate the
resurrection of Christ by more than 2,000 years, eliminating any possible
connection among eggs, Easter, and Jesus.

During that 2,000 years, Babylonian paganism spread worldwide.  It was of this
heathen religious system that the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:21-23:
"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into an image make like to corruptible man, and
to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."

This religion became the diabolical substitute for Biblical truth.  Satan
cleverly counterfeited Truth with an insidious lie, perverting the minds and
cultures of men who suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.  Then, just as
Truth personified in Jesus became both knowable and known, the Deceiver wedded
Babylonian paganism to the church.  The church syncretized the celebration of
Easter with the resurrection of Christ.  Babylonian folklore claimed that Tammuz
was worshiped during the spring.  However after he was slain, his mother
(Easter) so wept that he came alive again.  The manifestation of his
"resurrected" life was the arrival of vegetation in the spring.  When Jesus
arose in the spring following His crucifixion, logic seemed to dictate a
connection between the ignominious fable and the glorified fact.  Then, when the
church later desired to become popular with both pagan and saint, it amalgamated
the celebration of Jesus' resurrection with the fertility rites, eggs, and other
accouterments of a pagan holiday.  After all, Easter celebrated the arrival of
spring, the resurrection of life from the dead of winter.  What could be more
appropriate?

Easter in the Early Church
--------------------------
Early Christians celebrated Resurrection Day on the same day as the Jewish
Passover, regardless of the day of the week on which it fell.  However, when
Gentiles became prominent in the early church, they required the celebration to
fall on Sunday.  A major conflict ensued contributing to the rift between the
Eastern and Western branches of the church.  "The Emperor Constantine called
the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.  The question of the date of Easter was one
of its main concerns.  The council decided that Easter should fall on Sunday
following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.  The astronomically
astute Alexandrians were given the job of computing the date.  Additional
difficulties were overcome when March 21 was chosen as the date of the vernal
equinox... The dating of Easter today follows the Nicaean reckoning.  The
Eastern Orthodox Church stipulates in addition that Easter must fall after
Passover" (Myers, 102-103).

Because the Eastern Orthodox Church continues to use the Julian calendar for
religious holidays, rather than the Gregorian calendar used in our Western
culture, it celebrates Easter 13 days later than the Roman churches and other
Western churches.  The Roman Church developed a high Mass for celebrating the
resurrection of Christ, but attached to it much of the paganism of the spring
festival.  Included in this package was the 40-day season of fasting known as
"Lent," adopted by Rome during the 6th century.  It corresponds to a 40-day fast
practiced by ancient Egyptians.  Others identify Lent with a practice among
Babylonian worshipers of Semiramis.  The death and resurrection of Tammuz was
celebrated by a great annual festival preceded by a Lenten fast (Tardo, 13-14).
For the next 1,000 years of Western history, little changed within Catholicism.
Only with the Reformation came changes in Easter celebrations as Protestantism
grew in size and influence.

Easter in America
-----------------
By the time Puritans came from England to America they had dropped the
celebration of holy days such as Christmas and Easter.  Their influence limited
all such celebrations in the colonies.  Only after the Civil War did Easter
services become prominent again in America.  "Perhaps it was the deep scars of
death and destruction which led people back to the Easter season.  The story
of the Resurrection was a logical inspiration of renewed hope for all those
bereaved by the war" (Myers, 104).

Meanwhile, isolated pockets of celebrants continued to recognize Easter in
America.  In 1741 Moravian believers began a long-standing custom of sunrise
services complete with trombone, choir, and singers.  In California in 1770
Father Crespi, a Franciscan monk, celebrated an Easter sunrise service under the
Cathedral Oak, marked today by an historical plaque.  Theodore Roosevelt held a
well-known sunrise service on Mt. Rubidoux in California in 1909, and the
Hollywood Bowl became host to the annual sunrise event in 1921.  In the Wichita
mountains of Oklahoma the Passion Play, 6 hours in length, begins at midnight of
Easter morning.  One hundred thousand people annually attend the play (Myers,
107).

