EASTER. - The major feast of the Israelites and of Christians. It was instituted by Moses to commemorate the exodus of Israel from Egyptian oppression; among Christians it designated the solemnity commemorating the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus.
I. THE JEWISH EASTER
1. Institution, legal prescriptions
The word P. is the Greek πᾶγχ of the Septuagint, from the Hebrew pesah "passage," an allusion to the passage of Yahweh through Egypt to strike down the firstborn of the Egyptians, sparing the dwellings of the Israelites. "This day shall be for you a memorial, and you shall celebrate it as a feast for the Lord; as a perpetual statute, throughout your generations, you shall celebrate it" (Ex. 12:11-14).
The first time the P. was celebrated was when Israel was freed from Egypt (Ex. 12). The rite observed then was observed always, except for a few particulars. The feast comprised two parts: the first was the eating of the paschal lamb on the evening of the 14th or 15th of Nisan; the second was the feast of unleavened bread, which lasted seven days. Every Israelite family procured around the 10th of the month of Nisan a lamb (or a kid: ibid. 12:5), kept it until the 14th or 15th of Nisan, and immolated it in the evening. That same evening it had to be roasted and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.
The bread was unleavened because the fathers had not then had time to let it rise (ibid. 12:39; Deut. 16:3); the bitter herbs were in memory of the bitterness of their life in Egypt (Pesahim, X, 5). It had to be eaten in haste (Ex. 12:11; Deut. 16:3), with loins girded, sandals on the feet, staff in hand, in the attitude of one about to depart. The lintel and the two doorposts of the door had to be smeared with the blood of the lamb (Ex. 12:23). It seems that this custom was not preserved: in Deut. 16, where the legislation on the P. is renewed, no mention is made of it, and it no longer had any reason to exist. The immolation of the lamb was later carried out only in the temple (ibid. 16:2, 5-6; II Chron. 35:5-6, 11) and the blood was sprinkled at the foot of the altar. G. Felten rightly supposes that after this the lamb was carried away and roasted in each family. At the solemn paschal feast that followed the reform of Josiah the Levites themselves took charge of the matter (II Chron. 35:13). The other victims that were immolated, sheep and oxen (cf. II Chron. 35:7-9), were permitted to increase the joy of the feast and in case the lamb did not suffice to satisfy all the guests.
According to other secondary prescriptions, men were obliged to take part, under penalty of being cut off from the people (Num. 9:13). Women were not obliged, but they took part especially when the family was small
(Pesahim, VIII, 1). In this case friends and neighbors were also invited, so as to be able to consume the lamb: in the times of Flavius Josephus the guests had to be more than 10 and not more than 20 (Bell. Iud., VI, 9, 3). Pilgrims formed a family, as in the case of Jesus and the Apostles (Mt. 26:17-19), and a setting was offered them by people they knew. Only the circumcised could take part in the paschal banquet (Ex. 12:43-49). Those who were prevented by legal impurity had to celebrate the P. the following month (Num. 19:10-12). Nothing of the paschal lamb was to remain for the following day: every leftover had to be burned (Ex. 12:10). Not even a bone of it was to be broken (ibid. 12:46; Num. 9:12). During the banquet the father of the family had to explain to his household the meaning of the feast (Ex. 12:26-27; cf. 13:8, and Pesahim, X, 4-5).
2. The paschal supper
Some particulars of the paschal celebration also appear from the account of the supper celebrated by Jesus at his last P. and from the description of the supper in the Talmudic writings.
After the washing of hands (or before, according to other rabbinic schools) a cup of wine mixed with water was poured. The words reported by Lk. 22:17 seem to refer to the first cup: "take it and divide it among yourselves." After the infusion of water into the wine, there followed the blessing of the wine and then of the feast, according to the school of Hillel; according to the school of Shammai, on the other hand, first of the feast, then of the wine: perhaps this blessing is indicated in the word of Lk. 22:17: "he gave thanks." After the blessing the chalice passed around and all drank from it (ordinarily, however, each had his own cup: F. Nötscher, p. 337, note 1).
