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The points to be dealt with regarding Easter are its antiquity, and its connection, in point of view of time and of signification, with the Jewish Passover, with which it is connected by the death of Christ, as well as by the day on which that death took place. Then, the character and duration of the feast, the preparatory solemnity of Lent, and the subsequent Octave must be dealt with.

With regard to Easter and its antiquity in early ecclesiastical literature, the Apostolic Fathers, owing to the questions dealt with in their writings, do not mention it. Only in the interpolated letter of Ignatius to the Philippians is Easter mentioned. The passage is directed against the Quartodecimans, which of itself is proof of its later date. Nothing is to be found in the Didach? or in the pseudo-Clementine Homilies. When we come to the apologists, we find no reference to Easter in Justin's Dialogue with Trypho , and nothing in either of his Apologies. Clement of Alexandria speaks only of the Jewish passover, without referring to the Christian feast. Melito of Sardis, however, wrote an entire treatise on the festival of Easter, in the year when Servilius Paulus was Pro-Consul of Asia, for at that time a disagreement concerning Easter had broken out in Laodicea. Clement of Alexandria replied to Melito, who had written in defence of the Quartodeciman practice.

If the Arabic Canons ascribed to Hippolytus, especially the twenty-second, are really his, it would appear that he held Easter might be kept in the same week as the Jewish Passover, but on the Sunday, and should be preceded by a week's fast on bread and water. This date coincides with the Easter cycle of sixteen years drawn up by Hippolytus, and which, after all, is only the Jewish cycle of eight years doubled.

The seventh and sixty-ninth of the so-called Apostolic Canons refer to Easter and its preparatory fast. The seventh is also important on account of what it says about the period within which Easter may fall: "Whosoever keeps Easter with the Jews before the vernal equinox, let him be anathema." From which it appears that the Jewish Passover could fall before the vernal equinox. The last day of Nisan alone must never precede the equinox, and, consequently, the Passover must frequently have fallen before the 21st March, and may have done so in the year of our Lord's death.

The connection between the Christian and the Jewish feasts is both historical and ideal--historical because our Lord's death happened on the 15th Nisan, the first day of the Jewish feast; ideal, because what took place had been prefigured in the Old Testament by types of which it was itself the antitype.

Several of the actions prescribed at the offering of this lamb pointed forward to the atoning death of the Messias, such as the sprinkling of the doorposts with its blood, in order that the destroying angel might pass over the house, and the direction that none of the lamb's bones were to be broken. There were also several other small particulars which emphasised and completed the ideal connection between the sacrifice of the Passover and that of the Cross, as certain Fathers perceived at an early date.

Isaias, speaking in his prophecy, of the sufferings of the Messias, calls Him the Lamb chosen by God, who bears the iniquity of others. St John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and by the writers of the New Testament the same idea is frequently employed. St John the Evangelist expressly refers to the typical character of the Passover rites, when he applies the passage, "A bone of it shall not be broken," to Christ on the Cross, and sees its fulfilment in the fact that the soldiers refrained from breaking His limbs. St Paul declares in general that the sacrifice of Christ replaces the Passover, and sees a typical signification in the unleavened bread. It appears, he had no objection to Christians holding a Passover supper, although, elsewhere he expresses himself strongly against their continuing to observe Jewish practices, such as Sabbaths and new moons. As to the Fathers, it is sufficient, to quote Justin and Tertullian, who in particular see in the fact that the Passover lamb was transfixed in two pieces of wood arranged cross-wise, a figure of the Cross in which Christ was stretched. Speaking generally, there is no doubt the Jewish Passover was taken over into Christianity, and thereby its typical ceremonies found their true fulfilment.

Apart from the relation of the sacrifice of Christ's death to the Jewish Passover, and its dogmatic signification, sentiment and mere human feeling would have led Christians to regard with reverence the day on which our Lord, the Founder of the Church, died, and to keep the day sacred in each succeeded year on which He had offered the sacrifice of Himself. But for this it was necessary, in the first place, to know on what day exactly His death had taken place.

It was extremely difficult for those nations, whose Calendars were arranged on a different system, to fix the day of Christ's death by their own chronology, for the Jewish 15th Nisan might fall on widely different days, sometimes in March, sometimes in April. How difficult it was to discover, the days on which the death and resurrection of Christ ought to be commemorated, will become more obvious from what follows.

