Easter means Jesus is in the Eucharist.
(ca. 69 – ca. 155) Polycarp, who had worked with Pope Anicetus concerning his view of Easter in trying to resolve this matter, Polycarp failed, when Pope Anicetus died Pope Victor I, later became his successor in Rome. Pope Victor, I later became involved in the Quartodeciman controversy that initially caused a scandal over his use of the term Easter. The Quartodeciman’s saw Easter associated with its pagan roots [1] and separated itself from messianic teaching.
Pope Victor’s persistence of adopting the word Easter from its pre-Christian roots to replace pagan practices and instead of celebrating the resurrection of Christ this was seen as being associated with pagan customs, this would be a possible explanation as to why atheists and agnostics would call this a zeitgeist.
Easter originally was based on the Babylonian religious practice of phallic and fertility worship. Initially, Pope Anicetus abandoned this and replaced them to commemorate the resurrection of Christ for the pagans Easter has always been syncretised with the resurrected celebration of Tammuz, the son of Ishtar.
What Polycarp did move the original focus of Easter away from its pagan origins because the festival according to Rome was about the resurrection of Christ and abandoned the Jewish festival of Passover celebrated by Christ commemorating his resurrection, this may possibly explain how Pope Victor I justified the use of the word Easter that was celebrated on the Sunday and not the 14th Nissan belonged to pre-Christian practices simply because the pagan celebration around the spring equinox on the first Sunday of the full moon on or after the March equinox this was known as the resurrection of new life, celebrated to awaken the death of winter, this should have been enough to make Polycarp speak out against its customs and stay clear of Easter itself, instead he compromised with Rome by overlooking the matter the problem that addressed with those who celebrated Christ’s Passover, with Rome it has always been seen to be yoking together with the world, just as much as churches today justify using worldly methods to bring Christ to people’s attention the Bible raises a point on this, Luke 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Nothing good has ever come out of Rome.
This is what eventually lead to corruption in Catholic practices around Easter such as the celebration of the mass, etc.
This issue alone had polarised the church into a great conflict, even today this is still argued, from Polycarp’s co-belligerent approach the practice of Easter had eventually became enforced and ritualised from Pope Victor I to the First Council of Nicaea, so that the council could divorce itself from the messianic roots of the Judean Passover celebrated by Christ the Jew on the 14th of Nissan.
This is one of the reasons why the Church of Rome itself is anti-Semitic, addressing the word Easter and looking into where the word was originally rooted, I doubt that it was Polycarp who came up with its term. ~
This leads me to ask the question did Polycarp take Easter to abandon Passover he once observed under the apostle John, as we are instructed to keep the feast mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:8?
The claim around Easter was made by Alexander Hislop from the two Babylon’s
p.103 “Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.
P.105 “To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals AMALGAMATED, and, by a complicated but skilful adjustment of the calendar. It was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity — NOW FAR SUNK IN IDOLATRY — in this as in so many other things, to shake hands.”
While the Apostles celebrated and observed Passover Polycarp abandoned it for the reason that he did not want to adopt Jewish practices when Pope Victor I that eventually lead the First Council of Nicaea was born it forced its hand so that the Jews could have no part in the Church of Rome that was deemed to be the only true church of Christ.
The Case Against Easter.
Dates set and rituals were enforced on all believers as an invention of the Church of Rome under Pope Victor I to the First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, for them they saw it important as a requirement for the Catholics that celebrated their First Communion that they were partakers of the Catholic Mass during Easter, this goes through Pentecost and 50 days after the Easter holiday the church is self-sees that Easter duty is a small obligation for Catholics.
Easter began as a religious holiday, and the first council of Nicea in Rome was founded by Constantine who knew that its roots were based in the pagan worship of Ishtar, this is what many have argued, the issue is not so much centred around how a person chooses to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ as I am sure that on this matter both Catholics and Protestants would agree apart from the Catholic Mass, veneration of Mary, prayers to the dead, praying the rosary, penances and pilgrimages during the Easter holiday itself.
