When Is Pascha Over?
 
Pascha and the festive nature of the day is truly the greatest day of our church calendar.  However we tend to forget the Pascal Season is a forty-day festival.  This is why at the beginning and end of each and every service or sacrament we sing, “Christ is Risen”.
 
Prior to the great day of Pascha we Orthodox journey for forty days of Lent to enhance our awareness of Christ.  However we Orthodox are peculiar people.  Someone once said: “Lent is a time when the Orthodox think it is wrong to sin.”  Some people think we take fiendish delight in punishing ourselves in various, peculiar, and often meaningless ways during Lent, presumably to show the extent of our devotion.
 
The period of Lent is most assuredly a time for self-discipline.  It is also a time for spiritual growth.  But that is not the end.  Lent is only a preparation for what should be an even more glorious season-the Paschal Season.
 
During the Paschal Season, we celebrate with joy the glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has offered us salvation from sin and death.  The lessons from Holy Scripture remind us of the life of the early Christian Church and the power and impact of Christ’s Resurrection, (Acts).  The Gospel lessons remind us of the essence of water; this was not a reminder to the early catechumens who were baptized on Pascha, but to all of us who enter into the glorious life of Christianity through baptism.  We are also reminded of the post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus (Matt. 28:16-20) and we too, are to continue teaching all truths through preaching, bible study and Christian way of life.  The Church never allows us to forget the importance of Christ’s Resurrection; this event is the cornerstone of our faith.  For all of us Pascha never ends.  Let us take the Resurrection of our Lord into the world, in our work places, or homes, and in every phase of our lives, each and everyday of our lives.
 
Fr. Andrew
 
 

Before I explain how we calculate the date for Pascha, first let me once again remind everyone the theologically correct name of the feast. For the Orthodox, “Pascha” is the word used to describe the resurrection of our Lord. The word derives from the Hebrew word used for Passover. As described in the Old Testament, a young lamb was killed and its blood placed on the door mantle to protect the first born so death would pass-over their household. In the New Testament, Christ is the sacrificial lamb that is put to death on the cross for our sins. Thus, He dies for us and offers us eternal life, with eternal death passing over us.

In the early church it was customary to Christianize pagan feasts. The word Easter is derived form the pagan god of fertility, Ester, that was commemorated in the springtime. Thus, in the west, fertility and new life was associated with Ester. Therefore, the word Easter (Ester) was used in the West to combat the pagan feast. For me, the correct and more theologically correct term for the resurrection of our Lord is “Pascha.”

This is the time of the year, the most often asked question is brought forth. Why the resurrection of our Lord, Pasha, has two different dates, that of the West and that of the East? There is a simple prescription by which the early Church gives us to calculate the date of the resurrection. This prescription was thoroughly thought out by the First Ecumenical Council in 325 AD.

The Prescription from the Council states: that Pascha must fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox (March 21). Both East and West calculate the date of Pasha using this formula. However, The Eastern Orthodox Churches, still follow the second part of the prescription, that Pascha must always fall AFTER the Jewish Passover. This preserves the biblical sequence of the death, Crucifixion and the Resurrection of the Lord. Thus, Holy Pasha must always follow the, the Hebrew Passover.

Because of the Jewish Passover and the Julian (Old Style) Calendar are used by the Orthodox to calculate the Spring equinox, there is a difference of about thirteen days from the Gregorian Calendar used today in the West. The date of Pascha in the Orthodox and that of the Western Churches usually do not coincide due to the use of two different calendars.

With the use of the new calendar in the West, the Western Pasha sometimes precedes the Jewish Passover. However, with the Orthodox method, this may never occur, thus following the biblical sequence of events.

I pray we all have a blessed and fruitful Resurrection.

Fr. Andrew