Then the paschal lamb was brought to the table. Before this, it seems that in Jesus' last supper the dispute among the Apostles must be placed, arising from the place they occupied on the couches arranged in the form of a triclinium around Jesus (the paschal supper was no longer eaten in the dress and attitude of pilgrims; all, even the poorest, had the right to recline, like lords). The other event that took place before the legal supper was the washing of the feet, perhaps to replace the purification of the hands customarily performed at the beginning.
After the first cup the paschal foods were brought to the table: the unleavened breads, the bitter herbs (lettuces, radishes and the like), the roasted lamb, the salt water, and finally the haroseth (v.), a thick jam of dates, figs and other fruits boiled with vinegar. The father of the family, having washed his hands again, took a little of the bitter herbs, dipped them in the haroseth and, giving thanks for the fruits of the earth, ate them. Invited by him, the guests did likewise. Then one of them (the youngest, a child) questioned the father about the meaning of the feast, and the father then explained its symbolism (cf. Ex. 12:26-27). There followed the first part of the hymn called Hallel (v.): psalms 113-114 (112-113, 1-8) were sung: it was the thanksgiving for the liberation from Egypt, just before recalled. The second cup was then drunk and the true meal began. Again all washed their hands, and the father of the family, having broken the unleavened breads and placed bitter herbs upon them, handed them to the guests, after pronouncing a blessing over the bread and the herbs. All then ate of the breads and the herbs, and only after this of the other festal victims (called haghigah, from the verb haghagh "to celebrate a feast") and of the paschal lamb: this had to be eaten entirely, as was prescribed in Ex. 12:9-10. A merry banquet then took place. Although it is not expressly stated, it is very likely that Jesus conformed to the customary ceremonial. Of the conversations that took place during the supper, nothing remains but the announcement of the traitor, who left the room during the legal supper. St. John notes that the occasion for it was the piece of bread dipped in the haroseth and given him by Jesus (Jn. 13:30). To the rites of the legal supper Jesus added the rites with which he instituted the Eucharist. It does not appear at what precise point he consecrated the bread. Of the consecration of the chalice it is expressly said that it was "after the supper" (Lk. 22:30; I Cor. 11:25). Perhaps the consecration of the bread replaced the last morsel of the paschal lamb, with which the banquet ended; then it immediately preceded the consecration of the chalice. This coincided, it seems, with the third cup, which, once the supper was finished and the hands washed, was poured, with the prayer of thanksgiving after the meal added to it: it was therefore called the "cup of blessing" (in calling it thus St. Paul confirms the hypothesis that the consecrated cup was the third: I Cor. 10:16). To the consecration of the chalice Jesus added the words: "I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father" (Mt. 26:29). From this it appears that at that supper the fourth cup was not poured, as was ordinarily done. Once the fourth cup was poured, the second part of the Hallél was recited, that is, Psalms 115-118 (113:9-117). This too was done by Jesus and his disciples ("and when they had sung a hymn": Mt. 26:30). When the Hallél was finished, the fourth cup was drunk. Thus the four cups (which altogether were not to be more than half a liter, and perhaps even less) marked the four salient points of the paschal banquet: the first blessing, the explanation of the meaning of the feast, the thanksgiving after the meal, and the final praise.
The wine used was red; white wine was not esteemed. The banquet was not to be prolonged beyond midnight, in observance of the law that in the morning nothing of the paschal victim was to remain (Ex. 34:25).
3. The feast of unleavened bread and the offering of the first sheaf
Closely united to the feast of P. was the feast of unleavened bread, which began on the 15th of nísán: "Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; from the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for whoever from the first to the seventh day eats anything leavened shall be cut off from Israel" (Ex. 12:15; 16-20; Lev. 23:4-8). They began to eat unleavened bread at the banquet of the lamb (ibid. 8). On the first and the seventh day holy assemblies were held and work was forbidden (ibid. 16; Lev. 23:7-8). Each day victims were offered, specified in Num. 28:19-22.
