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132-507: The origins of annalistic compilation can be traced to the occasional recording of notes and events in blank spaces between the latercus , i.e. the 84-year Easter table adopted from Gaulish writer Sulpicius Severus (d. c . 423). Manuscript copies of extant annals include the following: MAP of Irish locales linked to Irish Annals writing assembled by De Reir Book of Moytura team Others which contain annalistic material include: Many of these annals have been translated and published by

264-636: A "celestial body", made of a finer material than the flesh. In the Epistle to the Philippians Paul describes how the body of the resurrected Christ is utterly different from the one he wore when he had "the appearance of a man", and holds out a similar glorified state, when Christ "will transform our lowly body", as the goal of the Christian life – "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 15:50), and Christians entering

396-413: A "legendary materialization" of the visionary experiences, "borrowing the traits of the earthly Jesus." Yet, according to Dunn, there was both "a tendency away from the physical ... and a reverse tendency towards the physical." The tendency towards the material is most clear, but there are also signs for the tendency away from the physical, and "there are some indications that a more physical understanding

528-484: A "massive realism" to them, as seen for example in Luke having Jesus insisting that he was of "flesh and bones", and John having Jesus asking Thomas to touch his wounds. Dunn contends that the "massive realism' ... of the [Gospel] appearances themselves can only be described as visionary with great difficulty – and Luke would certainly reject the description as inappropriate." According to Dunn, most scholars explain this as

660-562: A Christian philosopher at Oxford University, the question " 'Did Jesus rise from the dead?' is the most important question regarding the claims of the Christian faith." According to John R. Rice , a Baptist evangelist, the resurrection of Jesus was part of the plan of salvation and redemption by atonement for man's sin . According to the Roman Catechism of the Catholic Church, the resurrection of Jesus causes and

792-650: A Paschal table (attributed to pope Cyril of Alexandria ) covering the years 437 to 531. This Paschal table was the source which inspired Dionysius Exiguus , who worked in Rome from about 500 to about 540, to construct a continuation of it in the form of his famous Paschal table covering the years 532 to 616. Dionysius introduced the Christian Era (counting years from the Incarnation of Christ) by publishing this new Easter table in 525. A modified 84-year cycle

924-510: A Sunday. The Hebrew calendar does not have a simple relationship with the Christian calendars : it resynchronizes with the solar year by intercalating a leap month every two or three years, before the lunar new year on 1  Nisan . Later Jews adopted the Metonic cycle to predict future intercalations . A possible consequence of this intercalation is that 14 Nisan could occur before

1056-471: A belief in a bodily resurrection. Other texts range from the traditional Old Testament view that the soul would spend eternity in the underworld, to a metaphorical belief in the raising of the spirit. Most avoided defining what resurrection might imply, but a resurrection of the flesh was a marginal belief. As Outi Lehtipuu states, "belief in resurrection was far from being an established doctrine" of Second Temple Judaism . The Greeks traditionally held that

1188-735: A belief in the resurrection of the soul alone, which was then developed by the Pharisees as a belief in bodily resurrection, an idea completely alien to the Greeks. Josephus tells of the three main Jewish sects of the 1st century AD, that the Sadducees held that both soul and body perished at death; the Essenes that the soul was immortal but the flesh was not; and the Pharisees that the soul

1320-523: A bodily resurrection meant a new imprisonment in a corporeal body, which was what they wanted to avoid – given that, for them, the corporeal and the material fettered the spirit. James Dunn notes that there is a great difference between Paul's resurrection appearance, and the appearances described in the Gospels. Where "Paul's seeing was visionary ... , 'from heaven'", in contrast, the Gospel accounts have

1452-506: A century year). This is a correction to the length of the tropical year, but should have no effect on the Metonic relation between years and lunations. Therefore, the epact is compensated for this (partially – see epact ) by subtracting one in these century years. This is the so-called solar correction or "solar equation" ("equation" being used in its medieval sense of "correction"). However, 19 uncorrected Julian years are

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1584-423: A commonly held tradition, though Mark may have added to and adapted that tradition to fit his narrative. Other scholars have argued that instead, Paul presupposes the empty tomb, specifically in the early creed passed down in 1 Cor. 15. Christian biblical scholars have used textual critical methods to support the historicity of the tradition that "Mary of Magdala had indeed been the first to see Jesus", most notably

1716-475: A day earlier than it would normally be, in order to keep Easter before April 26, as explained below. In the year 2100, the difference will increase by another day. The epacts are used to find the dates of the new moon in the following way: Write down a table of all 365 days of the year (the leap day is ignored). Then label all dates with a Roman numeral counting downwards, from "*" (0 or 30), "xxix" (29), down to "i" (1), starting from 1 January, and repeat this to

1848-467: A few years of the resurrection. Hans Grass argues for an origin in Damascus, and according to Paul Barnett, this creedal formula, and others, were variants of the "one basic early tradition that Paul "received" in Damascus from Ananias in about 34 [AD]" after his conversion. [3] For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with

1980-572: A great deal of annalistic material from the Viking Age in Ireland which is to be found in no other surviving sources. Much of this was taken from the same sources ancestral to the Annals of Inisfallen , which have come down to us both abbreviated and lacunose . Annals known to have existed but which have been lost include: Easter table As a moveable feast , the date of Easter

2112-557: A little longer than 235 lunations. The difference accumulates to one day in about 308 years, or 0.00324 days per year. In one cycle, the epact decreases due to the solar correction by 19 × 0.0075 = 0.1425 on average, so a cycle is equivalent to 235−0.1425/30 = 234.99525 months, whereas there are actually 19 × 365.2425 / 29.5305889 ≈ 234.997261 synodic months. The difference of 0.002011 synodic months per 19-year cycle, or 0.003126 days per year, necessitates an occasional lunar correction to

