Will Pope Francis change the date of Easter? [CNA]

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GEddie said:
Who cares whether the civil society follows suit, at least initially. In contrast to Christmas, Easter is almost fully a religious feast.

In a few years, the civil society would adjust to the day celebrated by the Pope and the masses of the faithful. Having the Jerusalem Holy Fire appearing the same day would make it even more compelling.

The Protestants would almost certainly not follow, at least for some years, but after one or two generations, would adjust to the civil calendar.

I <3 the idea of synchronizing Easter via the Jerusalem meridian! That brings the event back where it began. And inasmuch as all the Churches have a common heritage there, it would not be perceived as one side yielding to the other.

ICXC NIKA
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I agree, especially with the Holy Fire of Jerusalem.
 
Kmon23 said:
The Orthodox to change their calendars? That is a huge can of worms just saying. :hypno: :hypno::hypno:
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I made that mistake of commenting on this. Now, I believe that any move toward unity would have to be unilateral. It is also possible, more likely in my mind, that the Catholic Church could enter in discussions with most of the other major denominations and arrive at a date with more success at unity.
 
I would be more interested in him changing the date of Christmas.
 
I think it’s a bad idea. There are going to be some people, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, who will refuse to accept the change and will go on following the present-day formula, in force since the Council of Nicea. There’ll be more breakaway groups and small-scale schisms. So instead of two different Easter dates each year, as at present – the Gregorian and Julian dates – there would then be three, Gregorian, Julian, and whatever the new formula is.

A week has now passed since Francis made those remarks about changing the date of Easter. It seems he intended to convey no more than that, if other churches wish to move to a fixed Easter, then the Catholic Church will raise no objection. In other words, he was expressing a willingness to go along with someone else’s initiative, in the event that there should be one, rather than a proposal for change originating from the Catholic Church.

The idea is, on the surface, an appealing one. If all Christians worldwide were in fact to celebrate Easter on the same day – the second Sunday in April, or whatever formula might be agreed upon – that would certainly convey the desired sense of unity and of a single communion of all Christians. But in practice, of course, the effect would be the opposite
 
Kmon23 said:
The Orthodox to change their calendars? That is a huge can of worms just saying. :hypno: :hypno::hypno:

And to the OP, considering the Orthodox would never change the date of Easter without anything less than a universally binding council, is Pope Francis suggesting the Easter date of the Julian Calendar?
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Our Church of Finland uses the Gregorian Calendar. Not only does it use the Gregorian Calendar, it even uses the Western system for calculating the day of Easter so its Easter is the same day as in the Lutheran world.

No one bats an eye when Finland does it, but when Constantinople decides to use a modified Julian Calendar and keeps Easter on the same calculations, suddenly we’re lazy heretics. Right.
 
pnewton said:
Ah. A pragmatist.

Wrong, and no need to make stuff up. No one said this.
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I don’t think he is referring to Catholics making that accusation but Orthodox making that accusation against other Orthodox (under the ecumenical patriarch). In no way is it meant to critisize Catholics (instead criticising Orthodox). After all, there is no shortage of zealous Orthodox down to the t. 🙂
 
Kmon23 said:
I don’t think he is referring to Catholics making that accusation but Orthodox making that accusation against other Orthodox (under the ecumenical patriarch). In no way is it meant to critisize Catholics (instead criticising Orthodox). After all, there is no shortage of zealous Orthodox down to the t. 🙂
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Thank you, friend.
pnewton said:
Wrong, and no need to make stuff up. No one said this.
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Yeah, back off & use some context clues next time to infer who I’m referring to before you come off as rude and call me a liar.
 
Kmon23 said:
I don’t think he is referring to Catholics making that accusation but Orthodox making that accusation against other Orthodox (under the ecumenical patriarch). In no way is it meant to critisize Catholics (instead criticising Orthodox). After all, there is no shortage of zealous Orthodox down to the t. 🙂
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If it was based on something not on this thread, then I understand. I sometimes make the mistake of throwing stuff out without context. I just do not understand why or where anyone would think someone was lazy or a heretic over a calendar. I read through twice trying to see where that happened.

Personally I am on board with whatever the Holy Father wants, but I find the idea of tying Easter to Jerusalem aesthetically pleasing.
 
Many Orthodox bishops have already condemned pope Francis’s offer.

For example, Orthodox bishop of Banat Nikanor said “When he (pope) repents for everything what his predecessors have done and for producing schism in the Church, then we can talk. What Catholic Church has done, heavens and earth cant forgive that.”

Bishop Nikanor also said that “we must not let pope impose his version of Easter.”
 
GEddie said:
Under the Gregorian reform, the calendar was moved ahead ten days (11, by the time Britain and her colonies adopted it in 1752).

Because this is not an even number of weeks, Sundays do not line up between the two calendars.

ICXC NIKA.
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Good point about the increasing disparity between the two.

Pope Gregory made adjustments to the leap year determination as the orbit of the earth around the sun is not exactly 365.25 days. His change was perfectly legitimate.

from wiki:
The Gregorian reform modified the Julian calendar’s scheme of leap years as follows:
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Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the year 2000 is.[6]
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In addition to the change in the mean length of the calendar year from 365.25 days (365 days 6 hours) to 365.2425 days (365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 12 seconds), a reduction of 10 minutes 48 seconds per year, the Gregorian calendar reform also dealt with the accumulated difference between these lengths. The canonical Easter tables were devised at the end of the third century, when the vernal equinox fell either on 20 March or 21 March depending on the year’s position in the leap year cycle. As the rule was that the full moon preceding Easter was not to precede the equinox the equinox was fixed at 21 March for computational purposes and the earliest date for Easter was fixed at 22 March. The Gregorian calendar reproduced these conditions by removing ten days.[7]
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I suppose Catholics will have to adjust to the old way but the rest of the world may not like it.
 
midori said:
I always thought an “equinox” was a set astronomical event, so I always had trouble grasping what made the “first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox” a movable thing, depending on whether you were using a Gregorian or Julian calendar, sort of like how driving “40 mph” is different depending on whether you’re driving a Chevy or a Ford.
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The equinox changes year to year a bit because of the non symmetrical nature of the earth’s orbit. So the date for Easter moves around a bit with both the sun cycle and the lunar cycle.

I always thought the Easter was tied to the Jewish festival of Passover, which is determined by the equinox and the lunar cycle. Considering we know that Jesus was crucified on the Friday preceding Passover isn’t it very important that we celebrate according to their calendar?
I mean what’s the point? Like Christmas are we to just simply stick a pin in the calendar and call it good without any reference to the history?
 
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