To evangelical Protestants it should not be the only time to preach the gospel or reach people in different ways, the remembrance of the resurrection should always be celebrated and not just once a year as a significance of Christ’s offer of salvation purchased through his blood, by observing Easter as the only recognised Catholic holiday the real issue is, we should not pollute the Pure waters of Christ with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church even if we choose to divorce Easter itself from Catholic practices.
According to the statements made by the Vatican anyone who celebrates Easter is coming in unity with or aligning themselves under the Authority of the Pope.
People may run to the defence of Easter by saying that it is wrong to shun Easter simply because they accuse Easter of being from a pagan origin, but when you look into the Traditions of Easter brought in by the Council of Nicea that was passed onto the popes in Catholic history, as the Council admits to setting up these traditions of the church to ensure that the separated brethren came in line with Roman Catholicism within these religious holiday’s on the same days to them the issue is not about whether you make excuses to celebrate Easter, it was to get the readers to recognise the holiday itself as is a status for the Church of Rome.
We need to understand why the Church of Rome promotes the practice of Easter and let’s not dilute its historical meaning around Roman Catholicism, as the RCC was the reason this holiday is still in existence this was one of the main causes why holidays like Easter was banned by the Puritan Oliver Cromwell in England, it was his defiance of the RCC and its traditions and teachings which brought the demise of the Church of Rome.
According to the Book The Vatican Collection, Vatican Council II, Volume 1 The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents published by the Catholic Press, on page 449 subheading “Relations with the brethren of the separated churches”, (25 An obligation established by the council regarding our separated Eastern brethren and all Orders or whatever degree, whether of divine or ecclesiastical right) states “Nothing more should be demanded of separated Eastern Christians who come to Catholic Unity under the influence of grace if the Holy Spirit then what the simple profession of the Catholic Faith requires.
And since a valid priesthood has been preserved amongst them, Eastern clerics who came to Catholic Unity may exercise their Orders, by the regulations laid down by the competent authority.
On page 451 under Conclusion
Paragraph two “In the meantime, however, all Christians, Eastern and Western, are strongly urged to pray to God daily with fervor and constantly so that, by the help of God’s most holy Mother, all may be one,
On page 29 Sacred Liturgy “(106) By a tradition handed down from the apostles, which took its origin from the very day of Christ’s resurrection, the Church celebrates the paschal mystery every eighth day, which day is appropriately called the Lords day or Sunday. For this day, Christ’s faithful are bound to come together into one place. They should listen to the word of God and take park in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the passion, resurrection and glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God.
On Page 448 Divine worship Easter statement.
(20 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy) Until all Christians agree, as it is hoped, on the day for the celebration of Easter by all, in the meantime as a means of fostering unity among Christians who live in the same area or country, it is left to the patriarchs or to the supreme ecclesiastical authorities of the place to consult all parties involved and so come to unanimous agreement to celebrate the feast of Easter on the same Sunday.
On Page 490 Directory on Ecumenism Fostering Spiritual Ecumenism in the Catholic Church.
21. “This change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name, ‘Spiritual Ecumenism’ ” (Decree on Ecumenism, n. 8)
In these few words the decree defines spiritual ecumenism and stresses its importance in order that Christians may, both in prayer and in celebration of the Eucharist and indeed in their entire daily life, through restoring whole Christian life according to the spirit of the Gospel, as has been taught by the Second Vatican Council–leaving out nothing of the common Christian heritage. (Cf. Decree Activity, n. 36).
- It is fitting that prayers for unity be regularly offered at fixed times, for example:
(d) Easter, when all Christians (inc, RC’s) share with one another the joy of Our Lord’s resurrection;
(e) on the occasion of meetings or other important events of ecumenical origin or especially likely to serve ecumenical purposes.
[2] GENEVA (AP) – Christianity’s largest ecumenical movement expressed hope Thursday that churches were moving closer to a common Easter for the world’s Christians, despite a historical debate nearly as old as the religion.
Catholic and Protestant congregations will celebrate their belief in Jesus’ resurrection on the same day as Orthodox churches in 2010 and 2011 The common holiday has happened three times this decade. But the World Council of Churches says the consensus is emerging that these should not just be occasional occurrences.