Easter Ornaments
----------------
Originating in paganism, propagated by a faltering church, then traditionalized
by a burgeoning American continent, Easter eventually became firmly entrenched
in the culture of the United States.  With it came its pagan embellishments.
Most Americans embrace these ornamentations of the season without questioning
their religious significance.  When confronted, some find the exposure of their
error both intrusive and offensive; others become incensed by their own
negligenced in adopting such heathen trappings.

Perhaps the most common ornament of Easter is the brightly-colored, hard-boiled
egg.  Given its previously cited Babylonian origins, the Easter egg's rise in
significance and popularity over the millenian is not surprising.  "Eggs have
become closely associated with Easter, and are regarded as a symbol of
resurrection, for they hold the seeds of life, and represent the revival of
fertility upon the earth.  However, the egg as a life emblem is much older
than Christianity" (Krythe, 103).

Cultures worldwide have myths describing how the universe from an egg.  Among
some peoples, the "Heavenly One" once inhabited an egg which he broke in pieces,
creating the earth in the process.  In another legend, an egg split in two with
one half becoming gold, the other half silver.  The gold elements became the
sky, the silver elements became the earth.  The outer membrane became the
atmosphere, the veins became rivers, and the fluid became oceans (Myers,
110-111).

Egg painting may have originated in Persia and Egypt centuries ago.  When the
custom migrated into Europe, possibly by way of the Knights of the Crusades, egg
decorating became an elaborate art.  "Often eggs were dipped in red dye, but
in Hungary there were more white ones with patterns of red flowers.  Yugoslav
people have usually marked their eggs with X V, standing for 'Christ is
risen...' Women and girls of Poland and the south of Russia always began
working weeks ahead on eggs covered all over with designs.  There would be
lines that crisscrossed, tiny checkerboards, patterns of dots and plant and
animals shapes.  No two eggs were alike but the same symbols appeared again
and again.  A sun was for good luck, a hen or rooster to make wishes come true,
a deer for good health, and flowers for love and beauty" (Barth, 28-29).

Eggs have been given as gifts, eaten for fertility purposes, rolled down hills,
thrown into the air, used as marbles for play, hidden on church lawns and
grounds, hung about the neck to ward off evil, and worshiped as a source of
Life.  No legitimate connection exists between any such practices and the
resurrection of Christ from the dead.

Everybody know that rabbits don't lay eggs, but the relationship between these
two Easter phenomena is indisputable.  "To be perfectly correct, it is the hare,
not the rabbit, who should be honored as the most famous secular Easter
symbol... Easter is a movable feast dependent for its date on the phase of the
moon, and from antiquity the hare has been a symbol for the moon; the rabbit has
not.  Hares are born with their eyes open, rabbits are born blind; the Egyptian
name for the hare was Un, meaning 'open' or 'to open,' and the full moon
watched open-eyed throughout the night.  According to legend, the hare was
thought never to blink or close its eyes..."

The harlot of Revelation 17 symbolizes the religion of Babylon.  She is nothing
less than the moon goddess worshiped in ziggurats and towers of the ancient
Middle East.  Her name likely is Ishtar (Easter).  To our disgrace, she has
invaded and defiled what are purported to be celebrations of the resurrection of
Christ.  She does so through her ancient representatives, the Easter bunny and
the Easter egg.

Associated with fertility and reproduction is the Easter Lily.  "The fragrant,
waxy white flower we call the Easter lily is not a spring flower or an
American flower at all.  A lily growing on islands near Japan was taken to
Bermuda and then traveled to the United States to become our most special
Easter plant.  Flower growers have learned how to make it bloom in time" (Barth,
51).  Tardo adds, "Having become symbolic of the season, churches [sic]
worldwide decorate their altars with these beautiful flowers, and innumerable
thousands of them are given away to women at Easter as gifts.  Few, however,
realize the ancient significance of such gifts!  The so-called 'Easter lily'
has long been revered by pagans of various lands as a holy symbol associated
with the reproductive organs.  It was considered a phallic symbol!  One might
easily surmise what was being suggested by sending a gift of such nature in
ancient times"  (Tardo, 11-12).

