Why does the date for Easter change every year?
The New Testament of the Bible told that Jesus' death and resurrection happened around the time of the Jewish feast of Passover. According to Matthew, Mark and Luke's Gospels, the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples was a Passover meal, while John's Gospel says that Jesus died on the feast of Passover itself. In those days, the Jews celebrated Passover on the "14th day of the first month" in accordance with the Bible's commands (see Lev. 23:5, Num. 28:16, Josh. 5:11). The months of the Jewish calendar each began at new moon, so the 14th day would be the day of the full moon. The first month, Nisan, was the month that began from the spring new moon. In other words, the Passover was celebrated on the first full moon following the
vernal equinox (the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator) and was therefore a movable feast.
Early sources tell us that this very soon led to Christians in different parts of the world celebrating Easter on different dates. As early as the end of the 2nd century, some churches were celebrating Easter on the day of Passover itself, whether it was a Sunday or not, while others would celebrate it on the Sunday that followed it. By the end of the 4th century there were four different methods of calculating the date of Easter. In the year 325, the Council of Nicaea attempted to bring in a unified solution that would retain the link with the date of Passover as celebrated in Jesus' time. Eventually, therefore, Easter's date was established as movable. It is deemed to occur on the Sunday immediately after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.
For this means of measurement it can be understood why the dates of future Easters will appear to be in such flux:
* 2011: April 24
* 2012: April 8
* 2013: March 31
* 2014: April 20
* 2015: April 5
* 2016: March 27
In addition, regarding for how many days Jesus was buried before he came to his resurrection, the four Gospels (selected by the Roman Catholic Church in the 4th Century while abandoning tens of other Gospels) did not agree to each other. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus was buried for 3 days and 3 nights, while in Mark and John, he was only buried for 1 day and 2 nights.
Similar discrepancies also found about the birth of Jesus on December 25. There is no evidence for this date. The Bible itself tells us that December 25 is an unlikely date for his birth. Palestine is very cold in December. It was much too cold to ask everyone to travel to the city of their fathers to register for taxes. Also the shepherds were in the fields (Luke 2:8-12). Shepherds were not in the fields in the winter time. They are in the fields early in March until early October. This would place Jesus' birth in the spring or early fall. It is also known that Jesus lived for 33.5 years and died at the feast of the Passover, which is at Easter time. He must therefore have been born six months the other side of Easter - making the date around the September/October time frames.
So then, who decided that Jesus' birth would be celebrated on that date? The early Christian church did not celebrate Jesus' birth. It wasn't until A.D. 440 that the church officially proclaimed December 25 as the birth of Christ. This was not based on any religious evidence but on a pagan feast. Saturnalia was a tradition inherited by the Roman pagans from an earlier Babylonian priesthood. December 25 was used as a celebration of the birthday of the sun god. It was observed near the winter solstice. Some scholars think the church chose the date of this pagan celebration to interest them in Christianity. The pagans were already used to celebrating on this date.
All the important dates related to Jesus were just compromises between the Roman Emperor Constantine and the Christian Church during and after the
First Council of Nicaea held in A.D. 325. And there is nothing to do with the sacredness of Jesus.
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