At a recent meeting in Lviv, Ukraine, theologians representing nearly the breadth of Christianity agreed in principle on a strategy for all the faithful to continue observing their feast together.
“It’s not a problem principle the dogma or doctrine,” said Juan Michel, spokesman for the Council, whose 350 Protestant, Orthodox and other churches represent more than 560 million Christians. It cooperates with the Roman Catholic Church, which is not a member.
The History of Easter.
[3 Ref: Cath Encycl] “According to The Catholic Encyclopaedia the Council of Nicea was the First Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, held in 325 AD on the occasion of the heresy of Arius (Arianism). As early as 320 or 321 St. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria convoked a council at Alexandria at which more than one hundred bishops from Egypt and Libya anathematized Arius.”
[4 Ref: Cath Encycl]”The text of the decree of the Council of Nicaea which settled, or at least indicated a final settlement of, the difficulty has not been preserved to us, but we have an important document inserted in Eusebius’s “Life of Constantine” (III, xviii so.). The emperor himself, writing to the Churches after the Council of Nicaea, exhorts them to adopt its conclusions and says among other things: “At this meeting the question concerning the holiest day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day. . . And first of all, it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin. . . for we have received from our Saviour a different way. . . And I have undertaken that this decision should meet with the approval of your Sagacities in the hope that your Wisdom will gladly admit that practice which is observed at once in the city of Rome and Africa, throughout Italy and in Egypt. . . With the entire unity of judgment.” From this and other indications which cannot be specified here (see, e.g. Eusebius, “De Paschate” in Schmid, “Osterfestfrage,” pp. 58-59) we learn that the dispute now lay between the Christians of Syria and Mesopotamia and the rest of the world.
The important Church of Antioch was still dependent upon the Jewish calendar for its Easter. The Syrian Christians always held their Easter festival on Sunday after the Jews kept their Pasch. On the other hand at Alexandria, and seemingly throughout the rest of the Roman Empire, the Christians calculated the time of Easter for themselves, paying no attention to the Jews. In this way the date of Easter as kept at Alexandria and Antioch did not always agree; for the Jews, upon whom Antioch depended on, adapted very arbitrary methods of intercalating embolismic months (see CALENDAR, Bol. II, p. 158) before they celebrated Nisan, the first spring month, on the fourteenth day of which the paschal lamb was killed. In particular, we learn that they had become neglectful (or, at least, the Christians of Rome and Alexandria declared they were neglectful) of the law that the fourteenth of Nisan must never precede the equinox (see Schwartz, Christliche und judische Ostertafeln, pp. 138 sqq.).
Constantine in the letter quoted above protests with horror that the Jews sometimes kept two Paschs in one year, meaning that two Paschs sometimes fell between one equinox and the next.
There are people that celebrate Easter because it is mentioned in the KJV, It is reasonable to ask why is Easter referred to in the KJV in Acts 12:4? The answer is simply the Church of England used the term Easter to identify the Passover, the translators saw it that Easter was the word that was understood by Anglicans as it was commonly used, instead of using the Textus Receptus the term Easter translated came from the Latin Vulgate, the reason for this is that King James wanted a Bible that was consistent with Anglo-catholic theology, the Church of England never dropped Catholic terms from its theology, and this is why the KJV used Jerome’s Latin Vulgate that is from the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus and was incorporated alongside the Textus Receptus in the KJV what you have to remember is that “The translation committee of 50 scholars drew on many sources, especially Tyndale’s New Testament (as much as 80% of Tyndale’s translation is reused in the King James version). “ ref British Library.
Wikipedia: The chain of events that led to the creation of Tyndale’s New Testament possibly began in 1522, the year Tyndale acquired a copy of Martin Luther’s German New Testament. Inspired by Luther’s work, Tyndale began a translation into English using a Greek text “compiled by Erasmus from several manuscripts older and more authoritative than the Latin Vulgate” of St. Jerome (A.D. c.340-420), the only translation authorized by the Roman Catholic Church.
