E A S T E R

[curmudgeon]

The date Easter is celebrated moves a around year to year in order to
preserve its relationship to the astronomical phenomena that would have
occurred at the time of the resurrection (around 30 A.D.)

Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring
equinox.

This year 2008, is the earliest Easter any of us will see for the rest of
our lives,

The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be in the year 2160.

The last time it was this early was in 1913.

The latest date Easter can fall is April 25.

The last time that happened was in 1943.

The next time it will happen is in the year 2038.




"Easter says that you can put truth in a grave
but it will not stay there."

[needles]

Yes, and Passover this year will begin April 19th with
Orthodox Easter on April 27th, the last day I believe it can
be under that calendar.

In connection with Iain Pears' *An Instance of the
Fingerpost*, I did some research into the calculation of
Easter before the Gregorian Calendar and under it. Easter
is now sort of as you say it is. Under the Julian Calendar,
the calculation of Easter was mind-bending. See
http://www.ortelius.de/kalender/east_en.php
But the actual Gregorian calculation is not much better.See
the same site. They note that the short cuts are generally,
but not always accurate.

What I am not quite sure of is why Passover and Orthodox
Easter are so off this year? Are both of them still
applying the old Julian calculations? I thought that when
Russia converted to the Gregorian calendar in 1918, the last
holdout had been eliminated.

I would be glad to hear the explanation for this year's
discrepancies.

[Matthew Johnson]

Post by needles
Yes, and Passover this year will begin April 19th with
Orthodox Easter on April 27th, the last day I believe it can
be under that calendar.

I remember a year when it was in May. In fact,
http://www.antiochian.org/1107539827
shows it will be on May 5th in 2013.

[snip]

Post by needles
What I am not quite sure of is why Passover and Orthodox
Easter are so off this year? Are both of them still
applying the old Julian calculations?

So close and yet so far! The Jewish Passover, of course, is computed based on
the Jewish Calendar, which is basically lunar, with some solar modifications.
The Orthodox always compute the date of Pascha based on the Julian Calendar. But
we have a different memory of the rule as agreed at Nicea: we remember a rule
that Pascha must always come after all the days of Passover. Rome does not
remember this rule.

So the root cause of the difference between Rome and the Orthodox on the date of
Easter is that the Emperor Constantine did not allow us to take minutes at the
Council of Nicea!

[Matthew Johnson]

Post by curmudgeon
The date Easter is celebrated moves a around year to year in order to
preserve its relationship to the astronomical phenomena that would have
occurred at the time of the resurrection (around 30 A.D.)
Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring
equinox.

As I just said in another post, that is the Roman memory of the rule as agreed
at Nicea. The East remembers another clause: it must always come after Passover.

Post by curmudgeon
This year 2008, is the earliest Easter any of us will see for the rest of
our lives,

Ah, but if you live till 2013, you will see Orthodox Easter (aka Pascha) on May
5th.

[snip]

[Dr J R Stockton]

Post by curmudgeon
Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the
spring equinox.

No : Easter is always the first Sunday AFTER the first Ecclesiastical
Full Moon ON OR AFTER the nominal Vernal Equinox. The Ecclesiastical
Full Moon differs slightly from the actual Moon. By convention, the
Vernal Equinox is in March everywhere, but in places like Australia the
Spring Equinox is in September. For Easter, the Vernal Equinox is taken
as being March 21 everywhere.

In 2200-2299, for years with Golden Number = VI, the Paschal Full Moon
will be on March 21. That is how 2285 comes to have Easter on March 22.



I came here to continue from a thread, somewhat related to this one,
which was active in March 1991; Google may not have it, but try at
<http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/pub/soc.religion.christian/faq/easter-date>.


I have derived an Easter algorithm, shorter and faster than most,
directly from the prime authorities - in the Book of Common Prayer of
the Church of England, as decreed by the Calendar Act of 1751 - for
Britain and colonies and for Anglicans.

See <http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/estrdate.htm> and <http://www.merlyn.
demon.co.uk/estr-bcp.htm>.

Since the method in the Act, using three main Tables, was designed to
agree exactly with the newish Catholic Easter, and was produced no doubt
with reference to the work of the verbose Clavius, the algorithm is
valid for all Gregorians. Formally, the Act and Book only cover
1600-8599; it was necessary to import the principles of the Lunar
Correction in order to extend the range.


