How the dates are set
This year Orthodox Easter will be celebrated next Sunday 12 April, while Catholic was celebrated last Sunday 5 April. It was another year…….
Why, Nevertheless, the date of Easter moves in time and what is the relationship between astronomical calculations and the determination of its date, from the Christian churches;
It all started with the Jews, who used the lunar calendar based on the lunar cycle. Celebrated Easter -from the Hebrew word "Pesach" which means "crossing" (Red Sea)- the 14th of the month Nisan, which was the day of the first spring full moon, that occurs during the spring equinox or immediately afterwards.
The vernal equinox was connected with the celebration of the Christian Passover from the first years after the Resurrection of Christ. That happened, because Christ was resurrected on the first day after the Jewish Passover, which fell that year Saturday (which then began -as the remaining days- at 6 the Friday evening).
At first, various local Christian churches celebrate Easter on different dates. The Judaizers churches mainly of Asia Minor celebrated at the date of death of Christ on the 15th of the Jewish month Nisan (on any day of the week fell), while national churches prefer the first Sunday -as resurrection day- after the first spring full moon.
Because of these disputes, the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, under Constantine the 325 A.D., He decided that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring and, if the full moon happen Sunday, then the next Sunday. In this way, both the Christian Passover would never coincide with the Hebrew, secondly the celebration of the Christian Passover was associated with an astronomical phenomenon, the vernal equinox and the first full moon of spring (the "Paschal full moon").
consequently, to calculate the date of Easter one year, suffice to initially find the date of the first spring full moon and, subsequently, the first Sunday after the full moon that. The First Ecumenical Council instructed the Patriarch of Alexandria to report annually on other churches on Easter Sunday, after having calculated the date of the first spring full moon, with the help of the astronomers of Alexandria.
errors
The calendar applicable at the time of the First Ecumenical Synod, Julian was that Julius Caesar had adopted the 45 e.g., with the help of the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigeni. The Last, based on calculations Ipparchos (who a century ago with remarkable accuracy was estimated that the solar year lasts 365,242 days), established a calendar, whose years had 365 days, while every fourth year (a so-called "leap") add one more day.
Nevertheless, according to Dionysis Simopoulo, honorary director of the Planetarium of the Eugenides Foundation, the Julian Calendar had a small deviation, as the length of the solar year is actually 365,242199 days. So, Year of Sosigeni is more real in 11 minutes and 13 seconds.
Every four years this small error reaches about 45 minutes, while each 129 years reaches one day, thus continuously moves before the vernal equinox. The error accumulating so while the vernal equinox in the time of Christ occurred on 23 Of March, the 1582 A.D. He had come to happen in 11 Of March.
That year, Pope Gregory XIII’ instructs astronomers Christopher Clavius and Luigi Lilio to launch calendar reform. The October 5 1582 renamed October 15th, in order to correct the mistake than ten days, which had accumulated in the previous 11 centuries, so the vernal equinox to return on March 21st, as was the case when A Universal Session.
New or Gregorian Calendar adopted by Catholic states in Europe within the next five years, while Protestant delayed much longer. The Orthodox Church's reaction to the Gregorian Calendar was even bigger, resulting in the Julian Calendar to remain in force in all Orthodox countries prior to the 20th century.
The change in Greece
In Greece the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian, commencing in principle 16 February 1923, which was renamed to March 1st. They removed that 13 days from 1923, because in ten days error between Gregorian and Julian 325 A.D. and 1582 They were added other three days, during the approximately three and a half centuries that have passed since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the West.
Originally the Greek Orthodox Church, unlike the Greek State- retained the Julian Calendar, but the 1924 accepted the ecclesiastical calendar be identified with the policy and apply for the immovable feasts. but did something similar for Paschalion Calendar for mobile holidays, still calculated based on the Julian or Old Calendar.
Nevertheless, the difference of the celebration of Easter between Orthodox and Catholics not only based on the error of the Julian Calendar, but the fault of the so-called "Metonic Cycle" of the 5th century BC, which was used by Christians Alexandrian astronomers and based on which the Orthodox Church continues to calculate the dates of future spring full moon.
At 13 days to incorrect Juliana vernal equinox, It must be added the mistake of the 19 year Metonic cycle, which amounts, from 325 A.D. until today, in about four to five days, consistently the Metoneia (or Julian) full moon to run four to five days later than the actual.
The Greek Orthodox Church still uses the old Julian Calendar and the Metonic cycle for determining the date of Easter. So, often the Orthodox Easter is celebrated not on the first Sunday after the full moon, but next (As the 2012) or after the second spring full moon (As the 2002 and 2013), instead of the first Sunday after the first spring full moon, as set by the Council of Nicaea.
common Easter
Catholics celebrate Easter according to the rule of the First Ecumenical Synod, but the vernal equinox and the full moon spring calculated according to the new Gregorian Calendar, having taken into account the error Metoneio. So, the Gregorian – Universal full moon is much closer to astronomical (often coincides or is only a day) than,what Julian – Orthodox.
In the 21st century, the celebration of Orthodox Easter limits are estimated to be from 4 April at the earliest to 8 May at the latest. The Catholic Easter limits of 22 March at the earliest to 25 April at the latest. This means that Catholics would not have ever May Easter and Orthodox Easter ever in March.
Jointly celebrated Easter for Catholics and Orthodox, when both the Gregorian, as well as Julian – Easter full moon falls from Sunday to Saturday of the same week (long as it is after 3 April and two full moons), so the next Sunday is the Easter public.
This is what happened 2014, while the celebration and the years will be common 2017 (at 16 April), 2025 (20 April), 2028, 2031, 2034, 2037, 2038, 2041 etc.. In total, during this century Easter will be public 31 years, while every next century it will happen more and more rare. The last public Easter estimated that the year will happen 2698, as after 2700 -due to accumulation of error Metoneiou- they can not ever coincide the same week the Julian and Gregorian full moon.
Source:imerisia.gr
NewsRoom Mykonos Ticker