Easter is an ancient and most important religious holiday in Christianity, on which it, in fact, is based. It is noted in honor of the amazing resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion on the cross.
Sunday of Christ refers to the transit holidays, annually the celebration date changes, falling on different days. Many people cannot understand why this happens, wish to find an answer to the question: "Why is Easter celebrated every year on different days?" I propose to get it in this article.
When is Easter celebrated?
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Christian Easter is celebrated on the day of the first Sunday, following the first full moon, coming after the day of spring equinox (that is, the dates when the duration of the night and day is the same). If the first full moon coincided with the seventh day of the week, the celebration is transferred to the week a week.
Why is Easter celebrated every year on different days?
You may seem strange, but in reality the Sunday's brightly falls annually on the same date. Only for her calculation is not used to us solar calendar, but lunar. And here it should be noted that in the world people use different system calculus systems: the Jewish calendar, Juliansky, Gregorian (which lives in particular Russians and Ukrainians) and others.
For reference of the year, they are focused on the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. So for 1 year it makes exactly 1 turn around the daylight. A much more difficult situation is observed with the calculations of months. The cycle of the moon, varies from the new moon phase to the full moon phase, equals an average of 27-29 days. However, such an ideal month in the calendar is except February.
As a result, we have constant inconsistencies of the solar and lunar calendars, with which nothing can be done. After all, heavenly luminaries move in accordance with physical laws, and not calendar calculations.
As a result, we obtain the following data:
- Sunny year duration - equals 365 days And almost 6 o'clock. In it twelve months, the duration of which slightly exceeds the duration of the lunas (ranges from 28 to 31 days).
- Lunar year duration - equals 12 months to 27-29 days. During the year, the moon is updated twelve times, which corresponds to the number 354 days.
It turns out that on the duration of the lunar year is always less than sunny. And here we approach the explanation of why the Easter holiday day annually varies.
Easter, as we already know, is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon, coming for the spring equinox - that is, on March 20. The equinox date is stable every year. Why then the resurrection of Jesus Christ shifts to different dates?
It happens because the first full moon can step up for the next day after the day of the equinox, and after a couple of weeks after it. It is because of this that there is a constant change in the date of Easter. They cannot be the same even for 2 years in a row.
Also should not forget about the tradition of the Easter celebration only on Sundays of the week. But every year of the number in the week is shifted by one, and in the leap years even for two days. Therefore, it is not surprising that the holiday refers to the passing - by default it cannot have a steady date.
Interesting! You can count on the date of Sunday of Christ yourself, but you can seek help for special Easter, where the numbers of the holiday are spelled out for many years ahead.
Why is Easter connected with the first full moon?
And if with the calculation of the date of the resurrection of Christ, everything seems to be clear, it remains incomprehensible why the first spring full moon is taken for his calculations. To obtain a response to the assigned question, it is necessary to refer to the story, grasping the time almost 2000 years ago - when and lived legendary Jesus Christ. Rather, when Jews betrayed his death on the cross.As we know from the Bible, this event happened on Friday, and the wonderful resurrection of the Savior from the dead coincided with the ancient Jewish holiday of Pesach. Nothing reminds you of his name? Yes, almost like our Easter and such a coincidence is absolutely not accidental - a modern Christian celebration is repelled from the most ancient date of Pescha.
What did the prostrati mean for Jews? He was considered a sacred date, because then the people of Israeli was brought by the Prophet Moses from the captivity of the Egyptians. The continued wandering of the Jews, which are successfully completed by the foundation of the promised - modern Israel, are followed. The date of the celebration of Pescha accounts for 14 Nisan - that is, the Jewish analogue of the Russian March with April. And the ancient holiday falls at the same time on the first full moon in the spring.
Interesting! There are assumptions that Pescha celebration was held in more ancient times, to the life of the biblical Moses.
Therefore, it turns out that the first full moon - acts a kind of point of reference, with which Spring fully comes into their rights. And what did spring mean for ancient people? She symbolized the beginning of life in nature: the light became more than darkness, warmly, it was possible to sow and plant plants for the future harvest, the first berries and other fruits were gradually appeared.
Maybe this reason lies here why even those who do not consider themselves to believe in the Christian holiday of Easter.
Interesting! Despite the annual differences in the days of Svetlova Sunday Christ, something remains always - the holiday is celebrated only on Sunday.
Why are Orthodox and Catholics celebrate Easter in different numbers?
To answer the question, we need to turn to the story again, namely, by 1054, when the split of the Christian Church on Eastern (Orthodoxy) and Western (Catholicism) occurs. Initially, both denominations did not have differences in the dates of the celebration of religious celebrations, because both the Julian calendar was used, approved by Gay Yulia Caesar - the Roman emperor.
The Yulian Sauchnya, however, was not accurate - there was a small error (only 12 minutes), but over the years and century, the sum of unrecorded days was accumulated rather impressive, which led to calendar inaccuracies.
It was necessary to solve the situation and it was found by the Pope of Roman Grigory XIII. In the second half of the 16th century, he proposes to approve a new time calculating system. The innovative calendar gets the name of the Gregorian - in honor of its creator and leads to a displacement of time for 10 days. That is, yesterday on the calendar it was, for example, on April 1, and today it has come 11.
In the future, the Orthodox Church does not change the summer system to the Gregorian, so all church holidays continue to be celebrated on the Julian calendar. The difference between the two calendars today is 13 days. As for Russia, Ukraine and many other countries, here since 1918 used the Gregorian calendar.
Often you can hear from believers the question regarding how much such a state of affairs is considered correct. And is it not better to introduce a new system of summer, which would be the same for Orthodox and Catholics? It is a reasonable sentence, but the fact is that the holding of such a reform would be a very serious event, for which the church is not solved.
Therefore, while Catholics continue to celebrate Easter to another date, which will mostly come before Christian. But there are also the coincidence of holidays when Christian Easter is celebrated in conjunction with Catholic in the same number.
In conclusion
- Easter is the greatest challenge of Christians. Every year, his celebration falls on different days. This happens because of the fact that the bright Sunday of Christ is calculated along the lunar calendar, and we use the sunny calendar into everyday.
- There is a difference between the lunar and sun calendars in the number of days, in connection with which the first full moon occurs throughout a certain number of days after the day of spring equinox, which affects the date of the occurrence of Easter.
- Catholics and Orthodox use various styles - old (Julian) and New (Gregorian), so the bright Sunday in both denominations is noted in different numbers.
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