My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS PREPARE FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE ALL-HOLY PASCHA ON APRIL 8TH

While most Christians celebrated Pascha (Easter) last week, Orthodox Christians here and throughout the world, together comprising the second largest Christian body after Roman Catholicism, will celebrate the All-Holy Pascha, the commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, on Sunday April 8th.

The question as to when Pascha (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ) should be celebrated began with the early Church and still remains unresolved. Broadly divided, there were two practices in the early Church: by an ancient tradition in Asia Minor, Pascha (Easter) was celebrated on a fixed day of the lunar month (14 Nisan) or always on the following Sunday. Thus, reckoning of the Paschal moon; in Alexandria, on the other hand, and in the Western part of the Church an independent, calculation was made; Pascha was always placed after the vernal equinox (equal length of spring day-night). Thus, the Eastern and Western segments of the early Church began to differ in the most important liturgical event of the year, the day of the Resurrection of Christ. Controversies and enmities began to develop to the point that one of the more important items on the agenda of the First Ecumenical Synod (Council) at Nicaea (325 AD) was the discussion and deciding on the date when all Christians should celebrate the day of the Resurrection. The decision of this important Synod regulating the day Pascha should be observed by all has not survived either in the form of a Canon or in any other kind of entry. What is known on the decision comes from the historian Sozomen (early 5th century), from the Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History, and from the secular Letter of Constantine the Great (Saint Constantine) to those of the bishops who could not attend the Synod; also, from Socrates' history, from the 10th Apostolic Canon, from the 1st canon of the Synod of Antiochia (341), and from other indirect sources.

It appears certain from all these sources that the first concern of the Synod as regards the celebration of Pascha was to avoid connecting it in any way with the day of the Jewish Passover...The formula decided upon by the Synod has survived in this form: Pascha should be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox...

The objection of people to celebrating Pascha with or before the Jewish Passover culminated in its being canonically tabulated by the famous Byzantine jurist Ioannes Zonaras 12th century, as follows: Pascha is to be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, provided that the Jewish Passover has already been celebrated. It is mostly because of this proviso that the Eastern Orthodox and Western Roman Catholics celebrate Pascha on different dates, in some years more than a month apart. It should be noted, though, that in most years the difference between East and West is due not only to the fact that the West has not adopted Zonaras' proviso but to the following fact as well: the time of the spring equinox for the purpose of determining the Pascha date in the West is calculated according to the Gregorian calendar, while the time of the spring equinox for the Eastern celebration of Pascha is calculated on the basis of the Julian calendar...In September 1982, the recommendations of this Consultation were brought before the Second Preconciliar Pan-Orthodox Consultation in Geneva, the mission of which is to prepare the agenda of the Great Pan-Orthodox Council to be convened. After long deliberations this body decided not to include in the topics of the agenda of the forthcoming Great Council the question of the date of Pascha. Fears were expressed that a decision to change the date of the Orthodox Pascha (Easter), however justified it may be on astronomical and canonical considerations, could result in creating confusion, divisions, and possibly schisms among the Orthodox Christians. (Source: A Dictionary of Greek Orthodoxy by Fr. Nicon Patrinacos)

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KALI ANASTASI! GLORIOUS RESURRECTION!

With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George