Tyndale used a number of sources when carrying out his translations of both the New and Old Testaments. When translating the New Testament, he referred to the third edition (1522) of Erasmus’s Greek New Testament, often referred to as the Received Text. Tyndale also used Erasmus’ Latin New Testament, as well as Luther’s German version and the Vulgate.
The translators of the King James Version did not follow exclusively any single printed edition of the New Testament in Greek. The edition most closely followed by them was Beza’s edition of 1598, but they departed from this edition for the reading in some other published Greek text at least 170 times, and in at least 60 places, the KJV translators abandoned all then-existing printed editions of the Greek New Testament, choosing instead to follow precisely the reading in the Latin Vulgate version. (note from KJV-only website).
F. H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in Greek (Cambridge: University Press, 1949), pp. vii-viii; 648-656.
Basic Definitions vs. KJV-only Arguments
Most people know “Passover” is a Jewish feast associated with when the angel of the Lord “passed over” the houses of the captive Jews in Egypt (Exodus 12), but many people are fuzzy or confused on the details, so we’ll start with a basic, Biblical definition of “Passover”.
Lev 23:5-6 (KJV) “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover. [6] And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.” Num 28:16-17 (KJV) “And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD. [17] And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.2 Chron 35:17 (KJV) “And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.”
Looking at those verses, it seems pretty clear that “Passover” is the 14th, and the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” starts on the 15th and lasts for 7 days (until the 21st):
Many KJV-only authors and supporters then argue that since Passover preceeds the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then when Herod took Peter (Acts 12:3) right before or during the “days of unleavened bread”, then Herod could not have been waiting for “Passover” since it was already past, and thus the correct translation cannot be “Passover” but instead must be “Easter” (and understood a pagan holiday, not the Christian commemoration of Christ’s resurrection)3. KJV-only supporters who use the above line of argumentation need to do a little more study. There are two serious flaws in their thinking. First, they have forgotten that although for non-Jews days start and end at midnight, for Jews days start and end at sundown. This is crucial! Yes, the 14th is “the Passover” because that’s when the Passover Lamb is sacrificed, but it is not until later that night that the Passover Feast (the eating of the lamb) takes place – in other words, the Passover Sacrifice is at the end of the 14th while the Passover Feast is on the beginning of the 15th:
Exodus 12:8 (KJV) “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” Deut 16:6b-7 (KJV) “there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. [7] And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.” (the sacrifice takes place as the sun is going down (the afternoon, as the day is ending), then it is roasted and eaten later in the evening (when the new day has started))As such, we now see there are at least two days associated with “Passover” in scripture. The 14th (the “Day of Preparation”) when the Passover Lamb is sacrificed, and the 15th when it is eaten. Both appear to be the same “day” to us (for we think of days as ending Midnight), but on the Jewish calendar, it is two different days: the preparation/sacrifice day and the feast day.
The second flaw in the above KJV-only line of argumentation flows from the first. Because of forgetting that to the Jews, a “day” starts and ends at sundown, it is erroneously believed that the feast happens on the same day as the sacrifice and thus it is then claimed that “Passover” can only refer to the 14th and cannot be applied to the entire time in general4 – for if could be shown that the entire week could also be referred to as “Passover”, their arguments fall flat. Since we see from the above information that the Passover Feast happens on the 15th, and the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” is on the 15th, it becomes clear that these “two” feast are one in the same! The Passover Feast is the feast on the 15th, and starts the week-long “feast” of eating unleavened bread. Does scripture confirm this, by ever using the term “Passover” to apply to the “Feast of Unleavened Bread”? It sure does!
The black/white patter in the top row indicates time of day,
the center of the black being midnight and the center of the white being noon.Eze 45:21 (KJV) “In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.” Luke 22:1 (KJV) “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.”We now see that “Passover” can mean only the day of the 14th, the event of sacrificing and eating spanning the 14th and 15th, or even the entire week of unleavened bread which starts with the sacrifice and meal. So when we read in Acts 12:4 that Herod captured Peter during the “days of unleavened bread” and wanted to wait until after “pascha” to deal with him (to please the Jews, by not having a man killed during the week-long holiday), we see that translating “pascha” as “Passover” is correct, and the KJV-only arguments as to why “Passover” is wrong are based on faulty premises and misunderstanding of both Scripture and the Jewish calendar.
