Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-02-10
F{AsIS IN CHa|ST|AY YEAR
Two Great Cycles Those of
Christmas and Easter.
Council Of Nice In 32J A. u. settled
Long Dispute Regarding the Date
ON which Lent shall RcaiB
md End.


| Easter is the principal feast OF the
Christian year. It commentaries the
resurrection Of Christ. the corner stone
| upon which our faith rests. Since Christ
| rose from the dead on Sunday the GUS
| tom obtained from Apostolic times OF
| regarding every Sunday Of the year as
a commemoration of Easter and OF des-
| lEnating sunday as the Lords day. when
inc christians assembled for prayer
ana the breaking of bread i. O.. the
lcelebration Of mass and the reception of
! hoIy communion, as we find in the acts
| or the Apostles. Easter is the oldest
| feast of the Christian Church, the con-
meeting link between the Old and the New
! lestaments The feast of the Passover
is the central feast of the Jews. Be.
! tween it and Easter there is a real con-
| nection The Passover commentaries
| the departure Of the children Of Israel
| from Egypt and points to the giving of
| the Law of God to Moses on Mount Sinai,
| which marks the making of the Old Test
| ament Christ ate the paschal lamb on
! the feast of the Passover with his dis
! cipies and afterwards instituted the Last
| supper or the mass as the sacrifice of
| the New Testament, ordained His Apostles
! priests and on the following day died for
| our redemption. Hence Christ is desig
! mated AS the Lamb Of God who was
sacrificed for our sins, a.s the new Pasch.
! Thus 1t Is that the Jewish feast was TAX
en- over into the Christian Easter cele-
bration. for the liturgy sings of the liber-
| alton from Egypt, the passing Of Israel
through the Red sea, the paschal lamb,
! etc.
For such feast the real calendar date
OF Chfists death must he known. To
the Jews this was simple. The feast
of the Passover was held on the 14th
! day Of Nissan, the first month of the
jewish year. Hence Christ died on the
! 18th day of Nissan and rose from the dead
on the 18th day. Not so for the other
| nations who inha bited the greater part
of the Roman empire. They followed the
Roman chronology, /. q. the Julian cal
endar which, reformed by Pope Gregory
! Nil, is the calendar we use to-day. The
Julian calendar Is based on the solar
year The Jewish calendar is outlined
! IN LeV7ticus xNiii. In it the computation
of time is based primarily upon the lu-
! mar month. The year consisted normal
| ~ Of twelve such months alternately
OF twenty-nine and thirty days each. Such
a year. however. contains only a5i days
|
Der of days in the mean solar year More
/ over. the exact length Of the mean lunar
! month Is not twenty-nne and one-half
! days 10 compensate for the irregularlty
two corrections were Introduced First
day was subtracted from the month
| l\islev. as need arose. in order to keen
| the month In agreement with the moon.
Secondly, eight years on. of every nine
l
! interca!ary or thirteenth month seems
10 nave been introduced in order to pre-
vent the l4th day OF Nissan from arriy-
| NE TOO early. ON that day the first
fruits OF corn in the car had to be
brought to the priests and the paschaI
lamb sacrificed. This made it necessary
to delay the Pasch the l4th day Of Nj
SAM until the corn was in ear and the
! lambs were ready. Hence the rule was
esta bllshed that the nth day of Nissan
must fall when the sun had passed the
equinox and was in the constellation o,
! Aries.
! Down to the time of the destruction OF
! Jerusalem, :" \. D., il would seem thar
IN the insertion of the intercalary month
the Jews followed no fixed rule based on
astronomical principles but were guided
' NV S"''eu' '' WIN were III some med-
sure influenced by the forwardness or
| nack"ardness OF the scnson. Thus the
! ''rst DAYS OF the Jewish months and
years dld not coincide with any fixed
Gays OF the Roman solar year. The inn
hossio>iity or accommoda ting the Jewish
chronology to the Julian calendar
ADOPTED throughout the greater part
OF the Roman empire gave rise to
me discussions IN the early church about
'ne determination of Easter. These dis
russ'ons were ended by the Council of
NC 30 ~ d. which decided that Easter
was 10 be celebrated on the first Sunday
ai'er 'he first full moon which follows
me spring equinox According to this
RUE winch has ever since been followed.
the earliest day upon which Faster can
! now IAN ls March - and the latest April
~ Thls year the full moon falls on April
| 70 anu TaSier on April %.
There are Two great ,ycles of feasts
in the Christian year: The cycle OF
| Christmas and the cycl, Of Easter The