Good afternoon Please tell me why Christmas has a constant date of January 7, and Easter always falls on different dates? What is this connected with? Thank you so much for all your advice and clarification! Nadezhda Nikolaevna.
Priest Philip Parfenov answers:
Hello, Nadezhda Nikolaevna!
The Christmas holiday, like most other holidays, the dates of which fall on the same date every year, are called fixed holidays, since they are celebrated according to the solar calendar commonly used since ancient times in Europe. But in the Asian East they used the lunar calendar, which has its own rhythm and is inconsistent in different years relative to the solar one.
Read more here: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar
Easter, as a deliverance from Egyptian slavery, according to the regulations of the ancient Jews, was to be celebrated from the 14th to the 15th of the first lunar month of Nissan (Aviv). This date fell on the full moon immediately following the spring equinox. On the same day our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, according to the Gospel of John (on the eve of Saturday). And on the third day, Christ was resurrected - this day began to be called Sunday. Accordingly, subsequently, at the first Ecumenical Council in 325, it was decided to celebrate Christian Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox. This date changes relative to ordinary solar years, which is why this holiday, as well as the Ascension and Pentecost associated with it, are called movable holidays.
Sincerely, priest Philip Parfenov.
Being a great “why” student, I try to be interested in everything in the world: it’s nice to know something that others don’t suspect or don’t think about. I became fascinated by Orthodox themes, even visited the church several times to delve deeper into the essence. After talking with Father Nikolai, I found the answer to one burning question: why Easter is on different days every year, and I will be happy to share the information with you.
What do we know about the Holy Resurrection of Christ, except that this is the name of Easter, the celebration of which always falls on Sunday, but on different dates? Easter is considered one of the main moving events of the Orthodox calendar, at the same time tied to the incredibly complex lunisolar calculation accepted among the Jewish people.
Easter: Date Conversion Through the Centuries
Modern calculation of time strictly limits the scope of the possible celebration of the moving Easter: in Orthodoxy 4.04 - 8.05 according to the new style and according to the old 22.03 - 25.04 (with a difference of 13 days between the Julian and Gregorian styles) for Roman Catholics, Jews and most Protestants.
The Passover of the Jews in modern times is held on the day of the first full moon after the equinox. It is noteworthy that the date is determined according to the Julian calendar. Christians celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord on the day after the Jews (however, if March 21 turned out to be a Sunday, and even with a full moon, Easter should be set for March 28).
As a rule, the day of the first full moon falls between March 21 and April 18. However, if the full moon, Sunday and the date of April 18 coincide, Christians will have to celebrate the holiday only a week later - on the 25th, since biblical chronology and church rules require the Jewish Passover to be held before the Resurrection of Christ.
As for me, all this is very confusing, but the rules are established by the Church, and it’s not for me to judge them.
Easter date: how to calculate
After listening to the priest’s slightly confusing story, I came to the conclusion that determining the date of Orthodox Easter is a very difficult task. I didn’t try it myself, but I’ll tell you the theory now.
The alternation of dates for the Holy Resurrection of Christ is associated with difficult issues of coordinating dating according to the solar and lunar calendars, therefore the period from 4.04 to 8.05 is subject to a number of laws.
The minimum number of years for which Easter takes all possible time positions is 532. This array is called the Great Indiction, after which the date and month of Easter will alternate, so to speak, “on the thumb,” in the same order, so if at your disposal There is a fully calculated Easter, it will not be difficult to follow the progress of further changes.
For those who are too lazy to calculate such a huge layer of dates, I suggest using the formula of Carl Gauss, derived in the 19th century. What and how to do is shown in the figure.
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Easter in the Christian religion is considered a celebration of celebrations and a holiday of holidays, on which all other holidays depend, the so-called Easter circle. But, as you know, this holiday does not have a specific date of celebration, and the article below will help you learn how to correctly determine the day of Easter every year.
Why is Easter celebrated on different dates?
In the Orthodox religion, there are both transitory holidays, that is, the date of celebration, which does not have a clearly established day, and enduring ones, namely those celebrations that take place on the same day every year.
One of the main moving holidays, on the day of which almost the majority of the liturgical yearly cycle depends, is Easter. As a rule, the days of celebrating Pentecost, Ascension, the beginning of Lent and more depend on it. On this day, Christians bake and clean the house.
How is the date of Easter determined?
For the first believers, it was enough to celebrate on the first Sunday 7 days after the Jewish Resurrection of Christ. But after Jerusalem fell into ruins and the dispersion of the Jewish people occurred, their main landmark in the form of ripened ears of grain was lost and the question arose before them of how to calculate the date of Passover. The answer was found quite quickly; Jews, and after them Christians, began to use lunar and solar calendars to determine the day of celebration.
