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Dear Friends,

I've noticed that some of you are already celebrating Easter .

Historically, having a different date for Easter has meant that there exists a state of schism in the Church e.g. the controversy with the Quartodecimans who insisted on having Easter on the first day of Passover, whenever that was.

When the Latin and Orthodox Churches went their separate ways and then later the Latin Church established a new Paschalion, that was fine since the two Churches were separate by then anyway.

The Unions of parts of Orthodoxy with Rome made provision for the keeping of the Orthodox Paschalion and the Julian Calendar, things that Rome saw as a kind of "local" tradition.

Without dragging Finland and Estonia in to the discussion, what is the impact of having two Easter Dates within the same family of Eastern Catholic Churches?

My daddy-in-law's parish "does Easter" twice.

Frankly, it just doesn't feel right to have two Easters.

Also, it doesn't feel right to have people belonging to the same Rite and Church who do Easter on different days.

And if we can't agree on that, who are we to talk about unity with the Orthodox? Are we also not compromising our ritual identity with the Orthodox?

Alex

Dear Alex,

In trying to answer your questions I would say you can have 16+ Easters, if they are simply symbolic. But if there is only one Pascha then there is division. Some Orthodox modernists(already Finland) are pushing for a western observance of Pascha. Well they will probably get it, but they won't be celebrating the spiritual Pascha. The Holy Fire descends at Orthodox Pascha each year. In the Patriachate of Jerusalem we follow the Church Calendar outside of the Paschalion.

Yours in Christ,
Fr Serafim

Bless me a sinner, Father Serafim!

You have to forgive my ignorance and I ask you to embrace my desire to learn deeper spirituality from you!

What does it mean that a celebration of Pascha is symbolic?

The Spiritual Pascha is also the Pascha that is kept according to the First Ecumenical Council, is it not?

Finally, how would you counsel me to celebrate the Spiritual Pascha in my life?

Alex

Alex,

Interestingly, Patriarch Gregory III of the Melkites has ordered that in Syria the Melkites observe the Orthodox Pascha and not the Western. At this point, however, issues such as the date of Easter/Pascha are things that can be resolved -- and toward which some movement has already taken place.

Edward, deacon and sinner

I've heard that part of the dialogue of Balamand and other ecumenical events was about this and if I'm not wrong most of the churches agreed with the celebration of a unique pascha for all christians. At a certain degree, the latin paschalion has some advantages, but I think it would be correct for eastern chrsitians to celebrate according to the eastern calendar (until the churches decide to have a united pascha). Romanian Catholics celebrate according to the Orthodox calendar, Bulgarians do the same, and the Armenians have a different calendar (??)

Bless me a sinner, Father Deacon!

Yes, I've heard that the Pascha issue can be resolved.

But how? The majority of Orthodox take very seriously the decree by the First Ecumenical Council concerning the Orthodox Paschalion.

Some Orthodox theologians have suggested another date altogether.

But where theologians tread, bishops and Churches fear to follow . . .

What should be avoided is the appearance of a document by RC and Orthodox theologians where everything is "settled so that real union can now take place" and where the Eastern Churches and their respective hierarchies evince shock and say, "Who? What" How?"

I believe the West should adopt the Orthodox Paschalion. Don't you?

Alex

Alex,

Having come a bit late as usual, can I go back a bit ?

Please how do you manage to have 2 celebrations of Easter/Pascha in one church community - is that not rather divisive - since if I understand you all correctly, your church communities are rather smaller than our UK Parishes.

Sorry just this curious higgerant Scot again

Angela

[ 04-04-2002: Message edited by: Our Lady's slave of love ]

Alex,

I should let you know that one of my relatives, a pious woman, actually fasted the traditional fast (the strictest form, which I believe was also law in the old days) during both Lents. This is not unusual as Melkite and Orthodox intermarriage is common.


Father, Bless.

Alas, Father, all in vain. According to my contacts, it did not work out. The Syrians celebrated the Western Pascha as usual, despite the great hope we had thanks to the Patriarch's proclamation.

