EASTER

Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and other churches in Western Christendom celebrate on Sunday a central belief of the faith, that Jesus Christ was raised by God from the dead.

HISTORY: Perhaps the oldest creedal statement of the Resurrection occurs in the Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, written 20-25 years after Jesus’ death circa AD 30. In the creed (1 Cor. 15:3-7) Jesus was said to have died, was buried, was raised after three days and “appeared” to numerous followers, including Peter (“Cephas”) and James, the brother of Jesus. The Gospel accounts, written in the last third of the 1st Century AD, say that his burial tomb was found empty and that the resurrected Jesus was seen by witnesses.

Disagreements over when to celebrate Easter persisted in the early centuries until the Ecumenical Council of Nicea (AD 325) when it was established that Easter is to be the Sunday after March 21 (the first day of spring). But the eastern churches also insist that the Nicean Council also said that Easter must follow the Jewish Passover, which delays Easter this year for Eastern Christendom until May 4.

The English word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre , the Teutonic goddess of dawn and spring.

CELEBRATIONS: Roman Catholic parishes celebrate Saturday evening vigils and liturgies in anticipation of Easter. Sunrise services on Sunday are popular in Southern California--some traditional outdoor gatherings and others held by (mostly Protestant) churches for their own members. Easter lilies and other symbols of renewed life bolster sermons focused on hope and faith.