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The Great Schism: How Constantine Separated Easter from Passover



Easter, the celebration of Jesus' resurrection, is a cornerstone of Christian faith. But did you know that the date of Easter wasn't always fixed and was once directly linked to the Jewish Biblical holiday of Passover?  Yeshua celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples laying the foundation for what we recognize as the last supper and Communion. He was crucified during Passover giving new meaning to the Biblical account of Passover from the time of Moses. Then just days later he was resurrected to mark the Shavuot, Feast of Weeks, a period of seven weeks after Passover, that honors the time the ancient Israelites waited with Moses to receive the Torah. During the time of Yeshua, he visited with them for forty days after his resurrection during the Feast of Weeks and they waited after Yeshua ascended to heaven just as Moses ascended Mt. Sinai. In his time though, as the disciples waited, they received the Holy Spirit, the Ruach ha Kodesh. The disciples received the Ruach Ha Kodesh the same day that Judaism honors receiving the gift of the Torah. Paul reiterates the words of the prophet Ezekiel by explaining to us why this is important is in Romans 8:4 "So that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit". Elohim himself stated in Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." In Jeremiah 31:33, Adonai says, “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my Torah in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." The day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of an ancient prophecies that defined the essential difference between the Old and New covenant being an internal acceptance of the Torah versus an outwardly expression but internal rejection such as Yeshua accused some of the leaders of his time.


With all of this layered meaning, why did the Church separate Easter/Resurrection Sunday from Passover, thereby clouding over all of the significant meanings of the Biblical High Holy days?


The Dispute

Earliest disciples, all of whom were Jewish, followed the Judaic tradition of calculating Passover based on the Hebrew calendar. This meant Resurrection Sunday fell on the Sunday following the first full moon after the Passover sacrifice. This system, however, created a problem for the growing gentile presence within the body.

  • Theological Distinction: As gentiles diverged from Judaism, some gentile church leaders argued that Jesus' resurrection fulfilled Passover, a critical misunderstanding of scriptures, making it a separate event. Tying what was later to be called Easter to Passover implied dependence on Judaism, something the growing gentile Church wanted to avoid.

  • Standardization: Constantine also desired a uniform date for Easter across the Roman Empire. His political ambitions would benefit from a populace unified under a single religion given that the polytheistic Roman system of religion was weakening severely. State religion no longer had the hold it once did. He needed to regain that power over the people to solidify his reign. The link to Biblical Passover created political difficulty, since Jews would never venerate an emperor as God. But Christianity being young, could benefit from a powerful friend, patron or even modern day prophet to guide it in the right political direction. By more closely identifying Christ with the Sun God, Roman Christians would inadvertently venerate Constantine as God, because in his pagan belief system, he often portrayed himself as the personification of the gods Mithra/Sol Invictus and Apollo both savior of the world and god of prophets.


Constantine's Intervention

In 325 AD, Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to supposedly convert to Christianity, convened the Council of Nicaea to address various controversies within the body. One of the critical issues addressed in the meeting which excluded Jewish followers of Yeshua, was the date of Easter. The council under Constantine’s leadership decided to separate Easter from Passover entirely. This is what Constantine said was his reasoning:

 “And in the first place, it seemed very unworthy for us to keep this most sacred feast following the custom of the Jews, a people who have soiled their hands in a most terrible outrage, and have thus polluted their souls, and are now deservedly blind. Since we have cast aside their way of calculating the date of the festival, we can ensure that future generations can celebrate this observance at the more accurate time which we have kept from the first day of the passion until the present time. Therefore have nothing in common with that most hostile people, the Jews. We have received another way from the Savior.”

The prophetic declaration claiming a new way from the savior presented a system, known as the Computus, that determined Easter based on the solar and lunar calendars, ensuring it always fell on a Sunday between late March and late April.


Consequences of the Separation

The separation of Easter from Passover had several significant consequences:

  • Symbolic Break: It marked a symbolic break between Christianity and Biblical Judaism, solidifying Christianity's separation from Biblical feasts and Yeshua's life. It also institutionalized anti-Semitism within the newly established orthodox Church.

  • Standardized Celebration: The fixed date ensured a unified celebration of Easter across the Roman Empire, strengthening the orthodox Church's authority.

  • Tensions with Judaism: The disconnect between the two holidays created tensions between Christians and Jews, which persist to this day.


Want to Learn More?

If you'd like to delve deeper into this topic, here are some resources:

 
 
 

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