I could not obtain information from my contacts as to what went wrong and why.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed and upset.

Thinking about this, I realize that it would be difficult for us to follow the Orthodox calendar if we did not apply the same measures in Lebanon as well.

Kissing your right hand,

In IC XC
Samer

[ 04-04-2002: Message edited by: SamB ]

[The Spiritual Pascha is also the Pascha that is kept according to the First Ecumenical Council, is it not?]

Yep. And also correspond to Canon VII of the 'Apostolic Canons' which states -

Canon VII: If any Bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall celebrate the holy day of Pascha before the vernal equinox, WITH THE JEWS, let him be deposed.

This year western Easter was celebrated with the Jewish Passover.

OrthoMan

[ 04-04-2002: Message edited by: OrthoMan ]

Orthoman,

Well then I guess Finland is deposed along with her Patriarch (Black Bart), and places all those who commune with them in a serious state of scandal.

That is of course if you are not going to pick and choose which canons apply and to whom.

So I agree with you 100% - Let the measures apply!

What's good for the goose...

It would be nice for all Christians to celebrate Easter on the same day. It is not a matter of doctrine. We love Catholics regardless of the date they do Easter.

Axios

Dear Angela,

The priest gets rather tired of doing the holidays twice, let me assure you!

And there are problems such as those on the new calendar feeling superior to those on the old calendar for various reasons.

And we in my family have to remember to call our relatives who celebrate the new calendar - one God-awful mess!

For my family, the Old Calendar represents our cultural identity and struggle to keep it, there is no religious sanction or theology behind it, as there is for the Russians and Greek Old Calendarists.

But that way of thinking is running into the sand.

A single Pascha for all Christians should be the goal.

As has been said, all Christians should follow the First Ecumenical Council's regulations and whatever new Pascha is devised that is acceptable to both sides should be in keeping with them.

Having two Easters reflects the scandal of division.

Alex

The wonderful masterpiece of the Holy Fathers' labors, the Typikon, is headed for the trash heap -- because it is useless under the New Calendar...
-----------------------


The Typikon is a massive book, containing hundreds of chapters. In it we find how to serve each of the services--how to serve daily Vespers and Matins, how to do them if there is a Feast Day, or how to do them during Great Lent. There are chapters that instruct us on how the choir is to sing together (and against "disorderly shrieks" that have no place in church singing). There are chapters that give clear instructions on how and when to cense, tables with Apostol, Gospel and Psalter readings. Then there is a very extensive calendar section, with an explanation of the services for every day of the fixed calendar year, and a separate section for how to do the services for all of the days that the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion are used.

The most amazing sections are those that explain how to correlate and combine the services of the fixed and moveable calendars. Every possible combination is considered. The rubrics for how to do the services of the Feast of the Annunciation, for example, are more than thirty pages long--they explain in detail how to put together the service for the Annunciation when it coincides with any possible day of Great Lent and Bright Week.

Looking at these detailed rubrics, one learns how to put together the service if Annunciation should coincide with the Saturday of the Akathist, Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, or even Pascha itself. One learns how to serve a service to a saint having a "Polieleos" (such as St. George) if it should fall on Bright Week, etc.

The final sections of the Typikon are the Paschalion Calendar sections. Here, there are tables reflecting the 532 year cycle of the Church services (which consists of 19-year solar cycles multiplied by 28-day lunar cycles. There is a table that consists of 19 columns by 28 rows, giving the Paschal Key number (really a letter) for each of the years of the 532-year cycle. Once you know the Paschal Key, you look up the details in the following section, which consists of 35 brief calendar synopses (one for each possible day that Pascha can fall). Each of these synopses actually consists of two--one for regular years, and one for leap years.

For example, lets look at 1996.

The 532-year cycle is calculated from the creation of Adam, which, as we know, took place on Friday, March 1, 5508 B.C. (Yes, that is the base date on which the entire calendar system of the Orthodox Church is based--pretty neat, huh?)

