That All May Be One / Fr. Rick Ginther

A common date for Easter in the East and West? Yes, may it be so

“The Catholic Church is open to accepting the date [for Easter] that everyone wants: a date of unity.”

Pope Francis said this during an ecumenical prayer service on Jan. 25 at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls at the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

In several earlier remarks during his pontificate, he has shard this sentiment. His remarks reaffirm the position officially taken by St. Pope Paul VI in the 1960s—if Eastern Christians agree on a way to determine a common date for Easter, the Catholic Church will accept it.

In this Jubilee Year of Hope, the date of Easter coincidentally is the same for East and West, on April 20. But this is not by design or agreement.

A common date of Easter would end the scandal of our division over the annual celebration of the center of our faith.

Christians and former Christians are taken aback by this “division.” People of other faiths point to this divide as a clear reason to question the truth of what we believe. That is a scandal.

As has been the custom since the Council of Nicaea in the year 325, the date for Easter was calculated with a simple formula: the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

And this works—if all are using the same calendar!

The current solar calendar system used by most of the world was created by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 with the assistance of astronomers at that time. The solar Julian calendar, created by Julius Caesar in 49 B.C., was 11 days off.

With Pope Gregory’s adjustment, Oct. 4 was followed by Oct. 15 in 1582.

But not all Christians agreed to use the Gregorian calendar to date their religious feasts. A number of Eastern Orthodox continued to use the Julian calendar.

The current controversy of varied calendars is not new to the Church. In the first three centuries, a controversy arose across the Christian world.

Some demanded that the date of Easter remain in line with the Jewish feast of Passover (14-15 Nissan, as prescribed in Mosaic law). Such Christians were—and are yet today—known as Quatrodecimans (“fourteenth” day adherents). For them, Easter falls on whatever day of the week 14-15 Nissan occurs.

Others, including Pope Victor (190 A.D.), insisted that Easter be celebrated on the Lord’s day (Sunday), the day of the resurrection.

The Council of Nicaea, whose 1,700th anniversary is this year, ultimately declared that Easter would be celebrated on Sunday. It made normative the basic calculation formula noted earlier.

And that would have been the end of it—until the Julian calendar was reformed.

At the end of the 20th century, a revision of the formula was proposed. It was a joint effort by the World Council of Churches and representatives of the Eastern Churches in Aleppo, Syria, in March 1997. The revision was based on the current formula but not tied to Julian or Gregorian calendars.

Three principles were stated.

First, honor the basic wisdom of Nicaea’s formula.

Second, calculate the astronomical data (spring equinox and the full moon) based on today’s most accurate astronomical science.

Third, use as the basis for reckoning the meridian of Jerusalem, the place of Christ’s death and resurrection.

This proposal was received by many, including the Roman Catholic Church, as an excellent reformulation for unity.

Sadly, this proposal has yet to find universal acceptance. The politics of tradition remain stronger for some in the East than the drive toward unity.

Perhaps this year’s coincidental common date and the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea will spur the Church to step toward unity with a common date of Easter.

Please, God, may it be so!
 

(Father Rick Ginther is director of the archdiocesan Office of Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs. He is also the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis.) †