In response to "needles" - no; Julian Easter is much simpler. The
Prayer Book of 1662 has a simple Table indexed by Golden Number and
Sunday Letter; alternatively, the Paschal Full Moon is given by a simple
expression, shown in <http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/estr-bcp.htm>.
Julian Easter on the Julian Calendar has the same range as Gregorian :
March 22 to April 25, and the range of Julian Easter on the Gregorian
Calendar will, during 1900-2099, be shifted by +13 days. But I'm not
sure what the Orthodox really do. IMHO.

[Steve Hayes]

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by curmudgeon
Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the
spring equinox.

No : Easter is always the first Sunday AFTER the first Ecclesiastical
Full Moon ON OR AFTER the nominal Vernal Equinox. The Ecclesiastical
Full Moon differs slightly from the actual Moon. By convention, the
Vernal Equinox is in March everywhere, but in places like Australia the
Spring Equinox is in September. For Easter, the Vernal Equinox is taken
as being March 21 everywhere.
In 2200-2299, for years with Golden Number = VI, the Paschal Full Moon
will be on March 21. That is how 2285 comes to have Easter on March 22.

In 2010 Easter and Wester will be on the same date -- 4 April Gregorian, 22
March Julian.

I don't think Easter ever gets earlier than that.

[Dr J R Stockton]

Post by Steve Hayes
In 2010 Easter and Wester will be on the same date -- 4 April Gregorian, 22
March Julian.
I don't think Easter ever gets earlier than that.

Gregorian and Julian Easter are both always in the 35-day range March 22
to April 25 in their respective calendars.

The Gregorian Calendar date of Gregorian Easter Sunday and the Julian
Calendar date of Julian Easter Sunday do not match in 2010, being April
04 and March 22; but those dates do represent the same actual day.

As the two calendars agree about the day-of-week of a given day, and
both put Easter on the Sunday after an approximation to a Full Moon on
or after March 21 on that calendar, coincidences of actual Day are
necessarily common for as long as the calendars differ by well under a
lunar month. There are 271 coincidences of Easter Day following 1582,
the last being in 2698. After about 50 millennia, coincidences of day
between Gregorian Easter of year Y+1 and Julian Easter of year Y begin.

Matches of Date can, of course, only occur in centades in which the two
calendars agree on which Dates are Sundays; one centade in seven, on the
average. Within those centades, the two Full Moons must also be at
least an approximate match.

In 1583-9999, there are 252 years in which the Gregorian and Julian
Dates (YYYY-MM-DD) of Easter match, first 5806, last 8696. I guess that
one will be an Ecclesiastical Moon ahead of the other.

in 0-1582, there are 131 years in which the dates Y/M/D match; 83 in
years 2xx and 48 in years 11xx & 12xx.

See <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/estrdate.htm#MDD>.

[Dr J R Stockton]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Gregorian and Julian Easter are both always in the 35-day range March 22
to April 25 in their respective calendars.

The UK Easter Act of 1928 [18 & 19 Geo. 5, chapter 35], following a
League of Nations proposal of 1926, allows Easter to be fixed by Order
in Council as the Sunday after the second Saturday in April (April 9th-
15th). There has been no such Order.

Since any such change ought to have the approval of both the religious
and the secular authorities, I suggest that it would be better to
choose, in common years, the Sunday after the second Wednesday in April
(12th to 18th); and, in leap years, the Sunday after the second Thursday
in April (11th to 17th).

With that, Easter would always lie in the Ordinal Date range 102 to 108
(i.e. Day of Year) and in ISO 8601 Week Numbering[*] it would always be
in Week 15, and represented by the fixed date yyyy-W15-7 (or yyyyW157).

Theologically, those dates would seem as acceptable as those in the Act.
Practically, a fixed Week Date would mean that Easter could readily be
found in many secular diaries and calendars; and that any weekly
business statistics would be affected by Easter Holidays at the same
point in every year.

Let the U.N. make a superseding proposal, and let the Act be amended !

See <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/estrdate.htm#Revs>.

(*) Widely used where the Gregorian Calendar is used, except in North
America.

[Matthew Johnson]

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Gregorian and Julian Easter are both always in the 35-day range March 22
to April 25 in their respective calendars.

