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Jack,

I emailed you the thread; I have not seen more in the news. Let me know if you need something else.

DT

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I was offered a comment, which I’ve redacted for a particular focus, since I thought it an interesting variation on the often heard stipulation that Pascha must follow Passover (as it is now determined by Jews), which is the case for the Julian Paschalion but not always for the Gregorian. This really has nothing to do with adherence to the Nicaean Norm but arises because of a 13 day bias (error) in the Julian calendar.

The comment argues: The lunar phase calendar graphic [that I previously posted in this thread for April 2022] illustrates perfectly why the Orthodox calendar is correct. The full moon at the time of the Resurrection rose on what we now called Holy Thursday, so the Resurrection had to occur in three days (reckoned as we do, sunset to sunset). Pascha on Sunday April 17, 2022 is at least two days too soon....we must wait until the following Sunday April 24, which is Pascha according to the Julian determination.

This is saying that since the full moon is the time of the Passover on Thursday, there must be more intervening days for the Friday crucifixion and burial, and a day of the Sabbath rest in the tomb. But the Gregorian Pascha is the very next day after the full moon and does not allow for the intervening days.

This makes sense if the Nicaean Norm is that the sequence of events of the Passion must all take place after the Passover full moon as at the time of the Resurrection. But that is not the case. The Nicaea Norm does not link Pascha/Easter to the Passover timing in that way. And the proof is the Julian calendar itself.

When the Julian Paschalion computes the full moon (actually the 14th day of the moon; I hope to discuss this in a future post), and it falls on a Saturday, the following day, Sunday, is Pascha just as for the Gregorian Paschalion this year 2022. An example of this is actually given in Date of Easter [en.wikipedia.org] for the year 1573, ten years before the Gregorian reform:

Quote
This is the table of paschal full moon dates for all Julian years since 931:
Golden
number [The Table is shown here]

Example calculation using this table:

The golden number for 1573 is 16 (1573 + 1 = 1574; 1574 ÷ 19 = 82 remainder 16). From the table, the paschal full moon for golden number 16 is 21 March. From the week table 21 March is Saturday. Easter Sunday is the following Sunday, 22 March.
See also 1573 Julian calendar / Old style [5ko.free.fr].

So there is no requirement for any additional day(s) between the full moon and Pascha.

Doing the same for the present year, the Golden Number for 2022 is 9 giving a Julian Paschal full moon date of Wednesday April 7 on the Julian calendar. Applying the same rule, Pascha is Sunday, April 11 on the Julian calendar which is April 24 (the 13 day difference) on the Gregorian calendar. Here, the Julian calendar is doing the same computation as the Gregorian but with the 13 day shift.

And here’s what makes the difference: The actual, real, up-in-the-sky full moon is Saturday April 3, 2022 on the Julian calendar and not the calculated Wednesday April 7 (on the Julian calendar); Pascha should then be the next day, Sunday April 4 on the Julian which is April 17 on the Gregorian/civil calendar.

I had not realized the ramifications of this before. The Nicaean Norm, as the Julian calendar also demonstrates, does not require that the liturgical observance of the Christian Passover match the chronology of the historical sequence of events at the time of the Resurrection with respect to the full moon. So, following the Nicaean Norm, we read the prototype

Leviticus 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the LORD's Passover

as a Jew but we interpret it as a Christian and so observe it liturgically.

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Concerning the proposition that the Sigillon of 1583 is a forgery, this post [johnsanidopoulos.com] names the forger, Iakovos of New Skete, but provides no evidence for the accusation of forgery. Most of the post is not about the Sigillon but about some intricate Eastern Orthodox church politics.

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Originally Posted by ajk
I was offered a comment, which I’ve redacted for a particular focus, since I thought it an interesting variation on the often heard stipulation that Pascha must follow Passover (as it is now determined by Jews), which is the case for the Julian Paschalion but not always for the Gregorian. This really has nothing to do with adherence to the Nicaean Norm but arises because of a 13 day bias (error) in the Julian calendar.

