Wednesday,
315
15
and especially Friday,
316
16
were devoted to the weekly commemoration
of the sufferings and death of the Lord, and observed as days of penance, or watch-days,
317
17 and
half-fasting (which lasted till three o’clock in the afternoon).
318
18
§ 61. The Christian Passover. (Easter).
R. Hospinianus:
Festa Christ., h.e. de origine, progressu, ceremonies el ritibusfestorum dierum
Christ. Tig. 1593, and often.
A. G. Pillwitz:
Gesch. der heil. Zeiten in der abendländ. Kirche
. Dresden, 1842.
M. A. Nickel (R.C.):
Die heil. Zeiten u. Feste nach ihrer Gesch. u. Feier in der kath. Kirche
. Mainz, 1825–1838. 6 vols.
P. Piper:
Gesch. des Osterfestes
. Berl. 1845.
Lisco:
Das christl. Kirchenjahr
. Berlin, 1840, 4th ed. 1850.
Strauss (court-chaplain of the King of Prussia, d. 1863):
Das evangel. Kirchenjahr
. Berlin, 1850.
Boberstag:
Das evangel. Kirchenjahr
. Breslau 1857.
H. Alt:
Der Christliche Cultus
, IInd Part:
Das Kirchenjahr
, 2nd ed. Berlin 1860.
L. Hensley: Art. Easter in Smith and Cheetham (1875), I. 586–595.
F. X. Kraus (R.C.): Art. Feste in "
R. Encykl. der Christl. Alterthümer
," vol. I. (1881), pp. 486–502, and the
Lit. quoted there. The article is written by several authors, the section on Easter and Pentecost
by Dr. Funk of Tübingen.
The yearly festivals of this period were Easter, Pentecost, and Epiphany. They form the rudiments
of the church year, and keep within the limits of the facts of the New Testament.
Strictly speaking the ante-Nicene church had two annual festive seasons, the Passover in
commemoration of the suffering of Christ, and the Pentecoste in commemoration of the resurrection
and exaltation of Christ, beginning with Easter and ending with Pentecost proper. But Passover
and Easter were connected in a continuous celebration, combining the deepest sadness with the
highest joy, and hence the term pascha (in Greek and Latin) is often used in a wider sense for the
Easter season, as is the case with the French
paqueor paques
, and the Italian
pasqua
. The Jewish passover
also lasted a whole week, and after it began their Pentecost or feast of weeks. The death of Christ
became fruitful in the resurrection, and has no redemptive power without it. The commemoration
of the death of Christ was called the pascha staurosimon or the Passover proper.
319
19
The
315
Feria quarta.
316
Feria sexta,
ἡ παρασκευή
317
Dies stationum of the milites Christi.
318
Semijejunia.
319
Pascha,
πάσχα, is not from the verb πάσχειν, to, suffer (though often confounded with it and with the Latin passio by the
Father, who were ignorant of Hebrew), but from the Hebrew
ֶכַּסח the Chaldee ַכְּסָהא , (Comp. the verb ָכַּסח to pass over, to
spare). See Ex. chg. 12 and 13; Lev. 23:4–9; Num. ch. 9. It has three meanings in the Sept. and the N. T. 1) the paschal festival,
called "the feast of unleavened bread," and lasting from the fourteenth to the twentieth of Nisan, in commemoration of the sparing
of the first-born and the deliverance of Israel from Egypt; 2) the paschal lamb which was slain between the two evenings. (3-5
p. m.) on the 14
th
of Nisan; 3) the paschal supper on the evening- of the same day, which marked the beginning of the 15
th
of
Nisan, or the first day of the festival. In the first sense it corresponds to the Christian Easter-festival, as the type corresponds to
the substance. Nevertheless the translation Easter for Passover in the English version, Acts 12:4, is a strange anachronism
(corrected in the Revision).
131
Philip Schaff
History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene
Christianity. A.D. 100-325.
commemoration of the resurrection was called the pascha anastasimon, and afterwards Easter.
320
20
The former corresponds to the gloomy Friday, the other to the cheerful Sunday, the sacred days of
the week in commemoration of those great events.
