03-21-2005, 02:52 PM
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#11 (permalink)
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Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by tecoyah
Even the latter day celebration (comparatively speaking) of Easter acknowledged the significance of the Vernal Equinox. The Council of Nice decreed in 325 A.D. that "Easter was to fall upon the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the Vernal Equinox."
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It's not <i>quite</i> that simple. Article at: http://www.its.themoon.co.uk/mooncalendar.html
Quote:
THE MOON AND EASTER
The commonly stated rule, that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs next after the vernal equinox, is somewhat misleading because it is not a precise statement of the actual ecclesiastical rules.
The actual conditions to determine the date for Easter are (1) Easter must be on a Sunday; (2) this Sunday must follow the 14th day of the paschal moon; (3) the paschal moon is that of which the 14th day (full moon) falls on or next follows the day of the vernal equinox; and (4) the equinox is fixed in the calendar as March 21. Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25.
In order that the date for Easter be incontrovertibly fixed, and determinable indefinitely in advance, the Church constructed special tables for calculating the time of the paschal moon. There are three major differences to note between the ecclesiastical system and the astronomical system. (1) The 14th day of the paschal moon is not necessarily identical to the time of astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical tables do not account for the full complexity of the lunar motion. (2) The vernal equinox has a precise astronomical definition determined by the actual motion of the Sun. It is the precise time at which the apparent longitude of the Sun is zero degrees. The actual date varies very slightly from year to year. In the ecclesiastical system the vernal equinox is fixed at March 21 regardless of the actual motion of the Sun. (3) The date of Easter is a specific calendar date. Easter starts when that date starts for your time zone. Astronomical phenomena occurs at a specific date and time all over the Earth at once.
Inevitably, the date of Easter occasionally differs from a date that uses an astronomical full moon and the astronomical vernal equinox. In some cases this difference may occur in some parts of the world and not in others because two dates separated by the International Date Line are always simultaneously in progress on the Earth.
1962 was such a case. In 1962, the astronomical full moon happened to occur about six hours after astronomical equinox. That full moon occured on March 21, UT=7h 55m. The ecclesiastical full moon, however, occured on March 20. The ecclesiastical equinox is fixed to be March 21; therefore, the ecclesiastical full moon occured before the ecclesiastical equinox. In the first case, the full moon followed the equinox; in other case, it preceeded the equinox. Following the rules, Easter, therefore, was not until the Sunday that followed the next ecclesiastical full moon. That occured on Wednesday, April 18 making Easter Sunday, April 22.
Similarly, in 1954 Easter was Sunday, April 18 because the first ecclesiastical full moon after March 21 fell on Saturday, April 17. However, the first astronomical full moon after the equinox happened to fall on April 18 at UT=5h. So in some places in the world Easter was on the same Sunday as the astronomical full moon.
ADDENDUM : FEBRUARY 2005 © BBC MMV
In the early church, Easter was celebrated on different days in different countries. The date was bitterly disputed until the council of Nicaea in AD 325 decreed the festival would be observed on the same date.
While the council may have desired consistency, simplicity took a back seat.
The day chosen was the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. The full moon being a notional "Paschal" full moon which occurs in either a 29 or 30-day cycle, not the astronomic moon we can all see in the heavens.
The theological significance of this date was that it was a day of maximum light -12 hours of daylight, followed by 12 hours of full moonlight. It means that Easter can be celebrated on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25.
Sacrilegious
Accurately calculating Easter was important to early Christians as they believed celebrating it too soon or too late was sacrilegious. But the calculation tables used have often been a matter of major controversy and various system have been adopted and re-jigged over the centuries.
After the ferocious early schisms and excommunications, the Gregorian calendar was adopted in Britain and Ireland in 1752 and Easter has been celebrated on the same day in the Western part of the Christian world ever since.
Vatican proposal
The Eastern churches, however, did not adopt the same calendar and still celebrate Easter at a different time. Occasionally the dates coincide, for example, in 1865 and then in 1963.
Discussions still continue over the advantages of a fixed Easter. In 1928 the House of Commons agreed to a bill fixing the date as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. It was never implemented.
In 1990 the Vatican Council approved a proposal for April 8 to be the fixed date of Easter, subject to agreement with all the other Christian churches and with governments. So far agreement has not been reached so Easter still drifts from year to year.
Story from BBC NEWS: Published: 2005/02/08 12:09:33 GMT
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 Got to love those old church dignitaries. Ecclesiastical moon? Still, I'm glad it's getting brighter and warmer. My winter boots are starting to smell nasty. |
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