The UK Easter Act of 1928 [18 & 19 Geo. 5, chapter 35], following a
League of Nations proposal of 1926, allows Easter to be fixed by Order
in Council as the Sunday after the second Saturday in April (April 9th-
15th). There has been no such Order.
Since any such change ought to have the approval of both the religious
and the secular authorities, I suggest that it would be better to
choose, in common years, the Sunday after the second Wednesday in April
(12th to 18th); and, in leap years, the Sunday after the second Thursday
in April (11th to 17th).

Your protasis has no logical connection with your apodosis. No, it would not be
'better'. Not by a long shot. The date of Easter is set not by the UK, not by
the UN, but by the Council of Nicea, which set it on the first sunday after the
first full moon after the vernal equinox, computing the vernal equinox by
assuming it is March 25th, but also with an exception clause only remembered in
the East: that it must follow all the days of the Jewish Pesach.

Neither the UN, nor UK, nor EU nor ISO have any authority to tamper with this.

[snip]

[Dr J R Stockton]

In soc.religion.christian message <bS8Lk.2522$***@nwrddc01.gnilink.
net>, Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:53:43, Matthew Johnson

Post by Matthew Johnson

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Gregorian and Julian Easter are both always in the 35-day range March 22
to April 25 in their respective calendars.

The UK Easter Act of 1928 [18 & 19 Geo. 5, chapter 35], following a
League of Nations proposal of 1926, allows Easter to be fixed by Order
in Council as the Sunday after the second Saturday in April (April 9th-
15th). There has been no such Order.
Since any such change ought to have the approval of both the religious
and the secular authorities, I suggest that it would be better to
choose, in common years, the Sunday after the second Wednesday in April
(12th to 18th); and, in leap years, the Sunday after the second Thursday
in April (11th to 17th).

Your protasis has no logical connection with your apodosis. No, it would not be
'better'. Not by a long shot. The date of Easter is set not by the UK, not by
the UN, but by the Council of Nicea, which set it on the first sunday after the
first full moon after the vernal equinox, computing the vernal equinox by
assuming it is March 25th, but also with an exception clause only remembered in
the East: that it must follow all the days of the Jewish Pesach.
Neither the UN, nor UK, nor EU nor ISO have any authority to tamper with this.

Perhaps you belong to a minority sect with which I am unfamiliar.

My understanding of Nicaea is that it fixed the fundamental principles,
without settling the detail; and, by requiring that Easter should be on
the same date everywhere without stipulating a place of "observation" of
the time of New/Full Moon, it necessitated the use of some form of
fictitious Moon. The nominal equinox is March 21st. But UK/CofE make,
in the definition of the date of Easter, no mention of "Equinox" - read
the Book of Common Prayer.

A perpetual rule for Easter Sunday cannot perpetually maintain that
relationship with the present Pesach. Since the current Hebrew Year is
not exactly the same length as the Solar, Julian or Gregorian Year,
Pesach must necessarily drift around those years. IIRC, it drifts by
about 1 year in 80000 : Yes, <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/>
refers. Or did the Jews of the time have Pesach locked to the Julian
Calendar?

As the average Hebrew Year is longer than the average Gregorian year,
Pesach of a given year number will slowly be getting earlier in terms of
the Gregorian year whose number is 3760 less. So Easter can follow the
"right" Pesach; but another one will sneak up on it from the direction
of May.

The present date of UK/US Easter Sunday is set, in Law, by the Calendar
Act of 1751. For Catholics, it is set in principle by the Bull of 1582
and in practice by interpretation of Clavius' /Explicatio/. Those two
are in exact agreement, by design. The Orthodox have their own
differing authorities. Obscure sects possibly apart, everyone else just
follows which of those is locally more convenient.

The State has authority over holidays-from-work; the Church has
authority over Holy-days. Both are intelligent enough to realise the
unwisdom of a unilateral change, and are unlikely to move from Gregorian
Easter without general agreement. Moving to Gregorian Easter would be
another matter.

[Matthew Johnson]

In article <AswLk.2816$***@nwrddc01.gnilink.net>, Dr J R Stockton says...

[snip]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Perhaps you belong to a minority sect with which I am unfamiliar.