To the real and historical connection between the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover, is due the explanation of a striking peculiarity in the Church's year, viz., the movable feasts, of which Easter is the starting-point. Easter falls on no fixed date, because the Jewish 15th Nisan, unlike the dates of the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, varied year by year. The extent and nature of this discrepancy are caused by the Semitic Calendar. At the commencement of the Christian era, this Calendar was not only used by the Jews, but also extensively followed in Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Armenia, Osrho?ne, and in a great part of Asia Minor, although other nationalities in these countries kept each to its own Calendar. Thus, for example, the Greeks in Antioch followed the Syro-Macedonian Calendar, and so on. Where a mixed population existed in any place, different Calendars would be found in use.

The special features of the Semitic, or Jewish Calendar, which concern us in this connection are the following:--

The Semites brought about the necessary adjustment, not by leap-years, but by the insertion of an additional month. For example, eight solar years have a total of 2920 days, not counting the addition days of leap years. The same number of days make up ninety-nine lunar months, or, in other words, eight lunar years and three intercalary months, are equal to eight solar years. Thus, in eight years, three additional months must be introduced, making the number of days almost equal with the days of eight solar years, except for a small discrepancy, caused by the additional day in leap year. When these additional days had reached the number of thirty, they could be accounted for by the introduction of a further additional month. In regulating these points, the equinoxes were of the utmost importance, and, in the second place, the ceremonial oblation of the first fruits.

Until their dispersion after the Jewish war in A.D. 70, and even much later, the Jews reckoned their new moons and leap years, and also the beginning of each year, not by strictly astronomical data, but by the method just described. The rule was that the month began with the day on the evening of which the new moon first became visible, and also that the passover should be kept when the sun was in Aries. Maimonides, agreeing with what we have said above, informs us that a second Adar was interposed if the vernal equinox fell on the 16th Nisan or later. But it would be a great mistake to think that a scientifically accurate system, founded on these principles, was employed for calculating the new moons and leap years, such as would make it possible to bring the dates of the Jewish year into certain correspondence with the Julian Calendar. Still we must not think no attempts were made to reduce the Calendar to order on the basis of some cyclic system, but the caprice of the Sanhedrin always succeeded in rendering these attempts unavailing. Ideler shows how the new moons were treated, and Maimonides tells us that the Sanhedrin was influenced by many considerations in the choice of leap years. The Talmud preserves a remarkable letter written by Rabbi Gamaliel, the teacher of St Paul, to the Jews of Babylon and Media, which may appositely be quoted here. "We herewith inform you that we, in conjunction with our colleagues, have deemed it necessary to add thirty days to the year, since the doves are still too tender, and the lambs too young, and the time of Abib has not arrived."

This passage may well serve as a warning to those who, whenever they find a fixed date in ancient Jewish writings, forthwith, with the aid of lunar tables, transpose it into a date according to the Julian method of reckoning, and possibly flatter themselves they have found a fixed point which will form a basis for further calculations.

In consequence of what we have said, it seems natural that Jewish converts to Christianity in apostolic times in the East should have fixed the date of Easter by Jewish methods, without departing, in this respect, from Jewish customs, especially as they formed the majority in the Church. This was all the more natural since in Syria and in many parts of Asia Minor, a Calendar drawn up on similar principles to the Semitic, was in use alongside the Greek Calendar. This custom, however, although retained by the Quartodecimans, was never widespread, and did not long survive. The principal consideration, which demanded a departure from Jewish methods, was, that from the Christian point of view, the Resurrection, and not the day of Christ's death, formed the chief feature of the commemoration; the latter, although a day to be had in remembrance, could not well be kept as a joyous festival. But the Resurrection took place on the Sunday after the 15th Nisan, and so this Sunday came to be the chief day of the Christians' feast.

Through the gradual spread of Christianity in non-Semitic lands in the West, the necessity must soon have arisen of fixing the day of the Resurrection by the Julian Calendar, and of deciding according to it the day on which Easter had to be celebrated. But, as we have said, it is very difficult to transfer a date from the Jewish to the Julian Calendar, and, in most cases, quite impossible when the date is that of an event already long past.

Let us apply all this to the point in question.

If it was asked, "On what day did Christ die?" the answer was, "On the 15th Nisan." But if it was asked again, "On which day of the Roman Calendar does the 15th Nisan fall?" the reply must be, "Who can tell? In one year it may fall in March, in another in April; sometimes on one day of our Calendar, sometimes on another."