Regarding the offering of the first sheaf, which was to be made in the Temple after P., "on the second day of the sabbath" or "on the day after the sabbath" (Lev. 23:11), there was a difference of opinion between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees saw in that "sabbath" without further ado the solemnity of the 15th of nísán and offered the sheaf on the 16th of nísán, on whatever day of the week it fell. The Sadducees, with more reason, understood that "sabbath" as a true sabbath and always offered the sheaf on the following day, on whatever day of the month it happened to fall. This practice was supplanted by that of the Pharisees. But this led the Boethusians fraudulently to arrange that the 16th of nísán fell on the first day of the week. The sheaf was from the first harvest, that is, of barley, which in Palestine, on the coast and in the plain along the Jordan, is usually in April. The offering signified the consecration of the harvest to God. At Pentecost (v.) the fruits of the harvest already finished were offered, that is, the two loaves.
4. Sacrificial character; P. in the New Testament. — The immolation of the paschal lamb, besides being commemorative, also had a sacrificial character: "And if it happens that your children say to you: What rite is this of yours? you shall say: It is the sacrifice of P. to the Lord" (Ex. 12:26 f.).
In this passage, as also ibid. 34:25 (cf. 23:18), the word zábhāh is used, which indicates a true sacrifice. In Num. 9:7-13 too there is mention of a sacrificial offering: the word qorbān is used and the verb qārabh in the hiph'il form (hiqribh). Wis. 18:9, alluding to the paschal lamb, says that "the children of the good in secret offered sacrifice." The slaughtering of the victim was the duty of the fathers of families (Ex. 12:3-6); only when they were not pure did the Levites replace them in this (II Par. 30:17) (cf. also for the oblation of other victims, in which the slaughtering was an act not reserved to the priests, Ex. 29:22). But the properly sacrificial act, that is, the sprinkling of the victim's blood around the altar, was reserved to the priests (II Par. 29:22; Lev. 1:11; 3:2-8). Now for the paschal lamb in the celebration of P. under Hezekiah the priests "sprinkled the blood, receiving it from the hand of the Levites" (II Par. 30:16). The same happened in the celebration of P. under Josiah (ibid. 35:11). There is reason to believe that this was the ordinary rite: thus it is described in the Miñāh.
On the sacrificial character of the immolation of the paschal lamb is founded the typology of the lamb itself (v.), pointed out by St. Paul (I Cor. 5:7). In the sacrifice of the Cross, which was not followed by the breaking of the legs, St. John saw fulfilled what had been prescribed (Ex. 12:46): "Nor shall you break a bone of it" (Io. 19:36).
Besides the symbolism of the lamb, another figurative aspect of P. has often been pointed out, namely the Exodus of the Hebrews as a figure of the Christian exodus, that is, of liberation from sin (cf. La vie spirituelle, March 1951, entirely devoted to Pâques, Exode des Chrétiens).
In the New Testament, wāqīx means for the most part the Jewish paschal feast: Mt. 26:2 and parallels Mc. 14:1; Lc. 22:1; cf. Lc. 2:41; Io. 2:13-23; 6:4; 11:55; 12:1; 18:39; 19:14; Act. 12:4; Hebr. 11:28). It sometimes has, however, the sense of paschal supper, as in Mt. 26:18 f.; Mc. 14:16; Lc. 22:8-9, 13. With the sense of paschal supper, or rather of paschal lamb, it is found in the expression: "To eat the P." (Mt. 26:17; Mc. 14:12-14; Lc. 22:11-15; Io. 18:28). Exclusive is the sense of paschal lamb in the expression "to immolate the P."; thus Mc. 14:12: "On the first day of unleavened bread, when they immolated the P." (cf. Lc. 22:7) and in the text of St. Paul on the Christ-lamb (I Cor. 5:7).
In the life of Jesus the feast of P. is mentioned; once in his life at Nazareth (his relatives went up to Jerusalem every year for the feast of P.: Lc. 2:41); three times by St. John in his public life: Io. 2:13 is the first P.; ibid. 6:4 is the second P. (it remains uncertain whether the "feast" of 5:1 is the P., even if the article were critically certain); finally the third and last P. is mentioned ibid. 11:55; 12:1. The meaning of the last P. was the liberation from the slavery of sin through the blood of the lamb, which forever replaced and abolished the rite of the Jewish P. Christians celebrated the new P. on the day of Christ's Resurrection, with which the mystery of their Redemption was accomplished, that is, of their acquisition by God as his people, just as the people in the liberation from Egypt became his own by God (cf. Ex. 19:5).
