The Tribune

By Rev. Canon S. Sebastian Campbell

THE EASTER SEASON is the oldest in the Christian Calendar; it encompasses the amazing events of Christ’s Resurrection, Ascension and the Coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Whitsunday). These are seen, now as then, as a unit, each complementing the others, all essential to the total revelation of Christ’s Mission. They came to be called “The Great Fifty Days.” The season’s English name, Easter, is derived from Eostre, a Teutonic goodness of Spring, who gave her name to what then corresponded to the Month of April.

The whole season of Easter is a festival season. There is evidence that in its early years the church did not kneel at any time through the Easter Season. All the Sundays are part of the season and hence are called Sundays of Easter.

Easter is the earliest of the three great Christian Feast Days; the others being Christmas and Pentecost. Originally Easter Eve and Easter Day together were called the Pascha, and the worship consisted of a Vigil of Scripture Readings, Palms and Prayers lasting from sundown until dawn, when converts were Baptised and Communion was celebrated. Pascha was a celebration of the crucifixion and the resurrection as a whole because the early Christians saw the two as indivisible. They commemorated not so much the events themselves but the intrinsic significance of the events-salvation and eternal life with God. They saw their redemption and their re-entry into God’s Kingdom. At the same time, the emphasis on the crucifixion and resurrection observance began to shift to the historic events themselves, a process aided by the evolution of the season of Lent. By the late 4th century, Good Friday became firmly established as the memorial of the crucifixion, thus splitting the original Pascha theme and leaving the resurrection theme only for Easter Day.

The Paschal mystery is expressed effectively in the events of these incredible days: Christ’s Crucifixion Saved us, Redeemed us, Atoned for our sins once and for all, and reconciled us with God: Christ’s resurrection vanquished sin and death and marked the beginning of the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Although the mystery defies our complete comprehension, to Christians it is very real. It is, in fact, the heart of our faith. It is regrettable that sometimes, as we divide Lent and Holy Week and Good Friday from Easter, the essential unity of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection also tends to be broken. We must always remember that the latter completes the former.

The resurrection throws the magnificent light of understanding over Christ’s life and death and so accomplishes our salvation, which was begun with the incarnation and sealed by the crucifixion. Without the resurrection, none of these would have meaning. Without the resurrection, Jesus would have been only another dead Prophet. No wonder this event and the mystery it revealed assumed so important a position in the life of the Church. Little time elapsed before Christians habitually observed Sunday as the Lord’s Day, because a Sunday had been the first day of their new life, their new beginning. That is why they set it apart and made it an occasion for coming together to celebrate the mystery and to partake of the bread and wine by which Christ’s presence was made known.

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Many have asked the question, “Why do we not worship on Saturday, the Sabbath day?” Easter celebrations provide an ideal opportunity for a response. The following contribution from the pen of Bishop Gilbert A. Thompson, taken from his book, “Instructions for Anglicans.” I found it difficult to improve upon and now take liberty to share it.

SUNDAY OR THE LORD’S DAY

THE DAY DERIVES its name from pre-Christian times when it was called the day of the sun. Later it was given Christian interpretation and referred to Christ; the Sun of Righteousness. Malachi 4:2. “But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.”

In the book of Revelation it is called the Day of the Lord. “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day….” 1:10.

The Latin word for Sunday, Dominica, means the Lord’s Day and is used in calendars of the western Church. Already in the New Testament we can observe that the first day of the week is replacing the Jewish Sabbath as the day on which Christians worshipped. St. Paul and the Christians at Troas assembled on the first day of the week to break bread. “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered to break bread, Paul talked with them…” Acts 20:7. St. Paul requests that the Church at Corinth lay aside their alms on the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up…..” 1 Corinthians 16:2.

The chief reason for this shift from the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord’s Day was the commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which took place on the first day of the week. “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early… And saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” St. John 20:1.

Every Sunday is a “Little Easter” and a cause for assembling together to celebrate the revelation of God’s redemptive involvement in our human situation. Both Easter and Pentecost are symbols of a new beginning and liberation from the old codes of the Jewish Law by the grace and freedom by which Christ destroys the old distinctions that separate men and re-creates all things anew in Himself. We are saved by grace and not the works of the Law. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8.

St. Paul writes to the Church of Colossae in regards to Jewish observances: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Colossians 2:6 “For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Colossians 1:19. Because the early Christians saw in Christ a fulfillment of God’s plan for the redemption of the world and in Him the supreme embodiment of the Law and the Prophets – at the Transfiguration both Moses and Elijah disappear leaving Christ alone – the Day of the Lord superseded the Jewish Sabbath as he had taken precedence over the Law and Prophets which understood as being fulfilled in his Ministry. “So the Law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24.

Christians began observing the Lord’s Day after the first day of Pentecost, while retaining the Jewish Sabbath. The early Christians were Jews hence they did not quickly abandon their old traditions. The destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. which caused many to flee to other cities, the conversion of many non-Jewish Christians and the rejection of Christ by most of the Jewish nation were important factors in reducing the Jewish influence in the early Church. Christ was seen as sanctifying all people and all time. Every day was the Lord’s Day, not a particular one. However, the first day of the week was venerated because of the Resurrection and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church, which is sometimes called the Birthday of the Christian Church.

When the Lord’s Day finally became a holy-day (holiday) in the forth century, it had been observed as a special day of worship in the life of the Church for about three hundred years.