Posted on 04/03/2007 6:31:28 AM PDT by DouglasKC
Every spring, the anticipation and excitement of Easter is electrifying for many people. Churches prepare elaborate Easter programs that illustrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Parents take time to color Easter eggs and hide them so their children can hunt for them.
It's typical for TV movies this time of year to depict Easter as an enjoyable occasion of renewed happiness. Television advertisements and commercial businesses also get very involved with Easter as they offer colorful Easter baskets, Easter costumes and chocolate rabbits to celebrate this great religious event.
Many churches advertise outdoor Easter sunrise services, with any and all invited. Weather permitting, the Easter celebration is visually reinforced by watching the sun rise in the east.
But what do bunnies and colored eggs have to do with Jesus' resurrection?
And if this celebration is so important, why didn't Jesus teach His apostles and the early Church to observe it? The books of the New Testament were written over a span of decades after Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, yet nowhere do we see so much as a hint of any kind of Easter celebration.
So where exactly did Easter and its customs come from? Why do hundreds of millions of people celebrate the holiday today?
Can we find Easter in the Bible?
Easter is considered the most important religious festival in today's Christianity. "The Easter feast has been and still is regarded as the greatest in the Christian church, since it commemorates the most important event in the life of its Founder" (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1986, Vol. 2, "Easter"). Given its popularity, one would think that surely this observance is found in God's Word.
Some cite Acts 12:4 as authority for celebrating Easter. But there's a problem in that Easter isn't really mentioned there at all. The King James Bible translators substituted "Easter" for the Greek word Pascha, which means "Passover." "The word [Easter] does not properly occur in Scripture, although [the King James Version] has it in Acts 12:4 where it stands for Passover, as it is rightly rendered in RV" (ibid.).
The vast majority of Bible translations recognize this error in the King James Version and rightly translate the word as "Passover" in Acts 12:4. The truth is, "there is no trace of Easter celebration in the [New Testament]" (ibid.)
Where did Easter come from?
If Easter isn't found in the Bible, where exactly did it come from? And just exactly what does the name Easter mean?
It's important to review credible historical sources to understand the celebration's true history. For example, The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us: "At Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient pagan survivals—in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit" (15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol. 4, p. 605, "Church Year").
In the ancient world of the Middle East, people were far more connected to the land and cycles of nature than we are today. They depended on the land's fertility and crops to survive. Spring, when fertility returned to the land after the long desolation of winter, was a much-anticipated and welcomed time for them.
Many peoples celebrated the coming of spring with celebrations and worship of their gods and goddesses, particularly those associated with fertility. Among such deities were Baal and Astarte or Ashtoreth, mentioned and condemned frequently in the Bible, whose worship typically included ritual sex to promote fertility throughout the land.
It was only natural to the peoples of the ancient Middle East to incorporate symbols of fertility—such as eggs and rabbits, which reproduce in great numbers—into those pagan celebrations for their gods. As The Encyclopaedia Britannica notes above, Easter eggs and the Easter rabbit are simply a continuation of these ancient spring fertility rites.
Nineteenth-century Scottish Protestant clergyman Alexander Hislop's work The Two Babylons is still considered a definitive work on pagan customs that survive in today's religious practices.
On Easter, he wrote: "What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by [early archaeologist Sir Austen Henry] Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar" (1959, p. 103).
The name Easter, then, comes not from the Bible. Instead its roots go far back to the ancient pre-Christian Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, known in the Bible as Astarte or Ashtoreth.
Ancient resurrection celebrations
What did worship of this goddess Ishtar involve? "Temples to Ishtar had many priestesses, or sacred prostitutes, who symbolically acted out the fertility rites of the cycle of nature. Ishtar has been identified with the Phoenician Astarte, the Semitic Ashtoreth, and the Sumerian Inanna. Strong similarities also exist between Ishtar and the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus.
"Associated with Ishtar was the young god Tammuz [mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14], considered both divine and mortal . . . In Babylonian mythology Tammuz died annually and was reborn year after year, representing the yearly cycle of the seasons and the crops. This pagan belief later was identified with the pagan gods Baal and Anat in Canaan " (Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1995, "Gods, Pagan," p. 509).
Alan Watts, expert in comparative religion, wrote: "It would be tedious to describe in detail all that has been handed down to us about the various rites of Tammuz . . . and many others . . . But their universal theme—the drama of death and resurrection—makes them the forerunners of the Christian Easter, and thus the first 'Easter services.' As we go on to describe the Christian observance of Easter we shall see how many of its customs and ceremonies resemble these former rites" (Easter: Its Story and Meaning, 1950, p. 58).