Certainly not. With so many Russians professing Orthodoxy, we are no "minority
sect" by any definition.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
My understanding of Nicaea is that it fixed the fundamental principles,
without settling the detail;

That is quite incorrect. How could it fail to "settle the details", when putting
an end to quartodeciman controversy was such a high priority for the Council?
See the Wikipedia article on 'quartodeciman'.

[snip]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
The present date of UK/US Easter Sunday is set, in Law, by the Calendar
Act of 1751. For Catholics, it is set in principle by the Bull of 1582
and in practice by interpretation of Clavius' /Explicatio/. Those two
are in exact agreement, by design. The Orthodox have their own
differing authorities.

And those "differing authorities" say what I just said, basing it almost
entirely on Nicea. So why did you retort with all that nonsense about "minority
sect"?

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Obscure sects possibly apart, everyone else just
follows which of those is locally more convenient.

No, the Orthodox by no means "follow which of those is locally more convenient".
On the contrary: we are 'notorious' for insisting on what is not at all
convenient, such as the Julian Calendar, fasting, Canon Law...

Post by Dr J R Stockton
The State has authority over holidays-from-work; the Church has
authority over Holy-days. Both are intelligent enough to realise the
unwisdom of a unilateral change, and are unlikely to move from Gregorian
Easter without general agreement. Moving to Gregorian Easter would be
another matter.

Well, I think you can guess now, who finds such a move out of the question,
despite what the Finnish Orthodox Church did:(

[Dr J R Stockton]

In soc.religion.christian message <gURLk.3090$***@nwrddc01.gnilink.
net>, Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:07:56, Matthew Johnson

Post by Matthew Johnson
[snip]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Perhaps you belong to a minority sect with which I am unfamiliar.

Certainly not. With so many Russians professing Orthodoxy, we are no "minority
sect" by any definition.

Do you really claim that there are more Orthodox than there are
Catholics or Protestants? Or that there are more whose Easter is on the
Orthodox date than on the Gregorian date?

This thread, your contributions apart, has been about the date of
Gregorian Easter.

Post by Matthew Johnson

Post by Dr J R Stockton
My understanding of Nicaea is that it fixed the fundamental principles,
without settling the detail;

That is quite incorrect. How could it fail to "settle the details",
when putting
an end to quartodeciman controversy was such a high priority for the Council?
See the Wikipedia article on 'quartodeciman'.

It fixed the principles by which its adherents would have the date of
Easter determined. That was not affected by the existence of some
dissenters.

Post by Matthew Johnson

Post by Dr J R Stockton
The present date of UK/US Easter Sunday is set, in Law, by the Calendar
Act of 1751. For Catholics, it is set in principle by the Bull of 1582
and in practice by interpretation of Clavius' /Explicatio/. Those two
are in exact agreement, by design. The Orthodox have their own
differing authorities.

And those "differing authorities" say what I just said, basing it almost
entirely on Nicea. So why did you retort with all that nonsense about "minority
sect"?

There may be minorities smaller than the Orthodox; but the Orthodox are
still a minority world-wide. In fact, I'd assert that the majority of
the world population recognise the significance of the Gregorian date,
whether as a cause for their own worship, as marking a holiday season
for themselves, or as marking a season while others will not be
available to do business with ... just like many Koreans recognise
Ramadan as limiting their opportunities for the purchase of ironmongery.
But only a small fraction find the Orthodox date to be of any
significance.

Post by Matthew Johnson

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Obscure sects possibly apart, everyone else just
follows which of those is locally more convenient.

No, the Orthodox by no means "follow which of those is locally more
convenient".
On the contrary: we are 'notorious' for insisting on what is not at all
convenient, such as the Julian Calendar, fasting, Canon Law...

Post by Dr J R Stockton
The State has authority over holidays-from-work; the Church has
authority over Holy-days. Both are intelligent enough to realise the
unwisdom of a unilateral change, and are unlikely to move from Gregorian
Easter without general agreement. Moving to Gregorian Easter would be
another matter.

Well, I think you can guess now, who finds such a move out of the question,
despite what the Finnish Orthodox Church did:(

You seem to be in a country in which the date of Easter Sunday, for a
large majority, is governed by the Calendar Act of 1751, whose effects
emulate those of the Bull or 1582 and the /Explicatio/. Indeed, in one
where the secular calendar is due to those (and now standardised in ISO
8601). You will therefore find yourself obliged to accept whatever the
Law and custom of your country as a whole use, except of course for
purely religious purposes.

