Easter

[HumbleMan]

Could someone give me the history behind the two celebration dates of Easter (west v. east)?

Thanks,

 

[MKJ]

Do you mean the difference that comes from the use of the Julian vs Gregorian calendar?

 

[~Anastasia~]

I'm not knowledgeable enough to give a good answer, but I'm guessing (at least I'd like to read a concise explanation myself) about the reason why Pascha sometimes falls on Easter, sometimes not ... ?

 

[seashale76]

Could someone give me the history behind the two celebration dates of Easter (west v. east)?

Thanks,

How the date of Pascha is calculated was set by an Ecumenical Council (The First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.) of the Church precisely because Christians in various places were all over the place with when they celebrated Pascha. Celebrating on the exact date every year (which some did) presented its own special set of problems. The Church standardized it and solved the problem- there was unity. However, when the West went to the New Calendar (Gregorian) without an Ecumenical Council (which had established the date via the Julian)- this caused issues. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by papal bull in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. This was post schism (so didn't include the Patriarchates of the Eastern churches or even the Protestant churches).

Both calculate Pascha the same way- just using different calendars. Pascha always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox.