I was doing some digging on the question of the date of Easter myself when I came across your article. It was definitely an interesting find and something to think about. After concluding my own research it felt right to leave a comment here of what I found. Based on my research, what you presented here isn't the full story. You're right that there was an anti-Jewish sentiment at the Council of Nicaea. But that wasn't the reason why Easter date was set up the way it was. Jews 2000 years ago were using a lunisolar calendar. According to the Torah, they had to celebrate Passover on the 14th day of Nisan. Deuteronomy 16:1 says "Observe the month of Aviv..." Aviv means ripening, so the month of Nisan began in spring. The way ancient Jews defined when that was was through agriculture. Essentially, whenever their crops started ripening. That worked well when Israel was one nation living in one place, but very impractical for Christians all over the world. Because every month in the lunisolar calendar began with a new moon, the 14th of Nisan came close to a full moon due to the 29.5 day lunar cycle. And because Jesus was resurected on a Sunday, Christians wanted to celebrate Easter on a Sunday. So the date for Easter was set to the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Using modern calendars and not relying on an arbitrary definition of spring by looking at our crops, they simply defined spring as beginning with the equinox. If Nisan began with the equinox, the 14th of Nisan would be roughly at the first full moon. And the first Sunday after that is Easter. So they litterally tied Easter to Passover, they just translated the date of the Passover to the Julian calendar as logically as they could. The fact that this made it different than how the Jews did it was just a convenient coincidence for an anti-Jewish sentiment at the time. Anyway, this is my contribution to your article. But it made me stop and think and actually dig into this some more, so thank you for that. And God bless you! :)
Thank you, Julie. At 62, I am going through the reconstruction of my faith. I've been deeply confused and distraught over the way American Christianity has drifted over the past decade or more. Your gift for teaching and sharing is a true blessing for me. I respect your intelligence and your diligence along with your generosity.
Oh wow. Well... welcome back. Despite all our failings *both in church and outside* He is faithful. I'm glad the words I write speak to you. There's a fire in my spirit these days and sometimes I worry that my following grows weary of my trains of thought, but I feel strongly God has me writing this way for a reason. Thanks for sharing.
I grew up in the church and it wasn’t until a couple years ago (at 46 or 47) that I read the book of Leviticus and finally understood the full meaning of Jesus being the sacrifice for my sins. Once I read ALLLLLLL the rules and sacrifice rituals to atone for sin before Jesus, I was so grateful that He took all that once and for all so we didn’t have to continue with the Levitical practices. Why was Leviticus not taught? In my opinion everyone should read that book. It’s foundational to understanding and believing Jesus is our atoning sacrifice.
Great post. There's a lot there. A couple years ago I started reading about the early church, and found a book but a group of campus crusade for Christ ministers who when researching the early church ended up converting to Eastern orthodoxy. I found Eastern orthodoxy practices quite interesting and how they all reflected Christ but also found another group of people playing religion. Ended up going back to my spirit-filled church home with a renewed appreciation and love for both the church as a whole and Jesus.
I was doing some digging on the question of the date of Easter myself when I came across your article. It was definitely an interesting find and something to think about. After concluding my own research it felt right to leave a comment here of what I found. Based on my research, what you presented here isn't the full story. You're right that there was an anti-Jewish sentiment at the Council of Nicaea. But that wasn't the reason why Easter date was set up the way it was. Jews 2000 years ago were using a lunisolar calendar. According to the Torah, they had to celebrate Passover on the 14th day of Nisan. Deuteronomy 16:1 says "Observe the month of Aviv..." Aviv means ripening, so the month of Nisan began in spring. The way ancient Jews defined when that was was through agriculture. Essentially, whenever their crops started ripening. That worked well when Israel was one nation living in one place, but very impractical for Christians all over the world. Because every month in the lunisolar calendar began with a new moon, the 14th of Nisan came close to a full moon due to the 29.5 day lunar cycle. And because Jesus was resurected on a Sunday, Christians wanted to celebrate Easter on a Sunday. So the date for Easter was set to the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Using modern calendars and not relying on an arbitrary definition of spring by looking at our crops, they simply defined spring as beginning with the equinox. If Nisan began with the equinox, the 14th of Nisan would be roughly at the first full moon. And the first Sunday after that is Easter. So they litterally tied Easter to Passover, they just translated the date of the Passover to the Julian calendar as logically as they could. The fact that this made it different than how the Jews did it was just a convenient coincidence for an anti-Jewish sentiment at the time. Anyway, this is my contribution to your article. But it made me stop and think and actually dig into this some more, so thank you for that. And God bless you! :)
Thank you, Julie. At 62, I am going through the reconstruction of my faith. I've been deeply confused and distraught over the way American Christianity has drifted over the past decade or more. Your gift for teaching and sharing is a true blessing for me. I respect your intelligence and your diligence along with your generosity.
Oh wow. Well... welcome back. Despite all our failings *both in church and outside* He is faithful. I'm glad the words I write speak to you. There's a fire in my spirit these days and sometimes I worry that my following grows weary of my trains of thought, but I feel strongly God has me writing this way for a reason. Thanks for sharing.
I grew up in the church and it wasn’t until a couple years ago (at 46 or 47) that I read the book of Leviticus and finally understood the full meaning of Jesus being the sacrifice for my sins. Once I read ALLLLLLL the rules and sacrifice rituals to atone for sin before Jesus, I was so grateful that He took all that once and for all so we didn’t have to continue with the Levitical practices. Why was Leviticus not taught? In my opinion everyone should read that book. It’s foundational to understanding and believing Jesus is our atoning sacrifice.
Great post. There's a lot there. A couple years ago I started reading about the early church, and found a book but a group of campus crusade for Christ ministers who when researching the early church ended up converting to Eastern orthodoxy. I found Eastern orthodoxy practices quite interesting and how they all reflected Christ but also found another group of people playing religion. Ended up going back to my spirit-filled church home with a renewed appreciation and love for both the church as a whole and Jesus.