However, I've changed the Subject line so that it clearly indicates
which Easter is under consideration; I trust that you will reciprocate
if occasion arises.

[Matthew Johnson]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
net>, Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:07:56, Matthew Johnson

Post by Matthew Johnson
[snip]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Perhaps you belong to a minority sect with which I am unfamiliar.

Certainly not. With so many Russians professing Orthodoxy, we are no "minority
sect" by any definition.

Do you really claim that there are more Orthodox than there are
Catholics or Protestants?

No, of course not. Can't you find better straw-man arguments than this?

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Or that there are more whose Easter is on the
Orthodox date than on the Gregorian date?

This is an irrelevant question. But if you must consider it, remember that the
Egyptians, Ethiopians and Assyrians all follow our rules, not yours.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
This thread, your contributions apart, has been about the date of
Gregorian Easter.

Oh, really? You only just now added 'Gregorian' to the title. Until then, you
were saying 'Easter', while ethnocentrically -presuming- Gregorian Easter.

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Matthew Johnson

Post by Dr J R Stockton
My understanding of Nicaea is that it fixed the fundamental principles,
without settling the detail;

That is quite incorrect. How could it fail to "settle the details",
when putting
an end to quartodeciman controversy was such a high priority for the Council?
See the Wikipedia article on 'quartodeciman'.

It fixed the principles by which its adherents would have the date of
Easter determined. That was not affected by the existence of some
dissenters.

This observation is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand, namely, whether
or not Nicea "settled the details".

Is it really that hard for you to stay on topic?

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Matthew Johnson

Post by Dr J R Stockton
The present date of UK/US Easter Sunday is set, in Law, by the Calendar
Act of 1751. For Catholics, it is set in principle by the Bull of 1582
and in practice by interpretation of Clavius' /Explicatio/. Those two
are in exact agreement, by design. The Orthodox have their own
differing authorities.

And those "differing authorities" say what I just said, basing it almost
entirely on Nicea. So why did you retort with all that nonsense about "minority
sect"?

There may be minorities smaller than the Orthodox;

Such as each and every Protestant denomination.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
but the Orthodox are still a minority world-wide.

Not so fast. If you count all the Chalcedonian Orthodox as one, then we are
second in number only to the Roman Catholic Church. We outnumber ALL of the
various Protestant denominations. Or are you willing to admit that you yourself
are in the minority, since you are obviously in one one of these Protestant
denominations (or at least neither Catholic nor Orthodox)?

More important, that we are by a small number in a minority only when compared
to the Roman Church, in NO WAY justifies your perjorative term, "minority sect".

We are no 'sect'. YOU are in a 'sect', not us.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
In fact, I'd assert that the majority of
the world population recognise the significance of the Gregorian date,
whether as a cause for their own worship, as marking a holiday season
for themselves, or as marking a season while others will not be
available to do business with ... just like many Koreans recognise
Ramadan as limiting their opportunities for the purchase of ironmongery.
But only a small fraction find the Orthodox date to be of any
significance.

Again, you allow your ethnocentricity to show: this generalization of yours
fails to hold throughout the entire FSU, much of Eastern Europe, and even in
much of the Mediterranean world. A lot of the world does business with a ninth
of the world's surface, so that "small fraction" is not so small after all.

Do you always make such sweeping generalizations based on your own experience in
your own little island?

[snip]

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Matthew Johnson
Well, I think you can guess now, who finds such a move out of the question,
despite what the Finnish Orthodox Church did:(

You seem to be in a country in which the date of Easter Sunday, for a
large majority, is governed by the Calendar Act of 1751,

And I live in a country where the majority has never even heard of "the Calendar
Act of 1751". So 'governed' seems too strong a word.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
whose effects
emulate those of the Bull or 1582 and the /Explicatio/. Indeed, in one
where the secular calendar is due to those (and now standardised in ISO
8601). You will therefore find yourself obliged to accept whatever the
Law and custom of your country as a whole use, except of course for
purely religious purposes.