Here and there in the West, there was a tendency to commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ on fixed days in the Julian Calendar--on the 25th and 27th of March, for example--but it never became general. For the most part, the data for the calculation of Easter were the same as those employed for calculating the Jewish passover; that is to say, the full moon on the one hand, and the vernal equinox on the other, Sunday being introduced as an additional factor in the calculation, since our Lord had risen on that day of the week. In this way the above rule was established, and so, in the date of Easter as determined at the present day, the variable Jewish lunar year has left a trace behind it, and, also, the connection in which Christianity stands to Judaism receives a practical expression deserving of being preserved to the end of time.

The manner in which the commemoration of our Lord's passion and death admitted of being celebrated in agreement with the Jewish Calendar, is due to the minuteness with which the fourth Evangelist describes the events of Holy Week.

On the 9th Nisan our Lord arrived at Bethania. The next day, the 10th, took place the triumphal entry into Jerusalem--Palm Sunday.

In this way, these events could be annually commemorated on the same days in the Jewish Calendar, the day of the week, however, varying, as it does in the case of the Jewish passover. That this was actually done is recognised by Isidore of Seville, when he says, "Formerly the Church kept Easter with the Jews on the fourteenth day of moon, no matter on what day of the week it fell." But where the Julian, or even the Egyptian, Calendar was in force, if a man wished to proceed accurately in this way, without being tied down to fixed days of the week , he would nevertheless have to learn on what day of his own Calendar the 15th Nisan of the Jews fell in the year of our Lord's death. For it was quite impossible for him to look for it at one time in March, at another time in April, according to his own Calendar.

Hence arose a striking divergence at the very beginning, which did not admit of being adjusted. Obviously, another method for fixing the date of Easter had to be devised for Gentile converts and for those districts where the Julian, or, at any rate, a non-Jewish, Calendar was in force. At the same time, it is also quite credible, because resting on clear proof, that in Syria and Asia Minor, the Apostles fixed the date of Easter on Quartodeciman principles, while at Rome and Alexandria another method obtained from the beginning. Granted that the Roman Church, during the Apostle's lifetime, consisted only of converts from Judaism, still the Jews as a whole were such a small minority in Rome that they must have conformed to the Roman method of reckoning time, and were probably, most of them, unfamiliar with the Jewish Calendar. It was different in Asia Minor where the Jews were very numerous and free to follow their own customs, and where a Calendar closely allied to the Jewish was used by the native population.

The chief reason why the Jewish Quartodeciman practice of the other Churches finally succumbed, was that Christians desired to commemorate not merely the day of our Lord's death alone, which was linked to the 15th Nisan, but also His Resurrection. The Resurrection had a close connection with His death in point of time, and its commemoration was already firmly established in apostolic times in the form of Sunday . It was thus impossible to pass over the Sunday, and so practically an entire week was occupied by the commemoration. The events of Holy Week given above could not be separated from each other; they must be kept in connection. The Jews, as Epiphanius remarks in his polemic against the Audians, keep their passover on a single day, while the Christians required a whole week for their Easter commemorations. And so, although they took the date of the Jewish passover as the basis of their calculations, they nevertheless did not limit the duration of their feast to that one day. Finally, another point which had weight, was that the Christians of the fourth century had a fixed idea that the 14th Nisan must not fall before the vernal equinox.

Finally, it may not be without interest to observe how in subsequent centuries attempts were made to explain the fact that Easter, unlike other festivals, was movable. It is conceivable that in course of time, the true explanation, viz., the connection of the Christian with the Jewish feast and its consequent dependence on the Jewish Calendar, was forgotten, and attempts began to be made to account for the fact on other grounds, typical or otherwise.

After the observance had everywhere become well established, it must have struck people that the day of our Lord's death was very differently commemorated in the Church from the day of His birth, viz. as a movable feast. Among the questions which Januarius submitted to St Augustine, there was one bearing on this point. Augustine replied that our Lord's birthday was merely a commemorative festival, while Easter had a mystical connection with the Jewish passover, as also its name is of Hebrew, not Greek, origin. Easter is the fulfilment of our redemption which consists in an inward renewal of mankind, and with this idea of renewal, the first month of the Jewish and ancient Roman year corresponds. Afterwards, however, Augustine forsakes this safe path and loses himself in the symbolism of numbers and in forced astronomical interpretations.

