One evening after the Vigil service in the house of an elderly priest, the host and several of his young assistants gathered for conversation and late tea drinking. At first the conversation spun around the immediate plans, then went on to the discussion of the upcoming Easter celebration, inexorably approaching and already teasing thoughts about the solemnity of the church furniture, the splendor of divine services and the opportunity to break up after a long Lent. One of the altar boys asked: "Father, how to calculate Easter, its day and date, and who does it at all"? "Well, son, it's actually not an easy matter, in a nutshell, you will not answer. But if it is so interesting, then I will try to explain, by virtue of my meekness, what is involved here. "
Calculating the date of Easter in antiquity
To more accurately understand how to calculate the Passover, we will have to return to the Old Testament times. As you, my dear, remember, the first Easter was associated with the event of the exodus of the Jews from Egyptian captivity. About the calculation of the date of Easter, then there was no question. The Old Testament Jews received direct instructions to celebrate Easter on the 14th day of the first month of the year. The Jews call it nisan, and in those days was determined by the time of ripening of corn ears.
Calculation of the date of the Christian Easter
On Christmas and the resurrection of Christ, as you know, the celebration of Easter was divided into Jewish and Christian. But here as such, the calculation of the date of Easter was not yet. The first Christians were satisfied that they celebrated their main holiday on the first Sunday after a week after the Passover of the Jews. However, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish people, the landmark in the form of ripe ears was lost. And it's time to think about how to calculate Easter in this situation. The output was found quickly. Enterprising Jews, and behind them Christians, for these purposes, used the heavenly bodies, or rather, the solar and lunar calendar.
Formula for calculating Easter
And when in the fourth century, at the Council of Nicaea, according to the general opinion of the Christian world, it was decided that the Christian Easter should not be celebrated next to the Jewish Passover, the formula for the calculation of the Passover day was derived. In simple terms, the formula looks like this: the Christian Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first spring full moon that occurred after the vernal equinox. But not everything is as simple as it seems.
At the already mentioned Nicaea Cathedral, an eternal calendar with nineteen-year Easter cycles was approved, where many parameters were taken into account when calculating the date of Easter. Including the phase of the moon and its age in this or that period of time. A whole methodology was developed, in which, according to special rules, the gold number was calculated in one or another year of the nineteen-year cycle, and all other calculations danced from this indicator. I, children, do not really know anything, and it's not our business, to count on Easter. That calendars have already been compiled. I will only say that it is this formula that calculates the date of the Orthodox Easter, and Catholic, too.
Who in our day does the calculation of Easter?
"Father, can you ask the last question? Who should make these calculations of the Easter date? " "Yes, there are scientists who have deep spiritual and astronomical knowledge, we grow up to them." "Well, dear father, thank you for the science. And, it's true, it's too late, we detained you, we'll go home. " And the young people, taking leave of their spiritual mentor, left his hospitable house with satisfied curiosity.