The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-03-18

than April %.
why all this variation In such an important
annual festival2 The reasons go back into an
cient history.
The festival now known as Easter was cele-
brated by ancient Israel as the Passover for
many centuries before the birth Of Jesus Christ.
1t was based upon the events which took place
when the Hebrews were saved from the destruc-
tion which was visited upon the Egyptians, as
given in Exodus II 81. The first Christians, be-
Tag in the main Jews, continued for long time
70 observe the Passover as well as other ancient
ceremonies. But gradually these early followers
of the Cross began to substitute the Christ for
the paschal lamb Of Israel in the Passover cere-
monies
Eventually there arose difference Of opinion
between the Christians of Hebrew descent and
those Of Gentle descent as to the time when
these ceremonies should be celebrated. Those
of Hebrew descent declared that the day Of the
death Of Jesus should be the date of the ending Of
the paschal fast, which in Hebrew rites, always
was on the fourteenth day of the moon in the
evening. Therefore the Easter festival, which
followed, might fall on any day of the week.
Those Of Gentle descent, however, wanted the
nrst day of the week, Sunday, to be the
first day Of the resuy ection festival Thus the
Friday preceding weld be observed as the date
Of the crucifxion without paying any attention
until midnight Of Saturday.
The dispute over this point was complicated
by the Irregularities of the time Of full moon
in relation to the year. The Hebrew sacred year
began at the instant of the vernal equinox, but
this time is subject to slight changes due to
the astronomical fact Of perturbation Of the mo-
tion Of all bodies in the solar system. The
Hebrews based their years on lunar changes,
whereas we now determine the exact length OF
q year by the sun and stars, which is more &C.
curate. It Is notable that the ancient Hebrews
always had trouble with their chronology be-
cause they based the beginning Of each month
on the first sight of the new moon
The trouble was principally due to the fact
that the moon revolves around the earth in 81
days. Z hours 43 minutes and liz seconds, and
the earth around the sun in 81, 55S, 149 seconds.
Therefore the moon makes 1SS687 revolutions to
the earth's one. Full-moon times are also out Of
harmony with the spring equinox, and this fact
caused trouble in determining time in ancient
times. The result Of all these complications was
that by applying the Jewish rules to Easter, the
dates Of the crucifxlon and the resurrection, two
days which were supposed to be fixed for all
time, varied constantly
For 325 years the difficulty between the Chris
tons Of Jewish descent and those Of Gentle
descent continued. Not being able to decide the
recurrence Of Easter, the council of the early
Christian church finally appealed to the astron-
omers in Alexandria, Egypt for aid. However,
the scientists were not of much assistance, for
they had no lunar tables such as we now have,
computed by master mathematicians. They at
tempted to make rules but the variations Of the
fun moon in reference to the year would not
cause Easter to fall on Sunday any more than
any other day. All wanted it to come on Sunday,
so each nation celebrated to suit itself so that
It would come on that day. Thus in A. d. 3S7
the Gauls celebrated Easter on March 21, in
Italy IT fell on April IS. and in Egypt It fell on
April 25
Eventually the selection Of a certain Sunday
was definitely fixed during the Sixth century A.
d. It was designated as the Sunday between the
hfteenth and twenty-frst days Of the moon in the
first month of the Jewish lunar years. 1t was
directed that the computation should be made
according to the tables of Vicforius of Acqui-
taine, introduced in 457 A. d. Because of the
fact that Britain had ceased to be a part of the
Roman empire, the Sixth century decree did not
AFFECT the British church at first, and It con-
finued to calculate Easter on basis previously
approved at Rome The matter was finally dis