National
Council of Churches calls for a common Easter date
New
York, March 26, 2010 -- This year Easter, the celebration of the raising of
Jesus Christ from the dead, is observed April 4 in all Christian traditions.
Most years, Easter is
celebrated on different dates in western and most Orthodox churches because
of ancient discrepancies in calculating the calendar.
Now the National Council of
Churches is renewing a call to all Christians to set a common date for the
annual celebration of the most important event in Christian history.
In a letter to member
communions, NCC General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, and Dr.
Antonios Kireopoulos, NCC Senior Program Director for Faith & Order
and Interfaith Relations,
lamented the fact that "almost
every year the Christian community is divided over which day to proclaim
this Good News. Our split, based on a dispute having to do with ancient
calendars, visibly betrays the message of reconciliation. It is a scandal
that surely grieves our God."
The letter proposes
continued movement toward a common Easter date based on the recommendations
of the
Aleppo Conference of 1997:
► adhere to the decision
of the first ecumenical council at Nicea to celebrate Easter on the first
Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox, thus
maintaining the biblical association between Jesus’ death and Passover;
► agree to use the most
up-to-date scientific methods to analyze the astronomical data (which is
consistent with Nicea); and,
► use the meridian of
Jerusalem (due to its centrality in the Passion of Christ) as the point of
reference for these calculations.
"This
year and next," wrote Kinnamon and Kireopoulos, "may we truly revel in the
joy that comes with our united proclamation of the Good News. May God grant
that in 2012 and beyond we may continue to proclaim with one voice that
“Christ is risen!” For he is risen indeed."

The
full text of the letter can be read below.

March 25, 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ:
We greet you in the name of the Resurrected One, whose triumph over
death we prepare to celebrate on Easter Sunday! May God grant peace in
our lives, and in the life of our broken world, in this holy Paschal
season.
Easter, of course, is the very heart of our faith as followers of
Christ. A 1997 conference in Aleppo, sponsored by the World Council of
Churches and including churches from both East and West, said it well:
“Viewed as the ultimate victory over the powers of sin and death, the
resurrection of the Lord is not only an historical event but a sign of
God’s power over all the forces which keep us from his love and
goodness. It is a victory not only for Christ himself but also for all
those united with him (I Peter 1:3). It is a victory which marks the
beginning of a new era (John 20:17). The resurrection is the ultimate
expression of the Father’s gift of reconciliation and unity in Christ
through the Spirit. It is a sign of the unity and reconciliation which
God wills for the entire creation.”
This is Good News indeed! And yet almost every year the Christian
community is divided over which day to proclaim this Good News. Our
split, based on a dispute having to do with ancient calendars, visibly
betrays the message of reconciliation. It is a scandal that surely
grieves our God.
A common date for Easter has been on the ecumenical agenda since the
1920 encyclical of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In
1997, a major step toward a common Easter celebration was taken when the
Aleppo conference offered three simple yet profound recommendations:
►
adhere to the
decision of the first ecumenical council at Nicea to celebrate Easter on
the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox,
thus maintaining the biblical association between Jesus’ death and
Passover;
►
agree to use the most
up-to-date scientific methods to analyze the astronomical data (which is
consistent with Nicea); and,
►
use the meridian of
Jerusalem (due to its centrality in the Passion of Christ) as the point
of reference for these calculations.
Adopting this proposal would take lots of education in our churches and
sensitivity to pastoral concerns—but surely the prospect of a common
witness to our Lord’s resurrection makes the effort worthwhile! This
year and next, when a coincidence of calendars means that our churches
are celebrating Easter on the same day, may be a God-given opportunity
to contemplate how we might contribute to the eventual adoption of the
Aleppo recommendations.
The entire Aleppo Report, including a clear articulation of how the
current situation came to be, can be found on the NCC website (www.ncccusa.org).
We respectfully invite you to read it carefully and prayerfully. We
urge you to teach about it in your communions, pray about it in your
assemblies, and discuss it with other leaders in your wider church
family. And please be prepared to speak about it together at the
September meeting of the NCC Governing Board, to consider, as a Council,
how we might most effectively encourage common witness to the
resurrection we proclaim.
This year and next, may we truly revel in the joy that comes with our
united proclamation of the Good News. May God grant that in 2012 and
beyond we may continue to proclaim with one voice that “Christ is
risen!” For he is risen indeed.
Warm regards,

Michael Kinnamon Antonios Kireopoulos
General Secretary Senior Program Director for
Faith & Order and Interfaith Relations
|
NCC News contact:
Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 646-853-4212 (cell) ,
pjenks@ncccusa.org
|