Easter and Pascha - Why the Calendar Differences

Icon - Fathers of First Ecumenical Council holding the Nicene Creed

A Renaissance Pope, Julius Caesar and Iznik People, Places and Events that Influence the Easter - Pascha Calendar

Modern commercial calendars have a citation that will generally read “Eastern Orthodox Easter.” Typically, this citation falls a week after the Western Easter. You may find it as advanced as five weeks later into the month of May. The reasons for the differences in the calendar can be found by looking back over the last seventeen hundreds years at the people, places and events that influenced this occurrence.

When the First Ecumenical Council met in the city of Nicea, now known as the town of Iznik, Turkey, the Council’s main focus was to hammer out the basics of Christology and produce an agreed upon Creed. The 318 Fathers assembled had a secondary task; arrive at a common date for Easter.

At that time certain Churches of the East, followed the Hebrew lunar reckoning of the 14th Nissan; since the Gospel sets the passion narratives clearly in the context of the Jewish Passover.

The assembly decided to adjust to the Greco-Roman/solar calendar of that era established by Julius Caesar, but using a formula that took into account the lunar element. The trigger was the Vernal or Spring Equinox. The full moon that followed the equinox was the second calculation. Arriving at the Sunday that coincided or followed the full moon determined Easter. For a millennium and a half the Church had a common date to celebrate its holiest of feasts.

By the high Middle Ages it became apparent that Julius Caesar’s calendar was slowly losing minutes, adding up over the centuries to almost two weeks!

The Gregorian calendar, also called the Western calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The Vatican astronomers and a Calabrian physician corrected the lapse by a leap that tallied 13 days. The Catholic countries of Europe followed suite. The Russian Empire only adopted it as a civil calendar after the Bolshevik Revolution at the start of the 20th century.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches clung to the Julian reckoning until the 20th century. Some Eastern European churches continue to observe the Julian calendar; even those that have adopted the Gregorian calendar, fall back to the Julian reckoning to compute Easter for the sake of unity of Pascha, as Easter is known among the Orthodox.

In 1997, the World Council of Churches (WCC), in Aleppo, Syria, devised and then reaffirmed in 2009 in Lviv, Ukraine, a formula to return to a common paschal date with the strictures of the Council of Nicea; a concession to the Orthodox. The first principal would be to use the actual date for the spring equinox and for the occurrence of the full moon. This would eliminate a 13 day gap between the “ecclesiastical” equinox en-trenched in the two calendars, as well as the off chance of a full moon appearing during that time span, thus giving the West a very early Easter and the Eastern Churches a Pascha in May.

The Orthodox would have to forsake a medieval inter-pretation with insists the Jewish Passover proceed the Christian feast day. This accounts for the frequency of the Orthodox date being a week later than the West’s.

The WCC’s efforts rest on on a true desire for the Churches worldwide to celebrate the Lord’s rising to-gether. Inertia and mistrust put other issues forefront. In the case of the Orthodox Church, each independent Church would need to ratify the change.

By becoming aware of the roots of the complexity behind the calendar differences we might be more re-spectful and understanding; despite two calendars, in spirit we still rejoice together in the core mystery of our faith… that Christ is risen.

Published in The Evangelist Written by Brother Stavros

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New Skete, founded in 1966, is a contemplative monastic community of men and women dedicated to living the monastic life together within the tradition of the Orthodox Church. The community is a stavropegial monastery under the Orthodox Church in America and is composed of three separate monastic houses: the Monks of New Skete, the Nuns of New Skete, and the Companions of New Skete. Each community lives in its own house within a few miles of the other two, outside the small village of Cambridge in upstate New York. New Skete lives in the conviction that an authentic and vibrant monasticism is an es-sential ingredient of healthy Church life. By its nature, the monastic vocation is fully apostolic in itself. Through the balance and openness of its own way of life, it serves and challenges both the world and the Church at large to a broader vision and deeper experience of life. Therefore, our primary responsibility is fidelity to the task of being authentic monastics. We believe this can-not be done merely by reproducing monastic life as it has been lived in the past, in other places and cultures. Creativity is an essential ingredient in any viable monasticism, and as monasticism has always incarnated itself within a particular cultural context, so, too, we strive to express the mystery and dynamism of our vocation in a manner appropriate to our own culture and times.