The comment argues: The lunar phase calendar graphic [that I previously posted in this thread for April 2022] illustrates perfectly why the Orthodox calendar is correct. The full moon at the time of the Resurrection rose on what we now called Holy Thursday, so the Resurrection had to occur in three days (reckoned as we do, sunset to sunset). Pascha on Sunday April 17, 2022 is at least two days too soon....we must wait until the following Sunday April 24, which is Pascha according to the Julian determination.

The Paschal table of Hippolytus, apparently following the Johannine chronology of the passion, that Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan and raised on the 16th, never celebrates Easter before the 16th day of the moon. This custom persisted in the Roman computus as far as the computus of Victorius where it is used in some of the alternative dates for Easter provided in that table. But as you note, the Alexandrian computus always celebrated Easter during the (Christian) week of Unleavened Bread, from the 15th to the 21st of the moon. Bede even argues that it would be ideal if Easter could always occur on the 15th:

Originally Posted by Bede
If it were possible for this same fourteenth moon to fall on Saturday every year, nothing would displace the time of our Paschal observance from its lawful [time]. For [we], sacrificing according to the precept of the Law always on the fourteenth day of the moon of the first month at sunset, and eating the flesh of the immaculate lamb, and sprinkling its blood upon our doorposts to repel the destroyer (this is baptism) and celebrating the solemnities of the Paschal mass, would triumph over the spiritual Egypt. And at break of day on the fifteenth day of the moon of that month, we would enter upon the first day of Unleavened Bread, and we would complete the seven appointed days of that festivity with due veneration from the morning of the fifteenth day to the evening of the twenty-first day of that first month, that is from Easter Sunday until the Sunday of the octave of Easter.
--De temporum ratione 59. Faith Wallis's translation.

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Originally Posted by Mockingbird
Bede even argues that it would be ideal if Easter could always occur on the 15th:

Originally Posted by Bede
If it were possible for this same fourteenth moon to fall on Saturday every year, nothing would displace the time of our Paschal observance from its lawful [time]. For [we], sacrificing according to the precept of the Law always on the fourteenth day of the moon of the first month at sunset, and eating the flesh of the immaculate lamb, and sprinkling its blood upon our doorposts to repel the destroyer (this is baptism) and celebrating the solemnities of the Paschal mass, would triumph over the spiritual Egypt. And at break of day on the fifteenth day of the moon of that month, we would enter upon the first day of Unleavened Bread, and we would complete the seven appointed days of that festivity with due veneration from the morning of the fifteenth day to the evening of the twenty-first day of that first month, that is from Easter Sunday until the Sunday of the octave of Easter.
--De temporum ratione 59. Faith Wallis's translation.
Thanks, Mockingbird, you always provide good stuff; this is gold. I've read some of Wallis but would have missed Bede's meaning if you did not point it out. I'll comment more but first need to post a rather lengthy commentary that I wanted to offer as a preparation (meditation?) for Great & Holy Week. I think it turns out to be, by coincidence, the background for understanding Bede's preference for the 15th. This is installment 1.

With Spring and the Paschal Moon having arrived, and now the day for the annual remembrance of the Lord’s resurrection, this seems an opportune time to consider the scriptural texts that are relevant to the timing of the OT Jewish Passover, Pesach, and, consequently, the NT Christian Passover, Pascha. I have commented in previous posts that this calendar issue is not arbitrary and is even a matter of liturgical theology. But is it?

To what extent is it essential or necessary or important to have a liturgical year, an annual cycle of feasts and fasts, a Typikon , a tradition of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, an annual observance of Pascha? One can quote Isaiah and Paul against a mechanical fixation on appointed times and observances, but then there is the example of Jesus in His observance of those same appointed times and their link to the saving events in God’s, in the Father’s, economia.