Even the sunrise service originates not in Christianity but in the pagan rites
of spring.  "Sunrise services are not unrelated to the Easter fires held on the
tops of hills in continuation of the New Year fires, a worldwide observance in
antiquity.  Rites were performed at the vernal equinox welcoming the sun and its
great power to bring new life to all growing things" (Myers, 105).  

Although the hot cross bun is often associated with Good Friday, its real
significance pertains to Easter.  One of the stories remaining in tradition
today relates the origin of this bun "...back to the ancient pagan custom of
worshiping the Queen of Heaven with offerings of cakes marked with her image.
It is said that the Egyptians made buns with 2 horns on them to offer to the
moon goddess, and that the Greeks changed the symbol to a cross so the bun
could be more easily divided.  Anglo-Saxons marked theirs with a cross to
honor the goddess of light" (Krythe, 94-95).  The prophet Jeremiah apparently
referred to this raisin cake in Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19,25.  This Queen of
Heaven's name is is Ishtar (Easter).  Hot cross buns are a veiled ascription of
worship to her.  By consuming them we participate in pagan Babylonianism.
Little wonder the Bible says to us: "...Come out of her, my people, that ye be
not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation
18:4).

The wearing of Easter finery, new clothing, and hats and the so-called Easter
parade originated in heathenism.  Easter fires are a leftover from spring rites.
Ham for Easter is an English tradition expressing, of all things, bigotry toward
Jews.  Without exception, the ornaments of Easter are pagan in origin.  Informed
Christians who continue in these traditions and practices risk for themselves
the consternation of God.

Scripture abounds with numerous references to the idolatry spawned in Babylon.
It was worship of the Babylonian goddess that brought Israel to ruin.  Later in
Biblical history, when Christians began to mingle paganism with worship, the
Apostle Paul addressed the matter in this way: "Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness?  and what communion hath light with darkness?  And what concord
hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"
(2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

The most notable passage addressing this religious system is also the passage
that connects its practices to the world in which we live today.  Romans 1
describes the societal declension that results from removing the true God from
His rightful place and prominence.  Replacing the Truth of God with a lie always
conveys predictable consequences.  The sexual revolution and the decline of
Western culture give us the spiritual signs of our times (Romans 1:24-25).  The
creature of veneration today is man; humanism has made an idol of SELF.  The
most obvious expression of this occupation with self comes next in Romans
1:26-27.  The downward spiral of paganism reaches into the most vital of our
culture carriers: education.  And since the world no longer retains God in its
education, the results speak for themselves in Romans 1:28-32.

If you find yourself characterized in some way in the above passages of
Scripture (and most of us DO, to some extent), please recognize that all of
mankind has been tainted by the reprobate mind.  The only institution of God
given to overcome the slippery slope of paganism is the Church of Jesus Christ.
The Church, however, finds itself in various levels of complicity with its pagan
adversary depending on the extent to which it participates in what are
undeniably pagan practices.  Furthermore, as individuals we must respond
appropriately to the light given us.  Willful sin which follows such
enlightenment makes the sinner even more culpable before God.  The Bible teaches
that sin and reprobation are universal problems.  Considering that the God of
Scripture is holy and absolutely righteous, we each stand condemned before Him.
It's a condition only He could solve and only because He wanted to do so.