2244-403: A locked room, which Endsjø interprets as something like a resurrection. Smith argues that Mark has integrated two traditions, which were first separate, on the disappearance (from the tomb, interpreted as being taken to heaven) and appearance (post-mortem appearances), into one Easter narrative. According to Géza Vermes , the story of the empty tomb developed independently from the stories of

2376-637: A more complex reality: for example, when the author of the Book of Daniel wrote that "many of those sleeping in the dust shall awaken", religion scholar Dag Øistein Endsjø believes he probably had in mind a rebirth as angelic beings (metaphorically described as stars in God's Heaven, stars having been identified with angels from early times); such a rebirth would rule out a bodily resurrection, as angels were believed to be fleshless. Other scholars hold that Daniel exposes

2508-442: A multiple of 30. This is a problem if compensation is only done by adding months of 30 days. So after 19 years, the epact must be corrected by one day for the cycle to repeat. This is the so-called saltus lunae ("leap of the moon"). The Julian calendar handles it by reducing the length of the lunar month that begins on 1 July in the last year of the cycle to 29 days. This makes three successive 29-day months. The saltus and

2640-461: A new cycle. At the time of the reform, the epacts were changed by 7, even though 10 days were skipped, in order to make a three-day correction to the timing of the new moons. The solar and lunar corrections work in opposite directions, and in some century years (for example, 1800 and 2100) they cancel each other. The result is that the Gregorian lunar calendar uses an epact table that is valid for

2772-538: A number of men and women gained physical immortality as they were translated to live forever in either Elysium , the Islands of the Blessed , heaven, the ocean, or literally right under the ground. While some scholars have attempted to trace resurrection beliefs in pagan traditions concerning death and bodily disappearances, the attitudes towards resurrection were generally negative among pagans. For example, Asclepius

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2904-423: A period of from 100 to 300 years. The epact table listed above is valid for the 20th, 21st and 22nd century. As explained below, the dates of Easter repeat after 5.7 million years, and over this period the average length of an ecclesiastical month is 2,081,882,250/70,499,183 ≈ 29.5305869 days, which differs from the current actual mean lunation length (29,5305889 d: see Lunar month#Synodic month ) in

3036-423: A slender crescent in the western sky after sunset) on the first day of the lunar month. The conjunction of Sun and Moon ("new moon") is most likely to fall on the preceding day, which is day 29 of a "hollow" (29-day) month and day 30 of a "full" (30-day) month. Historically , the paschal full moon date for a year was found from its sequence number in the Metonic cycle, called the golden number , which cycle repeats

3168-404: Is about 11 days shorter than the calendar year, which is either 365 or 366 days long. These days by which the solar year exceeds the lunar year are called epacts ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : ἐπακταὶ ἡμέραι , translit.   épaktai hēmérai , lit.  "intercalary days"). It is necessary to add them to the day of the solar year to obtain the correct day in the lunar year. Whenever

3300-541: Is also attested by archaeological finds from Jehohanan , a body of an apparently crucified man with a nail in the heel which could not be removed who was buried in a tomb. Contra a decent burial, Martin Hengel has argued that Jesus was buried in disgrace as an executed criminal who died a shameful death, a view which is "now widely accepted and has become entrenched in scholarly literature." John Dominic Crossan argued that Jesus's followers did not know what happened to

3432-472: Is an exception. The month ending in March normally has 30 days, but if 29 February of a leap year falls within it, it contains 31. As these groups are based on the lunar cycle , over the long term the average month in the lunar calendar is a very good approximation of the synodic month , which is 29.530 59 days long. There are 12 synodic months in a lunar year, totaling either 354 or 355 days. The lunar year

3564-520: Is determined in each year through a calculation known as computus ( Latin for 'computation'). Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon (a mathematical approximation of the first astronomical full moon , on or after 21 March – itself a fixed approximation of the March equinox ). Determining this date in advance requires a correlation between

3696-450: Is found in a wide variety of early texts, and probably has its historical roots in the earliest stages of Christianity. According to Israeli religion scholar Gedaliahu Stroumsa , this idea came first, and later, docetism broadened to include Jesus was a spirit without flesh. It is probable these were present in the first century, as it is against such doctrines that the author of 1 and 2 John seems to argue. The absence of any reference to

3828-416: Is given by the formula That is, the year number Y in the Christian era is divided by 19, and the remainder plus 1 is the golden number. (Some sources specify that you add 1 before taking the remainder; in that case, you need to treat a result of 0 as golden number 19. In the formula above we take the remainder first and then add 1, so no such adjustment is necessary.) Cycles of 19 years are not all

3960-503: Is historical. Dale Allison argues for an empty tomb that was later followed by visions of Jesus by the Apostles and Mary Magdalene, while also accepting the historicity of the resurrection. While he acknowledges contradictions in the Gospels' narratives, he argues that they agree on the important themes and that the differences are inconsequential when judging the historical event as a whole. Allison has endorsed David Graieg's work on

4092-409: Is no mention of an open pit or shallow graves in any Roman text. There are a number of historical texts outside the gospels showing the bodies of the crucified dead were buried by family or friends. Cook writes that "those texts show that the narrative of Joseph of Arimethaea's burial of Jesus would be perfectly comprehensible to a Greco-Roman reader of the gospels and historically credible." Early on,

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4224-406: Is no problem since they are the same. This does not move the problem to the pair "25" and "xxvi", because the earliest epact 26 could appear would be in year 23 of the cycle, which lasts only 19 years: there is a saltus lunae in between that makes the new moons fall on separate dates. The Gregorian calendar has a correction to the tropical year by dropping three leap days in 400 years (always in

4356-563: Is one day less: in years 1, 6, and 17 of the cycle the date is only 18 days later, and in years 7 and 18 it is only 10 days earlier than in the previous year. In the Eastern system , the Paschal full moon is usually four days later than in the West. It is 34 days later in 5 of the 19 years, and 5 days later in years 6 and 17, because in those years, the Gregorian system puts the Paschal full moon