Various forms of the calendar issue have been around since at least the mid-second century AD Quartodeciman controversy. The historical path of Christianity is one of attention to a cycle of feasts, commemorations. That same historical path witnesses that, even admitting there are legitimate interpretations and traditions, unity of observance and theological interpretation were important and determining factors, factors that excluded certain interpretations, viz. the Quartodecimans (on the Jewish Passover), and practices, viz. the Protopaschites (Sunday after the Jewish Passover). Once again, in this year of 2022, it is necessary to speak of the annual remembrances: Gregorian Pascha being 17 April, the third Sunday of April, and Julian Pascha a week later, which is Sunday, 24 April on the Gregorian calendar, and Sunday 11 April on the Julian calendar itself, which is the second Sunday of the Julian month of April.

If the calendar is not just a utilitarian tool but comprises real theology, then a close reading and interpretation of the relevant scripture should enhance our liturgical and spiritual awareness, and bring us closer to the event that is being liturgically remembered: the liturgical “today” (Calendar-Easter) that is being observed according to the mind of the Church.

I had envisioned a straightforward presentation and comment on the relevant scriptures as given, for instance, in the Aleppo statement. I found it necessary to get into the theological and scientific, i.e. astronomical, details of the biblical texts. This may seem a digression into minutiae but I would suggest that this is a literal instance of God being in the details.

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The Aleppo Statement gives some relevant biblical passages for the Passover event and alludes to the Christian connection in the NT and Nicaea:

Quote
(c) The Nicene norms affirm the intimate connection between the biblical passover (cf. especially Exod. 12:18, Lev. 23:5, Num. 28:16, Deut. 16:1-2) and the Christian celebration of "Christ our paschal lamb" (1 Cor. 5:7).

These passages are the basic texts but some others are needed for a full context. To better appreciate the meaning of the scriptures, however, requires a more basic, primitive, literal understanding of the scriptural texts than is presented in typical translations. Modern translations properly strive for immediate clarity in reading, or hearing the text proclaimed. A case in point is the first reference given from the book of Exodus describing the first Passover in Egypt. A standard translation of Ex 12:18ff

Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, and so until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses… 21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, "Select lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the passover lamb.

The clarity of this translation can be deceptive in what is actually described and how it is described. We think of some first month of a calendar year and its 14th day. Compare this to a literal rendering using the idiom of the Hebrew:

Exodus 12:18 In the first ( בָּרִאשֹׁ֡ן , ba-rishon) on the fourteenth day of the moon at evening ( לחֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ בָּעֶ֔רֶב ; chodesh ba-erev), you shall eat unleavens ( מַצֹּ֑ת matstsot f pl; ἄζυμα , azuma, n pl), and so until the twenty-first day of the moon at evening.

Recall that the day here is the evening-morning Biblical day. This passage also refers to an in/at the first, ba-rishon (adjective), so the first one, viz. something that is a beginning.

Also, the word codesh is here rendered in the more basic sense of moon not month. This is because the OT sense of time reckoning – the calendar – is based primarily on the moon, with the sun synchronizing the progression of the moons (months) to the seasons; it is a lunar time reckoning that is then adjusted as needed to be in step with the sun and thus the seasons of the year. In our civil calendar, a solar calendar, months can be and are of somewhat arbitrary number of days and are independent of the moon. Each month in the OT calendar is a one cycle of the moon, that cycle being ~29.5 days in length; the lunar month then is either 29 or 30 days long since half days would be awkward on a calendar. To visualize this, consider a standard current calendar that has the phases of the moon indicated. For some calendar month find the day of the “new moon” and from that day as day one, count out the next 31 days for good measure; most often this will include some days from the next calendar month. The result is something akin to the (lunar) month/moon of the scripture. For instance, this is what I am calling Astronomical Lunar March (moon-month) for 2021. It is chosen since it illustrates the point and is based on an astronomical, scientific, description of the moon’s phases. It spans portions of the months of March and April:
[Linked Image]
All the dates are for the civil calendar which is the Gregorian calendar. The March 2021 astronomical new moon occurred on March 13, here the first day of the moon, and the astronomical full moon 15 days later, which is the 16th day of the moon, on March 28. This Astronomical Lunar March 2021 was 30 days, March 13-April 11. The next moon, lunar month, began April 12. We in modern times most likely are unaware of or ignore this aspect of nature, this natural timing of the moon phases, although they were important in the past. For this astronomical data the full moon occurred on luna 16 (the 16th day of the moon). I've also indicated the date of the vernal equinox with its standard symbol, the sign for Aries, on luna 8.