Each of our monastic communities is self-supporting and receives no financial support from the national church. We are sustained financially through charitable donations and our own work. The communities, since their founding, have worked in liturgical arts, producing icons and publish-ing liturgical books and music. In addition, the Monks are world famous for breeding German Shep-herds and for dog training. The 2007 TV series “Divine Canine” prompted many people to visit the monastery and our website. The show featured the Monks’ dog training techniques and portrayed other aspects of our monastic life. The Monks’ publications include a book on monastic spirituality, In the Spirit of Happiness; three dog training books, How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend, the newly revised The Art of Raising a Puppy, and Divine Canine (based on the TV series); and several books of photos and meditations: I and Dog, Rise Up, and Dogs and Devotion. The Nuns bake and market an assortment of gourmet cheesecakes and fruitcakes, they assist in the care of the German Shep-herds, and they have made available a cookbook of baked goods entitled Food for the Soul by the late Sister Magdalene, who created most of the Nuns’ cheesecake recipes. The Companions of New Skete, a small group of married couples formed in 1983, reside at Emmaus House on the Monks’ property and also follow a monastic rule of life. Through prayer, hospitality, and work we have tried to bring a better awareness of Orthodox monasticism and the spiritual life to the church and the general public, and to share the fruits of our life in a manner that harmonizes with our contemplative vocation.

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The New Skete ChurCheS The smaller temple, designed and built by the monks in 1970, is dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ, the patronal feast of the Monks of New Skete, which celebrates the revealing of Christ’s divine glory to the apostles on Mount Tabor (Matthew 17:1-8). The floor is of green slate from nearby quarries, and the walls and pillars are covered with cedar and ash. Many of the icons in the interior were painted by monastics of New Skete. They include a life-size icon of Christ en-throned, in the apse behind the altar; icons of John the

Baptist, Mary Magdalene, and Nil of Sora at the right of the holy doors; and Mary, the Theotokos; Sergius of Radonezh; and Herman of Alaska at the left. Other icons depict events in the life of Christ and in the Gospels.

The larger temple, designed and built by the monks and eight skilled carpenters, was consecrated in 1983 and dedicated to Christ, the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). Its light-filled openness and its U-shaped altar screen are inspired by the early churches of Constantinople. Inlaid in the Italian marble floor tiles, at the entrance to the nave, are pieces of mosaic from the first Christian church consecrated to Holy Wisdom, built in Con-stantinople in 576. The large deisis behind the altar shows Christ, the Word and Wisdom of God, enthroned on the cherubim (Psalm 80:1), flanked by his mother, Mary, the Theotokos, and St. John, the Forerunner and Baptist. Gathered below are early church fa-thers, whose role was to teach the word of truth embodied in sa-cred scripture, and St. Philip of Moscow and St. Innocent of Alas-ka, to show the continuity of teaching down to our own time and place. Along the side walls of the nave are depicted saints and holy men and women of all times. The ceiling has a large icon of the Sign of the Theotokos, and a representation of the symbols of the Four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Iconography of Sister Cecelia Harvey

In June 2012, The Communities of New Skete joined Sister Cecelia in celebrating fifty years from her first vows in monastic life.

To commemorate this event, we offer this book containing a collection of a few of her many icons to share with her community, family and friends. The selection includes icons from Our Lady of the Sign Monastery and commis-sions done for both churches and individual homes.

Paperback book is 32 pages. 8 1/2 x 11.

ICBK ship. wt. 1 lb. $15.95

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Beginning …In 1969 - the nuns left the Poor Clare cloister in Evans-ville, Indiana on a journey to begin a new contempla-tive life fitting in with con-temporary American Cul-ture. The Monks of New Skete helped them to root their foundation, provid-ing them land and labor on a farm in Cambridge,

New York. Each Sister shared in the work of building and maintaining their new home. Carpentry, plastering, paint-

ing and other “handyman” skills had to be quickly learned. Creating a living …Striving for a balance in prayer and work, the Nuns looked for ways to create a living us-ing their own two hands. One of the early occupations was cleaning houses for local resi-dents. It was quite the coup to be able to say the Nuns cleaned your house. Other forms of work included sewing tailored clothing, vestments, iconography, painting, and assist-ing the Monks in raising and training German Shepherd dogs. With the entrance of Sister Magdalene, whose hobby was baking, the Nuns expanded their work to include cheesecakes.