So, you add 5508 to 1996 to get 7504, the year from the creation of Adam. Dividing this by 532, you get 14, with a remainder of 56. (This tells us that since the creation of Adam, we are only in the 15th cycle--not such a long time). Dividing 56 by 19, we get 2, with a remainder of 18. Looking at our Paschal Key table, in the third row in column 18, we find the Paschal Key of the Slavonic letter "I"--(which is the 11th Paschal Key). It is in red, which means the year is a leap year. Looking up the synopsis for the letter "I" we find the following:

"If it is a leap year: The Nativity of Christ is on a Sunday. The Post-Nativity meat-eating period is six weeks and a day. The Triodion begins on January 22. Meatfare Sunday is February 5. Cheesefare Sunday is February 12. The "Year Key" is 7. St. Eudokia is on Thursday of the third week of Lent. The 40 Martyrs are on Friday of the fourth week of Lent. St Alexis is on Saturday of the fifth week of Lent. Annunciation is on Palm Sunday. The Pascha of Christ is on April 1. St. George is on Monday of the fourth week after Pascha. Mid-Pentecost is on April 25. St. John the Theologian is on Tuesday of the sixth week after Pascha. Ascension is on May 10. Pentecost is on May 20. The Fast of the Apostles begins on the day after May 27. The Apostle's Fast is four weeks and four days long. St. Peter and Paul's is on a Friday."

And you can use these tables and synopses for any date you want--ever. If you should ask me, when Pascha should come in the year 2007, all I need to do is add 5508 (getting 7515), divide by 532, getting a remainder of 67. Dividing this by 19, I get 3, with a remainder of 10. Looking at the chart, I find in the fourth row and the 10th column the Paschal Key Letter of Slavonic "D"--which is the 5th Paschal Key. Turning to the Synopsis, I find that Pascha will fall on March 26, and all the other information about the congruence of feasts mentioned above.

When are Ascension and Annunciation in the year 35762? (I know that's pretty far into the future, but I want to show that it works for any year). 35762 + 5508 = 41270. Dividing by 532, we get a remainder of 306. Dividing that by 19, we get 16, with a remainder of 2. Looking at the table in the 17th row, second column, we find the Paschal Key letter "Zh"--which is the 7th Paschal Key. In the Synopsis, we find that Ascension that year will fall on May 6--Annunciation will fall on Holy Thursday.

The key point here is that the cycle is PERPETUAL. At the bottom of the table it says: "The Alphabetic Key for 532 years. And then it returns to its beginning, for this key will be applicable until the end of the ages."

In fact, the most important thing about the Typikon is that it is TIMELESS and PERPETUAL. It is good for this year, for a thousand years ago and for the future, FOREVER.

Well, here's the bad news. The geniuses that brought us the Calendar reform in 1923 TRASHED THE TYPIKON. It is no longer applicable to determine how the services are to be put together, and it is no longer perpetual.

Why? Because the Typikon takes into consideration only the possible combination of the fixed and moveable calendars that occurs with Pascha bound between March 22 and April 25. Therefore, Annunciation can only fall between Thursday of the 3rd week of Lent and Bright Wednesday. According to the "Revised Julian Calendar," right now Annunciation can fall between the Friday of the First Week of Great Lent and Thursday of the 6th week of Lent. Guess what? The Typikon has no rubrics on how to combine Annunciation with services of the First Week of Lent, or the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Such combinations are impossible under the traditional calendar used by the Typikon to combine services.

Dear OOD,

You took the words right out of my mouth!

Alex

Dear OoD,

Do you suppose there is a way to "fix" the Gregorian Calendar so taht the Typikon could be used? I am also curious about the figuration for 2007. I thought the Jews also figured Passover from the equinox. If the equinox were to occur on the 21st (which it would not on the Julian calendar anyway, i think), then what would be done, since the Pascha would be celebrated during or possibly before the Jewish Passover celebration?