4488-460: Is the first one in the year to have its fourteenth day (its formal full moon ) on or after 21 March. Easter is the Sunday after its 14th day (or, saying the same thing, the Sunday within its third week). The paschal lunar month always begins on a date in the 29-day period from 8 March to 5 April inclusive. Its fourteenth day, therefore, always falls on a date between 21 March and 18 April inclusive (in

4620-489: Is the model of the resurrection of all the dead, as well as the cause and model of repentance , which the catechism calls "spiritual resurrection." Summarizing its traditional analysis, the Catholic Church states in its Catechism: Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at

4752-533: Is too late: The full moon would fall on 19 April, and Easter could be as late as 26 April. In the Julian calendar the latest date of Easter was 25 April, and the Gregorian reform maintained that limit. So the paschal full moon must fall no later than 18 April and the new moon on 5 April, which has epact label "xxv". 5 April must therefore have its double epact labels "xxiv" and "xxv". Then epact "xxv" must be treated differently, as explained in

4884-550: The Antiquities of the Jews , a 1st-century account of Jewish history by Josephus , believers of the resurrection are discussed. However, this reference to the resurrection is widely believed to have been added by a Christian interpolator . Within the non-canonical literature of Gospel of Peter , there is a retelling of the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus's followers expected God's Kingdom to come soon, and Jesus's resurrection

5016-519: The Criterion of Embarrassment in recent years. According to Dale Allison , the inclusion of women as the first witnesses to the risen Jesus "once suspect, confirms the truth of the story." N. T. Wright emphatically and extensively argues for the reality of the empty tomb and the subsequent appearances of Jesus, reasoning that as a matter of "inference" both a bodily resurrection and later bodily appearances of Jesus are far better explanations for

5148-579: The Gospel of Matthew , an angel appeared to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, telling her that Jesus is not there because he has been raised from the dead, and instructing her to tell the other followers to go to Galilee, to meet Jesus. Jesus then appeared to Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" at the tomb; and next, based on Mark 16:7, Jesus appeared to all the disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus claimed authority over heaven and earth, and commissioned

5280-461: The lunar months and the solar year , while also accounting for the month, date, and weekday of the Julian or Gregorian calendar . The complexity of the algorithm arises because of the desire to associate the date of Easter with the date of the Jewish feast of Passover which, Christians believe, is when Jesus was crucified. It was originally feasible for the entire Christian Church to receive

5412-469: The previous section . Resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus ( Biblical Greek : ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ , romanized:  anástasis toú Iēsoú ) is the Christian event that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion , starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord . According to the New Testament writing, Jesus

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5544-466: The resurrection of Jesus , which Christians believe to have occurred on the third day (inclusive) after the beginning of Passover . In the Hebrew lunisolar calendar, Passover begins at twilight on the 14th day of Nisan . Nisan is the first month of spring in the northern hemisphere , with the 14th corresponding to a full moon. By the 2nd century, many Christians had chosen to observe Easter only on

5676-485: The visionary appearances of Jesus and an inspired reading of the Biblical texts, gave the impetus to the belief in the exaltation of Jesus as a "fulfillment of the scriptures", and a resumption of the missionary activity of Jesus's followers. Scholars of Jesus as a historical figure tend to generally avoid the topic, since many believe the matter to be about faith, or lack thereof. The conviction that Jesus

5808-434: The 14th day fall between 21 March and 18 April inclusive, thus spanning a period of (only) 29 days. A new moon on 7 March, which has epact label "xxiv", has its 14th day (full moon) on 20 March, which is too early (not following 20 March). So years with an epact of "xxiv", if the lunar month beginning on 7 March had 30 days, would have their paschal new moon on 6 April, which

5940-565: The 16th century the lunar calendar was out of phase with the real Moon by four days. The Gregorian Easter has been used since 1583 by the Roman Catholic Church and was adopted by most Protestant churches between 1753 and 1845. German Protestant states used an astronomical Easter between 1700 and 1776, based on the Rudolphine Tables of Johannes Kepler , which were in turn based on astronomical positions of

6072-467: The 30) epact labels assigned to it. The reason for moving around the epact label "xxv/25" rather than any other seems to be the following: According to Dionysius (in his introductory letter to Petronius), the Nicene council, on the authority of Eusebius , established that the first month of the ecclesiastical lunar year (the paschal month) should start between 8 March and 5 April inclusive, and

6204-486: The 6th figure after the decimal point. This corresponds to an error of less than a day in the phase of the moon over 40,000 years, but in fact the length of a day is changing (as is the length of a synodic month), so the system is not accurate over such periods. See the article ΔT (timekeeping) for information on the cumulative change of day length. This method of computation has several subtleties: Every other lunar month has only 29 days, so one day must have two (of

6336-521: The Apostles, Jesus appeared to the apostles for forty days and commanded them to stay in Jerusalem, after which Jesus ascended to heaven, followed by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the missionary task of the early church. In Judaism, the idea of resurrection first emerges in the 3rd century BC Book of Watchers and in the 2nd century BC Book of Daniel , the later possibly as

6468-596: The British Isles. The British tables used an 84-year cycle, but an error made the full moons fall progressively too early. The discrepancy led to a report that Queen Eanflæd , on the Dionysian system – fasted on her Palm Sunday while her husband Oswiu , king of Northumbria, feasted on his Easter Sunday. As a result of the Irish Synod of Magh-Lene in 630, the southern Irish began to use

6600-556: The Dionysian tables, and the northern English followed suit after the Synod of Whitby in 664. The Dionysian reckoning was fully described by Bede in 725. It may have been adopted by Charlemagne for the Frankish Church as early as 782 from Alcuin , a follower of Bede. The Dionysian/Bedan computus remained in use in western Europe until the Gregorian calendar reform, and remains in use in most Eastern Churches, including