The most important passage in this treatise bearing upon the history of Easter is the remark that many Gallic bishops about 570 commenced their celebration of the festival on the 25th March as an immovable feast. This is also confirmed by Bede, who had a distinctly clearer insight into the nature of the question, and thus expresses himself concerning the dispute about Easter. "Originally the Apostles kept Easter on the full moon in March, on whatever day it fell. After their death different customs prevailed in different provinces. The Gauls kept the festival on the 25th of March. In Italy, some fasted twenty days, others seven, but the Easterns remained faithful to the custom of the Apostles." To remedy this state of things, Pope Victor put himself in communication with Theophilus of Caesarea, who held a Synod which decided that the Resurrection should be commemorated on a Sunday, so fixing the day of the week on which it was to be kept.

The Christian passover, as originally limited to Holy Week and Easter Week, was consecrated in the first place to the remembrances of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection, and to this the religious ceremonies, in so far as they differed from the ordinary services, owed their special character. But, in the second place, it is to be observed that so long as the Catechumenate remained in existence, and even to some extent afterwards, Easter was the only season regularly appointed for baptism. At Easter, the labours of the Catechists came to an end, the course of preparation was finished, the Catechumens received the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist. To this fact, in the second place, the Easter services owe much of their special character, and even now, long after the practice of the Church has changed, rites connected with the administration of baptism are to be found in the ritual of the Easter festival. Thus, the consecration of the font on Holy Saturday, first of all, and then the consecration of the Holy Oils on Maundy Thursday, must be owing to the fact that they were required for the administration of Baptism and Confirmation. On this ground, as well as because of the importance of the feast in itself, it is obvious that Easter, from the liturgical point of view, is conspicuous among all the other festivals, and that a number of rites are then performed which are not repeated in the course of the whole year.

In the Middle Ages other special ceremonies and forms of rejoicing took place.

It was quite in keeping with the dramatic character of Catholic worship to represent, in some marked way, Christ's memorable entry into Jerusalem at the last passover. On the very scene of the event especially, one was, so to speak, drawn on to do so without any special exercise of the inventive faculty being required.

At seven o'clock, the bishop took his seat on his throne in the chapel of the Holy Cross. Before him was placed a table covered with a white linen cloth, round which the deacons took up their position. Then the silver shrine containing the wood of the Holy Cross was brought in. It was opened and the Holy Cross itself, along with the inscription laid upon the table. The faithful and catechumens approached, knelt, kissed the Cross, and touched it with their forehead and eyes, but not with their hands. In this way, they passed by, one by one, while the deacons kept watch. Then the deacons exhibited also to the people Solomon's ring and the horn with which the Jewish kings used to be anointed: these also were kissed.

At the sixth hour, noon, the service proceeded in the following manner. The people assembled in the open court between the chapel of the Holy Cross and the Church of the Anastasis; the bishop took his seat on the throne, and then lections from the Scriptures were read continuously, until the ninth hour. These related to the passion, and were taken from the Old Testament, from the psalms and prophets, as well as from the New Testament. At the ninth hour, the passage from St John xix. 30, which speaks of the death of Jesus, was read and the assembly was dismissed. The service was then immediately resumed in the chief church , and continued until the reading of the passage , describing the descent from the Cross, and then again a prayer was recited and the blessing of the catechumens took place. With this, the service for the day concluded and the people were dismissed. The younger clerics, however, remained throughout the night watching in the church.

With regard to the liturgy for Good Friday, the pilgrim found that the ceremonies she saw in Jerusalem differed not at all from what she was familiar with in her own country. She only observes that the baptised children were conducted by the bishop first to the Church of the Resurrection and then to the principal church .

This is the earliest complete description of the ceremonies of Holy Week which we possess. We now pass to the usages of a later date.

PALM SUNDAY

During the Middle Ages, in various places, and especially in Germany, Christ's entry into Jerusalem was represented in a somewhat na?ve manner by carrying round in the procession a wooden figure representing the Saviour seated on an ass. Afterwards it was brought into the Church and placed in a conspicuous position. While suitable hymns were being sung, the clergy and people venerated it on their knees, and there it remained for the rest of the day. Figures of the so-called "Palmesel" are still numerous in museums, as, for example, at Basel, Zurich, Munich, N?rnberg, etc.

MAUNDY THURSDAY

The most unlikely of the many attempts to explain the German name for the day is that which connects it with St Luke xxiii. 31, and makes the name, Green Thursday, signify that the withered branches, sinners, by their reception again into the bosom of the Church once more grow green. Apart from the fact that this interpretation is far-fetched, it savours too much of the study to have ever given rise to the name among the common people. The fact is that red vestments were worn at the reception of the penitents on Maundy Thursday, but green vestments at the Mass, and this gave rise to the name. The older service-books, however, drawn up before liturgical colours had been introduced and their use had become regulated, do not specify the colour for the vestments, but content themselves with prescribing the use of festal vestments in general. Later on, the Roman custom of wearing white vestments on this day became general.