If this astronomical data is used with the Aleppo statement's "recommendation" and its interpretation of the Nicaean Norms,

Quote
(a) to maintain the Nicene norms (that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first vernal full moon)

then, the equinox having occurred on luna 8, the full moon on luna 16, a Sunday, Pascha is the next Sunday, luna 23, April 4.

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Although I'm reluctant to diverge from the review of Scripture, I recalled AB JOB's explanation of the scenario that leads to a difference in Pascha on the order of a month. Since the dates were presented for Lunar March, I though it would be simple enough to present it in terms of the familiar calendar months. I used color coding for clarity. As I proceeded, the graphic started to light up given the number of dates/events that are involved, and that for two calendars. But having done it. here it is -- hopefully it illustrates AB JOB's explanation. All the colors correspond to the same days on the two calendars. The astronomical data are times independent of any calendar; both the equinox and the full moon happen at the same instant for all places on earth. Calculations tell us when that happens and then we mark that on whatever calendar we want, and presumably use.

The key dates are on Julian March and they line up by coincidence. Gregorian Equinox (red) is on MAR 8 and the Paschal Full Moon(yellow) on the 15th so Gregorian Pascha (green) is the following Sunday MAR 22, which is APR 4 on the Gregorian calendar.

The Julian equinox (purple) on MAR 21 -- both the Julian and Gregorian fix the equinox to their respective MAR 21 -- comes after, i.e. misses the full moon of the 15th. It must wait for the next full moon on the APR 14 (grey) and the Julian computus is close enough to the astronomical that it gives a date of APR 19 (blue) for its Pascha. This is MAY 2 on the Gregorian calendar.
[Linked Image]

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Though not in Aleppo’s list, Exo. 12:2 gives some additional important information for understanding the timing of the Passover. Again, being literal to get the flavor of the Hebrew text:

Exodus 12:1 YHWH said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt

Exodus 12:2 "This moon הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ (ha-codesh) shall be for you the head (beginning) רֹ֣אשׁ (rosh) of moons חֳדָשִׁ֑ים (codeshim); the first/chief ( רִאשׁ֥וֹן ; rishun) this to you (plural) for the moons of the year ( לְחָדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה ; le-chodshē hash-shanah).

Here a yearly timing is indicated, that is, some number of moons that eventually return to the one at the head and that then repeat the cycle. For both the Gregorian and Julian calendars a year is 12 calendar months and 365 days or, for leap years, 366 days. A year based on moons, lunar months, is 12x29.5 days = 354 day, 11 days short of the 365 day year. Basically every three years, the 12 lunar months fall behind by 3x11 days=33 days, thus 3 or 4 days more than a lunar cycle. When this happens, the Hebrew calendar must add an additional month, a leap month, to insure that the calendar is synchronized with nature. More than being just a page of a yearly wall calendar, the lunar month, the cycle of the moon, is a natural, celestial event. The calendar’s job is to accommodate the event. Nature determines and dictates the timing; calendars are just overlays on the natural, cosmic timing.

From Aleppo’s list, Lev 23:5 conveys the same basic instruction as Exo. 12:8, but with a refinement:

Leviticus 23:5 At the moon (חֹדֶשׁ ), the first/head, on the fourteenth for the moon ( לַחֹ֖דֶשׁ ) between the evenings ( הָעַרְבָּ֑יִם ) is the Pesach/Passover ( פֶּ֖סַח) to YHWH ( לַיהוָֽה ).

The time specified is not just evening as in Exodus but more specifically ha-arbaim, between the evenings, which is believed to be the time between noon and the evening twilight that begins the 14th day. But is it, is that the meaning?

The verses in Numbers give important additional information, relating the 14th and the 15th days:

Numbers 28:16 "On the fourteenth day of the first moon ( הָרִאשׁ֗וֹן ) is the YHWH's passover. 17 And on the fifteenth day of this moon is a feast; seven days shall unleavens be eaten.

