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Passover/Easter Dates
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Below you will find an article by Jerry Griffin from the COG7DAY that covers how the Modern Church has determined when the dates for Easter and Passover should be. Interesting article in light of the Celebration of the Lord's Supper. *(Note: Article was written prior to Passover in 2005.)
There is also a good tract regarding the "Lord's Supper" on the General Conference Website for the Church that covers the reasons why we celebrate the Lord's Supper.
How the Dates of Passover and Easter Are Determined
by Jerry Griffin
Lunar based: The Jewish calendar is based on a lunar year that must be adjusted to the solar seasons. A lunar month is about 29.5 days long. So 12 lunar months are approximately 354 days long, and thus about 11 days shorter than the 365.24 days of the solar year. This means that the date of Passover will come 11 days sooner each solar year. If left alone, the spring festival of the Passover would move forward about a month every three years. For example, it would first move ahead to February, then to January, then December, etc. To keep the festival in its proper season, the Jewish calendar periodically adds a thirteenth month, called Second Adar, which is inserted between the months of Adar and Nisan. This adjustment pushes the date of Passover back by one month, thus compensating for its constant creeping forward by 11 days each year. Simply put, the date creeps forward and is pushed back; creeps forward and is pushed back.
In practical terms, this means that the date of Passover (Nisan 15 on the Jewish calendar) will always fall within the months of March or April on the Gregorian calendar. However, the date of Passover will also fluctuate quite a bit within those months from year to year. For example, in 2004 Passover fell on April 6, and in 2005 it will fall on April 24—that's 383 actual days between the two dates. Again, this fluctuation is due to the difference in length between the lunar and solar years and to whether the Jewish year is a regular 12-month year or a 13-month leap year with thirty extra days (see footnote 1). Generally speaking, 2004 was a 12-month year on the Jewish calendar, while 2005 is a leap year. This is why the Passover will occur later in 2005 than it did in 2004.
This is also why in 2005 the Passover (April 24) will fall a month later than Easter (March 27). During some Jewish leap years, the insertion of an extra month makes the date of the Jewish Passover actually fall on the second full moon after the spring equinox rather than on the customary first full moon. This is the case in 2005 and will be so again in 2008 and 2011.
Solar based: The date of Easter, however, because it is determined by the Gregorian calendar, is not affected by the fluctuations of Jewish leap years. In fact, it was the lunar fluctuations inherent in the Jewish calendar that caused church leaders in the second and third centuries to switch to the Julian calendar—and later in the 1580s to the updated Gregorian calendar—for setting the date of Easter.(2) By switching to a solar calendar, the Christian church would fix the date of Easter to always follow the first full moon after the spring equinox, which may or may not match the full moon cycles of the Jewish calendar because of those pesky leap years.
But why the emphasis on the first full moon after the spring equinox in the first place? Because according to the Gospels, Jesus was crucified at the time of the Passover full moon on the Jewish calendar, which theoretically should have coincided with the first full moon of spring. The Gospels also report that on the Sunday following the crucifixion, the resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples. So, by the third century, most Christians had come to agree that the closest approximation for celebrating the actual date of Christ’s resurrection was on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Although it has become common shorthand to rattle off that "Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox,” this definition is not technically correct and is somewhat misleading. Here’s why. The "full moon" and "spring equinox" in this definition are not the actual astronomical full moon and equinox, but rather what are called the "paschal" or "ecclesiastical" full moon and equinox.
The precise moment marking the astronomical full moon, that is, when the moon aligns directly opposite the earth and the sun, occurs simultaneously at different times around the globe. This event even occurs simultaneously on two different calendar dates on either side of the international dateline. Thus, the exact moment of the astronomical full moon will vary according to one’s local time zone. Also, for half the globe, the moon will not even become visible for up to 12 hours after the event has already occurred. Similarly, the precise moment of the astronomical spring equinox also varies each year. It can occur on March 19, 20, or 21 (in the northern hemisphere, of course; in the southern hemisphere, these are dates of the fall equinox).
