Synod fathers want common date for Easter celebration
October 15, 2010
Bishops participating in the Middle East Synod have expressed a strong interest in fixing a common date for Easter, to be celebrated at the same time by Catholics, Orthodox, and other Christians.
Bishop William Shomali, an auxiliary of the Jerusalem patriarchate, said that agreement on a common date for Easter would be “a positive sign for Christians and also for non-Christians,” advancing the cause of unity among the faithful. The Catholic News Service reports that the topic of a common Easter date arose “repeatedly” during open-discussion periods at the Synod.
Since the calendar reforms of Pope Gregory XIII, Catholics and Protestants have celebrated Easter according to one schedule, while the Orthodox churches, using the old Julian calendar, use another date. The disparity between dates is a particularly vexing problems in countries where there are substantial populations of both Western and Eastern Christians—most notably in the Middle East.
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Posted by: -
Apr. 27, 2012 9:00 AM ET USA
Hey! This issue has already been solved for us. Why don't we all simply follow the Easter date as agreed to in 325 AD, at the Council of Nicea? This is the date that eastern Catholics and Orthodox have always followed.
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Posted by: -
Oct. 18, 2010 2:02 AM ET USA
Actually, the US Protestant missionaries I knew in Romania celebrated Easter with the dominant culture- according to the Eastern Orthodox calendar. It made for a lot of confusion! But they had no loyalty to either tradition, and just did what was practical.
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Posted by: voxfem -
Oct. 17, 2010 9:53 PM ET USA
Astronomically correct date sounds good. That way everyone has to change.
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Posted by: -
Oct. 16, 2010 12:45 AM ET USA
I vote for the astronomically correct date.
