As early as , the League of Nations addressed the question and forwarded the matter to the Advisory and Technical Committee for Communications and Transit, which, for its part, wanted to introduce a brand-new calendar across the globe, dividing the year into months of equal length.
This would have had the effect of requiring one or two days to be included outside of the normal seven-day rhythm of the week, in order to make up for the time lacking. With regard to the date of Easter, the British solution was proposed. The Committee asked the churches' opinion, and found that the majority of Protestant churches, as represented by the Ecumenical Council for Practical Christianity, favoured a fixed date for Easter.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople replied that, although the Orthodox Church would favour a calendar that retained the continuity of the week, it would be open to a fixed date for Easter, as long at it remained a Sunday and all Christian churches were in agreement. The Roman Catholic Church's first response was that the issue could only be resolved by an ecumenical council. Some years later, however, it changed its answer to a definitive "no". The efforts were taken over by the League of Nations' successor organization, the United Nations, but finally foundered in , after the USA rejected the idea of a new calendar, fearing public opposition on religious grounds.
Nothing changed until the Second Vatican Council, whose Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy stated that the Roman Catholic Church would assent to a common date for Easter - movable or fixed - if all the churches could agree on a solution. It found that all the churches would be willing to celebrate Easter on the same day. However, while most Western churches preferred a fixed date, the Orthodox churches wanted a common movable date based on the Nicaea rule.
Another survey was made of Council's member churches, which echoed the results of the first survey. It became abundantly clear at the General Assembly that a decision could only be reached by the churches themselves, not by the WCC. It was decided that, at that stage, specific proposals would not be helpful, but that work into the issue ought to continue. Then, at their first pre-conciliar conference in , the Orthodox churches moved to hold a congress as soon as possible.
This took place in in Chambesy. The congress dealt primarily with the pastoral problem that abandoning the Nicaea rule would lead to divisions.
This conclusion was repeated at the second pre-conciliar Orthodox conference in and the revision of the calendar postponed until such time as would, God willing, be more suitable. The issue was not brought up again at the WCC until Two of its departments - "Worship and Spirituality" and "Faith and Order" - organized a consultation session on behalf of the executive committee in Aleppo, Syria.
This resulted in a concrete proposal keep the Nicaea rule but calculate the equinox and full moon using the accurate astronomical data available today, rather than those used many years ago.
The Orthodox church is still grappling with the arguments first brought up at the so-called pre-conciliar conferences in and The problem is that, while the use of the astronomical calculations will mean hardly any change for those churches that use the Gregorian calendar, the Orthodox churches have had painful experiences in the past with schisms resulting from calendar reforms, and are therefore very cautious about them.
However, a proposal for the Western churches to move their Easter to coincide with the Orthodox date garnered just as little support. Commission on Faith and Order. Faith and Order. Share this document. Why isn't Easter on the same date every year - like Christmas, for instance?
A more detailed answer would be this: We know from the New Testament that Jesus' death and resurrection happened around the time of the Jewish feast of Passover.
So how is the date of Easter calculated? Why did the Gregorian calendar reform happen at all? Was it necessary? What's the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars? So are the two dates always two weeks apart? This year , both Easters are on the same date. When does this happen?
In that case, though, why do some Orthodox churches celebrate Western Christmas? Are there any efforts to bring the two Easters together? Easter is the most important movable feast in Christianity. How is the date determined each year? Easter falls on the first Sunday after the Full Moon date , based on mathematical calculations, that falls on or after March Although Easter is liturgically related to the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere March equinox and the Full Moon , its date is not based on the actual astronomical date of either event.
Both dates may coincide with the dates of the astronomical events, but in some years, they don't. In years in which the Church's March equinox and Paschal Full Moon dates do not coincide with the astronomical dates of these events, there may be some confusion about the date of Easter.
In , for example, the March equinox in the Western Hemisphere happened on Wednesday, March 20 , while the first Full Moon in spring was on Thursday, March 21 in many time zones. If the Church followed the timing of these astronomical events, Easter would have been celebrated on March 24, the Sunday after the Full Moon on March However, the Full Moon date in March specified by the Church's lunar calendar, also called the ecclesiastical Full Moon, was March 20, —one day before the ecclesiastical date of the March equinox, March For that reason, the Easter date was based on the next ecclesiastical Full Moon, on April Follow Statista.
Claire Jenik. Description This chart shows the frequency of Easter Sunday by date from to Report. Download Chart. You will find more infographics at Statista. Easter holidays: average planned spending Easter holidays: average planned spending , by region. Easter holidays: average planned spend , by generation. Tourist spending during Easter in Argentina Easter holiday destinations in Poland Related Infographics.
Fasting for Lent. United Kingdom.
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