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Summary
- Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week (Mark 16:2); Paul wrote that without it “your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
- By the second century the churches kept a yearly Easter and disagreed over whether to hold it on 14 Nisan or on a Sunday.
- The Council of Nicaea in 325 agreed that all churches should keep Easter on the same day.
- Most languages name the feast after Pascha, Passover; the English “Easter” comes from a month name that Bede linked to a goddess, Ēostre.
- Catholics must receive Communion during the Easter season; in the United States the “Easter duty” runs from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday.
- Orthodox Easter follows the Julian calendar and often falls later; Protestants keep Easter with Catholics, while Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate it.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version: Mark 16:2; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 15:14; Revelation 1:10.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1166, 1169–1170. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P39.HTM
- Congregation for Divine Worship, Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar, nos. 18–22 (English text, Liturgy Office of England and Wales). https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/Info/GNLY.pdf
- Code of Canon Law, canon 920. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann879-958_en.html
- Code of Canon Law, canon 1246. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann1244-1253_en.html
- Archdiocese of New York, “Lenten Guidelines” (Easter duty in the United States). https://www.archny.org/posts/lenten-guidelines
- Eusebius, Church History, book 5, chapters 23–24, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 1. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm
- Eusebius, Life of Constantine, book 3, chapter 18, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 1. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/25023.htm
- Tertullian, On Baptism, chapter 19, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0321.htm
- “Melito of Sardis,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melito_of_Sardis
- “Easter,” Wikipedia, section “Etymology” (Bede, The Reckoning of Time, chapter 15). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter
- “Ēostre,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre
- “Names of Easter,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Easter
- “Easter egg,” “Easter Bunny,” “Paschal candle” and “Paschal greeting,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paschal_candle ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paschal_greeting
- “faire ses Pâques,” Wiktionnaire. https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/faire_ses_P%C3%A2ques
- The Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1979), “The Calendar of the Church Year.” https://www.bcponline.org/General/calendar.html
- The Directory for the Publick Worship of God (1645), “An Appendix, Touching Days and Places for Publick Worship.” https://www.covenanter.org/reformed/documents/the-directory-for-the-publick-worship-of-god
- “What Does Easter Mean to God?” Awake!, 8 April 1992, Watchtower Online Library. https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101992242
- “Memorial (Jehovah’s Witnesses),” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_(Jehovah%27s_Witnesses)
