Lent

The season of Lent is almost upon us.  Soon we will hear again the call to a holy Lent.

It is usually around this time of year that I am asked how the dating of Easter is determined.  Unlike Christmas, Easter is not a fixed date on the calendar.  Easter does not adhere to an on the third Sunday of March or April pattern, either.

The early Church did not have a common date for celebrating Easter.  There were different dates. most notably between Western (Rome centered) and Eastern (Constantinople centered).  King Oswy of Northumbria gathered clergy and other scholars in 664 at the Council of Whitby.

Among other items, the Council was to determine which dating system would be used to determine a common date for Easter.  Representatives from both side presented their cases.  At the end of the Council, Oswy elected to use the pattern that was in use in the Western (Rome) church:

1) The first Sunday

2) After the first full moon

3) After the vernal equinox


This is the method still in use in the Western church to determine the date for Easter.   This allows for Easter to fall anytime between March 22 and April 25.  This year (2025) Easter is almost as late as it can be, April 20.  Ash Wednesday is then forty days before Easter (not counting Sundays).

On another note, this year the Eastern churches (those of the Orthodox community) celebrate Easter on the 20th as well.  This happens every so often.  Other years, the Eastern Easter can be as much as a month after Western easter.  This is because the East uses a revised Julian calendar while the West uses the Gregorian calendar.,

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