Orthodox friend raised a point to me today

[CatholicZ09]

So, in talking with an Orthodox friend today, it somehow turned to a discussion about religion (I hate discussing these topics with others, but since she’s Orthodox, it wasn’t that bad since we’re almost the same). Anyways, she told me that the Western Church (Catholics) changed the date of Easter, which goes against the Bible in a sense because we need to celebrate the Resurrection after the Jewish Passover. Since we follow the spring equinox, Easter can come before the Passover has ended. For example, the Jewish Passover begins on Thursday, April 6, 2012, and then ends on Good Friday, April 13, 2012, thus the Orthodox celebrate Easter on Sunday, April 15, 2012. The Catholic calendar has Holy Thursday on Thursday, April 6, 2012, and then Easter Sunday on Sunday, April 8, 2012. Are we wrong for celebrating Easter before the Jewish Passover has ended? Is it “unbiblical” and did Catholics in a sense change the date of Easter?

I never really paid that much attention to the topic, but now that she brought it up, it interested me.

 

[Elizium23]

Here are some Wikipedia articles to get you started: Easter controversy and Computus.

 

[Incomplete]

So, in talking with an Orthodox friend today, it somehow turned to a discussion about religion (I hate discussing these topics with others, but since she’s Orthodox, it wasn’t that bad since we’re almost the same). Anyways, she told me that the Western Church (Catholics) changed the date of Easter, which goes against the Bible in a sense because we need to celebrate the Resurrection after the Jewish Passover. Since we follow the spring equinox, Easter can come before the Passover has ended. For example, the Jewish Passover begins on Thursday, April 6, 2012, and then ends on Good Friday, April 13, 2012, thus the Orthodox celebrate Easter on Sunday, April 15, 2012. The Catholic calendar has Holy Thursday on Thursday, April 6, 2012, and then Easter Sunday on Sunday, April 8, 2012. Are we wrong for celebrating Easter before the Jewish Passover has ended? Is it “unbiblical” and did Catholics in a sense change the date of Easter?

I never really paid that much attention to the topic, but now that she brought it up, it interested me.

As the above poster noted, there is a controversy. But neither date is “unbiblical” or “wrong”, because we are not stating with our celebration that this is the date that Easter happened. We are commemorating the occasion, not saying it happened on that exact date.