The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1921-03-25
] EASTER

EASTER
Easter morning the most joyous
of all the mornings of the year, the
one great day of gladness, supreme
above all others on the calendar, the
Morn of the Resurrection.
And why is this the gladdest day
Of the year?
It is the gladdest of all days be-
cause it typifes the hope that beyond
the grave there is another life than
this. It speaks the promise that we
shall rise again from the dust of
death, that we shall be reunited with
those whom we have loved and lost,
that we shall open our eyes in another
world where there is no parting again,
no sorrow, no loss, no pain.
Compare this hope with all other
hopes that man can have, and they
sink into insignifcance.
If the sons of men, believed that
this life were the only life they could
ever know, if they believed that the
grave is the end and that when they
were laid away with the dust from
which they came there would be no
awakening, not only would the dearest
hope they could possibly have be
taken then from them, but the world
would then become place unfit for
habitation.
Without the hope of resurrection
from the grave man would surely sink
at once to the low level of the beast.
But that this is not his belief, and
that man has, instead, firm and a
full hope to live again, is what makes
Easter the one great joyous day of all
days.
! As the early Christian records are
fragmentary and imperfect it is inn
possible to determine when the cele-
bration Of Easter began The early
Christians of the church in the East
were mostly converts from Judaism
and these Christians continued the
observance of the principal feasts and
.fasts Of their ancestors, the ancient
SIsraelites. ) = = 0~. 81
The death and resurrection of
Christ occurred at about the time Of
the Passover, which Jesus and his dis
ciples had gone to Jerusalem to OBJ
!; serve. The Last Supper, held in an
upper room" Of private home in
Jerusalem, by some authorities sup
posed to be in the home Of the mother
Of st. Mark, was the Feast of the
Passover.
= The only allusion in the New Testa-
ment that would indicate very early
observance of Easter, as a feast cele-
brating the Resurrection, is in, the
first collection of the letters Of St
Paul to the Christians of the church
in Corinth; fifth chapter and seventh
and eighth verses: purge out the
old leaven, that We may be a new
lump, even as We are unleavened
For our passover also has been sac
rifced, even Christ: wherefore lei
us keep the feast, not with the ole
leaven, neither with the leaven o1
malice and wickedness, but with tht
'unleavened bread Of sincerity ant
truth"
In 325 A. d. the date Of the Eastel
feast, in dispute because Of calendar
and religious differences, was fnall.
settled, but this did not obviate al
difficulties. Because of the imperfec
tions of the Julian calendar days o
the month and year began to fall be
hind. By the year 1882 the calenda
was 10 days behind and the verna
equinox, supposed to fall fnvariabl
on March 21, fell upon the 11th. Thi
caused difficulty in fixing the correc
date of the Easter celebration an
because of that the Gregorian n
, formed calendar was invented an
adopted.
This festival was always precede
by fast of some duration. At firs
the fast began On Good Friday an
continued for 40 hours. "A little late
it was extended to three days an
later still it was extended to wee
known as Holy week, during whic
there was general abstinence fro
\ flesh meats. The first mention ,
the fast, corresponding closely to o,
present Lenten period, occurs in Il
Y fifth canon of the council Of Nicea
which it is styled "the quard,dgesims
or 40 days.
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