How can Easter come before Passover in 2024?

[tonychanyt]

In the NT, Jesus ate the Paschal lamb before he was crucified. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.

This year, the spring equinox falls on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full Moon on or after the spring equinox, which will be Sunday, March 31, 2024.

On the other hand, the Jewish celebration of Passover begins on the evening of Monday, April 22, 2024. The date of the festival is in accordance with the first full moon in the Hebrew calendar month, Nissan.

How can Easter come before Passover in 2024?

The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar designed to keep the vernal equinox close to March 21st, with variations of no more than a few days. The Hebrew calendar is not calibrated on the equinox.

 

[FenderTL5]

Pascha is May 5th

 

[Mark Quayle]

Does it really matter which comes first? Do the celebrants consider the sequence, or consider only both events?

God spoke the Bride of Christ into being with a word, yet it takes millennia of temporal sequence to see it happen. I am forgiven at the cross, contingent on my confession 2000 years later. (1 John 1:9)

 

[Diamond72]

How can Easter come before Passover in 2024?

Easter is pagan like Halloween. They follow the Greek calendar not the Bible calendrer.

 

[jas3]

How can Easter come before Passover in 2024?

This was a controversy in the early church. A minority of Christians wanted to keep Easter tied to the date of Passover - these were called quartodecimians, because Passover is on the 14th (Latin: quartodecimus) day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. The more common practice was to celebrate it on a Sunday, because the Resurrection took place on Sunday (thus why it's called the Lord's day).

Quartodecimianism had a few problems. Theologically, it meant that the biggest Christian holiday of the year celebrating our Lord's resurrection was often not celebrated on the day of the week that was otherwise set aside to be sanctified because of the Resurrection happening on that day. Practically, it made Christians beholden to Jews for the calculation of the date of Easter, and it broke uniformity with the larger church, which cast doubt on its claim to apostolic origin.

Ultimately quartodecimianism was condemned at the Council of Nicaea, although the movement itself lasted into at least the fifth century; part of the Acts of the Council of Ephesus (431) includes a condemnation of a creed promoted by Nestorius that was signed by quartodecimians who were renouncing quartodecimianism as a heresy to join communion with the orthodox Church.

 

[tonychanyt]

This was a controversy in the early church. A minority of Christians wanted to keep Easter tied to the date of Passover - these were called quartodecimians, because Passover is on the 14th (Latin: quartodecimus) day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. The more common practice was to celebrate it on a Sunday, because the Resurrection took place on Sunday (thus why it's called the Lord's day).

Quartodecimianism had a few problems. Theologically, it meant that the biggest Christian holiday of the year celebrating our Lord's resurrection was often not celebrated on the day of the week that was otherwise set aside to be sanctified because of the Resurrection happening on that day. Practically, it made Christians beholden to Jews for the calculation of the date of Easter, and it broke uniformity with the larger church, which cast doubt on its claim to apostolic origin.

Ultimately quartodecimianism was condemned at the Council of Nicaea, although the movement itself lasted into at least the fifth century; part of the Acts of the Council of Ephesus (431) includes a condemnation of a creed promoted by Nestorius that was signed by quartodecimians who were renouncing quartodecimianism as a heresy to join communion with the orthodox Church.

Thanks for sharing. So, how can Good Friday come before Passover in 2024?

 

[RDKirk]

This was a controversy in the early church. A minority of Christians wanted to keep Easter tied to the date of Passover - these were called quartodecimians, because Passover is on the 14th (Latin: quartodecimus) day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. The more common practice was to celebrate it on a Sunday, because the Resurrection took place on Sunday (thus why it's called the Lord's day).

Quartodecimianism had a few problems. Theologically, it meant that the biggest Christian holiday of the year celebrating our Lord's resurrection was often not celebrated on the day of the week that was otherwise set aside to be sanctified because of the Resurrection happening on that day. Practically, it made Christians beholden to Jews for the calculation of the date of Easter, and it broke uniformity with the larger church, which cast doubt on its claim to apostolic origin.

It's things like this that make me cast a side eye at people who insist on the relevance of the Mosaic Law, the literalness of scripture, and such...when these Christians have come up with things like this.

No, it wouldn't make Christians beholden to Jews for the calculation of Easter...although, actually, there's nothing wrong with that, if you're going to be beholden to Jews for everything in the OT that we still hold sacred.

