Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-04-10
MS&D4@E&Na3N@
Celebration
of Easter
in History
MG&AN8A@Na3S@

kH3kqR E@ In primitive times 1t was
EEgzanM3x usual for Christians to
xS salute one another on
the morning of this day by exclaim-
ing: Christ is risen,'' to which the
saluted person replied: He is risen,
indeed" or And hath appeared unto
Simon"-a custom retained in the
Greek church.
The common name of this festival
in the East was the pascha1 feast, be-
cause kept at the same time as the
Jewish passover, and in some meas
ure succeeding to 1t. In the sixth of
the Ancyran canons 1t is called the
Great day"
The term Easter Is derived from
"Eastre," a Saxon diety, whose feast
was celebrated every year In the
spring, the name being retained when
the character of the feast was changed.
Easter Is In name, az well as In real
lily, the feast of the resurrection.
' Although there has never been any
difference of opinion In the Chris.
tian church as to why Easter is kept,
there has been a good deal as to when
it ought to be kept. 1t Is one of the
movable feasts-that is, it is not fixed
to one particular day, like Christmas
day. Easter moves backward and for
ward, according as the full moon mex
after the vernal equinox falls nearer
or farther from the equinox. The &C
cepted rule for ascertaining the day
upon which Easter falls is as follows:
Easter day is always the first Sunday
after the full noon which happens
upon or next after the 21st day of
March, and II the full moon happens
upon a Sunday, Easter day is the Sun
day after.
The paschal controversy, which for
a time divided Ch~ristendom. grew out
OF a diversity of custom. The churches
of Asia Minor, Including many Juda-
ized 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, remembering that the Lords
resurrection took place on a Sunday,
kept their festival on the Sunday fol-
flowing the 14th of Nissan. BY SO doing
they hoped not only to commemorate
the resurrection on the day Of the
week on which it actually occurred,
but also distinguish themselves more
.effectualIy from the Jews.
For q time this difference was borne
with mutual ~forbearance and charity.
And when disputes began to arise,
iPolycarp, bishop of Smyrna, went on
IL visit to Rome, and conferred with
lAnicetas, bishop Of that city; upon the
Question. Polycarp pleaded while An
licetas adduced the practice of st. Pc
tier and st. Paul. Concessions were
made by neither side. and 80 the mat
ter was dropped, or rather held in
allegiance, but the two bishops con
itinued in Christian friendship and con-
cord. This was in A. d. 1853.
Toward the end Of the century, how
ever, Victor, bishop of Rome, resolved
ito compel the eastern churches to
lconform to the western practice, and
wrote an imperious letter to the prel-
ntes OF Asia, commanding them to
keep the festival of Easter at the time
observed by the western churches.
They naturally resented this, and de-
clared that they would keep the day
at the time they had been accustomed
ito observe it. From this point the dis
quite gathered strength, and became
the source Of much bitterness.
At the commencement OF the fourth
century matters had gone to such q
length that the Emperor Constantine
Thought it his duty to take steps to
stop the controversy, and to insure
uniformity Of practice. For this pur-
pose he had a canon passed in the
great ecumenical council at Nice, A. d.
325, THAT everywhere the great feast
of Easter should be observed upon one
and the same day, and that not the
day of the Jewish Passover, but, Is
had been generally observed, upon the
Sunday following"
And, to prevent all further disputes
as to time. the following rules were
laid down: That March 81 shall be
accounted the vernal equinox. That
the full moon happening upon or next
after the 21st Of March shall be taken
for the full moon OF Nissan. That the
Lords day next following that full
moon be Easter day. But II the full
moon happen upon a Sunday, Easter
day shall be the Sunday after.
As the Egyptians ct that time ex-
ceIled in astronomy, the bishop OF
Alexandria was appointed to give no-
lice Of Easter day to the Dope and