The bright moon this morning provoked a conversation in
which my daughter asked a telling question that reveals a lot about early
Christianity.
The date of Easter is the first Sunday after the first full
moon after the Vernal Equinox. This year, the Vernal Equinox was March 20 (it
is often on March 21). The full moon was March 23. The Sunday following is
March 27. So we have an early Easter this year.
There is a logic to the date of Easter. Jesus was crucified
on Passover, which is the fourteenth of Nissan, which is the month of spring
(hence the Vernal Equinox). Nissan, like other months of the Jewish calendar,
is a lunar month starting on the new moon. The fourteenth is thus the date of
the full moon. The Resurrection was the Sunday following the crucifixion.
On the calendar that we use, the Roman calendar, the date of
Eastern changes from year to year. My daughters question was: “Didn’t they
record the date of the Resurrection?”
The answer is that that they did, but they recorded it in
the Jewish calendar, not the Roman calendar. The earliest Christians were all
Jews or converts from Judaism. It was only later that the Christians started
accepting converts from Gentiles, such as Greeks and Romans. So the early
Christians recorded the date of the Resurrection according to the date on the
Jewish lunar calendar, not the Roman solar calendar.
Starting in the second century, there was a controversy in
Christianity between those that wanted to celebrate Easter on the 14th of
Nissan (following the gospel of John) and those who wanted to celebrate it on
Sunday and so the Sunday following (following the gospel of Matthew). The
Easter controversy was not ostensibly settled until the fourth century.
There are only two Christian Holy Days that follow a Jewish
calendar, that thus go back to the earliest period of Christian history. Both
commemorate the Resurrection. Those Holy Days are Easter, and the Lord’s Day
(Sunday). All the other Christian Holy Days follow the Roman calendar (including
Christmas) and are thus later.
So, what we learn about early Christianity is that the
Resurrection was the only event commemorated; it was memorialized in two Holy
Days, Easter and the Lord’s Day. The dates of these events were recorded in the
Jewish calendar, which was the one that the earliest Christians used.