He goes on to explain how such practices as fasting during Lent, erecting an image of the deity in the temple sanctuary, singing hymns of mourning, lighting candles and nighttime services before Easter morning originated with ancient idolatrous practices (pp. 59-62).
Another author, Sir James Frazer (1854-1941), knighted for his contributions to our understanding of ancient religions, describes the culmination of the ancient idolatrous worship this way: "The sorrow of the worshippers was turned to joy . . . The tomb was opened: the god had risen from the dead; and as the priest touched the lips of the weeping mourners with balm, he softly whispered in their ears the glad tidings of salvation.
"The resurrection of the god was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave. On the morrow . . . the divine resurrection was celebrated with a wild outburst of glee. At Rome, and probably elsewhere, the celebration took the form of a carnival" (The Golden Bough, 1993, p. 350).
A new celebration with ancient idolatrous roots
In various forms, worship of this god under the names Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, among others, spread from the outer reaches of the Roman Empire to Rome itself. There a truly remarkable development took place: Early Catholic Church leaders merged customs and practices associated with this earlier "resurrected" god and spring fertility celebrations and applied them to the resurrected Son of God.
The customs of the ancient fertility and resurrection celebrations weren't the only ones morphed into a new "Christian" celebration, but they are among the most obvious. After all, many historians readily admit the origin of the name Easter and the ancient fertility symbolism of rabbits and decorated eggs (which you can verify yourself in almost any encyclopedia).
Frazer observes: "When we reflect how often the Church has skilfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis" (p. 345).
He goes on to note that the desire to bring heathens into the Catholic Church without forcing them to surrender their idolatrous celebrations "may have led the ecclesiastical authorities to assimilate the Easter festival of the death and resurrection of their Lord to the festival of the death and resurrection of another Asiatic god which fell at the same season . . . the Church may have consciously adapted the new festival [of Easter] to its heathen predecessor for the sake of winning souls to Christ" (p. 359).
Surprisingly, the celebration of Easter didn't finally win out until A.D. 325, nearly 300 years after Jesus Christ's death and resurrection!
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains in the section titled "The Liturgical Year," "At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter . . . should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon . . . after the vernal equinox" (1995, p. 332).
Up until this time, many believers had continued to commemorate Jesus' death through the biblical Passover as Jesus and the apostles had instructed (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Now, however, with the power of the Roman Empire behind it, the Catholic Church enforced its preference for Easter. Those who wished to continue to observe the biblical Passover had to go underground to avoid persecution.
Would Jesus Christ celebrate Easter?
The record of the New Testament is clear: The faithful members of the early Church continued to observe all that the apostles taught them, as they were taught by Jesus Christ. The record of history is equally clear: In later centuries new customs, practices and doctrines were introduced that were quite foreign to the original Christians, forming a new "Christianity" they would scarcely recognize.
So a key question is, should a Christian follow what Jesus taught or what later religious teachers taught?
It's always a good idea to ask the question, what would Jesus do?
If Jesus were in the flesh today, would He celebrate Easter? The simple answer is No. He does not change. "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever," as Hebrews 13:8 tells us (emphasis added throughout). Jesus never observed Easter, never sanctioned it and never taught His disciples to celebrate it. Nor did the apostles teach the Church to do so.
Today, Jesus would observe the biblical Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread as Scripture teaches and as He practiced and taught (John 13:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). In fact, He specifically said that He anticipated observing the Passover with His true followers "in My Father's kingdom" after His return (Matthew 26:26-29).
The feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread have deep meaning to Christ's true disciples. They reveal aspects of God's plan for the salvation of humanity—commemorating the fact that Jesus died for us and lives in us and for us (1 Corinthians 11:26; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4).
Should you observe Easter?
If you want to be a true disciple of Christ Jesus, you need to carefully examine whether your beliefs agree with the Bible. It is not acceptable to God to merely assume that He approves of or accepts non-biblical celebrations, regardless of whether they are done for proper motives.
The fact is that God says, "Learn not the way of the heathen"—those who don't know God's truth (Jeremiah 10:2, King James Version).
His Word gives us explicit instructions regarding worshipping Him with practices adopted from pagan idolatry: "Do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods . . . Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:30-32).