Nearly 2,000 years ago God sent His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, born of a virgin and
without sin, to die on a cross.  He represented millions of people in His death;
He even represented YOU!  Because He didn't deserve to die EVER, His death
became the penalty paid for ALL our sin.  He was the sacrificial Lamb of God,
the innocent One slain on behalf of the guilty.  If you will simply identify
with Him, claim the forgiveness He offers, and trust Him as Savior and Lord, you
may this very moment receive Eternal Life.  Bow your head and pray something
like this: "Lord Jesus, I recognize that as a sinner I need a Savior.  I believe
that when you died on the cross you died for me personally.  Wash away my sins,
give me your eternal life, and help me to be clean before God all the days of
this life and in the life to come.  Amen."

Selected Bibliography
---------------------
Barth, Edna.  "Lilies, Rabbits, and Painted Eggs : Story of the Easter Symbols",
               New York: The Seabury Press, 1970.
Hazeltine, Alice Isabel, and Smith, Elva Sophornia. "The Easter Book of Legends
               and Stories."  New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1947.
Krythe, Mamie R. "All About American Holidays." New York and Evanston; Harper &
               Row Publishers, 1962.
Meyer, Jr., Robert. "Festivals U.S.A. & Canada." New York: Ives Wasburn,
               Inc. 1967.
Meyers, Robert. "Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays." Garden
               City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972.
Sechrist, Elizabeth Hough, and Woolsey, Janette. "It's time for Easter."
               Philadelphia: Macraie Smith Company, 1961.
Van Straalen, Alice. "The Book of Holidays Around the World." New York: E.P.
               Dutton, 1986.
Woodrow, Ralph. "Babylon: Mystery Religion." Riverside California: Ralph Woodrow
               Evangelistic Association, Inc., 1966.
Tardo, Russel K. "Rabbits, Eggs, and Other Easter Errors", by Faithful Word
               Publications, Arabi, Louisiana.

� Southwest Radio Church, April 1993.
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	The subject matter is interesting, and I agree with the general
idea that we should all be aware of the origins of our traditions, and
dispense with those we can't observe in good conscience before God.

	However, Paul makes it clear that, for example, there is nothing
inherently wrong with a Christian eating meat that others (pagans) have
offered to idols.  He then cautions that if flaunting our freedom causes
a brother to stumble (because he is weak in faith), that we should refrain
from that activity for the sake of that brother.

	My point is that we should not become so preoccupied with forms and
appearances, that we lose sight of God's primary concern, which is the
state of our hearts toward Him.

	I'm saying that the "god" Ishtar is, and should be, of little
or no significance to the Christian.  Our aim is to worship the risen
Lord Jesus Christ in everything we do.  Let the Holy Spirit do any and all
convicting of sin that may be needed for each individual Christian,
especially in regard to the forms and appearances we use in naming and
observing feasts and sabbaths.

	That said, I do agree that the feasts ordained by God under the Old
Covenant, and fulfilled in Christ under the New Covenant, constitute a
much better and more trustworthy framework upon which to build, than do all
of the mixed and confused traditions as they are often handed down to us.

	Imagine with me, if you will, how it might be to live as a
missionary among a pagan culture.   A few aspects of the culture are likely
to be "positive", in that they lend moral strength or provide a common
ground through which the Gospel can be introduced.  Other aspects of the
culture are likely to be more or less "neutral"; these can be quietly
accepted without wasting any words on them.  Then, there are other aspects
of the culture that the missionary soon realizes are not at all acceptable.
These must inevitably change if the individual people in the culture are
going to become true Christians.  All of these things can be done, over
time, and on an individual and caring basis.

	This, I believe, is our own situation as Christians in a pagan
culture.  We are *not* called to "make over" the *appearance* of the
culture from something that "looks" pagan to something that "looks"
Christian.  We *are* called to let Christ live His Life through us,
transforming us from within, and causing an inner transformation to take
place in the hearts of others around us.  Thus, the culture will be subtly
and inwardly transformed, first and foremost.