And that statement again makes more sense for Britain than for America. The "Law
and custom" of the US have very, VERY little impact on my celebration of Easter
-- or on most Americans's celebration. In fact, there is a significant plurality
that don't celebrate it at all. Even those who do include a huge number who
celebrate it with very little difference from any other Sunday.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
However, I've changed the Subject line so that it clearly indicates
which Easter is under consideration; I trust that you will reciprocate
if occasion arises.

I almost always leave the subject line as the NNTP software has set it: this
makes it easier for broken NNTP clients to trace the thread correctly.

[Dr J R Stockton]

In soc.religion.christian message <vutNk.817$***@nwrddc01.gnilink.ne
t>, Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:00:11, Matthew Johnson

... ... ...

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Matthew Johnson
Well, I think you can guess now, who finds such a move out of the question,
despite what the Finnish Orthodox Church did:(

If you consider a move to be out of the question for your religious
purposes, then you have no need to object to a variation to what the
move would be that would to give advantages to the vast majority of
business-type activities which use ISO 8601 week numbering in preference
to some local form. Sheer benevolence should make you approve of what
is improved for others, even if you do not wish to use it yourself.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
You seem to be in a country in which the date of Easter Sunday, for a
large majority, is governed by the Calendar Act of 1751,

And I live in a country where the majority has never even heard of "the Calendar
Act of 1751". So 'governed' seems too strong a word.

The ignorance of the majority of your compatriots is irrelevant; mine
are probably not much better in that respect nowadays (2002-09-03 to
2002-09-13 went publicly un-remarked). The vast majority of its
residents, infants and senile excluded, will be aware of the existence
of Easter and that its date varies. It is the inherited provision of
the Calendar Act which governs that. While the wording of the Second
Amendment seems not of itself to bar a local change to that Act, your
politicians would not dare to try it - and have no need to, unless the
world moves away from the Gregorian Calendar.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
whose effects
emulate those of the Bull or 1582 and the /Explicatio/. Indeed, in one
where the secular calendar is due to those (and now standardised in ISO
8601). You will therefore find yourself obliged to accept whatever the
Law and custom of your country as a whole use, except of course for
purely religious purposes.

And that statement again makes more sense for Britain than for America. The "Law
and custom" of the US have very, VERY little impact on my celebration of Easter

That is a purely religious purpose, and so excluded explicitly by what I
wrote. If the US shops stock Easter Eggs, they will mostly do it for
Gregorian Easter; and Halloween costumes will leave the shelves after
the end of Gregorian October, few waiting for the Orthodox.

-- or on most Americans's celebration. In fact, there is a significant plurality
that don't celebrate it at all. Even those who do include a huge number who
celebrate it with very little difference from any other Sunday.

You are talking about celebration, which is a religious term. You will
be obliged to accept that some businesses close on Good Friday (two days
before Easter by the Act), just as you are obliged to accept that some
close for Yom Kippur and I have to accept that the local ironmonger's is
affected by Ramadan.

Post by Dr J R Stockton
However, I've changed the Subject line so that it clearly indicates
which Easter is under consideration; I trust that you will reciprocate
if occasion arises.

I almost always leave the subject line as the NNTP software has set it: this
makes it easier for broken NNTP clients to trace the thread correctly.

The references headers in this group are currently (or recently) broken;
but not badly enough to require reliance on the Subject line. And the
line is near enough the same for a human to see what happened.


I understand that the general Orthodox practice is to celebrate Easter
on the actual day on which Catholics, Protestants, etc., would have
celebrated it were it not for the Papal Bull and the Calendar Act, etc.
So one calculates it in the Dionysian manner, or from the UK/colonies
Prayer Books of 1662-1751, and one then shifts it by the difference
between the two calendars, currently 13 days and incremented whenever
Gregorians omit Leaping a year evenly divisible by 4. Can you provide a
link or links to a truly authoritative statement of the Orthodox Easter
Rule - not an ordinary Web site, not Wikipedia, but something as
authoritative for the majority of the Orthodox as images of the Act
itself or the Statutes at Large would be for others ?

[Steve Hayes]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
That is a purely religious purpose, and so excluded explicitly by what I
wrote. If the US shops stock Easter Eggs, they will mostly do it for
Gregorian Easter; and Halloween costumes will leave the shelves after
the end of Gregorian October, few waiting for the Orthodox.

Orthodox Halloween will be 13 June next year.