Because of these variables, church authorities early on sought to simplify things by approximating the time of these astronomical events. Rather than relying on the astronomical equinox, they affixed the "ecclesiastical" equinox to March 20, which according to some references was the calendar date for the equinox in AD 325, the year of the Council of Nicaea. (Others, however, place the ecclesiastical equinox on March 21.) Using that fixed date as the starting point, the church could then calculate in advance the "ecclesiastical" full moon (that is, the 14th day of the spring moon), and hence set the date of Easter as the following Sunday. This was much more practical and uniform than trying to determine these dates by the actual astronomical events with all of their variables, or even by visual observations, which were much less predictable. The ecclesiastical dates are close enough to the astronomical dates that one cannot easily detect the difference with the naked eye. The two are never more than 3 days apart, which isn't bad considering that the astronomical equinox alone can vary by that much from year to year.
So here's the longhand version of the formula: Easter is the first Sunday after the "paschal/ecclesiastical full moon." The "paschal/ecclesiastical full moon" is defined as the moon whose 14th day follows the "ecclesiastical spring equinox," which is defined as March 20. However, if the "paschal full moon" itself falls on a Sunday, then the following Sunday would be Easter. If all of this sounds confusing, then perhaps the simplest and most accurate way to put it is this: On the Gregorian calendar, Easter is the first Sunday after the first calendar full moon after March 20.(3) Today, most of the Christian world continues to use this formula for establishing the date of Easter.(4)
Because the Jewish and Christian calendar systems are both trying to predict the same thing (the approximate date of the first full moon after the spring equinox), most of the time Passover and Easter do fall within a week of one another. But, sometimes, because of the Jewish leap-year difference, we get the odd situation where the Jewish Passover falls a month behind Easter. Such anomalies are just inherent within these calendar systems as established centuries ago. The Jewish lunar-calendar adjusts to the solar seasons in big leaps of a month at a time every two or three years. In contrast, the Gregorian solar-calendar has most of the adjustments already built in; they occur incrementally by extending each month, except February, by one or two days. (In other words, by having 11 months with 30 or 31 days, instead of 12 lunar months of 29.5 days, the Gregorian calendar makes up for the 11-day deficit of the lunar calendar, and thus stays in sync with the solar year. It also compensates for the fact that the solar year is actually a fraction of a day—5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds—longer than 365 days. So every four years, the Gregorian calendar also adds one extra day to February, making it a leap year of 366 days.)
Therefore, in relation to the actual solar year, one calendar is more accurate than the other, and thus better suited for everyday use. (For example, imagine being born in Second Adar, which only comes around every few years. When would you celebrate your birthday?) And yet, by scientific standards and practical experience, we know that all calendars have to be adjusted from time to time—some more than others. This alone demonstrates that there are no absolutely precise and perfect calendars. Even the best ones are only close approximations of time measurement, which is a relative and somewhat arbitrary thing to start with.
The myth of a “precise” calendar: The above points are intended to put people’s minds at ease, particularly in light of the fact that many Christians in the Sabbath-keeping community remain misinformed or uniformed, and somewhat obsessed, about “calendar precision.” For example, too many good folks are perennially perplexed concerning the dating of an annual observance of the Lord's Supper (or the "Passover" as some erroneously call it). They needlessly worry about doing it at precisely the "right time" and often wrangle over calendars or other issues, like whether it's done on the 14th or 15th of a given lunar month. At the bottom of this strife is the assumption that there is a "sacred calendar" that has been handed down from above and, furthermore, that the Jewish calendar, or some variation of it, is that calendar. Yet, Scripture nowhere makes such a designation, nor does it mandate the use of one calendar above another.
In biblical times, the Hebrews followed a simplified lunar calendar that was determined by visual observations made on a monthly basis. Such a calendar was common to the period, and one that the Hebrews and their neighbors would have been familiar with. This calendar was already in use when the children of Israel received instructions for their annual festivals. One might say that God used what was already there. What was new was not the calendar itself, but the designating of certain days and months on that calendar as special. (That a calendar was known before Israel’s exodus from Egypt, see Genesis 7:11; 8:4, 5, 13, 14; 38:24; and Exodus 2:2.) Later, during the temple period, the Jews continued to follow the same system. The temple priests in Jerusalem would declare the start of each month on the basis of visual sightings of each new moon.(5) This was also the practice during the time of Christ. However, after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70, this practice was no longer possible, and the Jewish calendar began to evolve from its original dependence on visual sightings to the pre-calculated formulas it uses today.
