The New York herald., 1869-03-28
RELIGIOUS INTELLIaENCE.

tivities.
To-day is dedicated 10 the sacred memory OF th,
resurrection OF Chrlst from tho dead. Whereve
there are Christians throughout the world, OF what
ever sect or denomination this day Is devoutly cee
brated amid devotional exercises and rendering o
thanks the Lord OF Hosts; for In the resurrection
az taught IN the Bible, lies the proof OF the divine
origin Of the religion of Christ and Of the divine char
acter OF the Saviour.
And when the sabbath was past Mary Magia
lene ana Mary the mother OF James, aud salonlc
lad bought sweet spices, that they might come and
nnnont him.
And very early in the morning the Grst day Of the
week, they came unto the sepachre, ~ the rsihs VI
tue sun.
And they said among themselves, who shall roll
us away the stone IRON the door OF the sepuchref
And when they looked, they saw that the stone
was rolled away: for u was very great. ,,,,r,,
And entering into the sepulchre, they saW Young
man sitting the right slde clothed IN long "hite
garment; and Mey were alirlghted.
And he saith unto them, &c not anrighted: ye sees
Jesus OF Nazareth, which was crnched: ne - risen:
he not here behold the place where they aiu hin
But 40 your way, tell his disciples ana Peter ~ .na. @
ne Roeth before you INTO uaea: there slal ye see
him as he said unto you.-St. Mark XVI, Is.
Bur Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping;
and she wept, she stopped down, ana looked INTO
And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at
the head and the osher al the feet where the ooay
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest
thou2 She satin unto them, Because they nave taken
And when she nad thus said, she turned herself
back, and saw Jesus standing and knew not that II
was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why woepest thou?
whom seeEest thou? she, supposng him TO be the
gardener saith unto him, Sir, II tnou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him. and
WIN take him away.
and saith unto him, Rabboni; which Is to say,
Master
~ Earher but brethren.
and say unto them, ascend unto my Father, and
your Father; and 10 my cod and yoar God.
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that
she had the Lord and that he had spoken THESE
things unto her. n-St. John xx., Ills.
The Christian Church. from its earliest times,
established this az one OF the principal holidays, Of
ike Importance and sanctty With the feast OF the
nativity OF Christ or Christmas; and Catholics Pro-
testants and Greek Christians alike celebrate the
feast OF the Resurrection ana commemorate the
rising OF Christ with all the impressive solemnty pre-
scribed by the ritual OF each denomination. Before
the eleventh century the feast continued period
OF eight days, but at that time it was limited by
the Church to three In the second century violent
controversy was waged as to the time when Easter
was to be celebrated, the Christians OF Minor Asia
insisting on liking 1t the day with the Jewish
feast OF Passover, The l4th day OF the month OF
Nisan, alter the veraal equinox, whether 1t be
Sunday or not. But the Roman Church would not
allow any regard for the Jewish festival and ordered
Easter to be celebrated on the SUNDAY after the yer
nal fun moon, ana the feast of the crucdxon ana
death Of Christ the Friday previous. The Nicene
Council In the year 325 4. D. confirmed this arrange
Inent, which has remained in force ever since, 1nd
the Christians OF Asla Minor who stlil adhered to
the Juaaical Pascha were declared heretics-q,tdlo
dectmoH According TO this rule OF the Church
Easter Is celebrated on the first sunday alter the
5ernal iull inoob and II the latter should fall
Sunday, tnen oa the sunday following. and 1t can
never come before the I'd OF March nor after the
18th Of April.
The word EASTER is undoubtedly OF German or
rather Saxon origin. IL was believed to refer TO the
ia 10 OSf 20 the rising OF the sun, to the resarrec
10n Oh the sun OF day from the death OF night But
g is nov pretty generally admitted BY elymol0Ilsts
mai y Is borrowed and derived Som the name OF
ihe Old Saxon Goddess Ust3ra. or Eastre, the god
cess OF the beamng morn. OF tie rising light, or
spring, ci the loyiul re- yskening OF nature from
lelg wmier's s.eep. The heashen festival OF the
Goddess Dsara. or Eastre, was in the spring, when
tie sun a99il sheds fortn his bright rays war ming
tie budding germs lnto life. the Church has al.
