DATING EASTER
(Friday) In a Christian History article Dr. Farrell Brown tries to explain why date for Easter changes from year to year. If nothing else the reader will at least end up with a sense for how confusing this whole issue is. Even Brown doesn't get it all correct. He asks "And why do most Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches observe Easter 13 days after the rest of Christendom?" The answer, of course, has to do with the fact that they not only calculate Easter (Pascha) using a slightly different formula but that they use a liturgical calendar tied to the old Julian calendar. However, it happens that this year the Eastern Easter and the Western Easter coincide on the same actual day (April 11th Gregorian calendar/March 29th Julian). In other words, the Eastern churches are not observing Easter 13 days AFTER the rest of Christendom. This year, at least, we're all celebrating this Sunday.

If you're really into this you can check out the online calculator. Did you know that in the year 3132 Easter is suppose to fall on March 27th (Gregorian/Western) and May 8th (Julian/Eastern)? Hopefully Christ will return before that.