Easter Sunday April 9th 2023

Trust the English to be different from everyone else! The death and resurrection of Jesus was originally celebrated in a single event – the Paschal mystery, a title that is derived from the Hebrew Passover – Pesach. In Greek and Latin, this translates into Pascha, in Russian Paskha, in French Paques, Spanish Pascua, Italian Pasqua. Even in Cornish, it is Pask. In English, we speak about the Paschal mystery, referring to the great mystery of faith: how Christ could not be contained by death, but rose again from the grave. However, the English name for the greatest Christian Festival of the year – the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is drawn, not from any biblical understanding of Old Testament fulfilment, but comes from a pagan, northern European spring festival, in honour of a Germanic dawn goddess, ‘Eostre’. It is probably fourteen centuries too late, but the Paschal Weekend is a much more appropriate name for this – the greatest of Christian Festivals.

This is one festival which can be traced right back to the New Testament. ‘Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us,’ writes St Paul, ‘so let us celebrate the feast’. It is the Resurrection that gives Christianity its defining message. Death is not the end. In a real sense, every Sunday is an Easter celebration, as we recall, week by week, the amazing news of the Resurrection. It was the reality of the Resurrection that gave the first disciples the confidence to stand up and proclaim their faith. We too have a message of good news to proclaim. Jesus offers new life, abundant life, to all who put their trust in him. To quote St Paul again, ‘If Christ is raised from the dead, your faith is futile... but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep… as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive’ (from 1 Corinthians 15).

The obvious colour for Easter, the greatest festival of the year, is gold, or white.

But why such confusion every year about the date of Easter? It is an involved story. The original Paschal events occurred during the Passover Festival. The Passover always falls on the same date (the 14th day of the Jewish month Nissan), which, because Jewish months always begin with a new moon - they follow the lunar cycle rather than our western months which follow a solar cycle – is also the night of the full moon, although not necessarily on the same day of the week each year. The resurrection occurred ‘on the first day of the week’ (Sunday) – symbolic as a sign of new life and new beginnings. So understandably, Christians wanted to celebrate these important events on the first day of the week. Therefore, the celebration of Easter could not always coincide exactly with the Passover. Different groups of Christians began to adopt different methods of determining when to celebrate Easter, until The Council of Nicea in AD325 determined that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday following the 14th Day of the Paschal moon, which was decreed to be the first full moon following the vernal equinox. As the equinox is fixed for March 21st, the consequence is that Easter Sunday must fall on the Sunday after the first full month after 21st March. Therefore, Easter can occur any time between 22nd March and 25th April. This system for determining the date of Easter was adopted in England in AD664, at the Synod of Whitby, when the official ‘Roman’ way of celebrating Easter was favoured over the more local ‘Celtic’ church practice. Confused? Don’t blame me – I’m only the messenger!

Dates aside, the important message of Easter is not about when it is celebrated, but the truth of the Easter message. Every Sunday is an Easter celebration.

The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah!