West Virginia daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1894-1902, 1902-03-25

Next I'D (uIlSlmdS, EdSlSA 10 tnS
greatest festival of the Christian
world. In primitive times 1t was
usual for Christians to salute each
other on the morning OF this day
by exclaiming, "Christ Is risen," to
which the person saluted replied:.
HE Is risen indeed" or else "And
hath appeared unto Simon"-A
custom still retained in the Greek
church.
The common name of the festi-
| val In the East was the Paschal
feast, because kept at the same time
as the Pascha, or Jewish Passover.
and In, some measure succeeding to
It. Ia the sixth of the Ancyran
Canons 1t Is called the &c reat Day."
The.term Easter" is derived. as
some suppose, from "Eoster," the
name of a Saxon deity, whose feast
was celebrated every year In the
spring, the name being retained
when the character of the feast was
changed; or. as others suppose,
from "Oster," which signifies rising.
If the latter theory be correct,
Easter Is In name, as well as reality,
the feast of the resurrection.
Although there has never been
any difference of opinion In the
Christian church as to why Easter
Is kept, there has been a good deal
as to when 1t ought to be kept. It
Is one of the movable feasts: that Is,
1t Is not fixed to one particular day
like Christmas day, for instance,
which always falls on the 25th of
! December-but moves backward or
forward according to the full moon
next after the vernal equinox falls
nearer or farther from the equinox.
The accepted rule for ascertaining
the day upon which Easter falls Is
as follows: easter day Is always
the first Sunday after the full moon
which happens upon or next after
the 2Ist day of March; and II the
tull moon happens upon Sunday,
Easter day Is the Sunday after"
The Paschal controversy, which
for a time divided ChriStendom,
grew out of a diversity of custom.
The churches of Asia Minor, In
Guiding many Judaizing Christians.
kept their Paschal feast on the
same day that the Jews kept their
passover, the 14th of Nissan, the
Jewish month corresponding to
our March or April. But the
churches of the West. remember
Ing that the Lords resurrection
took place on Sunday, kept their
festival on the Sunday following
the 18th of Nissan. By so doing
they hoped not only to commemo'
rate the resurrection on the day of
the week on which 1t actually oc
Cured, but also to distinguish
themselves more effectually from
the Jews. For time this differ
ence was borne with mutual for
bearance and clarity. And when
disputes began to arise. Polycarp,
the venerable bishop of Smyrna,
when on a visit to Rome, took the
opportunity of comforting with An
icetas, bishop of that city, upon
the question. Polycarp pleaded the
practice of St. Philip and St. John,
while Anicetas adduced the prac-
tice of ST. Peter and st. Paul. Con-
cession came from neither side, and
so the matter dropped; but the two
bishops continued in Christian
friendship and concord. This was
about A. d. I58
Toward the end of the century,
however, Victor. bishop of Rome,
resolved on compelling the Eastern
churches to conform to the Western
practice, and wrote an imperious
letter to the prelates of Asia com
handing them to keep the festival
of Easter at the time observed by
the Western churches. They re-
sented, perhaps naturally, such an
interference, and declared their
resolution to keep Easter at the
time they had been accustomed
to do. The dispute theuceforward
gathered strength and was the
source of much bitterness during
the next century. The East was
divided from the West, and all who
after the example OF the Asiatics,
kept Easter day on the I4th, wheih-
er that day were Sunday or not,
were styled Quartodecimans by
those who adopted the Roman Gus
tom.
A. fho 00x@,r, auCo,oook &C &da