Moveable feast

ARCHBISHOP Welby and the media are exalting the far-reaching benefits of celebrating Easter at a fixed date in the calendar, like Christmas, but i would sound a note of caution as this affects Christian communities the world over.

Christians celebrated Easter day from the earliest days of Christianity. Christ resurrected on Nisan 14 (March to april) in the Jewish calendar and early Christians celebrated Easter then, but this date can fall at any day of the week, not always a sunday.

some early Church authorities wanted Easter celebrations on a sunday and many early Christians started to celebrate it on the sunday following the Jewish Passover, with others marking it on the sunday following Nisan 14.

the Jewish calendar is lunar, but Egypt’s Coptic Church adopted the Julian calendar, a solar one devised by an alexandrian.

the Church of Rome celebrated Easter on the same day until 1582 when Gregory the Great adopted the Georgian calendar. this is why the Coptic Church is at the forefront of any negotiations for change.

the first known calendar was that of the ancient Egyptians and during the early centuries of Christianity the foremost university was alexandria. the Coptic Church has inherited this great heritage.

Easter day falls at the end of Passion Week; an integral part of this is Maundy thursday and the commemoration of Passover.

Christ was crucified on a Friday and it was due to the approaching Passover that his body was taken off the cross and buried in haste.

No one visited the tomb on saturday as it was the feast day. Early on sunday, the women went to the tomb and Mary Magdalen was the first to see the Resurrected Christ. all these events, and more, are celebrated during Passion Week.

the orthodox Churches will not give up their valued and deeply meaningful traditions.

Dr AHMES L. PAHOR, Birmingham.