But wait...we're not beholden to Jews for the OT because we have the OT for ourselves. Yes, and we have in the OT the same method to determine the date of Passover and thus the date of

When is the "first day of the week?" That's also a matter of Old Testament dating...the "first day of the week" for the apostles was the same as the Jewish first day of the week. Why should "first day of the week" be preferred to "on Passover" (in the synoptic gospels) or Preparation Day (in John)? Both are determined by Old Testament methods.

What really happened at the Council of Nicaea was a hefty dose of anti-Semitism got tossed into the discussion.

 

[jas3]

So, how can Good Friday come before Passover in 2024?

I'm not sure what you're getting at here - if Passover is after Easter Sunday, then it is by necessity after Good Friday.

What really happened at the Council of Nicaea was a hefty dose of anti-Semitism got tossed into the discussion.

I'm not aware of the Council of Nicaea saying anything about the Semitic peoples one way or another.

 

[Mockingbird0]

The Rabbinic Jewish calendar has a slight solar drift which causes it, in 3 years out of every 19, to set the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the second full moon after the Spring equinox. Meanwhile the Gregorian lunar calendar sets the Paschal Full Moon (the 14th of Christian Nisan) to the first full moon on or after the ecclesiastical equinox on March 21. The first full moon on or after the equinox is where Josephus (Antiquities 3.248) says the Passover was held in the first century CE. The Western church sees no reason to follow Rabbinic Judaism in its error by setting the Paschal Full Moon to the second full moon after the equinox.

The decision of the Council of Nicea had nothing to do with Quartodecimanism. The practice rejected at Nicea was the practice that was later called Protopaschite. Those who followed this practice set the Easter festival to the Sunday falling within the Jewish week of Unleavened Bread, even if that meant that the Easter festival would fall before the Spring equinox. The Council of Nicea decreed that Easter should be calculated independently of the Jewish calendar, and decreed (implicitly, not explicitly) that the festival should always fall after the equinox.

 

[Deborah~]

In the NT, Jesus ate the Paschal lamb before he was crucified. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.

This year, the spring equinox falls on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full Moon on or after the spring equinox, which will be Sunday, March 31, 2024.

On the other hand, the Jewish celebration of Passover begins on the evening of Monday, April 22, 2024. The date of the festival is in accordance with the first full moon in the Hebrew calendar month, Nissan.

How can Easter come before Passover in 2024?

The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar designed to keep the vernal equinox close to March 21st, with variations of no more than a few days. The Hebrew calendar is not calibrated on the equinox.

The Jewish celebration of Passover is a month later than normal this year because this is a leap year on the Jewish calendar, so an additional month was added to last year making Nisan begin a month later.
In Christ,
Deborah

 

[Deborah~]

What really happened at the Council of Nicaea was a hefty dose of anti-Semitism got tossed into the discussion.

That is a common anti-Christian claim, but its actually not true. The Council of Nicea was convened for two purposes. The first was to settle the debate about the nature of Jesus, and the second was to settle the issue about when was the proper time to observe the feast of the resurrection. Some churches, those of modern-day Turkey, were observing the Passover on Nisan 14 and then breaking their fast and observing the feast of the resurrection on Nisan 15, but the churches throughout the rest of the world (including the Mother Church at Jerusalem and those of Palestine and Egypt) were fasting on the Friday following Passover and breaking their fast with the feast of the Resurrection on Sunday. This caused a breakdown in fellowship as those who were still fasting could not fellowship with those who were feasting. So the council, by a vote of representatives from every Christian church throughout the world, voted to observe the feast of the resurrection on resurrection Sunday, the day when Jesus historically rose from the dead.
In Christ,
Deborah

 

[Mockingbird0]

Some churches, those of modern-day Turkey, were observing the Passover on Nisan 14 and then breaking their fast and observing the feast of the resurrection on Nisan 15, but the churches throughout the rest of the world (including the Mother Church at Jerusalem and those of Palestine and Egypt) were fasting on the Friday following Passover and breaking their fast with the feast of the Resurrection on Sunday.

The practice that was deprecated at Nicea was used in Syria, not in Asia Minor. It was the practice of setting Easter to the Sunday falling in the Jewish week of Unleavened Bread, even if that meant that Easter would fall before the Spring equinox. The Council ruled that independent calculations should be used that would cause Easter to fall after the Spring equinox.