WHY IS ORTHODOX EASTER CELEBRATED ON DIFFERENT DATES?
In determining the day to celebrate Easter, early Christians faced a dilemma. It was known that Christ was crucified after Passover and therefore the date Easter should fall on should be after Passover. The date for Passover is the fourteenth day of Nisan (thirst month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar, about the time of the vernal equinox), a fixed date in the Jewish calendar. This date, translated to the old Julian or solar calendar that Christians used, became a floating date that fell anytime in a week, and therefore made the date and day for Easter change yearly. To add to the confusion, early Christians felt that Easter should always fall on a Sunday. This was resolved at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. when the date for Easter was set as the Sunday that fell after both the fourteenth of Nisan and the vernal equinox. ORTHODOX EASTER IS CELEBRATED ON April 4h, 2010 Further controversy in the date of Easter began in 1582 A.D. with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. A
