What's the point with movable Easter?

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BlueKumul

BlueKumul

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Why is the date of Easter changing every year according to the Moon’s phases? It looks like astrology. Shouldn’t the date be always the same, as it’s the case with Christmas?
 
Are you aware of the history of the Computus?


The biggest obstacle to fixing the date of Easter is tradition. It is actually posed as a solution to the variant dates of Easter, that the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches set the date of Easter to a fixed point on the calendar. Would this solve the ages-old issue or fragment Christians even further? Nobody knows until we try.
 
The fact that this question is even being discussed is an indication of the loss of consciousness among the faithful of the liturgical year.

These dates were not fixed at random. Even countries national days have a reason.

Easter is the new Passover which Jesus ernestly desired to celebrate and which we are still celebrating.
 
BlueKumul said:
Why is the date of Easter changing every year according to the Moon’s phases? It looks like astrology. Shouldn’t the date be always the same, as it’s the case with Christmas?
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It’s the Sunday after Passover and Passover is based on the lunar calendar.

A lunar calendar was a standard way of telling time around the world.
 
I believe that the Church has stated that we do have the right to change Easter to a fixed date (Sunday of one set week of the year); but that is not implemented out of respect for the other Churches and ecclesial communities who also celebrate Easter.
 
Also, easter has to be on a Sunday.

Thanksgiving changes dates every year. Father’s Day, Mother’s Day. Etc.

It’s not astrology.
 
TK421 said:
It’s the Sunday after Passover and Passover is based on the lunar calendar.
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Pardon? Take a look at the dates for Easter and Passover in 2024. 😉

IIRC, Easter is always the Sunday following the first full moon after the calendar’s spring equinox. It often coincides with Passover in the way you mention, but that isn’t always the case.
 
Does anyone have an Easter birthday? I do, but that birthday only rarely falls on Easter, twice so far in my lifetime, and again only if God is willing.

Many Catholics were baptized or received into the Church on Easter, and their baptism/reception anniversaries are likewise rarely on Easter.

So, to touch lightly on the original topic, the variability of the Easter date makes Easter birthdays and anniversaries all the more special.
 
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Gorgias said:
IIRC, Easter is always the Sunday following the first full moon after the calendar’s spring equinox. It often coincides with Passover in the way you mention, but that isn’t always the case.
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Easter and Passover are both timed to fall on or close to the full moon, but there are differences between the calculations. For a start, Passover notionally coincides exactly with the full moon, but Easter falls on the following Sunday. And the length of an astronomical lunar month, from one new moon to the next, varies slightly between about 29 days 6 hours and 29 days 19½ hours. But Jews and Christians alike base their calendrical calculations on the average length of the lunar month, not on the actual length observed by astronomers, which makes a considerable difference. They use different formulas for their calculations, and as a result, in some years the two dates will coincide quite closely while in other years they can be several weeks apart.
 
@Gorgias

Oh, I thought it was something that always came after Passover.
 
BlueKumul said:
Why is the date of Easter changing every year according to the Moon’s phases? It looks like astrology. Shouldn’t the date be always the same, as it’s the case with Christmas?
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Because Passover was instituted in Scripture according to a lunar calendar and Easter is celebrated the Sunday after (the Church’s calculation of) Passover.

How is dating a calendar with the moon more “astrology” than dating it with the Sun?
 
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Gorgias said:
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TK421:
It’s the Sunday after Passover and Passover is based on the lunar calendar.
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Pardon? Take a look at the dates for Easter and Passover in 2024. 😉
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Jews use a different method of calculating Passover than the Church does. The Church came up with its own calculation because in the first, second, and third centuries the Jews did not have an absolutely fixed method for calculating Passover. The Jewish leaders modified the date as they saw fit depending upon whether the weather was good and the barley was ripe. So Christians had to keep asking Jews when Passover was. That method used by Jews then was different than the method used by ancient Israelites and different than the method used by Jews today.
 
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Gorgias said:
40.png
TK421:
It’s the Sunday after Passover and Passover is based on the lunar calendar.
Click to expand...
Pardon? Take a look at the dates for Easter and Passover in 2024. 😉

IIRC, Easter is always the Sunday following the first full moon after the calendar’s spring equinox. It often coincides with Passover in the way you mention, but that isn’t always the case.
Click to expand...
The Catholic Church uses the calculation for Passover that was in existence during the time of Christ.

The Jewish people, several years after the Christ’s Passion slightly modified how they calculate the date for Passover, which is why some years the two celebrations are not aligned.
 
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TK421 said:
@Gorgias

Oh, I thought it was something that always came after Passover.
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It is using the calculator that the Church is using to determine the date of Passover. After Jesus, the Jews slightly modified their calculator & the Church did not adopt their new method.
 
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