Jesus Christ now commands everyone to repent of following all man-made religious traditions: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30; compare Matthew 15:3).
Will you honor Christ's lifesaving instructions so that God can bless you? He said: "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor" (John 12:26).
God wants you and me to obey His life-giving Word. When we do, we can serve Christ as His ambassadors on earth. There is no greater calling on earth and throughout time. For your ongoing happiness and security, turn to God now and seek His complete and perfect way. GN
It is very difficult to debate you. On one thread the Bible matters and on the next it does not. I am at a loss to know why you care what the Bible says when you have admittied that your church invented the key points that the majority of Christianity adheres to.
"You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." Cardinal Gibbons (for many years head of the Catholic Church in America), The Faith of Our Fathers (92d ed., rev.; Baltimore: John Murphy Company), p.89.
The resurrection was not on Sunday, otherwise there would be a single line sanctifying the day.
FRegards,
Chris
Scripture explicitly exempts non Jews from those aspects of the Jewish customs.
It’s very difficult to debate someone that uses the Bible in a way that it says it should not be.
I never said that the One Holy and Apostolic Church of Christ invented anything. Pay attention please.
I said that we got our instruction directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the next 300 years, we wrote down a lot of documentation and then chose what Scripture was to be. We rejected a lot of writings for a number of reasons.
The Bible matters; please don’t go there - it’s not worthy of you. But what also matters is what Jesus Christ Himself did and caused to happen here while on Earth.
When you reject His Church, then, in my opinion, you reject Him. He told us that His Church is the Pillar of Truth. Would you deny Truth?
I know that you’re sincere, Chris.
Now please understand. The sanctification of Sunday was done before the New Testament was written. It simply wasn’t included in what was chosen to be Scripture because the writings stopped the time period of coverage before the decision was made.
Maybe we should have included a final chapter in the Bible after Revelation entitled something like: Things that the Church has put into effect after the Epistles were written and are as important as the Epistles are, are documented here so that in 2000 years debates over what is right don’t occur.
St Thomas Sunday: Antipascha
Every day during the week of Easter, called Bright Week by the Church, the paschal services are celebrated in all their splendor. The Easter baptismal procession is repeated daily. The royal gates of the sanctuary remain open. The joy of the Resurrection and the gift of the Kingdom of eternal life continue to abound. Then, at the end of the week, on Saturday evening, the second Sunday after Easter is celebrated in remembrance of the appearance of Christ to the Apostle Thomas “after eight days” (Jn 20:26).
It is important to note that the number eight has symbolical significance in both Jewish and Christian spiritual tradition. It signifies more than completion and fullness; it signifies the Kingdom of God and the life of the world to come since seven is the number of earthly time. The sabbath, the seventh day, is the blessed day of rest in this world, the final day of the week. The “first day of the week,” the day “after Sabbath”; stressed in all of the gospels as the day of Christ’s Resurrection (Mk 16:1, Mt 28:1, Lk 24:1, Jn 20:1, 19), is therefore also the eighth day,” the day beyond the confines of this world, the day which stands for the life of the world to come, the day of the eternal rest of the Kingdom of God (see Hebrews 4).
The Sunday after Easter, called the Second Sunday, is thus the eighth day of the paschal celebration, the last day of Bright Week. It is therefore called the Antipascha, and it was only on this day in the early church that the newly-baptized Christians removed their robes and entered once again into the life of this world.
In the Church services the stress is on the Apostle Thomas’ vision of Christ and the significance of the day comes to us in the words of the gospel:
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:27-29).
We have not seen Christ with our physical eyes nor touched his risen body with our physical hands, yet in the Holy Spirit we have seen and touched and tasted the Word of Life (1 Jn 1:1-4), and so we believe. At each of the daily services until Ascension Day we sing the Easter Troparion. At each of the Sunday services beginning with Antipascha, we sing the Easter canon and hymns, and repeat the celebration of the “first day of the week” on which Christ rose from the dead. At all of the liturgies the epistle readings are taken from the Book of Acts telling us of the first Christians who lived in communion with the Risen Lord. All of the gospel readings are taken from the Gospel of St John, considered by many to be a gospel written particularly for those who are newly-baptized into the new life of the Kingdom of God through death and new birth in Christ, in the name of the Holy Trinity. The reason for this opinion is that all of the “signs” — as the miracles in St John’s Gospel are called — deal with sacramental themes involving water: wine and bread. Thus, each of the Sundays after Thomas Sunday with the exception of the third, is dedicated to the memory of one of these “signs.”
