How do easter and passover coincide

Easter is calculated as the first Sunday after the paschal full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox. If the full moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter is the following Sunday. The holiday can occur anywhere between March 22 and April The Western church does not use the actual, or astronomically correct date for the vernal equinox , but a fixed date March And by full moon it does not mean the astronomical full moon but the "ecclesiastical moon," which is based on tables created by the church.

These constructs allow the date of Easter to be calculated in advance rather than determined by actual astronomical observances, which are naturally less predictable.

See also A Tale of Two Easters. The Council of Nicaea in established that Easter would be celebrated on Sundays; before that Easter was celebrated on different days in different places in the same year. Back then, Easter was known as pascha Greek for Passover. This caused a rift between Christians who wished to commemorate Passover and pascha together and those who wished to distinguish the two holidays.

Victor, Bishop of Rome, even went so far as to excommunicate anyone who observed pascha on Passover. When Emperor Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians in the fourth century, he declared that pascha would be officially celebrated on the Sunday after Passover.

Passover commemorates the night of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt around 3, years ago. The Haggadah sets forth the order seder of the celebration. When Jesus observed the Last Supper with his disciples, it was a Passover seder. Jesus used elements of the seder — the unleavened bread matzah and wine — to commemorate his impending death the bread represents his body, the wine his blood. That is why Christians take Communion today.

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