6732-484: The Gregorian Easter, were delayed one week so they were on the same Sunday as the Gregorian Easter. Germany's astronomical Easter was one week before the Gregorian Easter in 1724 and 1744. Sweden's astronomical Easter was one week before the Gregorian Easter in 1744, but one week after it in 1805, 1811, 1818, 1825, and 1829. Two modern astronomical Easters were proposed but never used by any Church. The first

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6864-457: The Gregorian or Julian calendar, for the Western and Eastern system, resp.), and the following Sunday then necessarily falls on a date in the range 22 March to 25 April inclusive. However, in the Western system Easter cannot fall on 22 March during the 300-year period 1900–2199 (see below). In the solar calendar Easter is called a moveable feast since its date varies within a 35-day range. But in

6996-546: The Jerusalem ekklēsia (Church), from which Paul received this creed, the phrase "died for our sins" probably was an apologetic rationale for the death of Jesus as being part of God's plan and purpose, as evidenced in the scriptures. For Paul, it gained a deeper significance, providing "a basis for the salvation of sinful Gentiles apart from the Torah." The phrase "died for our sins" was derived from Isaiah , especially 53:4–11, and 4 Maccabees , especially 6:28–29. "Raised on

7128-566: The Julian calendar or the Gregorian calendar is used. For this reason, the Catholic Church and Protestant churches (which follow the Gregorian calendar) celebrate Easter on a different date from that of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy (which follow the Julian calendar). It was the drift of 21 March from the observed equinox that led to the Gregorian reform of the calendar , to bring them back into line. Easter commemorates

7260-478: The Resurrection appearances, which also argues that early Christians remembered Jesus as having physically risen from the dead. Graieg argues that Paul in First Corinthians remembered Jesus as having bodily risen from the dead and that the resurrection was of core importance to early Christians using a methodology based on memory theory. Graieg argues that Jesus physically rose from the dead and that he

7392-584: The Roman authorities to make arrangements for Jesus’s hurried burial." James Dunn states that "the tradition is firm that Jesus was given a proper burial (Mark 15.42-47 pars.), and there are good reasons why its testimony should be respected." Dunn argues that the burial tradition is "one of the oldest pieces of tradition we have", referring to 1 Cor. 15.4; burial was in line with Jewish custom as prescribed by Deut. 21:22–23 and confirmed by Josephus War ; cases of burial of crucified persons are known, as attested by

7524-708: The School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies , or the Irish Texts Society . In addition, the text of many are available on the internet at the Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT Project) hosted by the History Department of University College Cork, National University of Ireland. (See External Links below) The famous epic political tract Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib also contains

7656-607: The Sun and Moon observed by Tycho Brahe at his Uraniborg observatory on the island of Ven , while Sweden used it from 1739 to 1844. This astronomical Easter was the Sunday after the full moon instant that was after the vernal equinox instant using Uraniborg time ( TT + 51 ) . However, it was delayed one week if that Sunday was the Jewish date Nisan   15, the first day of Passover week, calculated according to modern Jewish methods. This Nisan   15 rule affected two Swedish years, 1778 and 1798, that instead of being one week before

7788-455: The Trojan prince Ganymede , and princess Orithyia of Athens , whose mysterious disappearances were seen as the result of their being swept away to a physically immortal existence by the gods, Heracles whose lack of bodily remains after his funeral pyre was considered proof of his physical immortalization, and Aristeas of Proconnesus who was held to have reappeared after his body vanished from

7920-585: The Yehohanan burial; Joseph of Arimathea "is a very plausible historical character"; and "the presence of the women at the cross and their involvement in Jesus's burial can be attributed more plausibly to early oral memory than to creative story-telling." Craig A. Evans refers to Deut. 21:22-23 and Josephus to argue that the entombment of Jesus accords with Jewish sensitivities and historical reality. Evans also notes that "politically, too, it seems unlikely that, on

8052-404: The astronomical Easter one month before the Gregorian Easter in 1924, 1943, and 1962, but one week after it in 1927, 1954, and 1967. The 1997 version would have placed the astronomical Easter on the same Sunday as the Gregorian Easter for 2000–2025 except for 2019, when it would have been one month earlier. The Easter cycle groups days into lunar months, which are either 29 or 30 days long. There

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8184-781: The body must not be left exposed overnight, but must be buried that day. This is also attested in the Temple Scroll of the Essenes, and in Josephus ' Jewish War 4.5.2§317, describing the burial of crucified Jewish insurgents before sunset. Reference is made to the Digesta , a Roman Law Code from the 6th century AD, which contains material from the 2nd century AD, stating that "the bodies of those who have been punished are only buried when this has been requested and permission granted." Burial of people who were executed by crucifixion

8316-460: The body. According to Crossan, Joseph of Arimathea is "a total Markan creation in name, in place, and in function", arguing that Jesus's followers inferred from Deut. 21:22–23 that Jesus was buried by a group of law-abiding Jews, as described in Acts 13:29. New Testament scholar Dale Allison writes that this story was adapted by Mark, turning the group of Jews into a specific person. Roman practice

8448-429: The criticisms, taking the Gospel accounts to be historically reliable. John A.T. Robinson states that "the burial of Jesus in the tomb is one of the earliest and best-attested facts about Jesus." Dale Allison , reviewing the arguments of Crossan and Ehrman, finds their assertions strong, but "find[s] it likely that a man named Joseph, probably a Sanhedrist, from the obscure Arimathea, sought and obtained permission from

8580-402: The cycle in use since 1900 and until 2199), then an epact of 25 puts the ecclesiastical new moon on April 4 (having the label "25"), otherwise it is on April 5 (having label "xxv"). An epact of 25 giving April 4 can only happen if the golden number is greater than 11. In which case it will be 11 years after a year with epact 24. So for example, in 1954 the golden number was 17, the epact was 25,

8712-469: The date for Easter directly from the March equinox. In The Reckoning of Time (725), Bede uses computus as a general term for any sort of calculation, although he refers to the Easter cycles of Theophilus as a "Paschal computus ." By the end of the 8th century, computus came to refer specifically to the calculation of time. The calculations produce different results depending on whether

