The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-04-01

Next to Christmas, Easter is the
reatest festival Of the Christian
Ihurch. In primitive times 1t was
Usual for Christians to salute n an
Sther on the morning OF this day by
exclaiming: Christ Is rtsen." to
which the saluted person replied: He
Ii risen, indeed" or And hath ap-
peared unto Simon"-a custom still re-
tained in the Greek church.
The common name of this festival In
h east was the paschal feast, because
kept at the same time as the Jewish
passover, and In some measure succeed
Ing to It. In the sixth of the Ancyran
Tanons it is called the Great day"
The term Easter" is derived from
"Eostre." a Saxon deity, whose feast
was celebrated every year in the spring,
n name being retained when the
character OF the feast was changed.
Easter Is in name, as well as in 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 e a good deal as to when 1t
ought to be Kept. 1t is not fixed to one
particular day, like Christmas day.
Easter moves backward and forward,
according as the full rtOon next after
the Vernal equinox falls nearer or far
Their from the equinox. The accepted
rule for ascertaining the day upon
which Easter falls Is as follows: East
or day Is always the first Sunday after
the full moon which happens upon or
next after the 21st day of March, and
II the full moon happens upon a Sun
day, Easter day Is the Sunday after.
The paschal controversy, which for q
time divided Christendom, grew put Of
q diversity of custom. The churches
OF Asia Minor, including many Juda-
lied 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
h west, remembering that the Lords
resurrection took place on q Sunday,
kept their festival on the Sunday fol-
lowing the 14th OF Nissan. BY so doing
they hoped not only to commemorate
b resurrection or the day Of the week
on which 1t actually occurred, but also
distinguish themselves more effectually
from the Jews.
For q time this difference was borne
with mutual forbearance and charity.
And when disputes began to arise,
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, went on a
visit to Rome, and conferred with
Anicetas, bishop of that city, upon the
question. Polycarp pleaded the prac-
tice OF st. Philip and st. John, while
Anicetas adduCed the practice Of st.
Paul. Concession were made by neither
side, and so the matter was dropped, or
rather held in allegiance, but the two
bishops continued in Christian friend
ship n concord. This was in A. D.
LES.
Toward the end Of the century, how
ever, Victor, bishop Of Rome, resolved
to compel the eastern churches to con-
form to the western practice, and wrote
an imperious letter to the prelates Of
Asia, commanding them to keep the
festival Of Easter at the time observed
by the weste~l churches. They natur-
ally resented this. and declared that
they would keep the day at the time
they had been accustomed TO observe
1t. From this point the dispute gath
cred strength, and became the source
Of much bitterness during the following