Day 40: After Lent, Fri, 6 April
There's been silence from me for 2 almost weeks. The weekend before last, leading into Holy Week, it got too much! Funnily enough my last post was on day 39. So, with the significance of the number 40 in biblical numerology, I just have to write one more post!
That raises an obvious question. If there are 40 days in Lent, why did the 40th day, starting back on Ash Wednesday, (Valentine's Day this year, as it happened) occur on Saturday, March 31, rather than Sunday, 25 March? Surely Ash Wednesday occurring on Feb 14 means that there were 15 days (including Feb 14) of Lent in February, which means there were another 25 in March to make up the 40.
Not so! The fifth commandment says "Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy". So if we do not engage in our Lenten discipline on Saturdays, out of respect for the fifth commandment, and so there can be some fun in your lives, even during Lent, then we have to add on 6 days to the end of Lent to make up the 40 days.
But I'm approaching a most interesting and intricate subject from behind. Have you ever wondered why although Christmas is always held on the same day - December 25 - Easter and a number of other holy days in the Christian calendar - Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Ascension Day and Pentecost/Whitsunday - are held on wildly varying days? I've never studied this, but it seems that one must decide upon the date for Easter first, and that determines the dates of many other holy days.
According to the Bible, Jesus Christ's death and resurrection occurred around the time of the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated on the first full moon following the vernal (northern hemisphere spring) equinox. This soon led to Christians celebrating Easter on different dates. At the end of the 2nd century, some churches celebrated Easter on the day of the Passover, while others celebrated it on the following Sunday. The date of Easter Sunday is usually the first Sunday after the first Full Moon occurring on or after the March equinox.
In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. Except that there were soon 2 calendars to follow: the Gregorian and the Julian. The Gregorian was created because the Julian calendar was slightly too long. Although the introduction of the Gregorian calendar allowed for a realignment with the vernal equinox some churches still celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar.
One would think that realigning the two calendars would be a good thing, and would facilitate further cooperation between various parts of the eastern and western churches. One might even think that fixing the dates on which various Christian holy days are celebrated might also be good. And indeed, inspired by Pope Francis' inclusive approach work started at least 20 years ago is continuing on these two issues. If one took a sceptical stances to these matters one might suspect that by "work" I mean that the issues are hidden in various ecclesiastical committees, but hey, at least they are being addressed!
I've come to the end of this post and this Lenten blog. It's been most enjoyable, though strenuous! Several people have asked me to continue. I don't think I can do that on a daily basis but I am thinking of doing something weekly, based on the Revised Common Lectionary. Recently a tech-savvy young relative invited me to think about doing a "Vlog" - a "video blog" - instead of the blog, on the basis that today's younger generation is very visually oriented. That would involve talking to my iPhone and posting the result to Youtube. My goodness, what a world we live in! Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this use of post-modern information technology.
Shalom!
David Reichardt
That raises an obvious question. If there are 40 days in Lent, why did the 40th day, starting back on Ash Wednesday, (Valentine's Day this year, as it happened) occur on Saturday, March 31, rather than Sunday, 25 March? Surely Ash Wednesday occurring on Feb 14 means that there were 15 days (including Feb 14) of Lent in February, which means there were another 25 in March to make up the 40.
Not so! The fifth commandment says "Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy". So if we do not engage in our Lenten discipline on Saturdays, out of respect for the fifth commandment, and so there can be some fun in your lives, even during Lent, then we have to add on 6 days to the end of Lent to make up the 40 days.
But I'm approaching a most interesting and intricate subject from behind. Have you ever wondered why although Christmas is always held on the same day - December 25 - Easter and a number of other holy days in the Christian calendar - Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Ascension Day and Pentecost/Whitsunday - are held on wildly varying days? I've never studied this, but it seems that one must decide upon the date for Easter first, and that determines the dates of many other holy days.
According to the Bible, Jesus Christ's death and resurrection occurred around the time of the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated on the first full moon following the vernal (northern hemisphere spring) equinox. This soon led to Christians celebrating Easter on different dates. At the end of the 2nd century, some churches celebrated Easter on the day of the Passover, while others celebrated it on the following Sunday. The date of Easter Sunday is usually the first Sunday after the first Full Moon occurring on or after the March equinox.
In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. Except that there were soon 2 calendars to follow: the Gregorian and the Julian. The Gregorian was created because the Julian calendar was slightly too long. Although the introduction of the Gregorian calendar allowed for a realignment with the vernal equinox some churches still celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar.
One would think that realigning the two calendars would be a good thing, and would facilitate further cooperation between various parts of the eastern and western churches. One might even think that fixing the dates on which various Christian holy days are celebrated might also be good. And indeed, inspired by Pope Francis' inclusive approach work started at least 20 years ago is continuing on these two issues. If one took a sceptical stances to these matters one might suspect that by "work" I mean that the issues are hidden in various ecclesiastical committees, but hey, at least they are being addressed!
I've come to the end of this post and this Lenten blog. It's been most enjoyable, though strenuous! Several people have asked me to continue. I don't think I can do that on a daily basis but I am thinking of doing something weekly, based on the Revised Common Lectionary. Recently a tech-savvy young relative invited me to think about doing a "Vlog" - a "video blog" - instead of the blog, on the basis that today's younger generation is very visually oriented. That would involve talking to my iPhone and posting the result to Youtube. My goodness, what a world we live in! Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this use of post-modern information technology.
Shalom!
David Reichardt
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