Bibliography6 works
II. THE CHRISTIAN EASTER
1. Meaning
Easter, the commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the oldest and most solemn feast of Christians, the beginning and center of the ecclesiastical year, a feast of movable date, celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon of the spring equinox, that is, not before March 22, and no later than April 25. This date determines the ecclesiastical year: the beginning of Septuagesima and of Lent, the other movable feasts (Ascension, Pentecost, etc.), the number of Sundays after Epiphany and after Pentecost; in ancient times and in the Middle Ages this calendar was noted on a parchment affixed to the paschal candle.
2. Origin of Easter
Christian Easter has its roots in the apostolic tradition; it does not perpetuate the Jewish feast, but fulfills it with its purely Christian content of the Redemption wrought by Christ through death and Resurrection. Concerning the paschal solemnity in apostolic times there is no certain information. The first reliable testimonies come from the famous "paschal question" (2nd and 3rd centuries), when the issue was not the introduction of Easter, but only the time of its celebration. The feast itself was universal throughout the whole Church; this fact presupposes a most ancient and apostolic tradition, which is manifested in the authentic and classical interpretation of the Christian transformation of the ancient Jewish feast, given by St. Paul (1 Cor. 5:7). The Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter stand in parallel connection with regard to date and typology.
3. The meaning of the mystery in the East and in the West
In the mystery celebrated at Easter two different moments are distinguished: the theoretical-theological one of the first three Christian centuries, and the more historical-real one from the 4th century onward. The first, the theoretical-theological, celebrated the redemption wrought by Christ through the Passion, death and Resurrection; the Passion and death in the sorrow and mourning of the fast, the Resurrection in the glory of the eucharistic celebration. In the nocturnal vigil at the first light of day the "Transitus" (the Pascha) was accomplished, that is, the fast ended and the Eucharist was celebrated. The Asian Church celebrated this "transitus," the Pascha, on the evening of the 14th of Nisan, on whatever day it fell, like the Jews, thus opposing the Christian fulfillment to the Jewish type and emphasizing more the death of the Lord as a passage to the Resurrection, that is, celebrating together with the death also the mystery of Christ's Resurrection in a single common solemnity. The Western Church, on the other hand, celebrated the Passion and death of the Lord, likewise in the mourning of the fast, but ended the fast on Sunday, the day of the Kyrios (of the Lord exalted in glory), in order to celebrate Easter, placing stronger emphasis on the Resurrection of Christ. From the 4th century onward the individual days of Holy Week were given the name corresponding to the course of the historical events according to the use of the Church of Jerusalem, described by Egeria in her itinerary: on Thursday the Eucharist was commemorated, on Friday the Passion. Easter was celebrated in the night following the aliturgical Saturday; it was the only Saturday of the year on which in the East one fasted. The following Sunday became the solemnity of the Resurrection.
By the early Fathers the name of Pascha was given only to the day of the Lord's Passion and death, and the preceding fast was called "paschal," deriving from the Greek πάσχειν = to suffer. St. Cyprian, however, began to call Pascha also the day of the Resurrection, a name that has since remained with the feast of the Resurrection. From this feast the word Pascha became a synonym for feast and major solemnity (for example, Pascha Epiphaniae, Pascha Pentecostes, in Spain Pascha floridum for Palm Sunday), and also the Pascha of a saint. Therefore one says Pascha magnum or Pascha Resurrectionis to distinguish it from the other paschal feasts. The Greeks even today speak of Good Friday as the Pascha of the Crucifixion (πάσχα σταυρώσιμον) and of the following Sunday as the Pascha of the Resurrection (πάσχα ἀναστάσιμον).
