Toon TheologyWhen is Easter?
Christians have argued about the date of Easter for longer than they have argued about almost anything else. The fights were never just about arithmetic. Behind each one was a question about which tradition to follow and how much the churches should be bound together.
What everyone thinks it was about
That Easter is a pagan spring festival in disguise. The English word comes from Eostre, a goddess mentioned only by Bede, but almost every other language calls the feast Pascha, from Pesach, Passover. The date comes from Passover and the resurrection on the first day of the week, not from any pagan rite.
That the Council of Nicaea laid down the formula "the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox". Nicaea decided that all churches should keep Easter on a Sunday and work out the date independently of the Jewish calendar. The detailed calculation came later.
That Eastern and Western Easter differ because they disagree about the resurrection. They differ because they use different calendars.
What was actually at stake
The first fight: which day of the week? The churches of Asia Minor kept Pascha on the fourteenth of the Jewish month Nisan, the day of Passover, whatever day of the week it fell on. They said they had it from the apostle John. Rome and most other churches always kept it on the following Sunday, the day of the resurrection. These became known as the Quartodecimans, the "fourteenthers".
The second fight: whose calculation? Once everyone kept Sunday, the question was which Sunday. That depends on the spring full moon, and different churches used different tables, so they could still celebrate on different days. In seventh-century Britain the Irish-trained churches and the Roman-trained churches kept different dates, and a king could be celebrating Easter while his queen was still fasting for Lent.
The third fight: which calendar? In 1582 the West adopted the Gregorian calendar to correct the drift of the old Julian one. The Orthodox churches kept the Julian calendar for Easter, and that is why the two Easters still usually fall on different days.
Who held what
Each stated as its holders would have stated it.
Keep the day itself
The churches of Asia Minor; Polycarp of Smyrna and Polycrates of Ephesus
Pascha is kept on the fourteenth of Nisan, the day the Lamb was sacrificed, whatever the day of the week.
Why they held it Because the apostles John and Philip had kept it so, and because they would not abandon an apostolic tradition.
Keep the day of the resurrection
Rome, Alexandria and most of the church
Pascha is always kept on a Sunday, the day Christ rose.
Why they held it Because every Sunday already celebrates the resurrection, and this was their own tradition, which they also traced to the apostles.
Let each church keep its custom
Irenaeus of Lyon; earlier, Polycarp and Anicetus of Rome
Different dates need not divide churches that share the same faith.
Why they held it Because Polycarp and Anicetus, around 155, failed to persuade each other and still shared communion. Irenaeus later wrote that "the disagreement in the fast confirms our agreement in the faith".
What actually happened
- c. 155Polycarp of Smyrna visits Anicetus of Rome. They disagree about the date and part in peace.
- c. 190Victor of Rome tries to cut off the churches of Asia. Irenaeus rebukes him for it.
- 325The Council of Nicaea: all churches to keep Easter on a Sunday, and to calculate it themselves rather than depend on the Jewish calendar.
- 525Dionysius Exiguus extends the Alexandrian tables, which the West gradually adopts.
- 664The Synod of Whitby: Northumbria adopts the Roman calculation over the Irish one.
- 1582The Gregorian calendar. East and West begin to keep Easter on different dates.
- 1997A World Council of Churches consultation at Aleppo proposes a common method of calculation. It has not yet been adopted.
In 2025 Easter fell on the same day in East and West, the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea, and leaders on both sides spoke again of finding a common date. No common date has yet been agreed.
Why it still matters
Because it is the oldest test case for a question every church still faces: when Christians who share the same faith disagree about a practice, does the practice divide them? Polycarp and Anicetus answered no. Victor of Rome answered yes. Most of church history has swung between the two.
Sources
- Eusebius, Church History 5.23–25, which preserves the letters of Polycrates and Irenaeus.
- Eusebius, Life of Constantine 3.18–20.
- Bede, Ecclesiastical History 3.25, on Whitby; and The Reckoning of Time 15, on Eostre.
- Alden A. Mosshammer, The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era (Oxford University Press, 2008).
- World Council of Churches, Towards a Common Date for Easter (Aleppo, 1997).