	Some myths and traditions chronologically predate the revelation
of Christ to this world.  This fact, in itself, does not necessarily make
them "sinister" or "dangerous".  Some ancient myths seem to contain
parallels or archetypes with some similarity to Christ.  This should not be
too surprising, in that many ancient pagan cultures were at least vaguely
aware of the Hebrew nation and its Scriptures.  The most notable example is
ancient Babylon.  The Hebrews who were taken captive (Daniel, Shadrach,
Meschak, Abednego, etc.) had a profound influence on that culture.

	True, the most effective lies are those with some truths mixed in.
Still, the point is that the cultural context is merely something in which
we find ourselves embedded.  Any single aspect of the culture can only be
termed evil to the extent that it actively opposes the rule of Christ in
each heart.  Conversely, another aspect of the culture can be termed good
to the extent that it nurtures and encourages the rule of Christ in
someone's heart.

							Bob Sampson

Much of this stuff is pure unadultered material from the Father of Lies.
The following example should suffice to demonstrate this:

>Included in this package was the 40-day season of fasting known as
>"Lent," adopted by Rome during the 6th century.  It corresponds to
>a 40-day fast practiced by ancient Egyptians.

Please see Matthew 4:2 for the _real_ Christian origin of the 40-day fast.
Certainly you would not impute that Our Lord was observing a pagan custom!

The Lenten fast originated in the preparation for baptism of new Christians,
and though it may have been adopted by Rome during the 6th century, it
was being practiced by Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem in the late 2nd.
Fasting is an important weapon agaist the devil, and it is not surprising
that attempts to discourage it abound in polemics such as the one Mike posted.

Several other objections the material in the previous replies raises can be
countered with scriptural quotes which show the reasons that traditional
observances for the Feast of the Resurrection came into being.

These attempts to talk people out of them is a fiendish plot to subvert
traditional catechetical tools; they must be countered by the truth about
the Christian significance of them.  Mike, we've discussed many of these
before.  As a healing exercise to compensate for what you posted here,
why don't you go research this.  To aid your research you will find many
previous answers here and in the other usual conferences where claims that
Christianity is full of paganism have come up.  I'm really busy with my
world hunger benefit right now (was up until 4AM last night working on
paste-up of the playbill), so I'm going to leave finding the references
in notesfiles, encyclopaedias, The Fathers, and other ancient sources as
an exercise for you and others.

Through a blessed Forty Days may we have an even more joyous Resurrection.

In Christ,
/john

>aware of the Hebrew nation and its Scriptures.  The most notable example is
>ancient Babylon.  The Hebrews who were taken captive (Daniel, Shadrach,
>Meschak, Abednego, etc.) had a profound influence on that culture.
    
    as a slight tangent, I find it interesting that Shadrach, Meshach, and
    Agednego are more commonly known by their Pagan/Gentile names than
    their Hebrew names.  The name changes were deliberate corruptions of
    their Hebrew names in attempts to brainwash them into the pagan culture
    of Babylon.  Check out their translations:
    
    Daniel = God is my Judge   -> Belteshazzar = Bel's Prince
    Hananiah = Beloved of God  -> Shadrach = Illumined by Sun God
    Mishel = Who is Like God   -> Meshach = Who is like Shach (Moon God)
    Azariah = Lord is My Help  -> Abednego = Servant of Nego
    
    Mike

>Please see Matthew 4:2 for the _real_ Christian origin of the 40-day fast.
>Certainly you would not impute that Our Lord was observing a pagan custom!
    
    Actually, looking at it in this way, you can say Moses originated it.
    
    Mike

Hi Mike,

�         <<< Note 689.6 by OUTSRC::HEISER "Grace changes everything" >>>

� I find it interesting that Shadrach, Meshach, and Agednego are more
� commonly known by their Pagan/Gentile names than their Hebrew names.

Always surprises me, that one....  At least Daniel managed to stick to his
own name, in spite of the Belteshazzar business.  Otherwise our O.T.s might
go : 
	Ezekiel, Belteshazzar, Hosea, Joel...

I couldn't imagine that somehow...