A particularity of Easter was the vigil, "Mother of all Christian vigils" (St. Augustine, Serm. 219: PL 5, 1088). The paschal night was most holy and most solemn; the churches and the houses were illuminated and, by order of the emperor Constantine (Eusebius, Vita Constant., IV, 22, 2), even the streets. It was a "pannuchis," the whole night, already in the time of Tertullian, was spent in sacred readings and prayers. In that holy night the neophytes received Baptism and Confirmation, assisted for the first time with the faithful at the celebration of the Eucharist; the holy oils were blessed (Hippolytus,
Traditio Apostolica, 21, ed. B. Botte, Paris 1946, p. 49). This most solemn night, preserved to this day in the Eastern Church and shifted in the Western Church, from the 9th century, toward the morning, was restored in 1951. It begins with the blessing of the fire, of the new light of the paschal candle, in the cry of the Lumen Christi (v.) and in the singing of the Exultet (v.), the lucernarium of Holy Saturday; there follows the reading of the prophecies, 12 or 6 or 4, as now in the new Ordo, with the corresponding canticles. After the white in the Lumen Christi and in the Exultet, the violet of paschal mourning returns; then the blessing of the font and the administration of Baptism; in the new restored rite there is the renewal of the baptismal promises; there follows the paschal Mass, in white vestments, with the passage from mourning to joy in the triple singing of the Alleluia. It was at first the only Mass of the great solemnity at the close of the "pannuchis." But when the vigil began on the evening of Saturday, in the time of St. Gregory I, the Mass of the day was introduced with the Gospel of St. Mark, in which the beautiful sequence Victimae is sung, attributed to Wipo (d. ca. 1050). Another particularity of Easter is the octave, which closes with the hour of None on Saturday in Albis. Each day of this octave has its own formulary with its own station; in the prayers and readings reference is made both to the Resurrection and to Baptism; the neophytes assisted in their white garments; after Vespers there was a solemn procession. There were 7 feast days, but after the 10th century only the first two days after Sunday remained such; under Pius X these too were suppressed, remaining feast days only in the liturgical office.
A particularity, then, of the paschal feast are the 50 days that follow it, called Quinquagesima paschalis, up to Pentecost, which falls precisely on the fiftieth day after Easter; these anciently formed the feast of the Resurrection which began immediately after the Pascha of the vigil. In this time the whole Office is pervaded by a sentiment of joy; the Alleluia is added to all the responsories, verses and antiphons of the Office; it is repeated in the Mass again and again. As a sign of joy one did not kneel during the prayers. In the Sacramentaries and in all the Capitularies of the 7th-8th century the Pascha annotinum is noted, a feast celebrated on the Monday after Low Sunday, to remind those baptized at the Easter of the previous year of their initiation into the Faith.
Particular uses of Easter are: the blessing of homes with holy water at the paschal vigil; the new blessed fire was also brought home to cook the paschal foods. Before being eaten, the foods forbidden during Lent are blessed: meat (paschal lamb, already in the Sacramentary of Bobbio [8th century], in Rome in the 9th century) and eggs (in Rome not before the 11th century), etc.
4. The Paschal question
In the 2nd-3rd centuries there was discussion concerning the two different dates for the celebration of Easter; in Asia, following the example of St. John and St. Paul, Easter was celebrated on the day of Christ's death, on the 14th of Nisan, on whatever day of the week it fell (the followers of this custom were later called "Quartodecimans" [v.]); in the West, on the other hand, Easter was always celebrated on the Sunday following the spring full moon. Already St. Polycarp of Smyrna, in the time of Pope Anicetus (ca. 150), attempted without success a reconciliation of these two customs; the dispute culminated around 190 in the time of Pope Victor I and of Bishop Polycarp of Ephesus. Through the intervention of St. Irenaeus of Lyons the danger of a schism was avoided. The Asians gradually adopted the Roman custom. Another difference arose from the different computation for determining the full moon, so as not to have Easter in common with the Jews. The Romans used a cycle of 80 (or 16) years, called the cycle of Hippolytus, with Easter falling between March 25 and April 21; the Alexandrians, on the other hand, used a cycle of 19 years, attributed to Anatolius, with Easter between March 22 and April 25. At the Council of Nicaea (325) Sunday was decided upon as the day of Easter; it fell to the patriarch of Alexandria to announce its day each year. Finally Dionysius Exiguus, in 525, devised a new computation based on the Alexandrian cycle, with Easter between March 22 and April 25; that computation was gradually accepted everywhere, except by the Bretons and the Irish, who retained their own computation of 80 years until the end of the 8th century.
Per l'opuscolo Computus de Pascha, attribuito a s. Cipriano, v. voce relativa.
Bibliography7 works
Pietro Siffrin