All the Christians – the Orthodox, Roman-Catholic, Evangelist, reformed Christians and the neo-Protestant cults – this year celebrate Easter the same day. Theologians of the Chisinau Academy of Orthodox Theology said that this is a calendar coincidence.
Contacted by IPN, the Academy’s dean Vetcislav Cazacu said the Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar that has been used since 46 b.c. In the first ecumenical synod of Nicaea in 325 A.D., it was decided that Easter will be celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring equinox. Pope Gregory the 13th was the first who saw that the Julian calendar lags behind. He asked astronomer Luigi Lilio to redo the calculations. A reform was done that brought changes to the calendar of the Catholic Church in 1582.
The Orthodox Church didn’t adopt the Gregorian Reform and maintained the same calendar, which from that moment was called the old or Orthodox calendar, while the Gregorian calendar was called the new or Catholic calendar. In time, the difference between the two calendars grew to 13 days. In 1918, at the end of the First World War, almost all the countries adopted the Gregorian calendar. In the Orthodox countries, there appeared two calendars – the church one – the Julian, and the civil one – the Gregorian.
Dean of the Academy of Orthodox Theology said that this difference and the need to standardize the calendar in all the areas of public life made the Orthodox Church also think about adjusting the calendar. In the Constantinople Congress of 1923, it was decided to adjust the calendar in the Orthodox Church too. The Congress recommended that every autocephalous church should change the calendar when the historical circumstances allow. Consequently, the Orthodox Christianity was divided into two. A part didn’t adjust the calendars and continued to celebrate Easter according to the old calendar, while another part started to celebrate Easter according to the new calendar, on the same day as the West.
Theologian Victor Ceresau, of the Academy of Orthodox Theology, said that such a state lasted for three years, between 1924 and 1927. But, as it was ascertained that this disagreement between different Orthodox churches is upsetting, it was decided by consensus that Easter and the other movable feasts related to this event – the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit – will be observed together with the churches that didn’t adjust the calendar.
Victor Ceresau added that the intersection of the Easter holidays at the Catholic and Orthodox Christians is only a coincidence. There will be also such coincidences on the Easter holidays of 2017 and 2025. In these years, all the Christians will celebrate Easter the same day.