8844-531: The date of Easter each year through an annual announcement by the pope . By the early third century, however, communications in the Roman Empire had deteriorated to the point that the church put great value in a system that would allow the clergy to determine the date for themselves, independently yet consistently. Additionally, the church wished to eliminate dependencies on the Hebrew calendar , by deriving

8976-419: The day of the full moon . It is the day of the lunar month on which the moment of opposition ("full moon") is most likely to fall. The Gregorian method derives new moon dates by determining the epact for each year. The epact can have a value from * (0 or 30) to 29 days. It is the age of the moon in days (i.e. the lunar date) on 1 January reduced by one day. The "new moon" is most likely to become visible (as

9108-599: The dead ", prōtotokos , the first to be raised from the dead, thereby acquiring the "special status of the firstborn as the preeminent son and heir". His resurrection is also the guarantee that all the Christian dead will be resurrected at Christ's parousia . After the resurrection, Jesus is portrayed as calling the apostles to the Great Commission , as described in Matthew 28:16–20, Mark 16:14–18, Luke 24:44–49, Acts 1:4–8, and John 20:19–23, in which

9240-519: The dead." From Hellenistic times on, some Greeks held that the soul of a meritorious man could be translated into a god in the process of apotheosis (divinization) which then transferred them to a special place of honour. Successors of Alexander the Great made this idea very well known throughout the Middle East through coins bearing his image, a privilege previously reserved for gods. The idea

9372-468: The disciples receive the call "to let the world know the good news of a victorious Saviour and the very presence of God in the world by the spirit". According to these texts, Jesus says that they "will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you", that "repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [the Messiah's] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem", and that "if you forgive

9504-411: The disciples to preach the gospel to the whole world. In this message, the end times are delayed "to bring the world to discipleship". In the Gospel of Luke , "the women who had come with him from Galilee" come to his tomb, which they find empty. Two angelic beings appeared to announce that Jesus is not there but has been raised. Jesus then appeared to two followers on their way to Emmaus, who notify

9636-462: The earlier witnesses. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul described "a man in Christ [presumably Paul himself] who ... was caught up to the third heaven", and while the language is obscure, a plausible interpretation is that the man believed he saw Jesus enthroned at the right hand of God. The many Pauline references affirming his belief in the resurrection include: Jesus is described as the " firstborn from

9768-527: The eastern fringes of the Roman empire, by the tenth century all had adopted the Alexandrian Easter, which still placed the vernal equinox on 21 March, although Bede had already noted its drift in 725 – it had drifted even further by the 16th century. Worse, the reckoned Moon that was used to compute Easter was fixed to the Julian year by the 19-year cycle. That approximation built up an error of one day every 310 years, so by

9900-411: The ecclesiastical new moon was reckoned on April 4, the full moon on April 17. Easter was on April 18 rather than April 25 as it would otherwise have been, such as in 1886 when the golden number was 6. This system automatically intercalates seven months per Metonic cycle. Label all the dates in the table with letters "A" to "G", starting from 1 January, and repeat to the end of the year. If, for instance,

10032-457: The eleven remaining Apostles, who respond that Jesus has appeared to Peter. While they were describing this, Jesus appeared again, explaining that he is the messiah who was raised from the dead according to the scriptures "and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem". In Luke–Acts (two works from the same author) he then ascended into heaven , his rightful home. In Acts of

10164-460: The empty tomb and is no doubt responsible for the introduction of the notions of palpability (Thomas in John) and eating (Luke and John)." Ehrman rejects the story of the empty tomb, and argues that "an empty tomb had nothing to do with it ... an empty tomb would not produce faith." Ehrman argues that the empty tomb was needed to underscore the physical resurrection of Jesus. Géza Vermes notes that

10296-460: The empty tomb and the 'meetings' and the rise of Christianity than are any other theories, including those of Ehrman. Raymond E. Brown concurred, stating "...in my judgment, the evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus is strong...", and critiqued skeptical objections. James DG Dunn writes that the majority of scholars of the Bible believe that the evidence shows that the Resurrection of Jesus

10428-589: The end of the 3rd century. Although a process based on the 19-year Metonic cycle was first proposed by Bishop Anatolius of Laodicea around 277, the concept did not fully take hold until the Alexandrian method became authoritative in the late 4th century. The Alexandrian computus was converted from the Alexandrian calendar into the Julian calendar in Alexandria around 440, which resulted in

10560-425: The end of the year. However, in every second such period count only 29 days and label the date with xxv (25) also with xxiv (24). Treat the 13th period (last eleven days) as long, therefore, and assign the labels "xxv" and "xxiv" to sequential dates (26 and 27 December respectively). Add the label "25" to the dates that have "xxv" in the 30-day periods; but in 29-day periods (which have "xxiv" together with "xxv") add

10692-405: The epact for the year is entered. If the epact for the year is for instance 27, then there is an ecclesiastical new moon on every date in that year that has the epact label "xxvii" (27). If the epact is 25, then there is a complication, introduced so that the ecclesiastical new moon will not fall on the same date twice during a Metonic cycle. If the epact cycle in force includes epact 24 (as does

10824-515: The epact reaches or exceeds 30, an extra intercalary month (or embolismic month) of 30 days must be inserted into the lunar calendar: then 30 must be subtracted from the epact. Charles Wheatly provides the detail: "Thus beginning the year with March (for that was the ancient custom) they allowed thirty days for the moon [ending] in March, and twenty-nine for that [ending] in April; and thirty again for May, and twenty-nine for June &c. according to

10956-434: The epact. In the Gregorian calendar, this is done by adding 1 eight times in 2,500 (Gregorian) years (slightly more than 2500 × 0.003126, or about 7.8), always in a century year: this is the so-called lunar correction (historically called "lunar equation"). The first one was applied in 1800, the next is in 2100, and will be applied every 300 years except for an interval of 400 years between 3900 and 4300, which starts