The Christian Passover naturally grew out of the Jewish Passover as the Lord’s Day grew
out of the Sabbath; the paschal lamb being regarded as a prophetic type of Christ, the Lamb of God
slain for our sins (1 Cor. 5:7, 8), and the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt as a type of the
redemption from sin. It is certainly the oldest and most important annual festival of the church, and
can be traced back to the first century, or at all events to the middle of the second, when it was
universally observed, though with a difference as to the day, and the extent of the fast connected
with it. It is based on the view that Christ crucified and risen is the centre of faith. The Jewish
Christians would very naturally from the beginning continue to celebrate the legal passover, but in
the light of its fulfillment by the sacrifice of Christ, and would dwell chiefly on the aspect of the
crucifixion. The Gentile Christians, for whom the Jewish passover had no meaning except through
reflection from the cross, would chiefly celebrate the Lord’s resurrection as they did on every
Sunday of the week. Easter formed at first the beginning of the Christian year, as the month of
Nisan, which contained the vernal equinox (corresponding to our March or April.), began the sacred
year of the Jews. Between the celebration of the death and the resurrection of Christ lay "the great
Sabbath,"
321
21
on which also the Greek church fasted by way of exception; and "the Easter vigils,"
322
22
which were kept, with special devotion, by the whole congregation till the break of day, and
kept the more scrupulously, as it was generally believed that the Lord’s
glorious return would occur
on this night. The feast of the resurrection, which completed the whole work of redemption, became
gradually the most prominent part of the Christian Passover, and identical with Easter. But the
crucifixion continued to be celebrated on what is called "Good Friday."
323
23
The paschal feast was preceded by a season of penitence and fasting, which culminated in
"the holy week."
324
24
This fasting varied in length, in different countries, from one day or forty
hours to six weeks;
325
25
but after the fifth century, through the influence of Rome, it was universally
320
Easter is the resurrection festival which follow., ; the Passover proper, but is included in the same festive week. The English
Easter (Anglo-Saxon easter, eastran, German
Ostern) is connected with East and sunrise, and is akin to
ἠώς, oriens, aurora
(comp. Jac. Grimm’s Deutsche Mythol. 1835, p. 181 and 349, and Skeat’s Etym. Dict. E. Lang. sub Easter). The comparison of
sunrise and the natural spring with the new moral creation in the resurrection of Christ, and the transfer of the celebration of
Ostara, the old German divinity of the rising, health-bringing light, to the Christian Easter festival, was easy and natural, because
all nature is a symbol of spirit, and the heathen myths are dim presentiments and carnal anticipations of Christian truths.
321
Τὸ μέγα σάββατον, τὸ ἅγιον σάββατον , Sabbatum magnum.
322
Παννυχίδες,vigiae paschae, Easter Eve. Good Friday and Easter Eve were a continuous fast, which was prolonged till
midnight or cock-crow. See Tertull. Ad uxoR. II. 4; Euseb. H. E. VI. 34; Apost. ConSt. V. 18; VII. 23.
323
Various names:
πάσχα σταυρώσιμου (as distinct from π. ἀναστάσιμου).ἡμέρα σταυροῦ, παρασκευὴ μεγάλη or ἀγία,
parasceue, feria sexta major, Good Friday, Charfreitag (from
χάρις or from carus, dear). But the celebration seems not to, have
been universal; for Augustin says in his letter Ad Januar., that he did not consider this day holy. See Siegel, Handbuch der christl.
Kirchl. Alterthümer, I. 374 sqq.
324
From Palm Sunday to Easter Eve.
Ἑβδομὰς μεγάλη, or τοῦ πάσχα, hebdomas magna, hebdomas nigra (in opposition to
dominica in albis), hebdomas crux, Chaiwoche.
325
Irenaeus, in his letter to Victor of Rome (Euseb. V. 24): "Not only is the dispute respecting the day, but also respecting the
manner of fasting. For some think that the v ought to fast only one day, some two, some more days; some compute their day as
consisting of forty hours night and day; and this diversity existing among those that observe it, is not a matter that has just sprung
132
Philip Schaff
History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene
Christianity. A.D. 100-325.