A German youth was taken prisoner by the Turks, and since no one effected his release, was compelled to live among these fanatical followers of Mohammed. He grew up, but never relinquished his Lutheran faith. Jesus was his Savior, Jesus, the blessed Lord who died for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.

One Easter morning he had to plow his Mohammed master’s field, but nonetheless as he followed the plow he kept the great festival day in mind and his heart rejoiced in the risen Lord. As he walked in the furrow behind the plow, he sang in his mother tongue one of Luther’s good old Easter hymns: “Jesus Christ today is risen, and o’er death triumphant reign; leading sin herself in chains. Kyrie eleison.”

At the moment the representative of the German government, who was stationed at Constantinople, happened to be riding by. Amazed by hearing a German religious hymn in that land and place, he got out his carriage and went to the singer. The man told him his story, and closed by saying: “I don’t think that I’ll ever be able to return to fatherland, but I shall preserve my Christian faith, though I live among Turks. I know that this is Easter day, and though I am physically far removed from my fellow Christians, nonetheless I celebrate the joyous resurrection festival in spiritual communion with them.”

The officer of the German government succeeded in obtaining the man’s freedom, and he went back to the fatherland where he lived to celebrate Easter day with the risen Lord.  

– Unknown Source

Easter – Setting the Date part 3 of 4

Still another date for Easter?

"Wait a minute!" you say. Yesterday the Easter fact ended by saying that the calculation for Easter is the same for all Christian churches today. Why then do the Orthodox churches generally celebrate Easter on a different Sunday?

From 326 A.D. to 1582 A.D. the Easter Sunday date was based on the Julian calendar in use at that time. The Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar in October 1582 (in most countries) to re-align the calendar with the seasons. The Gregorian calendar very closely maintains the alignment of seasons and calendar dates, but it is a secular calendar.

The Western Church applies the Nicene formula to the calendar as reformed by Pope Gregory in 1582. The Eastern Church applies the Nicene formula to the old Julian Calendar, which was instituted by Julius Caesar and served as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire before the birth of Christ. The Eastern Church also applies the formula in such a way that Easter always falls after the Jewish Passover. Orthodox churches became fully autonomous in 1054 A.D., and celebrate their Easter always on the basis of the Julian calendar. Consequently, the Orthodox Easter Sunday dates are identical up to 1582, then from 1583 onwards often differ from those of Western churches.

In some years the Orthodox Easter Sunday occurs on the same day as the Western Easter Sunday. For example, this occurred in 1990 because the Western Easter Sunday date of (Gregorian calendar) April 15, 1990 is the same as the Orthodox Easter Sunday date of (Julian calendar) April 2, 1990. In most years, Orthodox Easter follows Western Easter by one or more weeks. The Orthodox churches use the same 19 year cycle and formula to calculate Easter's date, but they do so with a different calendar.

Sources: The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, William Gentz | The Bible Almanac, White
| Easter a Pictorial Pilgrimage - Pierre Benoit |

Easter Quotations

The risen Christ, when he shows himself to his friends, takes on the countenance of all races and earth can hear him in his own tongue.

       —   Henri De Lubac, Catholicism, 1927

He who does not himself remember that God redeemed him from sin and death by the life and passion of Jesus of Nazareth ceases to be a Christian.  

Paul Ramsey, Nine modern Moralists, 1962

It was not weakness which made Christ hang on the cross; it was obedience to the law of sacrifice, of love. For how could He save us if He ever saved Himself?.

Fulton J. Sheen, Radio Sermon, April 6, 1941