Easter (iraaxa, a Gr. form of the Heb. HCQ, and so Latinized by the Vulgate j)'tschd), i. e. Passover. Easter is a word of Saxon origin, and imports a god- dess of the Saxons, or, rather, of the East, Estera, in honor of whom sacrifices being annually ofl'ered about the Passover time of the j-ear (spring), the name be- caiue attached by association of ideas to the Christian festival of the resurrection, which happened at the time of the Passover : hence we say Eastei--day, Easter- Sunday, but very improperly ; as we hy no means re- fer the festival then kept to the goddess of the ancient Saxons. So the present German word for Easter, Ostern, is referred to the same goddess, Estera or Os- tera. — Calmet, s. v. The occurrence of this word in the A.V. of Acts xii, 4 — "Intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people" — is chiefly noticeable as an example of the want of consistency in the trans- lators. See Authorized Version. In the earlier English versions Easter had been frequently used as the translation of Tracryo. At the last revision Pass- over was substituted in all passages but this. It would seem from this, and from the use of such words as "robbers of churches" (Acts xix, 37), "town-clerk" (xix, 35), " sergeants" (xvi, 35), " deputy" (xiii, 7, etc.), as if the Acts of the Apostles had fallen into the hands of a translator who acted on the principle of choosing, not the most correct, but the nuist familiar equivalents (comp. Trench, On the Authorized Version of the N. T. p. 21).— Smith, s. v. For all tliat regards tlic nature and celebration of the feast referred to in Acts xii, 4, see Passover.
EASTER, Celebration of. In the ancient Church the seventh day of Passion-week (q. v.\ the great Sab- liath, as it was called, was observed with rigorous pre- cision as a day of fasting. Religious worship was
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celebrated by night ; and the vigils continued till cock-crowing, the liour at which it is supposed our Lord arose. At this hour the stillness of these mid- night vigils was broken by the joj-ful acclamation, ' ' The Lord is risen ! The Lord is risen ! The Lord is risen indeed!" The day of Easter was celebrated with every demonstration of joj' as a second jubilee. There was a solemn celebration of the Lord's Sujjper ; the baptism of catechumens ; appropiiate salutations, and demonstrations of joj'; the liberation of prisoners, and the manumission of slaves. Charities were dis- pensed to the needy. Courts of justice were closed. The heathen were foi'bidden to celebrate public spec- tacles in order that the devotions of Christians might not be interrupted. The week following was consid- ered as a continuation of the festival. During this time, those who had been baptized at Easter continued arrayed in white, in token of that purity of life to which the}' were bound by baptism. On the Sunday following the}' laid aside their garments of wliite, and Avere welcomed as members of the Church. — Bingham, Orig. Ecdes. bk. xx, ch. v.
EASTER CoNTiiovEusiES. Tliere was much con- troversy in the early Church as to the days on which our Lord's resurrection ought to be celebrated. The churches of Asia Minor celebrated the death of the Lord on the day corresponding to the 14th of the month Nisan, on which da}', according to the opinion of the whole ancient Church, the crucifixion took place. The Western churches, on tlie other hand, were of opinion that the crucifixion sliould he annually com- memorated on tlie particular day of the week on whicli it occurred, that is, Friday. The resurrection was ac- cordingly commemorated by the former party on the day corresponding to the IGtJi of Nisan, and by the other part}' on tlie Sunday following Good Friday. The two parties also differed with regard to the fasting preceding Easter. The Western churches viewed the death-day of Christ exclusively as a day of mourning, and they did not terminate the time of fasting until the day of resurrection. The churclies of Asia Minor, on the other hand, looking upon the death of Christ ■wholly as the redemption of manliind, terminated fast- ing at the hour of Christ's death (3 o'clocli in the af- ternoon), and immediately after celebrated the Agape and the Lord's Supper. In addition to these two par- ties, both of whicli were witliin the old catholic Cliurch, there was another, repudiated by tlie Church as heret- ical. This third party, an Ebionitic sect, agreed witli tlie churches of Asia Minor in adhering to the com- memoration of the day of the month (14tli and 16th of Nisan), but ditl'ered from tliem in insisting upon the continuance of the obligatory character of the ancient law, and the consequent duty of Christians to celebrate the Jewish Passover. Both were called Quftrtodeci- mani, from the fowteenth (Latin quartndecimus) day of the month on which they commemorated the death of Christ. Eusebius mentions {/lis/. Ecclea. v, 23 ; Vifa Constiinf. iii, 19) Palestine, Pontus, Gallia, Kome, Osroene, Corinth, Phoenicia, Alexandria, as churches following the Western jiractice. To these the emperor Constantine, in a circular enjoining the observance of a decree of the Nicene Council on the subject, adds all Italy, Africa, Spain, Britain, Greece. Thus the West- ern practice appears to have largel}' prevailed. Its adherents traced its origin to the apostles Peter and Paul, while the churches of Asia Minor rested their differing practice upon the authority of the apostle John. Both parties adhered to the name of Pascha (Passorer), by which they understood sometimes the whole week commemorating the Passion, sometimes the specially festive days of this week. In the course of time (it is not known when) the death-day was dis- tinguished as 7r(t<7x« arcuiiiwcnfiov, and the day of res- urrection as — «cr\« avaaraai^iov. Irenajus explicitly bears testimony that the bishops of Rome up to Xvs- tus (at the beginning of the 2d century) kept peace