Foreign Language Press Service

The Day of Pascha (Easter)

Saloniki-Greek Press, April 27, 1926

p. 4. The word Pascha is Jewish and means exchange; that is to say, liberation of the Jews from the Egyptian yoke. The exodus of the Jews from Egypt took place the 14th day of Nisan (April) 1490, B. C. For the Christians, Pascha means redemption from sinful life, and resurrection to a new life, as it was taught by our Savior Jesus Christ.

At the early days of Christendom, Easter was celebrated on various days. Some celebrated Easter every Sunday, some on the 15th day of April, and some on the first Sunday of the Equinox.

Upon the suggestion of Constantine the Great, the Ecumenical Synod in 325 A.D. set a fixed date for all the Christians, but it was never to coincide with the Jewish day. For that reason the Astronomers of Alexandria were directed to fix the date for Pascha so that it would not fall on the same day the Jews had Easter for any year. Nevertheless, Easter Sunday was celebrated by various communities at various times.

2

In the middle of the 6th century, the date of Easter was fixed for the first Sunday after the full moon of the Spring Equinox. That is the 21st of March. But now the Equinox is not on the 21st of March but on the 11th of March, and for that reason the Catholic Church celebrates Easter, the first Sunday after the full moon of March 11, not taking into consideration, that the Mother Church (Greek Church) fixed the date on the 21st of the March Equinox.

During the Venetian era the differences between Catholic and Orthodox as to the fixing of the day of Easter was the cause of bloodshed in Corfu.

The Catholics and the followers of Orthodoxy were killing each other on account of this difference. The then Bishop of Corfu, John Valvi, headed the Catholic element of Corfu, appealed to the Pope the year of 1592, and asked permission to celebrate Easter on the same date that the followers Orthodoxy did. The wise and farsighted Pope granted the permission and the killings stopped.

Today, the Catholic Church refuses to follow the precedent of other Popes and celebrates Easter on a different day than the Mother Church. The Pope forgets the wise saying, "move not things that are well set."

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