The Jewish calendar, therefore, is not as pristine as some people think. It's simply a calendar that has developed over the years from a number of influences, just like the Gregorian or any other calendar has. Those who regard the Jewish calendar as divinely revealed don't seem to realize that: 1) its details are not specified in the Bible, 2) its months all bear Babylonian names, 3) its calculations and leap years are based on a Greek mathematical formula, and 4) it was not implemented in its present form until long after the Bible was written (not until AD 359 when its rules were standardized and published). Therefore, any sacredness the Jewish calendar may have is not inherent within the calendar itself, but comes from the historical and religious significance that has been attached to it over the years.
The bottom line is this: 1) Because all calendars, including the Gregorian, only approximate the actual astronomical events, Christians shouldn't be dogmatic or overly concerned about the precision of calendar dates. 2) Because the Jewish calendar in use at the time of Christ relied on visual observations to determine new moons and when to insert leap years, these variables make it virtually impossible to correlate Christ's institution of the Lord's Supper with an exact date on the Gregorian or Jewish calendars of today. Therefore, more emphasis should be placed on the meaning of the Lord's Supper and the intent of one's heart rather than on having the "right" date. When the focus is on the calendar dates, there are disputes and divisions. When the focus is on the meaning of the celebration instead, there is a greater spirit of unity and communion among the Body of Christ, which is what the Lord's Supper is supposed to be about in the first place.
In 1988, after years of study, the ministerial council of the Church of God (Seventh Day) recognized the validity of the above information and altered its doctrinal statement by de-emphasing the importance of calendar dates in favor of a greater emphasis on the meaning of the Lord's Supper. The Church continues to hold an annual communion service on Nisan 14 of the Jewish calendar as part of its tradition. But, according to its stated position, it no longer regards one date as more sacred than another, and it is not judgmental of those who may observe the Lord's Supper at other times. Hopefully, the Church’s members and ministers are living up to its official position.
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Footnotes:
1 Beginning in the fall, Jewish leap years occur 7 times within a 19-year cycle—in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of each cycle. 2005 corresponds to the 8th year of the cycle. Regular or non-leap years on the Jewish calendar have either 353, 354, or 355 days, while leap years have either 383, 384, or 385 days. The length of each year, and whether it’s a regular or leap year, has been determined in advance by a mathematical formula.
2 What particularly convinced church leaders in the third century that reform was in order was the fact that the Jewish Passover had fallen before the spring equinox in some years. This meant that the Jews had actually celebrated two Passovers within a given solar year. For many Christians this was unthinkable, and they ceased following the Jewish calendar. Subsequent adjustments to the Jewish calendar would correct this discrepancy, but for the most part Christians had begun to rely on their own calculations.
3 As mentioned above, some references place the ecclesiastical equinox on March 21, and express the formula like this: Easter is the first Sunday after the first calendar full moon on or after March 21. But there is essentially no difference between saying after March 20 and on or after March 21. Both methods produce the same result.
4 The major exception is the Eastern Orthodox Church and its related branches that continue to follow the old Julian calendar instead of the updated Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar, established in 45 BC, calculated that the solar year was 365 days and 6 hours (or 365.25 days) long. However, the actual solar year is closer to 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (or 365.2422 days) long. This means that the Julian year is about 11 minutes and 14 seconds too long. That doesn’t sound like much, but over many years it adds up. By 1580, the Julian calendar was out of sync with the solar year by about 10 days. To correct this situation, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, and eventually adopted by most of the western world. However, instead of using the Gregorian calendar, which places Easter closer to the true astronomical spring equinox, Orthodox churches continue to use the Julian calendar for establishing the date of the equinox. They then adjust their date for Easter to the Jewish calendar, so that, according to their ecclesiastical tradition, Easter must always follow the Jewish Passover and must never precede it or coincide with it. Thus, by Eastern Orthodox reckoning, Easter cannot fall earlier than April 5 or later than May 8. This also explains why the Orthodox date for Easter often falls several weeks after the Gregorian date.
5 This method, however, was subject to many variables. For example, the start of a new month could be delayed by one day if the new moon was not sighted because of cloudy weather. Or, if bad weather had prevented the ripening of the barley crop in time for the proper celebration of the Passover festival, then the entire calendar might be pushed back by one month with the insertion of the extra leap-month, Second Adar
Copyright 2005 by Jerry Griffin.
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