Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center Feasts of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha Date Proposal of His Holiness Ioannes Paulus II (John Paul II) for one Easter date for all Christians

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 11, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II again proposed that Christians in the East and West agree to celebrate Easter on the same day every year.

Taking advantage of the "happy coincidence" that Easter was celebrated this year on the same day by the Gregorian (West) and Julian (East) calendars, the Pope renewed a proposal he made years ago.

After imparting his traditional blessing, delivering his Easter Message, and expressing greetings in 62 languages today, the Holy Father addressed special greetings to the patriarchs, bishops and faithful of the Eastern Churches, most of whom are Orthodox.

"I pray to the risen Lord that all of us baptized will soon be able to relive every year together on the same day this fundamental feast of our faith," he said.

Easter, the central feast of the Christian calendar, is movable, as it is observed on the first Sunday after the full moon of the spring equinox, that is, between March 22 and April 25.

Because of the disorders that characterized the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C.), Pope Gregory XIII (1582) had the calendar reformed, taking into consideration new criteria for calculating the day of Easter. The Eastern Churches, however, did not adhere to this change.

The appendix of "Sacrosanctum Concilium," the Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution on the sacred liturgy, expressed willingness to come to an agreement with the churches separated from Rome on a common date for Easter.

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Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center
Martha Liles
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O God of all spirits and of all flesh, who have destroyed death, overcome the devil, and given life to the world: grant, O Lord, to the souls of your servants Bucky and Shirley, who has departed from this life, that it may rest in a place of light, in a place of happiness, in a place of peace, where there is no pain, no grief, no sighing. And since You are a gracious God and the Lover of Mankind, forgive him/her every sin he/she has committed by thought, or word, or deed, for there is not a man who lives and does not sin : You alone are without sin, your righteousness is everlasting, and your word is true. You are the Resurrection and the Life, and the repose of your departed servants Bucky and Shirley. O Christ our God, and we send up glory to You, together with your eternal Father and your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and for ages upon ages. Amen.

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