							Andrew

	Anyone hear how Cardinal Law said that this year seeing Good Friday
falls on St Patricks Day, that it would be ok for those who celebrate this with
corned beef and cabbage, to eat meat? Does it make sense to override this?


Glen

 I thought the "don't eat meat on Friday" thing was gone a long time 
 ago.

	Law said it was ok to eat meat, but some other Carinal said his people
could not. I heard it on WBZ TV (channel 4) in Boston.

Good Friday does not fall on St. Patrick's Day, nor can it ever.

Good Friday is April 14th.

St. Patrick's Day is March 17th.

Church Law requires acts of special devotion on all Fridays of the year.
Previously, this was specifically spelled out as abstinence from meat,
and was required under penalty of sin (the sin of disobeying legitimate
authority).  Now, except during Lent, Fridays may be observed by any
act of special devotion, including, but not limited to abstinence from
meat.  Failure to observe Fridays is also no longer considered a worse
sin than, say, forgetting to say your prayers before going to bed.

However, Roman Catholics are still required to observe the Fridays during
Lent with abstinence from meat, unless the Friday is a Solemnity.  The
only Solemnities which fall during Lent (and thus could possibly fall on
a Friday) are the Feast of St. Joseph and the Feast of the Annunciation.

Apparently Cardinal Law has decided that for those in the Boston diocese,
The Feast of St. Patrick qualifies as a Solemnity, and has dispensed
abstinence for that day.  The Bishop of New Hampshire has said he doesn't
agree completely, and has not given a general dispensation, but has told
those who find they need to eat corned beef that they should go ahead and
do so.  I suppose since there are so many Irish in Boston, and that St.
Patrick brought the gospel to Ireland, it is reasonable to consider it a
Solemnity.

[For Episcopalians, the Fridays which are dispensed from acts of self denial
are those from December 25th through January 6th, those from the Feast of
the Resurrection until Pentecost, and any Fridays which are Feasts of Our
Lord.  Feasts of Our Lord that could possibly fall on Fridays other than
those already exempted are The Presentation in the Temple (2 February),
The Transfiguration (6 August), The Annunciation (25 March), The Visitation
(31 May), Saint John the Baptist (24 June), and Holy Cross Day (14 September).]

/john

13 September 1995

Dear Editor:

In the September issue, G.B. asks what the full moon has to do with
the resurrection, and suggests that it would be more logical to tie
the date to the Passover than to the full moon.

In fact, the date of Passover is the full moon.  The 15th of the
Hebrew Month of Nissan (the date on which Passover is observed) is
always an astronomical full moon.  The date of Easter is based on an
ancient ecclesiastical calculation which does not exactly compute the
date for the first full moon after the vernal equinox.  The date of
the beginning of the month of Nissan is also a religious calculation,
done by Jewish religious authorities, who periodically insert an
extra month into the Jewish calendar (a lunar calendar) to keep it in
synch with the revolution of the earth around the sun.  Tying Easter
directly to the date of Passover would even more closely link it to a
full moon.

G. also comments on the naming of the feast, suggesting that the
Eastern Churches call the feast Pascha, and that the western
churches call it Easter.  Actually, the use of the word Easter is
unique to Northern European languages; in French, the feast is
P�ques, and in Latin, the historic language of the western Church, it
is Pascha, which is reflected in the English adjective for the feast,
pascal.

Sincerely,
John R. Covert

................................................................................
Mr. B. wrote again, insisting that the calculation was a pagan one.  I replied:
................................................................................

16 September 1995

Dear Mr. B:

I'm sorry to see that you are so adamant about insisting that the
current calculation of the date of Easter used by the Church is a
pagan calculation.  This is not true.  Let me try to explain this in
more detail than in my letter to the editor of The Episcopal Times.