11088-405: The epacts only from 8 March to 5 April. As an example, if the epact is 27, an ecclesiastical new moon falls on every date labeled xxvii . The ecclesiastical full moon falls 13 days later. From the table above, this gives new moons on 4 March and 3 April, and so full moons on 17 March and 16 April. Then Easter Day is the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after 21 March. In

11220-497: The equinox, irrespective of actual astronomical observation. In 395, Theophilus published a table of future dates for Easter, validating the Alexandrian criteria. Thereafter, the computus would be the procedure of determining the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon falling on or after 21 March. The earliest known Roman tables were devised in 222 by Hippolytus of Rome based on eight-year cycles. Then 84-year tables were introduced in Rome by Augustalis near

11352-539: The equinox, which some third-century Christians considered unacceptable (this cannot happen in the fixed calendar in use today). Consequently, it was decided to separate the dating of Easter from the Hebrew calendar, by identifying the first full moon following the March equinox. By the time of the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325), the Church of Alexandria had designated 21 March as an ecclesiastical date for

11484-489: The establishment of Christianity. In Christian theology , the resurrection of Jesus is "the central mystery of the Christian faith". It provides the foundation for that faith, as commemorated by Easter , along with Jesus's life, death and sayings. For Christians, his resurrection is the guarantee that all the Christian dead will be resurrected at Christ's parousia (second coming). Secular and liberal Christian scholarship asserts that religious experiences, such as

11616-618: The eve of Passover, a holiday that celebrates Israel's liberation from foreign domination, Pilate would have wanted to provoke the Jewish population" by denying Jesus a proper burial. Andrew Loke , after replying to various objections against the historicity of the guards at the tomb, argues that "the presence of guards at the tomb would imply that Jesus was buried in a well-identified place (contrary to unburied hypothesis)." According to religion professor John Granger Cook, there are historical texts that mention mass graves, but they contain no indication of those bodies being dug up by animals. There

11748-441: The example, this paschal full moon is on 16 April. If the dominical letter is E, then Easter day is on 20 April. The label " 25 " (as distinct from "xxv") is used as follows: Within a Metonic cycle, years that are 11 years apart have epacts that differ by one day. A month beginning on a date having labels "xxiv" and "xxv" written side by side has either 29 or 30 days. If the epacts 24 and 25 both occur within one Metonic cycle, then

11880-549: The first Sunday of the year is on 5 January, which has letter "E", then every date with the letter "E" is a Sunday that year. Then "E" is called the dominical letter (DL) for that year – from dies dominica (Latin for 'the Lord's day'). The dominical letter cycles backward one position every year. In leap years, after 24 February, the Sundays fall on the previous letter of the cycle, so leap years have two dominical letters:

12012-419: The first for before, the second for after the leap day. In practice, for the purpose of calculating Easter, this need not be done for all 365 days of the year. For the epacts, March comes out exactly the same as January, because 31+28 days = 30+29 epacts, so one need not calculate January or February. To avoid the need to calculate the dominical letters for January and February, start with D for 1 March. You need

12144-433: The gods and returns to them after death, this happens "only when it is most completely separated and set free from the body, and becomes altogether pure, fleshless, and undefiled". Scholars differ on the historicity of the empty tomb story and the relation between the burial stories and the postmortem appearances. Scholars also differ on whether Jesus received a decent burial. Points of contention are (1) whether Jesus's body

12276-468: The impetus to Christ-devotion and the belief in the exaltation of Jesus. Jesus's death was interpreted in light of the scriptures as a redemptive death, being part of God's plan. The subsequent appearances led to the resumption of the missionary activity of Jesus's followers, with Peter assuming the leadership role in the first ekklēsia (which formed the basis for the Apostolic succession). In

12408-533: The kingdom will be "putting off the body of the flesh" (Colossians 2:11). Paul opposed the notion of a purely spiritual resurrection, as propagated by some Christians in Corinth, which he addresses in 1 Corinthians. The developing Gospel tradition emphasized the material aspects to counter this spiritual interpretation. Paul's views of a bodily resurrection went against the thoughts of the Greek philosophers to whom

12540-447: The label "25" to the date with "xxvi". The distribution of the lengths of the months and the length of the epact cycles is such that each civil calendar month starts and ends with the same epact label, except for February and, one might say, for August, which starts with the double label "xxv"/"xxiv" but ends with the single label "xxiv". This table is called the calendarium . The ecclesiastical new moons for any year are those dates when

12672-621: The letters sent by Paul the Apostle to one of the early Greek churches, the First Epistle to the Corinthians , contains one of the earliest Christian creeds referring to post-mortem appearances of Jesus, and expressing the belief that he was raised from the dead, namely 1 Corinthians 15:3–8. It is widely accepted that this creed predates Paul and the writing of First Corinthians. Scholars have contended that in his presentation of

12804-407: The lunar calendar, Easter is always the third Sunday in the paschal lunar month, and is no more "moveable" than any holiday that is fixed to a particular day of the week and week within a month, such as Thanksgiving . As reforming the computus was the primary motivation for the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, a corresponding computus methodology was introduced alongside

12936-430: The lunar month took the name of the Julian month in which it ended. The nineteen-year Metonic cycle assumes that 19 tropical years are as long as 235 synodic months. So after 19 years the lunations should fall the same way in the solar years, and the epacts should repeat. Over 19 years the epact increases by 19 × 11 = 209 ≡ 29 ( mod 30) , not 0 (mod 30) . That is, 209 divided by 30 leaves a remainder of 29 instead of being

13068-445: The lunar phase on January 1 every 19 years. This method was modified in the Gregorian reform because the tabular dates go out of sync with reality after about two centuries. From the epact method, a simplified table can be constructed that has a validity of one to three centuries. The date of the Paschal full moon in a particular year is usually either 11 days earlier than in the previous year, or 19 days later. In 5 out of 19 years it

