Why Are There Two Dates for Easter?
Does it really matter?
Let me answer this question by telling you a story.
Two friends talking
I live in Greece, and my good friend, Helen, lives all the way across the world in Alaska. We’re 10 hours apart in time zones, but we grab any opportunity we can to talk. So, when her 16-year-old cat, Skittles, woke her up at 4:00 a.m., she decided it was the perfect chance to give me a call. And that’s when our conversation about Easter began.
I wished her a very Happy Easter, but then I mentioned that “Greek” or “Eastern” Easter would be on May 5th this year, much later than “Western” Easter.
“Yes, now why is that?” she asked with her warm Canadian accent.
“Here’s the simple answer,” I replied. “The main reason is because today different calendars are used for determining the date of Easter. The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar while the Roman Catholic Church, and subsequently many Protestant Churches, use the Gregorian calendar.
The Julian calendar dates back to the time of Julius Caesar, while the Gregorian calendar named after Pope Gregory XIII, came about in 1582. When developed, both calendars had as their aim to sync human measurement of time with astronomical events like the vernal equinox and the full moon.”
“I see.”
Time belongs to God
“But you know, Helen, I can’t help but think it’s just another attempt by humans to try and measure time for their own benefit. After all, Jesus told his disciples in Acts 1: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.’ Time belongs to God. He lets us live in it and use it, but it’s His domain. After all, when he set the earth on its axis He did not set it as something fixed but rather He gave it a slow wobble — there is a scientific name for that but I don’t remember — to keep things interesting. Then there are the gravitational forces from other celestial bodies like the moon and planets that influence Earth’s orbit. And let’s not forget, Earth’s orbit isn’t a perfect circle; it’s more like an ellipse. So with all these variables, it’s as if God intentionally didn’t want us to ever get an exact representation of time.”
“At least, he made it very difficult to do so!” Helen laughed. “God certainly does likes to keep us on our toes!”
“Definitely,” I chuckled.
“It’s like a Tower of Babel, but with time instead of languages,” she said.
“Good point,” I replied. “Because, of course, humans need to measure time just as we need to communicate.”
“He just wanted to keep the measuring of time a bit jumbled up. Just as He did with the gift of speech. Hang on, let me have a sip of my coffee.” Then, after a moment she asked, “But you said the main reason for Easter being on different days was the different calendars used. Is there more to it?”
“Oh, lots more! It also has to do with the Equinox and the Full Moon and the way things are measured. Remember Constantine the Great?”
“You really admire him, don’t you?” She knew I had done considerable research about him.
“Yep. I didn’t know much about him until I studied about St. Nicholas and the Late Antiquity period, but he was truly remarkable. Anyway, just as St. Nicholas played a significant role in fixing the date of the celebration of Christmas, Constantine did the same for Easter’s celebration.”
“I didn’t know that. Wasn’t he the first Christian Emperor?”
“That’s right. Quite an amazing decision for an emperor to make during that time in history.”
“Absolutely. So, what did Constantine have to do with Easter?”
The 1st Ecumenical Council — Nicaea
“Well, during the 1st Ecumenical Council of the Church — the Council of Nicaea — in 325, among several other things he tried to bring some uniformity to the celebration of Easter throughout the empire. Up until then, it was a bit chaotic, relying on unreliable and local Jewish calculations for Passover. At that incredible council — where St. Nicholas made an unforgettable appearance too,” I couldn’t help reminding and Helen chuckled. She knew that I had spent a decade studying Nicholas’ life in my quest to learn who really inspired the legend of Santa Claus and why St. Nicholas was so closely associated with the celebration of Christmas “ — it was decided that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.”
“Now that you mention it, I have heard that the dating of Easter each year has something to do with that. Did it work?”
“For hundreds of years it did as well at solving several issues, like ensuring Easter would only be celebrated once in a calendar year by the then one church and not being reliant on the celebration of Passover. But, there was a catch: which calendar should they use?”
“And this brings us back to our East and West Easter celebrations today— the Orthodox Church and the Catholic/Protestant churches using different calendars,” she interjected.
“Exactly. Both adhere to the formula established at the Council of Nicaea for determining the date of Easter. However, the varying dates of celebration between these primarily arise from the use of the Julian calendar in the East which runs 13 days later than the Gregorian that is used in the West as well as distinct approaches to scientific calculations in determining the vernal equinox and vernal full moon. Unfortunately, the technical issues weren’t ironed out at the 1st council, and it’s something that is yet to be achieved.”
Which celebration is accurate?
“So, which celebration is more accurate?”
I laughed. “Now that’s the million-dollar question.”
“So, are they both wrong or both right?” Helen asked.
“You know, going back to Acts 1 and the issue of time, I don’t think either are ‘wrong or right.’ What’s wrong is when people forget the most incredible event in the history of the world: God dying so He could put this world back into fellowship with Him.”
“So true! The important thing is that this most Holy day of the year is remembered with humility, poignant thought, and prayer.”
“Right. Whether a person remembers it using the calculations of the Western churches or the Eastern Church isn’t really the issue — especially since they are both mostly like not totally accurate. What matters is that the work that Jesus did that day in Jerusalem, at that most momentous moment in the timeline of men, is remembered, celebrated, and loved.”
“Praise God, I agree,” she whispered and I could hear tears of love for the act God did for us all in her voice.
“Happy Easter, dear Helen.”
“And to you for May 5th! But don’t worry, I’m sure Skittles will wake me up again early that day too so I will call and wish you a Happy Easter again!”
And that’s how our conversation ended. Two friends, oceans and continents apart, celebrating the same event on different days while cherishing the true meaning of Easter.
It would be nice if the Christian world could get together on this issue and honor that most holy sacrifice of God at the same time as they did for many centuries after the Council of Nicaea, but until then…
Happy Easter weather you celebrate it this year — the year of our Lord 2024 — on March 31st or May 5th!