It is worth noting that determining the day of Easter among the Orthodox is a complex process. The basic rule is formulated as follows: “The Resurrection of Christ is celebrated in the spring on the first Sunday after the full moon, which comes after the spring equinox.”
That is, when calculating, it is necessary to take into account the following factors:
- lunar calendar (revolution of the night star around the earth's axis);
- solar calendar (that is, the revolution of our planet around the Sun);
- The generally accepted day of celebration is Sunday.
If the onset of the full moon occurs before March 21 (the day of the vernal equinox), then according to Easter, the subsequent phase of the moon is taken into account. And if the Easter full moon falls on Sunday, then the Bright Resurrection of Christ is celebrated on the following Sunday.
Mathematical method
It should be noted that when calculating the day of the Resurrection of Christ, you can also use a mathematical method, which looks like this:
- It is necessary to divide the number of the current year by the number 19, and the resulting remainder is designated by the letter “A”.
- The remainder obtained from dividing the current year's number by 4 is denoted by the letter "B", and the letter "C" is the remainder from dividing the current year's number by 7.
- The value is 19xA+15 and then divided by 30. The resulting remainder will be called the letter “D”.
- The remainder of the value 2xB+4xC+6xD+6 when divided by 7 is called “E”.
- The expression 22+D+E determines when the celebrations will take place for the first month of spring, and for April - D+E-9.
For example: we take 1996, and dividing it by the number 19 we get a remainder of 1 (A). When you divide by 4, the remainder is zero (B). Dividing the number of the year by 7 in the final and then in the remainder we get 1 (C). Continuing the calculations, we obtain the following values: D=4, and E=6. Based on this, it follows that 4+6-9=1, that is, the day of celebration of the Resurrection of Christ falls on the first day of the second month of spring.
The Lord is always with you!
Believers sacredly honor all church holidays and try to observe the customs and traditions that concern them. Among such important holidays of Orthodoxy we can highlight Easter, which is considered almost the greatest and most significant event for the entire Orthodox people!
Easter is celebrated, of course, in every home. The celebration takes place everywhere, in principle, the same way, and people from childhood learn the traditions and rituals that are supposed to be observed on Easter days. There is only one thing not everyone knows about Easter - why is the celebration held at different times every year, what does the date of Easter depend on and why does it constantly change?!
Why does the date of Easter change every year?
Initially, the celebration of Easter was dedicated to the resurrection of Jesus Christ himself. The event became very important and significant in the church calendar. In ancient times, people did not have calendars like ours and strictly calculated the day of celebration according to the movement of the main sanctuaries - the Sun and the Moon. Today, nothing has changed in this regard, and the clergy are still guided by the satellite of our planet and the “hottest” star!
Traditionally, the day of the week on which Easter begins falls on Sunday. Only the month and, of course, the date can never be predicted, since they are calculated according to a certain scheme, which is known only to a certain circle of people.
How do you find out the date of Easter?
To calculate when such a grandiose event as Easter will happen in a given year, it is necessary to find out on what day the first resurrection falls, which will follow the very first full moon, which occurs immediately after the spring equinox. It is on this day that the relative position of the Sun and the Moon is special and they fall into it only on the Easter holiday, the date of which can vary between March 22 and April 25, according to the Julian calendar. If you look at the Gregorian calendar, then this period falls exclusively in the interval from April 7 to May 8. Please note that Easter is always celebrated in the spring, when after winter all living things bloom and wake up!
The Easter period was established back in 325 by the meeting of the ecumenical council in Nicaea, and before that the celebration took place on the day of the full moon in the month of March. And this holiday had a slightly different interpretation; it was connected not with Jesus Christ, but with the history of slavery of the Jewish people, or rather, liberation from it.
Is it possible to calculate the day of Easter yourself?
A modern person can easily calculate the date of the holiday on his own! In order to make this difficult process accessible to everyone, today simple tables have been developed - they are called “Easter eggs”, which, through simple steps, allow you to perform all the calculations!
It is also easy to calculate other Orthodox holidays that are no less important than Easter. This is both Pentecost and Trinity. Although those who are more intelligent by nature can simply look at the astronomical calendar and decide on the date of Easter, only by finding out when the full moon phase begins, counting from March 21!
Few Christians know why Easter is on different days. To understand this issue, you need to remember the history of the holiday and the basis for calculating its date. Statistics show that even experts on this topic cannot summarize its essence in a nutshell; so many important events are intertwined here.
The Great Resurrection is one of the most important Christian holidays, which is revered by millions of believers, so it is so important to at least theoretically know why Easter is at different times. After all, in the modern world you don’t have to worry about this. Church calendars are issued indicating the dates of all holidays, and the Internet also comes to the rescue, which has ready-made formulas (you just need to set the year for calculation or find the appropriate topic).
How is the holy day calculated?
