Why celebrate Easter at a different time than Roman Catholics?

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I have always wondered why Eastern Catholics celebrate Easter on a different date. I know they do but know little of why and when? I have used this as an argument for a difference in doctrine and discipline but would like to now look further into why we have different dates for Easter. Thanks for any help!
 
It is due to differences in calendrical calculations – Both the Julian/Gregorian and other differences. The article on Computus at Wikipaedia explains it far better than I can.

tee
 
Not all Eastern Catholics celebrate Easter on a different date. For example, my Church (Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh and suffragen Sees) celebrates on the same day, whereas our “Mother Church” in the Ukraine (Eparchy of Mukachevo) celebrates on the Old Calendar.

Almost without exception Eastern Orthodox celebrate on the Old Calendar, in accordance with the norms as decided at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. One notable exception is the Orthodox Church of Finland, which celebrates Easter according to the New Calendar.

You may be thinking more of the Orthodox norms and practice …
 
Odell said:
I have always wondered why Eastern Catholics celebrate Easter on a different date. I know they do but know little of why and when? I have used this as an argument for a difference in doctrine and discipline but would like to now look further into why we have different dates for Easter. Thanks for any help!
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I always thought it was Roman Catholics who celebrate on a different date. 😛 😛

Just like they cross themselves backwards.
 
Roman Catholics follow the Gregorian Calendar, given to us by Pope Gregory XIII.

Most (but not all) Eastern Catholics follow the Julian Calendar, just like Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Gregorian calendar reformed the Julian calendar because the Julian calendar introduced an error of 1 day every 128 years.
 
ByzCath said:
I always thought it was Roman Catholics who celebrate on a different date. 😛 😛

Just like they cross themselves backwards.
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No no you guys are backwards just like northern people talk funny not us southern folks like the show swamp people; though thats a little extreme 😛
 
I said it in another thread, and a part of me feels bad saying it, but part of me enjoys the fact that we get to celebrate easter without all the commercialization associated with Western Easter.

The day the West and East agree to a set method of celebrating Easter on the same day, will be a day which is both very happy, and very sad for me. 😉
 
Joe_Kelley said:
As Tevye says in Fiddler on the Roof - TRADITION! 😉 [Applies to both East and West]
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This is always a fun quotation (even better with the accompanying photo I’ve seen in other posts)! 😃

That said, while many great historical anniversary commemorations suffer from some modicum of “original date error” (e.g. Christmas), it also stands to reason that Christ most surely died on a single date in history and rose on the third day thereafter. An anniversary, particularly one a significant as this, the Feast of Feasts, surely did not originally occur on two separate occasions by tradition or any other means, as miraculous as this event may have been in all other respects.
 
Personally, I find it sad that not every Eastern Catholic Church celebrates Pascha with the Orthodox. As several have said here–Tradition, and we have been called to return to our traditions by Popes for decades and by the Second Vatican Council. Sharing a common Pascha seems so obvious.
 
5Loaves said:
Personally, I find it sad that not every Eastern Catholic Church celebrates Pascha with the Orthodox. As several have said here–Tradition, and we have been called to return to our traditions by Popes for decades and by the Second Vatican Council. Sharing a common Pascha seems so obvious.
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Playing devil’s advocate here.

Isn’t there something to be said about sharing the date of Pascha with the actual Churches we are in communion with?

On another note, I have heard that Latin Catholic Churches in countries like Egypt celebrate the Orthodox date so there is even variation within the Latin Church.
 
I agree…we should be celebrating Pascha with the other churches we are in communion with! At least the churches we are in communion with AND are part of the same ritual tradition. That said the Byzantine Catholics in the diaspora should be celebrating Pascha acording to the Juluan calendar, just like our mother churches in the “old country”. 🙂

****QUOTE=ByzCath;9042419]Playing devil’s advocate here.
Isn’t there something to be said about sharing the date of Pascha with the actual Churches we are in communion with?

On another note, I have heard that Latin Catholic Churches in countries like Egypt celebrate the Orthodox date so there is even variation within the Latin Church.
 
MonkMoses said:
I agree…we should be celebrating Pascha with the other churches we are in communion with! At least the churches we are in communion with AND are part of the same ritual tradition. That said the Byzantine Catholics in the diaspora should be celebrating Pascha acording to the Juluan calendar, just like our mother churches in the “old country”. 🙂

Greek Catholic churches in Slovakia, Hungary and Croatian all celebrate on the Gregorian calendar:D
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MonkMoses said:
I agree…we should be celebrating Pascha with the other churches we are in communion with! At least the churches we are in communion with AND are part of the same ritual tradition. That said the Byzantine Catholics in the diaspora should be celebrating Pascha acording to the Juluan calendar, just like our mother churches in the “old country”. 🙂
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Sorry but you are contradictory here. We should celebrate the same date as the churches we are in communion with and are part of the same ritual tradition but we should also celebrate the same date as our mother churches which in some cases we are not in communion with?

If anyone asks for my opinion then here it is;
I believe that Catholics should celebrate the same date. I am for a common date between the Orthodox and the Catholics but I do not think Catholics should have separate dates.

But that decision is above my pay grade and I just do as it is set up.
Patchunky said:
Greek Catholic churches in Slovakia, Hungary and Croatian all celebrate on the Gregorian calendar:D
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There goes the idea that everyone does it the same in the “old country”.
 
And I’m the odd one out here who think we should toss both calendars and follow the astronomical calculations of Nicea, rather than either set of tables that try to predict them . . .

AMDG

hawk
 
dochawk said:
And I’m the odd one out here who think we should toss both calendars and follow the astronomical calculations of Nicea, rather than either set of tables that try to predict them . . .

AMDG

hawk
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That would be a good compromise. Use the real astronomical figures.

However I can’t see it being well liked by either Church.
 
dochawk said:
And I’m the odd one out here who think we should toss both calendars and follow the astronomical calculations of Nicea, rather than either set of tables that try to predict them . . .

AMDG

hawk
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It didn’t work even then. There was no detail given of how to make the calculation of the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the Vernal equinox. Also from Nicea, Easter should not be celebrated with the Jews, so when that occurs, it is delayed a week, but then the way the Jewish calendar is calculated changed also.
 
Why not? After all, there are some people who still believe there is a Commandment (among the 10) that reads “Thou shalt not kill”, when in point of fact there is no such Commandment…nor has there ever been one!
Correctly translated from Hebrew into English, the Commandment is “Thou shalt not murder”.
There is a HUGE difference! Murder is done “with malice aforethought”, while killing is often done in self-defense. This may be especially true in warfare, where soldiers are defending themselves in battle. “Killing” may also happen when you are driving down the street during the Winter, and hit a patch of black ice. Your car skids out of control, and you hit a pedestrian. Your car did indeed “kill” that pedestrian, but was it “murder”? Of course not! Nobody in his or her right minds would charge you with Murder, either, in such cases. However, if you were to decide that “tomorrow, I am going to end the life of so-and-so”…and then carry it out, THAT is most definitely “Murder”, and THAT is what God has forbidden by His Commandment!
As a Lector, I am annoyed when I see other Lectors read it as “Thou shalt not kill”, when I know for a fact that is NOT the Commandment! Remember, ALL of the Commandments come from the Hebrew, and THAT is the only translation that is really correct. Anything different is inherently wrong.
 
And here I was thinking it was just to get the Easter candy at clearance prices… 😛
 
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