Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-04-05

To-day is Easter Sunday, religious fes,
lival annually observed throughout Chris
tendon in commenora ofthe Resurrec-
ton Of our Lord Jesus Christ. The day de.
riyes its name from the German OStsrR,
or Anglo-Ssxon Eastre, the festival Of the
goddess 0stsrs, which the Saxons were
wont to celebrate about the same SEASON at
which the Christian festival OF Easter &C.
ours There is no trace OF the celebration
Of Easter as q Christian festival in the New
Testament, or in the writings of the
Apostolic fathers The sanclity of special
times and places was an idea quite alien from
the sarly Christian mind, and neither Christ
nor His Apostles enjoiued the keeping Of
this or any other festival The Apostles,
according TO Socrates, had no idea of ap'
pointing festival days, but only Of p-omot-
ing life Of blAmelessness and piety, and
he attributes the introduction Of the festi-
val Of Easter into the church to the per
petuation Of an old usage, lust as many
other customs have been established.
This is doubtless the true statement OF the
case.
The first Christians, being derived from,
or intimately connected with, the Jewish
Church. naturally continued to observe the
Jewish festivals, though in a new spirit, as
commemorative OF events of which these
had been the shadows, and then the Pass
over, enobled by the thought'ot Christ, con-
tinued to be celebrated and became the
present Christian Easter.
At first, the celebration Of Easter lasted
eight days, but after the eleventh century
it was limited 10 three Gays and
later to two. 1t was for
merly fayorite time for per
forming the rite of baptism, the courts of
Justice and all public institutions were
closed, aims we're distributed to the poor,
slaves liberated by their masters, teasts
we're sometimes held in the churches, and
the clergy even took the occasion to relate
from the pulpit stories and legends, often OF
a humorous nature. On this day, too, it
was the general custom for the people to
salute each other with a kiss when meeting
on the streets, with the exclamation, Christ
is risen, and sports, dances and fsrcicsl ex-
bibitions were the order of the day, in which
the clergy also joined.
But though the observance Of Easter thus
early became the rule in the Christian
church, a difference as to the time Of its
observance speedily sprung up between
Christians Of Jewish and Gentle descent,
which led 10 long and bitter controversy,
and an unhappy severance of Christian
unity. No rule as to the date of the Easter
festivals having been laid down BY authority
Christians were left to follow their own in
stincts. These were naturally different in
the Jewish and Gentle churches. The
point at issue really was the date
of the termination of the Paschal feast.
With the Jewish Christians, whose leading
thought would be the death of Christ this
fast would end at the same time as that OF
he Jews, on the l4th day of the moon, at
evening, and the Easter festival would at
once follow, entirely irrespective ofthe day
of the week. On the other hand, with the
Gentle Christians, the FIRST dag Of the week
would be identified with the resurrection
festival aud the preceding Friday would be
kept as the commemoration Of the cruciGx-
ioD, irrespective of the day of the month
the fast continuing with increased strict
ness until Saturday at midnight.
This diversity of ways was gradually
brought to an end, however, by the verdict
of the Church of Rome, adopting the or
binary Gentle usage, which, within certain
limits, placed the observance of the Cruel
fi1ion on a Friday, and of the Resurrection
on the following Sunday, but, in some
quarters. even Catholics refused to follow
he law thus laid down by the Pope, q nota-
be example being Polycrates, Bishop Of
Eph,ous, but the custom gradually obtained
be approval of the Catholic world, and, al
be ume Of the council NicTa, the Syrians
and Antiochenes were the solitary adherents
o the Jewish custom. The settlement of
his question, whi2h had so long vexei the
church, was one of the causes which in
duc,d Constantine to summon that council
The consent Of the assembled prelates was
Unanimous, all agreeing that Easter should
be kept upon one and the same
Jay throughout the world. Nothing.
however, was said as to the
determination Of the day,th being left to be
calculated at Alexandra, the then the home
Of asst onomical science, aud the Bishop
Of that see was instructed to annually an
aounee the day to the Bishop Of Rome, to
he by him communicated to the Catholic
world.
Bat although measures had thus been ap
parently taken to secure uniformity in oo
seryance, some centuries elapsed before all
discrepancy ceased A more intricate
question remained to be solved,
VIZ: how the full moon on which
Easter depended was to be pre-
dicted Il had been established as q rule
that Easter must be kept on Sunday, but
there was no general agreement as to the
cycle by which the festival was to be calcu
lated, some churches adopting one rule and
some another. Ii is stated by St. Ambrose
that, in 3S7 the churches Of Gaul kept
Easter on March 2lsf, while the Italian
churches observed April 18th, and the
Egyptian church April 25th. This diversity
of usage which continued down to the mid
die of the seventh century, IVES finally
put an end to by the council Of WhItby, in
654. and the Roman rule finally established
in England. This rule may be thus brieaT
stated: Easter day is the first Sunday after
the 18th day mot the full noon OF the cal
eDdar moon which happens on or next after
March 2lst This calendar moon, however
is rot the moon of the heavens, noe the
mean moon Of the astronomers, but an i'm
aginsry moon created for ecclesiastical con-
venience in advance ofthe real moon.
One object in arranging this calendar
moon was that Easter Sunday might never
fan on the same day IS the Jewish Passover.
They did oreur together, however, in 1905,
on April l !, h, and in 1925, on April Sd, an |
they viii d so again in 1903. on April 18th,
in 1929 or april lst, in 1927, on April 18th,
and in 1881, on April 18th. The Jewish
festival usrslly occurs in Passion Week.
and never before the 26th Of March, or
nfier the 2h,h Of Anril On the nthar