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Easter controversy

For the various systems used to calculate dates for Easter, seeDate of Easter.

Thecontroversy over the correct date for Easterbegan inEarly Christianityas early as the 2nd century AD. Discussion and disagreement over the best method ofcomputing the date of Easter Sundayhas been ongoing ever since and remains unresolved. DifferentChristian denominationscontinue to celebrate Easter on different dates, withEasternandWesternChristian churches being a notable example.

Quartodecimanism

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Main article:Quartodecimanism

Quartodecimanism(from theVulgateLatinquarta decimainLeviticus23:5,[1]meaning fourteenth) is the practice of celebratingEasteron the 14th ofNisanat the same time as theJewish Passover.[2][3][4]Quartodecimanism caused twoschisms,one headed byBlastusin Rome and one headed byPolycratesin the East.[5]

First Council of Nicaea in 325

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Main article:First Council of Nicaea § Separation of Easter computation from Jewish calendar

In 325 anecumenical council,theFirst Council of Nicaea,established two rules: independence from theJewish calendar,and worldwide uniformity. However, it did not provide any explicit rules to determine that date, writing only “all our brethren in the East who formerly followed the custom of the Jews are henceforth to celebrate the said most sacred feast of Easter at the same time with the Romans and yourselves [the Church of Alexandria] and all those who have observed Easter from the beginning.”[6]Shortly before the Nicean Council, in 314, the ProvincialCouncil of ArlesinGaulhad maintained that the Lord'sPaschshould be observed on the same day throughout the world and that each year the Bishop of Rome should send out letters setting the date of Easter.[7]

Synod of Whitby in 664

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See also:Synod of Whitby

The Roman missionaries coming to Britain in the time ofPope Gregory I(590–604) found the British Christians adhering to a different system of Easter computation from that used in theMediterranean basin.This system, on the evidence ofBede,fixed Easter to the Sunday falling in the seven-day period from the 14th to the 20th of its lunar month, according to an 84-year cycle.[8]The limits of Nisan 14 – Nisan 20 are corroborated byColumbanus.[9]The method used by the Roman Church was Nisan 15 – Nisan 21.[10]The 84-year cycle, the lunar limits, and an equinox of March 25 also receive support from McCarthy's analysis of Padua, Biblioteca Antoniana, MS I.27.[11]Any of these features alone could have led to occasional discrepancies from the date of Easter as computed by the Alexandrian method.

This 84-year cycle (called thelatercus) gave way to the Alexandrian computus in stages. The Alexandrian computus may have been adopted in parts of the south of Ireland in the first half of the 7th century.[12]Among the northern English, the use of the Alexandrian computus over the Britanno-Irish cycle was decided at the Synod of Whitby in 664.[13]The Alexandrian computus was finally adopted by the Irish colonies in northern Britain in the early 8th century.[14]

Modern calls for a reform of the date of Easter

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Main article:Reform of the date of Easter

After theGregorian reform of the calendarby promulgation in 1582, theCatholic Churchcontinued to follow the same method for computing the date of Easter but the resulting date differed from that computed using theJulian Calendardue to the difference in time regarding when thevernal equinoxwas deemed to occur and when the relevant full moon fell. TheProtestantchurches of theChristian Westall eventually adopted theGregorian Calendarat various later stages. TheEastern Orthodox Churchand the majority of theChristian Eastchanged toRevised Julian calendarin 1924 and some continue the older practice aligned to theJulian calendar.

Several attempts have sought to achieve a common method for computing the date of Easter.

In 1997 theWorld Council of Churchesproposed a reform of the method of determining the date of Easter[15]at a summit inAleppo,Syria:Easter would be defined as the first Sunday following the firstastronomicalfull moonfollowing the astronomicalvernal equinox,as determined from themeridianofJerusalem.The reform would have been implemented starting in 2001, since in that year the Eastern and Western dates of Easter would coincide. This proposal, however, was never implemented.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Leviticus 23:5:"Mense primo, quarta decima die mensis, ad vesperum Pascha Domini est."
  2. ^IshYoBoy.com (2018-03-30)."When Heresy was Orthodox: Quartodecimanism as a Brief Case Study | CSCO".Retrieved2022-05-06.
  3. ^"The Passover-Easter-Quartodeciman Controversy".Grace Communion International.Retrieved2022-05-06.
  4. ^"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Easter Controversy".www.newadvent.org.Retrieved2022-05-06.
  5. ^Schaff, Philip; Wace, Henry (1890).A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series.Parker.
  6. ^Schaff, Philip; Wace, Henry, eds. (1890),The Synodal Letter,Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, vol. 14, The Seven Ecumenical Councils,Grand Rapids, Michigan,U.S.: Eerdmans Pub Co., pp.112–114,ISBN0-8028-8129-7
  7. ^Charles Jones,Bedae Opera de temporibus,(Cambridge, Mediaeval Academy of America), 1943, p. 25.
  8. ^Bede,Church History of the English People,2.2, in J.E. King, tr.,Bede: Historical Works, Vol. 1,Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, 1930, p. 205.
  9. ^Columbanus, Letter to Pope Gregory, inA Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church,Second Series, Volume 13, p. 40.
  10. ^David Ewing Duncan, "The Calendar", 1998, p.105.
  11. ^Easter principles and a fifth-century lunar cycle used in the British IslesDaniel McCarthy,Journal for the History of AstronomyVolume24(3), issue 76, August 1993, pages 204-224.
  12. ^Cummian,Letter on the Easter Controversy,PL 87.969.
  13. ^Bede,Church History,3.25.
  14. ^Bede,Church History,5.22.
  15. ^"World Council of Churches".Archived fromthe originalon 2008-12-05.Retrieved2006-08-14.

References

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  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Easter Controversy".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Jones, Charles W.Bedae Opera de Temporibus.Cambridge: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1943. pp. 3–104.
  • McCarthy, Daniel (1994). "The Origin of theLatercusPaschal Cycle of the Insular Celtic Churches ".Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies.28:25–49.
  • McCarthy, Daniel andÓ Cróinín, Dáibhí."The 'Lost' Irish 84-year Easter Table Rediscovered",Peritia,6–7 (1987–88): pp. 227–242.
  • Mosshammer, Alden A.The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.ISBN0-19-954312-7.
  • Walsh, Maura and Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí.Cummian's LetterDe controversia paschaliand theDe ratione conputandi. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1988.
  • Wallis, Faith.Bede: The Reckoning of Time.Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2004. pp. xxxiv–lxiii.
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