Christian Review Magazine Issue 4 - April 2015 | Page 29

salvation spread so more and
more gentile believers were
added to the church. "The parting
of the ways" as it is called by some
scholars between Judaism and
Christianity was a gradual
separation. It took some 300 years
for Christianity in its official status
to start separating from Judaism.
The dating of Easter was one of
these points which became a
source of controversy. Christians
from the Roman Church began
celebrating the festival on Sunday
as the day of Christ’s resurrection.
While Christians from Asia Minor
and Syria kept to the original
Jewish calendar dates of Passover.
This meant that the resurrection
could fall on any day of the week.
The real change came in the
beginning of the 4th century when
Constantine the Roman Emperor
converted to Christianity.
Constantine called all the bishops
together at the council of Nicaea
in 325 A.D. to address a number of
differences within in the Church.
One of council's decision
regarding Easter, declared it was
to be kept on Sunday and on the
same Sunday throughout the
Empire. It was decided to make
Easter Sunday the first Sunday
after the first full moon following
the spring equinox. That's why the
date of Easter moves around
between March 21 and April 25th.
The Council of Nicaea also laid the

groundwork for anti-Jewish
legislation of later church councils
for i.e. the Council of Antioch in
341 AD prohibited Christians from
celebrating Passover with the
Jews.

ORIGIN OF THE
WORD EASTER
According to the 8th century
English Church historian Bede the
word Easter refers to the old
Anglo Saxon word Ēostre
referring to the Germanic fertility
goddess whose festivals were
celebrated in the month given to
her name. Recently scholars have
disputed this theory but it is still a
popular belief. The German word
for Easter is Ostern and is related
to the German word Ost meaning
East. In Greek and Latin, Easter is
called, Pascha, a word derived
from Aramaic, with the same
meaning as the Hebrew word
Pesach, the term for the Passover
festival. The origin of this English

word "Easter" has some mystery
around it but its origin and
meaning are very different. Easter
is about the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.

SYMBOLS AND
CUSTOMS
Many ancient cultures would
celebrate springtime with festivals
and rituals. Symbols associated
with these like the Easter bunny
and eggs have become part of
Easter. Rabbits were symbols of
fertility and were associated with
springtime. The Easter bunny has
acquired a cherished role as the
legendary producer of Easter
eggs. Obviously, rabbits don't lay
eggs. One legend is that the
fertility goddess Ēostre found a
bird wounded on the ground. To
save it she transformed it into a
hare. The bird took the
appearance of a hare but kept the
ability to lay eggs. The hare

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