1. EASTER The Church’s Greatest Feast Day Mr. Perrotti Theology ll Chapter 4 – Part 3

2. The Word Easter Means: The Greek term for Easter, is “pascha” The Greeks called Easter “the pascha anastasimon” Related to the Aramaic form of the Hebrew pesach (transitus), or Passover! In the Roman the feast bears the title Dominica Resurrectionis Christians have celebrated Easter as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

3. Easter verses Christmas Easter is the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year or religious year for all Christian Faiths! Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter. All of the moveable Feast Days in the Church Year are dependent on when we celebrate Easter. Palm Sunday, Ascension Thursday, Pentecost and the Feast of Christ the King are just a few.

4. What do Christians Celebrate on Easter? Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Easter is the core of the Paschal Mystery! Through his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, thus purchasing for all who believe in him, eternal life in Christ Jesus.

5. Easter Season In Western Christianity (our Church), Easter marks the end of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline in preparation for Easter. As Christians we prepare for Easter as Christ prepared for his ministry during His Temptation in the desert. The Easter Season ends for us on Ascension Thursday, 40 Days after Easter Sunday.

6. Easter Season Eastern Orthodox churches observe Lent or Great Lent, during the 6 weeks or 40 days preceding Palm Sunday with fasting continuing during the Holy Week of Easter. Lent for Eastern Orthodox churches begins on Monday and Ash Wednesday is not observed. Lent for us begins on Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstaining (not eating meat). We also perform sacrifices of abstaining on Fridays in Lent and both Fasting and abstaining on Good Friday.

7. Lent Lent is the Christian season of preparation before Easter Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection Not all Christian churches observe Lent

8. When is Easter Each Year Easter is a moveable feast, which means that it does not occur on the same date every year. The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) set the date of Easter as the Sunday following the paschal full moon, which is the full moon that falls on or after the vernal (spring) equinox. WOW – big words with easy meaning!

9. Vernal (spring) Equinox The Church sets the date of the vernal equinox at March 21, even though it can occur on March 20, simply the first day of Spring! It is believed that of the vernal equinox of the first day of Spring, both Day and Night are of equal lengths. Odiously, there are always people who try bust the myth, but after 325 AD, the Church followed this simple rule, The first Sunday after the first full moon (Paschal Moon) in spring time.

10. Vernal Equinox (cont.) Before then, the Church tried to keep in line with the Jewish Passover, or the first Easter. The followed the inaccurate and incorrect Julian calendar we currently follow the more accurate Gregorian calendar, a great man in our Church! Currently, March 21 on the Julian calendar falls on April 3 in the Gregorian calendar. Thus Passover and some Eastern Orthodox Churches, Easter cannot Fall before April 3.

11. Let’s get Simple Western Churches –First Sunday, after first full moon in spring time. Eastern and Jewish Religions – First Sunday, after first full moon in April – ok accept April 1 or 2. Confused Yet! I am!

12. easter not always Christian Hard to believe but it does have pagan roots! I know…. It was Ishtar's Sunday and was celebrated with rabbits and eggs. For early pagans is was the forty days of Lent, eggs, rabbits,hot cross buns and the Easter ham have everything to do with the ancient pagan religion of Babylon. Many pagan religions celebrated easter, but God works in mysterious ways by again showing his power over all by taking this pagan Holiday as His own!

13. easter not always Christian (cont.) God was famous for pouncing on the pagans in history. Pentecost was another day He proved his Almighty power and took for His (Holy Spirit) own! Bunnies, eggs, Easter gifts and fluffy, yellow chicks in gardening hats all stem from pagan roots These tropes (figures of speech) were incorporated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

14. Christ’s Resurrection Gave us New Life with God Spring also symbolized new life and rebirth; eggs were an ancient symbol of fertility. Easter eggs represent Jesus' resurrection. However, this association came much later when Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion Europe, especially Germany in the 15th century. Unfortunately some of these rituals were already ingrained in previous pagan beliefs. The Easter Bunny, Eggs, lilies, came to represent to simple men of the Church that Jesus rose from the dead to give us new Life in God! God does work in mysterious and wonderful ways!

15. The First Easter – Jesus Has Risen! Afraid, most of the disciples hid or ran away! James the Greater, his brother John, Mary the mother of Christ, Mary Madeline and Mary the sister of Lazarus, both close friends and disciples came to finish embalming the Christ’s Body. Some versions only have Mary Madeline coming to tomb first. They had all heard, but deep down had doubts! They arrive at the Tomb to see the rock moved and the tomb empty!

16. What did they see! An angel of God standing in the tomb announcing that he had risen. James and John ran back to tell the others The Three Marys' stayed and were rewarded A stranger approached them, Jesus and asked them what they were doing, “Didn’t you know he would rise from the dead” As they (or just Mary got closer) the stranger was recognized to be Jesus!

17. Christ Appeared to His Disciples after His Death His life became transcendent –He had Power over time and space. Even after his Resurrection some did not believe right away –Doubting Thomas – a great writer. He lived among them for 40 days – “Stating, I have not yet ascended to my Father” Four of the Seven Sacraments given by Christ came after his death and Resurrection! Reconciliation, Baptism, Sacrament of the Sick and Confirmation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smUHqg3npAE.com