In these translations, first has the meaning of primary rather than an ordinal number. So, the Passover is on the 14th and the meal is on the 15th, recalling that this is the evening-and-morning biblical day.

Exactly when, however, does this moon that corresponds to the moon at the time of the Exodus, the moon that is at the head of all the moons throughout the year occur? This is an example of that liturgical today. For every year, for every generation after the actual exodus from Egypt, the same participation in the actual event is realized by the timing of the moon and sun. Every year the timing of the event is replicated by the specified day of the moon, of the designated moon of the year, not by giving a date on a calendar, but in compliance with the present timing of nature, of the earth, moon and sun. This is the moon of YHWH's Passover made present, today, for every generation.

The specified moon is given in Deuteronomy & Exodus:

Deuteronomy 16:1 "Observe the moon of Aviv ( חֹ֣דֶשׁ הָאָבִ֔יב ; chodesh ha-Aviv) and keep the פֶּ֛סַח Pesach/Passover to YHWH your God; for in the moon of Aviv, YHWH your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall slaughter Pesach/Passover פֶּ֛סַח to YHWH your God, …

Exodus 13:1 YHWH said to Moses, 2 "Consecrate to me all the first-born; whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine." 3 And Moses said to the people, "Remember ( זָכ֞וֹר zachor; μνημονεύετε , mnemoneuete) this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand YHWH brought you out from this place; no leavenes shall be eaten. 4 This day you are to go forth, in the moon of Aviv.

Exodus 23:15 You shall keep the feast of unleavens ( חַ֣ג הַמַּצּוֹת chag_ham-matstsot; ἑορτὴν τῶν ἀζύμων); as I commanded you, you shall eat unleavens for seven days at the appointed time ( לְמוֹעֵד ; le-moed) in the moon of Aviv, for in it you came out of Egypt…

Thus the time of the Exodus, the appointed time (the feast) of Pesach/Passover and Unleavened Bread (I have not translated it this way since there is no explicit word bread) is the moon of Aviv (This moon of Aviv also goes by its Babylonian name, Adar). Aviv in OT Hebrew means the new, not fully ripened, green barley [Cf. LXX: ἐν μηνὶ τῶν νέων (Exo 13:4)]. This phenomenon of nature occurs in the spring and gives the solar, the seasonal timing for the moed [at the appointed time ( לְמוֹעֵד ;le-moed)], the specific moon of the twelve (or thirteen) moons that return the yearly cycle to the season when the barley has appeared. (In modern Hebrew, Aviv actually means Spring; the modern city and former capital of the State of Israel, Tel Aviv, is Hill of Spring.)

It was important on a practical level to get the timing of this moon correct (See, Sacha Stern, Calendar and Community, 70,"The year may be intercalated on three grounds..."). This is because there is an additional directive that ties Passover/Unleavended Bread with another important feast. It is important to get the Aviv Moon correct in order to make good on the availability of the Aviv, the barley, for the ritual offering of the Omer. This is recorded in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy:

Leviticus 23:10 "Say to the people of Israel, When you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf עֹ֛מֶר (omer) of the first (fruit) רֵאשִׁ֥ית (rēshit, ἀπαρχὴν ) of your harvest to the priest;
Leviticus 23:11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the YHWH, that you may find acceptance; on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it…
Leviticus 23:15 "And you shall count from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you rought the omer of the wave offering; seven sabbaths שֶׁ֥בַע שַׁבָּת֖וֹת complete shall they be,
Leviticus 23:16 counting fifty (LXX: πεντήκοντα) days to the morrow after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a cereal offering of new grain to the YHWH.