[Matthew Johnson]

In article <viPNk.1037$***@nwrddc02.gnilink.net>, Dr J R Stockton says...
[snip]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Can you provide a
link or links to a truly authoritative statement of the Orthodox Easter
Rule - not an ordinary Web site, not Wikipedia, but something as
authoritative for the majority of the Orthodox as images of the Act
itself or the Statutes at Large would be for others ?

Oddly enough, an authoritative statement is hard to come by, since most people
take the tables as authoritative. But
http://users.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/easter.htm

looks like what you are looking for.

Then again, so does http://orthodoxwiki.org/Paschalion, which being on the
Orthodox Wiki, might be a little more authoritative.

[Dr J R Stockton]

In soc.religion.christian message <ufsPk.2206$***@nwrddc01.gnilink.
net>, Mon, 3 Nov 2008 01:14:02, Matthew Johnson

Post by Matthew Johnson
[snip]

Post by Dr J R Stockton
Can you provide a
link or links to a truly authoritative statement of the Orthodox Easter
Rule - not an ordinary Web site, not Wikipedia, but something as
authoritative for the majority of the Orthodox as images of the Act
itself or the Statutes at Large would be for others ?

Oddly enough, an authoritative statement is hard to come by, since most people
take the tables as authoritative.

"the tables" ?

Post by Matthew Johnson
But
http://users.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/easter.htm
looks like what you are looking for.

Never trust a page that does not name its author clearly! It's not a
trustworthy site; it tries to rewrite the general definition of
Gregorian Easter as given in the Calendar Act (and therefore the
accepted definition of Julian Easter); it does not seem to list Julian
Paschal Full Moons after 1582; it considers the end of the year 4099 as
significant. Also, as no doubt you know, the Gregorian Calendar and
Easter are defined /in perpetuity/; and I believe the same can be said
about the Julian Calendar. Pope Gregory did not change the Julian
Calendar; he just provided another one to be used instead. And any
future change will not alter the Gregorian Calendar; it will just
provide something else to use instead.

Post by Matthew Johnson
Then again, so does http://orthodoxwiki.org/Paschalion, which being on the
Orthodox Wiki, might be a little more authoritative.

That looks more trustworthy; editing access is limited. I have derived,
in <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/estr-bcp.htm>, a Julian Easter
algorithm from the "1662" English Book of Common Prayer (by analogy with
what I'd already done for Gregorian). I have no doubt that its results
will match Oudin's, given on that page, though mine has not been
consolidated. I've added a link in <estrdate.htm<; thanks.

I would have, if it had been general Wiki, added a remark or two to the
Discussion; to mention my algorithm, and to point out that "(14 days
after March 1, 2100)" should really be "(14 days after February 28,
2100)" though it makes no practical difference whatsoever. The
Kyriopascha page needs correcting; Gregorian uses March 21, not the true
equinox.

[Matthew Johnson]

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Matthew Johnson
Oddly enough, an authoritative statement is hard to come by, since most people
take the tables as authoritative.

"the tables" ?

The tables printed in the back of any Molitvennik (prayer book) give the date of
Pascha for about a decade or so (after the date of printing of the prayer book).

[snip]

[Dr J R Stockton]

In soc.religion.christian message <npsQk.3424$***@nwrddc02.gnilink.
net>, Thu, 6 Nov 2008 02:13:39, Matthew Johnson

Post by Matthew Johnson

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Matthew Johnson
Oddly enough, an authoritative statement is hard to come by, since most people
take the tables as authoritative.

"the tables" ?

The tables printed in the back of any Molitvennik (prayer book) give the date of
Pascha for about a decade or so (after the date of printing of the prayer book).

Is that not a little limiting, unless your Prayer Books wear out
quickly?

The Church of England Book of Common Prayer gives about 40 to 50 years,
plus (by law) a simple Table algorithm usable for 1900-2199, another for
2200-2299, and the full perpetual Gregorian method (but only directly
usable to AD 8599).

[Matthew Johnson]

Post by Dr J R Stockton

Post by Matthew Johnson
The tables printed in the back of any Molitvennik (prayer book) give the date of
Pascha for about a decade or so (after the date of printing of the prayer book).

Is that not a little limiting, unless your Prayer Books wear out
quickly?

Not at all. If you are using it, it will be worn by then anyway.

[snip]