Even most Jewish Schollers state that the eight days Passover does include the festival of unleavened bread.
And this day shall become a memorial for you, and you shall observe it as a festival for the L-RD, for your generations, as an eternal decree shall you observe it. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your homes … you shall guard the unleavened bread, because on this very day I will take you out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day for your generations as an eternal decree. – Exodus 12:14-17
The name “Pesach” (PAY-sahch, with a “ch” as in the Scottish “loch”) comes from the Hebrew rootPei-Samekh-Cheit
, meaning to pass through, to pass over, to exempt or to spare. It refers to the fact that G-d “passed over” the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt. In English, the holiday is known as Passover. “Pesach” is also the name of the sacrificial offering (a lamb) that was made in the Temple on this holiday. The holiday is also referred to as Chag he-Aviv
, (the Spring Festival), Chag ha-Matzot
, (the Festival of Matzahs), and Z’man Cheiruteinu
, (the Time of Our Freedom) (again, all with those Scottish “ch”s).
This is proof that the KJV only groups get it wrong in their history Easter is clearly Passover and so is the festival of the unleavened bread, what the KJV Onlyist, fail to tell you is that the KJV uses a mixture of manuscripts that use the Alexandrian, Latin Vulgate, this does not invalidate the KJV Bible as it contains the most remarkable accounts leading to the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ what we need to remember is that there are currently 5500 N.T manuscripts and 10,000 OT manuscripts were we get the Word of God in its original language the Greek and Hebrew in this you can view them online at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster / Westphalia information is offered for manuscripts of the New Testament and is linked to the digitized pictures and transcriptions. This intergenerational project is to make all of the more than 5,500 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament digitally visible for research. (Wikipedia)
Rome and Many other denominations use Easter and by doing so distort the real Passover Story of the Crucifixion, blood and resurrection.
The Alexandrians, on the other hand, accepted it as a first principle that the Sunday to be kept as Easter Day must necessarily occur after the vernal equinox, then identified with 21 March of the Julian year. This was the chief difficulty which was decided by the Council of Nicaea. Even among the Christians who calculated Easter for themselves there had been considerable variations (partly due to a divergent reckoning of the date of the equinox), and as recently as 314, in the Council of Arles, it had been laid down that in future Easter should be kept uno die et uno tempore per omnem orbem, and that to secure this uniformity the pope should send out letters to all the Churches. The Council of Nicaea seems to have extended further the principle here laid down. As already stated, we have not its exact words, but we may safely infer from scattered notices that the council ruled:
This ruling of the Council of Nicaea did not remove all difficulties nor at once win universal acceptance among the Syrians. But to judge from the strongly worded canon i of the Council of Antioch (A.D. 341; see Hefele-Leclercq, “Conciles”, I, 714), as also from the language of the Apostolic Constitutions and Canons (see Schmid, Osterfestfrage, p. 63), the Syrian bishops loyally co-operated in carrying into effect the decision of the Council of Nicaea. In Rome and Alexandria, the lunar cycles by which the occurrence of Easter was determined was not uniform. Rome, after the hundred-and-twelve year cycle of Hippolytus, adopted an eighty-four-year cycle, but neither gave satisfactory results. Alexandria adhered to the more accurate nineteen-year cycle of Meton. But it seems to be clearly established by the most recent researches (see Schwartz, op. cit., pp. 28-29) that the lunar cycles were never understood to be more than aids towards ascertaining the correct date of Easter, also that where the calculations of Rome and Alexandria led to divergent results, compromises were made on both sides and that the final decision always lay with accepted ecclesiastical authority.”
Considering that the RCC is full of Idolatry, the worship of Mary (Goddess of Rome) and various pagan, Gnostic and mystic teachings, it is my belief that we need to separate ourselves from Rome the mother harlots.
I leave you with these Scriptures.
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
“Unto the pure all things [are] pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:15 – 16)
In Christ
Miguel Hayworth
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