The Myrrhbearing Women
The third Sunday after Pascha is dedicated to the myrrhbearing women who cared for the body of the Saviour at his death and who were the first witnesses of his Resurrection. The three troparia of Holy Friday are sung once again and from the theme of the day:
The noble Joseph, when he had taken down Thy most pure body from the Tree, wrapped it in fine linen and anointed it with spices, and placed it in a new tomb.
When Thou didst descend to death, O Life Immortal, Thou didst slay hell with the splendor of Thy Godhead.
The angel came to the myrrhbearing women at the tomb and said: Myrrh is fitting for the dead, but Christ has shown himself a stranger to corruption! So proclaim: The Lord is risen, granting the world great mercy.
The Paralytic
The fourth Sunday is dedicated to Christ’s healing of the paralytic (Jn 5). The man is healed by Christ while waiting to be put down into the pool of water. Through baptism in the church we, too, are healed and saved by Christ for eternal life. Thus, in the church, we are told, together with the paralytic, to sin no more that nothing worse befall you” (Jn 5:14).
The Feast of Mid-Pentecost
In the middle of this fourth week, the middle day between Easter and Pentecost is solemnly celebrated. It is called the feast of Mid-Pentecost, at which Christ, “in the middle of the feast” teaches men of his saving mission and offers to all “the waters of immortality” (Jn 7:14). Again we are reminded of the Master’s presence and his saving promise: “If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink” (Jn 7:37). We think also once again of our death and resurrection with Christ in our baptism, and our reception of the Holy Spirit from him in our chrismation. We “look back to one, and anticipate the other” as one of the hymns of the feast puts it. We know that we belong to that kingdom of the Risen Christ where “the Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price” (Rev 22:17. Is 55:1).
In the middle of the feast, 0 Saviour, fill my thirsting soul with the waters of godliness, as Thou didst cry unto all: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 0 Christ God, Fountain of life, glory to Thee! (Troparion).
Christ God, the Creator and Master of all, cried to all in the midst of the feast of the law: Come and drink the water of immortality! We fall before Thee and faithfully cry: Grant us Thy bounties, for Thou art the Fountain of our life! (Kontakion)
The Samaritan Woman
The fifth Sunday after Easter deals with the woman of Samaria with whom Christ spoke at Jacob’s Well (Jn 4). Again the theme is the “living water” and the recognition of Jesus as God’s Messiah (Jn 4:10-11; 25-26). We are reminded of our new life in him, of our own drinking of the “living water,” of our own true worship of God in the Christian messianic age “in Spirit and in Truth” (Jn 4:23-24). We see as well that salvation is offered to all: Jews and Gentiles, men and women, saints and sinners.
The Blind Man
The sixth Sunday commemorates the healing of the man blind from birth (Jn 9). We are identified with that man who came to see and to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. The Lord has anointed our eyes with his own divine hands and washed them with the waters of our baptism (John 9:6-ll).
Jesus used clay of spittle and told the man to wash in the waters of Siloam. He did so because it was the Sabbath day on which spitting, clay-making and washing were strictly forbidden. By breaking these ritual laws of the Jews, Jesus showed that he is indeed the Lord of the Sabbath, and, as such, that he is equal to God the Father Who alone, according to Jewish tradition, works on the Sabbath day in running his world.
There is scandal over the healing of the blind man on the Sabbath day. He is separated from the synagogue because of his faith in Christ. The entire Church follows this man in his fate, knowing that it is those who do not see Jesus as the Lord who are really blind and still in their sins (Jn 9:41). The others have the light of life and can see and know the Son of God, for “you have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you” (Jn 9:37).
I come to Thee, O Christ, blind from birth in my spiritual eyes, and call to Thee in repentance: Thou art the most radiant Light of those in darkness! (Kontakion)
http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=77
Lord’s Day
(Redirected from Sunday)
For the Orthodox Christian the Lord’s Day is the first day of the week. Often it is also called the eighth day in honor Our Lord’s Resurrection and the new life he brought. In the English language, and other languages of Germanic origin, the day is called Sunday or some linguistic variation. In many languages around the Mediterranean Sea the name for this day is derived from Lord’s Day, while other languages including Slavic languages use a word derived from the word Resurrection.