New Skete Kitchens …In 1975 the original cheesecake recipe had been fine-tuned. With the money raised from the sales of the cheesecakes, the Nuns, in 1983, built the streamlined bakery that is in existence today at their monastery.’ The high-ceilinged room was designed by an architect with green-energy efficiency in mind. Folklore tells that the Nuns were the first to add flavors to their cakes prior to baking. A local restaurant owner who had been serving the Nuns’ Deluxe cheesecake and garnishing it with chocolate and Amaretto asked the Nuns if the ingredients could be added prior to baking. Today there are 13 flavors of cheesecake and a fruitcake.

Today …For more than 35 years the Nuns have been mak-ing their gourmet cheese-cakes and selling them nationwide. Their cheese-cakes have been the sub-ject of many magazines and newspaper articles.

“It is hard to come up with my best ’cause there are so many. A few faves … Cheesecake: Anything from the Nuns of New Skete,” ~ Rachael Ray

Nuns of

New Skete

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www.newskete.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=35&cat=All+Cheesecakes

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Beginning …Spring 1966 - twelve brothers, all former members of a Byzantine Rite community of the Roman Catholic Or-der of Friars, left the Franciscans and estab-lished a separate mo-

nastic community. After a six month stay at a Benedictine lodge in northwestern Pennsylvania,

the Monks moved to the beautiful hills of upstate New York. Here with the help of neighbor- neighbor-ing farmers they learned fast and were able, with their hard work, to provide food for the table and to gain the respect of the local agricultural community.

Creating a living …The Monks fulfilled their vow to create a living with the work of their own hands by raising livestock and smoking meats and cheeses. With the creative culinary talents of Brother Elias they were able to develop recipes and processes for sausages, smoked meats and cheeses as well as cheese spreads that were sold in the most stylish hotels and restaurants in New York City. The location of their farm did not afford the seclusion necessary for a contemplative life, so the Monks moved once again to a small mountain east of the farm. Here they built their monastery where they continue to live, work and worship today.

New Skete Shepherds…As the economy shifted so did their skills: they were able to build on their love of their first German Shepherd dog, Kyr. Kyr was a beloved pet to all of the brothers, and the relationship with him led to the adopting of more German Shepherd dogs. Eventually, at the request of friends, the Monks began breeding these intelligent and beautiful animals for companionship with others. New Skete Shepherds, and dogs of all breeds, need and benefit greatly from for-mal obedience training. New Skete Training, directed by Brother Christopher, offers a course in standard AKC obedience, incorporating the values of the monastic environment. The ob-jective of New Skete Training is to enhance the overall relationship between owner and dog. TodayFor over 40 years, New Skete has dedicated itself to providing the best possible companion dog for you and your family. Dogs are essentially social creatures who thrive when directed positively. The New Skete approach emphasizes the relation-ship as the single most important factor in your life with your dog.

The Monks continue their work with breeding and training and have pub-lished many books related to their lives with the dogs as well as books of spir-itual study and meditation.

Monks of

New Skete

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Thank you from New Skete Communities.

The proceeds from your purchase support the Monks and Nuns in maintaining the Monasteries so they may continue in their mission of prayer, worship and the work of their hands.

The monasteries receive no monetary support from the national church and rely on their own work and charitable donations to bear their financial obligations and needs.

All monetary gifts are tax exempt and are al-ways gratefully received. Your donations help the Monastery in many ways, including repair and maintenance of buildings, Feast Day prepara-tions, special events, and supplementing the Mon-astery’s income during difficult economic times.

Ways to support the mission of New Skete: •Makeadonationofanysize •Sponsoraneventorretreat •Offerprintingservices •Sponsoraprojectofgreatestneed •Pre-paidgiftcards:Lowes,HomeDepot,Sta- ples, BJ’s, Walmart, grocery and gas cards •SharethiscollectionofgiftitemsfromNew Skete with family and friends

The monastery will acknowledge all donations and special thanks will be given to the donors in the daily prayers of the Monks and Nuns.

To make a donation or to learn more about ways to support New Skete Communities please fill out the form below, or email karengladstone@newskete.org, or call 518-677-3928 ext. 214.

Name: ________________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________City/State/Zip: _____________________________________Phone: _________________________________________Email: ____________________________________________________ Please charge my gift:q Visaq Mastercard qAmerican Express q Discover AMOUNT: _____________Account Number: ____________________________________ Exp. Date: ____/____ Signature: ______________________3 digit verification # on back________ Please make checks out to The New Skete Communities q Please send me information on supporting New Skete Communities and the current needs of the monasteries.

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