The day of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ falls on a new date every year. It is calculated using special formulas, some of the data of which are variable quantities. To calculate the date of Christ's day using one of them you need to know:
Spring date when day is equal to night
Date of the full moon following the equinox
Day of the week on which Easter Sunday is celebrated
After looking at many of the calculations that scientists use, any desire to try to calculate the date of the holiday disappears, they are so complex and require certain knowledge, both in the field of mathematics and astronomy. Why is the date of Easter changing?
Determining the date using the formula
A fairly simple formula, proposed by Carl Gauss at the beginning of the 19th century, contains only mathematical calculations. He did not give an explanation for this calculation, but it can be used to determine the time of the holiday in any year.
Actions:
- The year (or rather its number) in which you need to find out the date of the Great Day is divided by 19. Remainder = A
- Number of year divided by 4 = B
- Number of year divided by 7 = C
- (19 * A + 15) : 30 = number and remainder = D
- (2 * B + 4 * C + 6 * D + 6) : 7 = number. Remainder = E
- D+E<= 9, то Пасха будет в марте + 22 дня, если >, then in April: the resulting number is 9
Example calculation for 2014:
- 2014: 19 = 106, remainder = 0
- 2014: 4 = 603 ost 2
- 2014: 7 = 287 ost 5
- (19 * 0 + 15) : 30 = 0.5 remainder 15
- (2 * 2 + 4 * 5 + 6 * 15 + 6) : 7 = 17 remainder 1
- 15+1 = 16 more than 9, which means the Feast of Christ will be in April 16-9 = 7, adjustment for style +13 days, which means April 20.
Sunday after the full moon
The Orthodox Church uses a calculation that was adopted back in the third century. Easter is celebrated according to the rules of the Alexandrian Paschal after the spring equinox (March 21 according to the old style and April 3 according to the new one) on the first Sunday after the full moon.
A little history
Many years have passed since Jesus Christ was crucified for human sins and resurrected. Since that time, Christ's Day has been celebrated annually on the fourteenth day of the first month of spring. According to the ancient lunar calendar, this event falls on the first day of the week, that is, Sunday. Before the conquest by Babylon, this month was called Aviv, and after the captivity - Nissan. The modern calendar has a clearly established framework for the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord: this day can be between April 4 and May 8 according to the new style (March 22 and April 25 according to the old style).
The thing is that before there was no single calendar. One of the most ancient peoples - the Israelis - kept track of time according to the lunar calendar, while the Egyptians and Romans - according to the solar calendar.
Lunar calendar: main parameters
12 months
Number of days in a month 29 or 30
Number of days in a year 354
Solar calendar: main parameters
12 months
Number of days in a month 30
Number of days in a year 365
It can be seen that the difference in days between the calendars was 11 days. To smooth out the discrepancy, the Jews added an additional month - the thirteenth (V-Adar) every few years. This happened in the year that is considered a leap year in the modern calendar. Some peoples believed that there were only 10 months (304 days) in a year, and the year began in March, and then the remaining January and February were added.
The implementation of two significant reforms simplified the process of monitoring the passing days:
1. Caesar's Reform - Julian Calendar
The Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar decided to streamline the calendar on his territory. Thus, the new Julian calendar contained 365 days a year, and 366 in the leap year. But, despite this, the lunar calendar did not cease to exist and was carried out in parallel.
The reform was finally consolidated for the entire Christian world in 325 at a council of bishops. It was then that the months of July and August were named after the emperors. The Julian calendar is used in the Orthodox Church.
2. Foundation of the Gregorian calendar
Nature has its own laws. The Julian calendar turned out to be imperfect: the spring equinox was approaching, and the calendar only showed March 11th. Again the need for reform arose. Pope Gregory XIII founded the Gregorian calendar in 1582, according to which the year consisted of 365 days.
This is interesting:
The inhabitants of Rome and Egypt, who were guided by the solar calendar, had a different number of days in the year: 355 and 354.
The new time system in Russia began to be used only 336 years after the reform. The Orthodox Church resisted accepting it, uprisings broke out, and blood was shed.
The difference between the new and old styles is now 13 days. The initial difference of 10 days increased by one day in each century.
First the Jewish Resurrection takes place, then the Catholic and Orthodox. Why this happens and why Easter cakes are baked can be found out by looking into history.
Dates often overlap: Jewish dates can coincide with Catholic dates, and Catholic dates can coincide with Orthodox dates. Jewish and Orthodox never intersect.
In Israel, the week begins on Sunday - this is the first working day. Saturday is a day off, and Friday is usually a shortened day.
During the existence of Alexandria, the day of Easter was calculated by the current bishop and reported to Rome, so that the celebration took place on one day. But gradually this tradition disappeared.
There was a time when Christians did not fool themselves by calculating the date of the Resurrection of the Lord and asking why Easter is a moving holiday. They celebrated the holiday a week after the Jewish Passover.