13200-417: The most sensible historical explanation for these visions is that Jesus [physically] appeared to the disciples." The belief in the resurrection by Jesus's early followers formed the proclamation of the first ekklēsia (lit. "assembly"). The "visions of the resurrected/exalted Christ" reinforced the impact Jesus and his ministry had on his early followers, and interpreted in a scriptural framework they gave

13332-431: The nature of resurrection, that Paul held to a physically resurrected body ( sōma ), restored to life, but animated by spirit ( pneumatikos ) instead of soul ( psuchikos ), just like the later Gospel accounts. The nature of this resurrected body is a matter of debate. In 1 Corinthians 15:44, Paul uses the phrase "spiritual body" ( sōma pneumatikos ), which has been explained as a "Spirit-empowered body", but also as

13464-419: The new (and full) moons would fall on the same dates for these two years. This is possible for the real moon but is inelegant in a schematic lunar calendar; the dates should repeat only after 19 years. To avoid this, in years that have epacts 25 and with a Golden Number larger than 11, the reckoned new moon falls on the date with the label 25 rather than xxv . Where the labels 25 and xxv are together, there

13596-466: The new calendar. The general method of working was given by Clavius in the Six Canons (1582), and a full explanation followed in his Explicatio (1603). Easter is the Sunday following the Paschal full moon date. The Paschal full moon date is the ecclesiastical full moon date on or after the ecclesiastical equinox on 21 March. The fourteenth day of the lunar month is ecclesiastically considered

13728-585: The old verses: Impar luna pari, par fiet in impare mense; In quo completur mensi lunatio detur. "For the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh months, which are called impares menses , or unequal months, have their moons according to computation of thirty days each, which are therefore called pares lunae , or equal moons: but the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth months, which are called pares menses , or equal months, have their moons but twenty nine days each, which are called impares lunae , or unequal moons." Thus

13860-420: The post-resurrection appearances are often interpreted as being subjective visionary experiences in which Jesus's presence was felt, as articulated in the vision theory of Jesus's appearances . In the twenty-first century, modern scholars such as Gerd Lüdemann have proposed that Peter had a vision of Jesus, due to severe grief and mourning . Ehrman notes that "Christian apologists sometimes claim that

13992-403: The post-resurrection appearances, as they are never directly coordinated to form a combined argument. While the coherence of the empty tomb narrative is questionable, it is "clearly an early tradition." Vermes notes that the story of the empty tomb conflicts with notions of a spiritual resurrection. According to Vermes, "[t]he strictly Jewish bond of spirit and body is better served by the idea of

14124-463: The resurrection, Paul refers to this as an earlier authoritative tradition, transmitted in a rabbinic style, that he received and has passed on to the church at Corinth. Geza Vermes writes that the creed is "a tradition he [Paul] has inherited from his seniors in the faith concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus". The creed's ultimate origins are probably within the Jerusalem apostolic community, having been formalised and passed on within

14256-496: The risen Jesus in person, and ... his understanding of who this Jesus was included the firm belief that he possessed a transformed but still physical body." In Christian theology , the death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus are the most important events, and the foundation of the Christian faith. The Nicene Creed states: "On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures". According to Terry Miethe,

14388-414: The same length, because they may have either four or five leap years. But a period of four cycles, 76 years (a Callippic cycle ), has a length of 76 × 365 + 19 = 27,759 days (if it does not cross a century division). There are 235 × 4 = 940 lunar months in this period, so the average length is 27759   /   940 or about 29.530851 days. There are 76 × 6 = 456 usual nominal 30-day lunar months and

14520-457: The same number of usual nominal 29-day months, but with 19 of these lengthened by a day on leap days, plus 24 intercalated months of 30 days and four intercalated months of 29 days. Since this is longer than the true length of a synodic month, about 29.53059 days, the calculated Paschal full moon gets later and later compared to the astronomical full moon, unless a correction is made as in the Gregorian system (see below). The paschal or Easter-month

14652-440: The scriptures, [4] and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas , then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. [8] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. In

14784-416: The seven extra 30-day months were largely hidden by being located at the points where the Julian and lunar months begin at about the same time. The extra months commenced on 1 January (year 3), 2 September (year 5), 6 March (year 8), 3 January (year 11), 31 December (year 13), 1 September (year 16), and 5 March (year 19). The sequence number of the year in the 19-year cycle is called the " golden number ", and

14916-467: The sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained". The shorter version of the Gospel of Mark ends with the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene , Salome, and "Mary the mother of James". A young man in a white robe at the site of the tomb announced to them that Jesus has risen, and instructed them to "tell Peter and the disciples that he will meet them in Galilee, 'just as he told you ' " ( Mark 16 ). In

15048-414: The stories about the empty tomb were met with skepticism. The Gospel of Matthew already mentions stories that the body was stolen from the grave . Other suggestions, not supported in mainstream scholarship, are that Jesus had not really died on the cross , was lost due to natural causes , or was replaced by an impostor . The belief that Jesus did not really die on the cross but only appeared to do so

15180-520: The story of Jesus's empty tomb in the Pauline epistles and the Easter kerygma (preaching or proclamation) of the earliest church has led some scholars to suggest that Mark invented it. Allison, however, finds this argument from silence unconvincing. Most scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John contain two independent attestations of an empty tomb, which in turn suggests that both used already-existing sources and appealed to

15312-447: The story of the empty tomb conflicts with notions of a spiritual resurrection. According to Vermes, "[t]he strictly Jewish bond of spirit and body is better served by the idea of the empty tomb and is no doubt responsible for the introduction of the notions of palpability (Thomas in John) and eating (Luke and John)." Both Ware and Cook argue, primarily from Paul's terminology and the contemporary Jewish, pagan and cultural understanding of