The second characteristic ceremony of the day was the reconciliation of the penitents. These had to remain prostrate on the ground while the Miserere and other prayers were recited over them and their absolution pronounced. On this occasion, as we have remarked above, red vestments were worn. The reconciled penitents were admitted to communion with the rest of the congregation at the Mass which followed.

Finally, in some countries, the public ceremonial recitation of the Creed by the catechumens was prescribed for Maundy Thursday, as by the forty-sixth canon of the Synod of Laodicea, and by the sixty-eighth Trullan canon. This, however, in Rome, was done on Holy Saturday by each person in turn from some conspicuous place in the church.

GOOD FRIDAY

It may be observed here that in W?rtemburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony, Reuss ?. L., Altenburg, and Lippe, Good Friday is one of the days of penitence and prayer, but, on the other hand, wherever Calvinism is in the ascendent, the dogmatic significant of the day, as the day of our redemption has been partially changed. There it ranks as a Church festival, and in other respects is given up to excursions and entertainments, just as if someone would pass the day of his father's death in rejoicings, because a rich inheritance had fallen to him.

HOLY SATURDAY

This too is a day of mourning, as appears also from the fact that, in the Eastern Church, it is numbered among the fast days, although originally in the East no Saturday was kept as a fast. But the sadness of the day is already modified by the approach of the Resurrection, and the Alleluia, which has not been heard since Septuagesima, is sung again at the Mass.

In the early centuries, the Roman rite was much simpler. The festival commenced with the recitation of the creed by the candidates for baptism and a prayer by the Pope over them. Then followed the other preparations for baptism, the renunciations, four lessons from the Old Testament, the singing of Psalm xli., two prayers, the blessing of the baptismal water, the baptism itself, and the confirmation of the baptised. The Mass concluded the function.

EASTER AND THE EASTER OCTAVE

If one wishes to form a correct idea of the festival of Easter, one must always bear in mind its close connection with the solemn administration of baptism. The preliminary ceremonies began on Saturday afternoon and lasted throughout the night. When the number to be baptised was very large, the administration of baptism and the Easter festival could be combined. This connection was lost at only quite a late date, in days when all remembrance of the grounds for it had died out, and people had no longer any idea of the catechumenate. The chief and most striking ceremonies were then transferred to the forenoon, and it is much to be regretted that, in those centuries, no creative force was forthcoming to form something in keeping with the altered conditions of the time. Owing to the alteration in the hour, many of the ceremonies are rendered meaningless.

The interval thus produced was occupied by the festival commemoration of the Resurrection, and by a great procession. The latter can easily be traced back to the solemn procession of the catechumens and clergy from the baptistery to the cathedral, which took place in primitive times after baptism. It was probably ignorance of this custom which led later writers to trace the origin of this procession to the words of Christ to His disciples: "I will go before you into Galilee" , directing them to go to Galilee after His resurrection.

We must now return to the account of the Gallic pilgrim. She speaks of processions to the different churches and to the Mount of Olives as having taken place in Jerusalem not only on Easter Day, but on the other days of the octave as well. She finds no other points to notice in which the customs at Jerusalem differed from those observed at her own home. On the Saturday and Sunday after Easter, the narrative of St Thomas's unbelief formed the Gospel, as at the present day.

With regard to the Easter octave, the two first days rank as festivals of the first class. On Monday, the supper at Emmaus is commemorated, the Gospel being St Luke xxiv. 13-35; on Tuesday, the appearance of our Lord and His apostles, narrated in St Luke xxiv. 36-47; on Wednesday, His appearance by the Sea of Tiberias to Peter and the others, as they were fishing, St John xxi. 1-14; on Thursday, His appearance in the garden to Mary Magdalen, St John xx. 11-18; on Friday, His appearance on the mountain in Galilee, St Matt. xxviii. 16-20; on Saturday, the Gospel contains the account of the first appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalen immediately after His resurrection, St John xx. 1-9.

The chief festivals are usually preceded by a time of preparation, consisting in many cases of only a single day, the vigil, but the preparation for Easter extends over nine weeks, and is composed of two parts, Lent, the more immediate preparation, and the three preceding Sundays, as a more distant and merely liturgical preparation.

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