This Sunday, April 20, Christians throughout the world celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus. For Christians, Easter is the most important day of the year (Christmas is a distant second) and this year all Christians celebrate it on the same day.
The date of Easter was set in the year 325 at a Church Council in Nicaea, in modern-day Turkey. (We commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of that council this year.) The date of Easter was set as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Orthodox Christians still use the calendar in use at that time, the Julian Calendar. Christians in the western world, like most of the world, use the Gregorian Calendar, the calendar reformed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The two calendars are now 13 days apart.
Thus, most of the time, Western Christians and Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on different days. This year, however, all Christians celebrate it on the same day.
Catholic and Orthodox Christians, as well as Episcopalian and Lutherans and some other Protestants as well, celebrate the last three days of Jesus Christ’s life, called the Triduum, the three days, with special services. On the Thursday before Easter, April 17 this year, Holy Thursday, we celebrate Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples when he established the Eucharist, Holy Communion.
On Friday, called Good Friday, we remember his crucifixion and death on a cross. We believe that he truly died, just like any other human being, and was buried.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus is God. We believe that God is a Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all equal, and that the Son came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth, and that he willingly became a man in order to die to prove God’s love for all of humanity. We believe that he willingly died. No one killed him.
Unfortunately, some people have said that the Jews killed Jesus. This has caused unimaginable suffering on the Jewish people throughout history. Jesus himself says that no one killed him, that he willingly died. “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. (John 10:18)”
The actual people that crucified him were the occupying Roman forces. Therefore, we affirm that all forms of antisemitism, islamophobia or any other form of prejudice or discrimination of another person because of their religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status, immigration status, etc. is totally contrary to the will of God.
Catholics and Orthodox Christians celebrate Christ’s Resurrection (rising again to life after his death) on Saturday night, Holy Saturday, with a Vigil Service, as do many Episcopalians and Lutherans. All Christians celebrate the Resurrection on Easter Sunday with special services.
All of the Christian churches in South County will hold special services on Easter Sunday. All are welcome to attend. Schedules of services are on church websites as well as in ads in newspapers.
On Easter, Orthodox Christians great each other by saying Χριστός ανέστη, “Christ is Risen” and respond by saying, “Indeed he is Risen.” Non-Christians, of course, do not share this belief, but we all respect each other’s beliefs and rejoice with those of different faiths as they celebrate their Holy Days. Happy Easter to all!
Father Jose Rubio is the Retired in Residence pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Parish in Gilroy. He is one of the original members of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County. Father Jose can be reached at jo********@ds*.org.