15444-413: The third day" is derived from Hosea 6:1–2: Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Paul, writing to the members of the church at Corinth, said that Jesus appeared to him in the same fashion in which he appeared to

15576-778: The vast majority of Eastern Orthodox Churches and Non-Chalcedonian Churches . The only Eastern Orthodox church which does not follow the system is the Finnish Orthodox Church, which uses the Gregorian. Having deviated from the Alexandrians during the 6th century, churches beyond the eastern frontier of the former Byzantine Empire, including the Assyrian Church of the East , now celebrate Easter on different dates from Eastern Orthodox Churches four times every 532 years. Apart from these churches on

15708-444: The very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. For orthodox Christians, including a number of scholars, the resurrection of Jesus is taken to have been a concrete, material resurrection of a transformed body. Scholars such as Craig L. Blomberg and Mike Licona argue there are sufficient arguments for the historicity of the resurrection. In secular and liberal Christian scholarship,

15840-457: Was firstborn from the dead , ushering in the Kingdom of God . He appeared to his disciples, calling the apostles to the Great Commission of forgiving sin and baptizing repenters , and ascended to Heaven . For the Christian tradition, the bodily resurrection was the restoration to life of a transformed body powered by spirit , as described by Paul and the Gospel authors, that led to

15972-601: Was adopted by the Roman emperors, and in the Imperial Roman concept of apotheosis, the earthly body of the recently deceased emperor was replaced by a new and divine one as he ascended into heaven. These stories proliferated in the middle to late first century. The apotheosised dead remained recognisable to those who met them, as when Romulus appeared to witnesses after his death, but as the biographer Plutarch ( c.  AD 46  – c.  120 ) explained of this incident, while something within humans comes from

16104-496: Was adopted in Rome during the first half of the 4th century. Victorius of Aquitaine tried to adapt the Alexandrian method to Roman rules in 457 in the form of a 532-year table, but he introduced serious errors. These Victorian tables were used in Gaul (now France) and Spain until they were displaced by Dionysian tables at the end of the 8th century. The tables of Dionysius and Victorius conflicted with those traditionally used in

16236-412: Was current in the earliest Jerusalem community." According to Wright, there is substantial unanimity among the early Christian writers (first and second century) that Jesus had been bodily raised from the dead, "with (as the early Christians in their different ways affirmed) a 'transphysical' body, both the same and yet in some mysterious way transformed." According to Wright, Paul "believed he had seen

16368-444: Was immortal and that the body would be resurrected to house it. Of these three positions, Jesus and the early Christians appear to have been closest to that of the Pharisees. Steve Mason notes that for the Pharisees, "the new body is a special, holy body", which is different from the old body, "a view shared to some extent by the ex-Pharisee Paul (1. Cor. 15:35ff)". The evidence from Jewish texts and from tomb inscriptions points to

16500-484: Was indeed buried by Joseph of Arimathea, but in a tomb for criminals owned by the Sanhedrin . He therefore rejects the empty tomb narrative as legendary. New Testament historian Bart D. Ehrman writes that it cannot be known what happened to Jesus's body; he doubts that Jesus had a decent burial, and also thinks that it is doubtful that Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea specifically. According to Ehrman, "what

16632-399: Was killed by Zeus for using herbs to resurrect the dead, but by his father Apollo 's request, was subsequently immortalized as a star. According to Bart Ehrman , most of the alleged parallels between Jesus and pagan deities only exist in the modern imagination, and there are no "accounts of others who were born to virgin mothers and who died as an atonement for sin and then were raised from

16764-452: Was often to leave the body on the stake, denying an honourable or family burial, stating that "the dogs were waiting." Archaeologist Byron McCane argues that it was customary to dispose of the dead immediately, yet concludes that "Jesus was buried in disgrace in a criminal's tomb". British New Testament scholar Maurice Casey also notes that "Jewish criminals were supposed to receive a shameful and dishonourable burial", and argues that Jesus

16896-653: Was originally a vague statement that the unnamed Jewish leaders buried Jesus becomes a story of one leader in particular, who is named, doing so." Ehrman gives three reasons for doubting a decent burial. Referring to Hengel and Crossan, Ehrman argues that crucifixion was meant "to torture and humiliate a person as fully as possible", and the body was normally left on the stake to be eaten by animals. Ehrman further argues that criminals were usually buried in common graves; and Pilate had no concern for Jewish sensitivities, which makes it unlikely that he would have allowed Jesus to be buried. A number of Christian authors have rejected

17028-684: Was proposed as part of the Revised Julian calendar at a Synod in Constantinople in 1923 and the second was proposed by a 1997 World Council of Churches Consultation in Aleppo in 1997. Both used the same rule as the German and Swedish versions but used modern astronomical calculations and Jerusalem time ( TT + 2 21 ) without the Nisan   15 rule. The 1923 version would have placed

17160-477: Was raised from the dead is found in the earliest evidence of Christian origins. The moment of resurrection itself is not described in any of the canonical gospels, but all four contain passages in which Jesus is portrayed as predicting his death and resurrection, or contain allusions that "the reader will understand". The New Testament writings do not contain any descriptions of a resurrection but rather accounts of an empty tomb and appearances of Jesus. One of

17292-413: Was remembered by Christians as having risen in a metamorphized form. Religion professor Dag Øistein Endsjø points to how the notion of an empty tomb would fit with the ancient Greek beliefs that any case of immortalization always required absolute physical continuity. A vanished body could consequently be an indication of someone having been made immortal, as seen for instance in the case of Aristaeus ,

17424-497: Was taken off the cross before sunset or left on the cross to decay, (2) whether his body was taken off the cross and buried specifically by Joseph of Arimathea , or by the Sanhedrin or a group of Jews in general, and (3) whether he was entombed (and if so, what kind of tomb) or buried in a common grave. An often noted argument in favour of a decent burial before sunset is the Jewish custom, based on Deuteronomy 21:22–23, which says

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