History
In the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, in Genesis, the seven-day week is defined after the description of God’s efforts in establishing the world, and universe with the seventh day being the Sabbath, commemorating God’s day of rest. In Apostolic times the practice is noted in Acts of meeting together on the first day of the week for Eucharistic Sacrifice which is called the Lord’s Day in remembrance of our Lord’s Resurrection. By the second century the Lord’s Day was looked upon as the day of rest and the day for celebrating the Divine Liturgy, replacing the Jewish Sabbath. Then in 325, the Council of Nicea formally declared that the Lord’s Day, Sunday, was the day of worship for Orthodox Christians.
[edit]Civil calendars
Naming of the days of the week began when the Romans adopted the seven-day week from Egypt during the early centuries of the Christian era using names from the then-known planets. When the Germanic peoples adopted the seven-day week from the Romans, they applied the names of the Teutonic deities to the days of the week. These Roman and Teutonic names have continued to be used today except that in some languages the first day has been renamed for the Lord’s Day or the Resurrection while the seventh day may be called the Sabbath.
In a large part of the world, the civil calendars have been altered, making Monday the first day of the week, thus placing Sunday as the seventh day.
[edit]Practice
The practice of observing the Divine Liturgy on the first day of the week has its origin in Apostolic times. Then, the first day of the week was a day of special observance for the Christian community as it assembled to celebrate the breaking of the bread as indicated in Acts 20:7 and I Cor 16:2. Later, the Didache of the first or second century gives the injunction: “On the Lord’s Day come together and break bread. And give thanks, after confessing your sins that your sacrifice may be pure.” The Christian writers St Justin Martyr and Tertullian of the third century mention assembling for worship on the first day of the week. By the fourth century the practice of the earlier times of setting aside first day of the week for assembly and rest began to be codified in both civil and church canons and specifically for the Orthodox Church in the canons of the Council of Nicea.
This is highly doubtful.....the Jews were the oracles of God [Romans 3:2]. You folks have done everything in your power to distance yourself from the appearance of anything "Jewish".
Our church was founded by Jesus Christ.
Your church was founded by Constantine. By 325 A.D. you folks had nothing in common with Biblical Christianity.
Most of our doctrines predate the Bible. (New Testament)
Here.....we agree. Your doctrines are those of Babylon, Samaria and Simon Magus. As I said....nothing in common. Unfortunately, many of the Protestants don't realize this when they emulate your rites and theology.
Does the Bible matter to you and how much? If it doesn't, and your church is the standard, then we have nothing to discuss.
The resurrection was on Sunday. That's why so many Christian Churches gather on that day. And they were gathering on that day, and as well as others, long before Constantine's decree.
There is no requirement in the New Testament to keep the 4th commandment and its Saturday sabbath. Everyone is free to choose their day and Sunday as the day of Resurrection and Pentecost is quite appropriate.
The Day after the sabbath (The Lords Day) is actually referenced in the Bible, you might try reading one.
The Didache, The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations, 70 A.D.
You have a very bizarre perspective on what happened with the early church. I just read a book called Early Christian Heresies that I think was written by a Catholic because The Church was always capitalized. The reality of how doctrines came about is very different from what you describe here on FR.
Can you give me a scripture eliminating the Sabbath command? It is very interesting to see how quickly you have mended fences with the apostolics. My Bible reads from Genesis to Revelation, the faith is to the same God throughout, the same God who sanctified the 7th Day in Genesis is the same God I worship.
Try reading THIS book about Heresies:
http://www.amazon.com/55-St-Irenaeus-Lyons-Christian/dp/0809104547
by Irenaeus of Lyons c. 175-185
Read Acts 15.
Give me one scripture requiring Gentiles to keep the Law of Moses. Before they can be absolved of it, they have to first be keeping it. When were the Gentiles or the Gentile Church ever keeping the Saturday sabbath?
It is very interesting to see how quickly you have mended fences with the apostolics.
I have plenty to dispute with the RCC about, but this is not one of them. Sabbatarians are making a mountain out of a molehill.
My Bible reads from Genesis to Revelation, the faith is to the same God throughout, the same God who sanctified the 7th Day in Genesis is the same God I worship.
And that 7th day was a sign between He and the Jews, not the Gentiles. Nine of the Ten Commandments are brought forward into the New Testament for the Gentile Church, except the 4th. To demand Saturday sabbath observance of Gentile Christians is just as bad as Constantine's demand that Jewish Christians abandon Saturday and observe only Sunday.
1Th 5:2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
Mat 12:8 "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
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