Did You Know?

Submitted by Fran A. Pappas

This year's Easter, the commemoration the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is a special celebration—one that brings together both the Western and Eastern Christian Churches and the Jewish Passover commemorating the Exodus and liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. That has not always been the case.

Although the Western and Eastern Churches began as one Christian Church, theological and political differences led to a dramatic schism in July 1054, with a final separation between the two—the Western Church presided by the Pope in Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church by the Patriarch in Constantinople, present-day Istanbul.

Other changes followed in the western church. Protestant churches were created, such as Lutheran, Baptist, Anglican and Episcopal, etc. However, the Eastern Orthodox Church remained as the largest single religious faith in most Eastern European countries, including Greece, Syria, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria, etc, and in large orthodox communities in Africa, Asia, Australia, etc, where each country uses the language of its origin.

For all churches, Easter always occurs on the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, the first full Moon after the March vernal equinox, which we all know is the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. The time of the vernal equinox and full moon is where the two churches diverge. There are two reasons for the difference, both complicated and simple. The complicated explanation is that the Eastern Orthodox Churches use the date according to the Julian calendar, the astronomical date of the full moon and vernal equinox observed along the meridian of Jerusalem at the actual site of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. In 1583 the Western Christian Churches adopted the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of Easter. Both calendars are solar calendars with 12 months of 28–31 days each; without getting into details, the difference between the calendars may be minuscule, an error of about 2 seconds per year or 1 day in 31,250, but this oftentimes makes Easter fall on different dates.

The simple difference is called tradition, which I refer to as the tradition of Passover. Herein lies the answer as to the importance of the Jewish Passover. The occurrence of Passover is important to the Eastern Orthodox Churches because Holy Thursday is synonymous with the celebration of Passover, a festival to the Lord and a day of remembrance, a day referred to by all Christians as The Last Supper. The Eastern Orthodox Churches will not celebrate Easter if the Jewish Passover has not occurred. It waits for the following full moon, which can differ anywhere between one and four weeks, and sometimes falls on the same day, but always after the Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) celebration. That's tradition!

Whatever your religious persuasion, let us be respectful of one another as we all celebrate together as one in peace and harmony.

Happy Easter…Chri-stos A-ne-sti (Christ Is Risen) with the response A-li-thos A-ne-sti (Truly he Is Risen)… and Chag Pesach Sameach — Pronounced “Chahg pay-SAKH Sa-MAY-Ach,” Happy Passover in Hebrew.