In Leviticus 23:4-5, the Bible sets the date of Passover to be the
full moon (the 15th day) of the first month. In Our Lord's time, the
Jewish calendar was regulated by the Sanhedrin, who required the
beginning of a month to be announced by two witnesses observing the
new moon.  The Jewish calendar uses leap years (the insertion of a
full month) to keep the lunar calendar in synch with the sun, giving
a lunisolar calendar.  During Our Lord's time, leap years were
determined by a council of three rabbis and the president of the
Sanhedrin.

All of this ensured that the date of Passover would always be the
first full moon after the vernal equinox.  Initially, the Church
observed the Lord's Passover on the Jewish Passover (i.e. right on
the full moon), but by the second century the observance had been
moved so that the Resurrection was always celebrated on "the first
day of the week" following Passover.  A few churches in Asia Minor
held out and were accused of Judaizing, as recorded by the historian
Eusebius.  At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all Christian churches
were directed to observe the Resurrection on the Sunday following
Passover.

Around this time, in controversies which extended well into the 8th
century, both Christians and Jews eliminated observational
determinations of when Pascha or Passover was to be observed and
replaced them with mathematical calculations which could be carried
out anywhere in the world without needing to rely on trained
astronomical observers.  These calculations were done independently
by both Christian and Jewish religious authorities. In addition,
Christian religious authorities in East and West disagreed with each
other on the meaning of "the fourteenth day...at even" in Leviticus
23:4.  Later, in 1582, East and West were to also disagree on the
length of the solar year when the West introduced the more accurate
Gregorian calendar which we use today.

What we have today is most definitely not a pagan formula for
calculating the date of The Feast of the Resurrection, but rather a
date worked out in a complex formula by Church authorities.  The
history of the development of the formula is well-documented; the
Church was attempting to calculate the date called for in Leviticus.
Here is the formula used by the western Church since the adoption of
the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of the Feast of the
Resurrection:

     Divide             by             Quotient         Remainder

    the year            19                -                 a

    the year           100                b                 c

       b                4                 d                 e

      b+8               25                f                 -

     b-f+1              3                 g                 -
                                    
  19a+b-d-g+15          30                -                 h

       c                4                 i                 k

  32+2e+2i-h-k          7                 -                 L

   a+11h+22L           451                m                 -

   h+L-7m+114           31                n                 p

After completing these calculations, n is the number of the month (3
for March; 4 for April) and p+1 is the day of the month on which the
Resurrection is to be observed.

The Jewish calendar is now based on a regular set of calculations
rather than on the observation of the equinox; these calculations
move the Jewish year out relative to the equinox by about one day in
each 228 years.  For this reason, in some leap years, Nissan is moved
out beyond the spring full moon, causing the date of the Jewish
Passover to fall later then it would have fallen in Our Lord's time.
The following table illustrates this fact in 1997, a Jewish leap
year.  In that year, the Jews will be observing Passover a month
later than commanded in Leviticus.  In 2000, they will be observing
Passover a day later than commanded.

      Year       Spring Full Moon      Passover       Resurrection

      1995           15 April          15 April         16 April

      1996           4 April           4 April           7 April

      1997           23 March          22 April         30 March

      1998           11 April          11 April         12 April

      1999           1 April           1 April           4 April

      2000        18 April, 6:30pm     20 April         23 April

      2001           8 April           8 April          15 April

      2002           28 March          28 March         31 March

      2003        16 April, 9pm        17 April         20 April

In your last letter you stated "I am equally certain that [Jesus]
never heard of eastre."  I don't think we can know whether God chose
the date of Passover independently of the pagan choice for their
spring festival, but the fact remains that they are the same, and
God, being omniscient, was certainly aware of this fact.  It is
possible that He did this deliberately, just as His Holy Spirit moved
the Church to set the date of the observation of the Lord's Nativity
around the time of a pagan winter festival.  This does not mean that
any of these important observations of the Church are pagan; instead,
giving the Church the opportunity to celebrate Her most important
festivals when the local population was already predisposed to
celebrate may have been useful in carrying out Our Lord's Great
Commission to evangelize all nations.

Sincerely,
John R. Covert