Deuteronomy 16:9 "You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. Deuteronomy 16:10 Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the YHWH your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the YHWH your God blesses you;

These verses account for the timing of Passover and Unleavened Bread and the Moed (appointed time, feast) of the first-fruit (omer) and its counting to the 50th day, the Moed called Shavuot (Hebrew: שָׁבוּעוֹת‎, Šāvūʿōṯ, lit. "Weeks") in the Hebrew text of scripture, and Pentecost in Greek. This is the Moed/feast that Luke describes in Acts:

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they [the disciples] were all together in one place. Acts 2:5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

It must be noted, however, that while the timing, the linking of Passover and Unleavened Bread is explicit, the choice of the Sabbath and thus the "morrow after the sabbath" in the Leviticus passages is not explicit. This is true for Luke's account in Acts. Our liturgical year interprets that "morrow" as Pascha, and this was and is a common interpretation in Jewish practice also.

There is one last text concerning the preparation for the Passover, and it highlights an important aspect of our liturgical theology:

Exodus 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household… Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
Exodus 12:6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.

This 10th day, the day the lamb is selected, corresponds to the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph, the day observed liturgically as Palm/Flowery Sunday. This coincidence and its interpretation is discussed at some length by what I would characterize as non-liturgical Christian communities. I do not see it appearing in our (extensive) liturgical commentary, our prayers. Its link to the OT is not referenced in the NT. I wonder if this is noted at all in Patristic writings. The proper correspondence of OT feasts with our liturgical tradition, along with important cautions, is discussed by Fr. Sebastian Carnazzo, Rejoice All ye Peoples: The Feasts of the Old Testament [godwithusonline.org] at God With Us, a presentation that I highly recommend.

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To wrap it up, the attached pdf has calendar representations (too big to be inline) of the Moon of Aviv to Pentecost. Where scripture is not definitive about the timing, I have chosen the interpretation that is most compatible with liturgical observance.

This is a detail from the pdf. Applying the Nicaean Norm, however, seven different scenarios are possible, viz. luna 14 falling on any day of the week, Sunday through Saturday. If the goal of the liturgical observance of Pascha was intended to simulate primarily the historical, chronology pattern, then luna 14 on a Thursday would be the ideal.

[Linked Image]

Viewed as the biblical day, the meal, crucifixion and burial all happened on the same day, luna 15. This complements the liturgical/theological unity of the Eucharist as meal and sacrifice, its setting both Table and Altar. Of chronological necessity, Pascha is a different day.

As discussed in recent posts, Bede [en.wikipedia.org], a prominent computist of his time, considers what would appear to be the most restrictive scenario, luna 14 on a Saturday, as the ideal, thus:

[Linked Image]

For this case, through the representation of the calendar, the meal, crucifixion, burial and resurrection, along with the the count of unleavens and omer, all coincide!

Of course, all of the possible luna 14 scenarios are equally valid and liturgically complete.

A blessed Pascha to all those following the Julian calendar.

Christ is risen!

Attached Images
Attached PDF document
Pascha-Pentecost.pdf (1.84 MB, 58 downloads)
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Christ is in our midst!!

Thank you for your thorough research on this issue.

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I highly, highly, recommend this presentation to everyone. I was impressed and touched by the sincerity and perspective of the participants. This is especially so for me as an Eastern (BCC) Catholic.

COMMON CELEBRATION OF PASCHA AND EASTERN-WESTERN CHRISTIAN RELATIONS [youtube.com]

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Originally Posted by ajk
I highly, highly, recommend this presentation to everyone. I was impressed and touched by the sincerity and perspective of the participants. This is especially so for me as an Eastern (BCC) Catholic.

COMMON CELEBRATION OF PASCHA AND EASTERN-WESTERN CHRISTIAN RELATIONS [youtube.com]
A good discussion. It was good of them to conduct their discussion in English, even though it seems difficult for some of them. I notice they are not afraid to call the Paschal feast "Easter" when speaking in English.

Archbishop Job speaks as though he thinks that the Western churches use astronomical observations in setting the date of Easter, whereas he must know, or can easily discover, that the churches which use the Gregorian calendar use the same kind of tables the churches that use the Julian calendar use, just with different numbers in them.

