WHAT DATE IS EASTER—

While pondering the celebration of Easter yesterday I arrived at the question of how the date of its celebration is determined.

According to the Christian History Institute:

“During the first three centuries of the church, it was frequently under persecution and there was no attempt to standardize the Christian festivals.

However, when Constantine became emperor and Christianity was no longer illegal, it was possible to consider more carefully the date of Easter. One of the purposes of the Council of Nicea in 325 was to settle that date.

Constantine did not want Easter to be celebrated on the Jewish Passover. He said it was a Christian ‘duty to have nothing in common with the murderers of our Lord’ (ignoring the fact that Christ's execution was a joint effort of Jews and Gentiles).

The Council of Nicea accordingly required the feast of the resurrection to be celebrated on a Sunday and never on the day of the Jewish Passover.

Easter was to be on the Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox. This meant the date of Easter would always fall between March 22nd and April 25th.”