Naa proAed from the heathen sHperstirions OF the
leople among whom 1t spread, and Tue feast OF the
e3urrection a Christ being, IN point OF time, among
ne people inhabiing the central and northern por-
ions Of the European Continent almost concurren.
Win the yearly AealAen festival Ia honor OF
tae s,oduess' Osara, or Easrre 1t was but natural
..!dt the name was transferred TO the Christian
ceremony, and heneeforth among the German ana
axon Christians IL was also known as the ieast OF
.GsiIc or UstaTa, and IA the German language it u
.iil called Oslen while N ali other languages
which have the Latin Tor thelr root the hebrew
Pascha OF Pcsaeh Is retalued. changed suinewhaL
hut sthl dlstlnguisl4ble, as IN the French PuQie,
Pasca, &c.
The use or Easter eggs nav also be traced back to
me customs OF the heathea SaSons. Though the
Jews among the ceremonies OF their passover also
have an egg roasted IN ashes commemorative OF tue
destruction OF the Temple OF Solomon yet the gift OF
decorated eggs was transferred 10 the Christian
Easter IN almost its present form from the feast OF
me Goddess OstaTa, az which eggs decorated as the
people OF the day knew how, were offered up 10 the
goddess donated TO the priests and distributed
among friends aud relatives. This custom has
reached into times ana has been greatly refined.
In parts OF Europe 1t Is great sport for the
children Colored eggs are hid In the husnes and the
grass around the houses and along the edges OF the
road, and the young sent out 10 hunt them Per-
haps the greatest extent the presenting OF Easter
eggs has reached is In ST. Petersburg, Russia where
satstlcians claim that over nye millions yearly
distributed as Easter gifts by the people among them
Selves The imperial glass and porcelain factories
are almost exclusively employed during Lent In the
manufacture OF ofarcia eggs OF glass and porcelain OF
all coors, richly ornamented with flowers arabesqucs
and names. which. filled with costly presents, are
distributed By the Emperor ana the Empress on
Easter sunday TO their courters and favorifes The
Russians, as Greek Christians, keep the day with
rigid soemnlty When two meet they KISS each
other, and one exclans STTeIt (lie Is risen), and
the other answers Tere Surrerit die is truly risen)
In Paris fashion has taken hold OF the Easter egg
possible material from .Hs PAPER err ss yeiye, sss
tortoise she'll even OF silver and god and of all sizes
from tue common egg to one OF monster dimensions,
requiring the power OF a strong man 10 carry.
In this country the day Is reigiously and socially
Eolemnlzed as dag OF Joy and deignf. In all the
CHURCHES there WIZ oe appropriate services the most
cordmg TO the rite OF the Roman Catholic Church.
Next 10 them In lmpressiveness Will be the services
Ia the Eplscopalian churches, among which tue rlt.
uastic ceremonial at st. Adams will pro-
badly be the most interesting as coming
halfway between the Catholic and Episcopa.
Ian ritual. In oil the other churches the re.
surrectlon OF the Redeemer VIII be commentaries
with that solemn simplicity which Protestantism Ia,
introduced into divine worship. And In all these tn
sermous the Importance and historic value OF ths
day In the development and progress Of the civillza
ton OF mankind val be both instructive and int
resting.
Easter Saturday.
The services which by the Rubric OF the Catholic
Church are appropriated to the Saturday OF Holy
Week were performed yesterday In the Catholic
churches throughout the city with all possible com
pleteness, The ceremonies consisted OF the blessing
OF o new fire TO illuminate the affairs which have
again been clothed with the usual drapings and or
naments; lighting the triple candle. which Is EN-
blemac OF the light OF Christ and signifies that the
faith Of the Blessed Trinity proceeds from the light
communicated 10 us by Christ risen from the
dead; blessing OF the paschal candle By tie
deacon. The pascha candle Is typical OF the
Yxr9v and re- mt nso1o