Acceptance of the Milankovitch/WCC proposal would be a break from the tradition of using a lunar calendar based on average lunations. Instead of using exact calculations of the full moon, I would propose using a lunar calendar based on the first visibility of the lunar crescent at Jerusalem. As a substitute for actual first visibility, a calculation of when the moon reaches a certain elongation (say 10 degrees) or a certain illuminated fraction could be substituted so that the lunar calendar could be determined in advance. This would define the first day of the lunar month. The Paschal lunar month would be the one for which the sunset beginning the month's 14th day occurs after the equinox at Jerusalem. Or some other rule could be used: for example noon on the 14th day would have to occur after the equinox. This approach would give us astronomical accuracy (since the lunar months would follow the true moon more exactly than they do now) but retain the tradition of using a lunar calendar.

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Passovers this year:

Rabbinic 14 Nisan: April 5 2023
Gregorian 14 Nisan: April 5 2023
Julian 14 Nisan: April 9 2023
Samaritan 14 Nisan: May 3 2023

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It's New Year's Day.
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New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one.[a: Until 2100, 1 January on the Julian calendar coincides with 14 January on the Gregorian calendar]
New Year's Day [en.wikipedia.org]

As observed then, it is specifically for the Gregorian Calendar and it is the only festival (I believe) that is solely observed because it is a specific date on a specific calendar. So today is not just New Year's Day but, essentially, Gregorian Calendar Day.

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Originally Posted by Mockingbird
Acceptance of the Milankovitch/WCC proposal would be a break from the tradition of using a lunar calendar based on average lunations. Instead of using exact calculations of the full moon, I would propose using a lunar calendar based on the first visibility of the lunar crescent at Jerusalem. As a substitute for actual first visibility, a calculation of when the moon reaches a certain elongation (say 10 degrees) or a certain illuminated fraction could be substituted so that the lunar calendar could be determined in advance. This would define the first day of the lunar month. The Paschal lunar month would be the one for which the sunset beginning the month's 14th day occurs after the equinox at Jerusalem. Or some other rule could be used: for example noon on the 14th day would have to occur after the equinox. This approach would give us astronomical accuracy (since the lunar months would follow the true moon more exactly than they do now) but retain the tradition of using a lunar calendar.
I agree but my reservations have increased for the churches adopting the astronomical calculation approach. I finally followed my own suggestions in part -- Re: Calendar-Easter and Re: TOWARDS A COMMON DATE OF EASTER: REMAINING FAITHFUL TO NICAEA-- and while I see the functionality and neutrality in the method, the intricacy and the amount of additional specifications makes it more contrived.

Some further thoughts:

Computists of the past have often conflated the Paschalion and events in the life of Jesus. They tried to impose a biased harmony based on some mystical significance of dates. While related to the Paschalion, I consider establishing the date of the crucifixion, for instance, as a separate task. For the latter, modeling the methodology used by the Sanhedrin, the procedures for determining the Moon of Aviv for the Crucifixion Passover, involve additional meteorological, cultural and historical constraints. Consider April 3, AD 33: Why We Believe We Can Know the Exact Date Jesus Died [cbs.mbts.edu] and The Date of the Crucifixion [asa3.org].

For the churches, it is necessary and sufficient to conform to the biblical formula. The detailed astronomical approach can be more than sufficient but I do not think it necessary. The biblical approach is based on a sense of the moēd, the appointed time and place The Old Testament directives for when a feast is observed are not just a matter of calendar timing but of an appropriate time in reference to nature, the moēd:

Genesis 1:14, 16 And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for appointed times (moadim) and for days and years… And God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night…” Exodus 23:15 “You shall keep the feast of unleavens; as I commanded you, you shall eat unleavens for seven days at the appointed time (moēd) in the month of Aviv, for in it you came out of Egypt…” Leviticus 23:4 “These are the appointed times (moade) of YHWH, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed (moadam) for them.”

Thus, the

Biblical Formula: The appointed time for Pesach/Passover is the 14th day of the Moon that is the first of the Moons of the year, the Moon of the new barley, Aviv.

We must demonstrate in practice what we sing at Vespers : “He made the moon for the appointed times and the sun that knows its entrance” (Ps 103[4]:19).

I think the Gregorian Calendar and Paschalion are already doing the job as required.

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