wfn.org | U.S. Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue Backs Common Date for Easter

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 14, 2000

U.S. LUTHERAN-ORTHODOX DIALOGUE BACKS COMMON DATE FOR EASTER
00-057-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As Christians begin observances of Lent -- the
period of penitence and fasting leading up to Easter or Pascha -- there
is a renewed effort for all Christians to use the same calculations to
determine the date of Easter each year.  The U.S. Lutheran-Orthodox
dialogue endorsed an international call for a year of study.
     The dialogue, established by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops
in the Americas, studied "Toward a Common Date for Easter."  The
document is also known as the Aleppo Statement because it is the result
of a consultation held in Aleppo, Syria, in March 1997 by the Middle
East Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.
     "We strongly affirm the basic principles of the Aleppo Statement
and urge its careful and pastorally sensitive study," said a seven-paragraph 
"common response" from the dialogue.  "Our Lutheran-Orthodox
Ecumenical Dialogue in the United States endorses the Statement's call
to study during the period leading to Easter/Pascha 2001."
     This year the Western Christian churches observe Easter on April
23 and Orthodox Churches celebrate Easter/Pascha April 30.  In 2001 all
Christian traditions will mark Easter/Pascha on April 15.
     Basically, Western and Orthodox Christians calculate the date of
Easter/Pascha according to a decree of the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is commemorated the Sunday following
the first full moon after the vernal equinox -- the moment the Earth's
Northern Hemisphere enters spring.
     The traditions calculate the equinox and full moon differently,
using different points of reference from the Earth, and often arrive at
different dates for Easter and Pascha.  The Aleppo Statement suggested
using precise modern astronomical determinations from the meridian of
Jerusalem -- the place of Christ's death and resurrection -- so neither
tradition will have to change its policies.
     Members of the Lutheran-Orthodox dialogue agreed "the Aleppo
Statement is faithful to the Nicene norms."  They cited such principles
as celebrating Easter/Pascha on the same day to give "a common witness
to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the central mystery of the
Christian faith."
     The statement rejects the idea of celebrating Easter on a fixed
day of the year and adheres to calculations involving the sun and moon
as "a salutary reminder of the cosmic dimensions of Christ's victory
over sin and death."
     To ensure that new calculations adhere to Scriptures, the U.S.
dialogue called for consideration of the Orthodox understanding that the
common date for Easter/Pascha must follow the Jewish observance of
Passover (Pesach).  According to the Christian Bible, Jesus was
crucified and buried on Friday, the day before Passover, and rose from
the dead early Sunday morning -- the day after Passover.
     "We pledge to one another, and to our other ecumenical partners,
that we will continue to seek reconciliation between all Christians in
this matter," said the Lutheran-Orthodox response.  "Our dialogue
therefore urges our churches to give the Aleppo Statement serious
attention."
     Members of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological
Consultation have endorsed the 1997 Aleppo Statement also, urging all
Christian churches to start celebrating Easter on a common date.
     The Lutheran-Orthodox dialogue is in "Round III" of talks that
began in the 1960s.  Round II, from 1983 to 1989, resulted in the 1992
publication of "Salvation in Christ."  Round III on "Faith in the Holy
Trinity" began in 1994.  Its next meeting will be Oct. 15-18 at the
Lutheran Center, Chicago.
     His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Ainou, Bishop of Pittsburgh,
is Orthodox co-chair of the dialogue.  The Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop
of the ELCA's Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, is Lutheran co-chair of
the dialogue.
     Lutheran members of the dialogue include Bishop McCoid; the Rev.
Jan O. Flaaten, Trinity Lutheran Church, Phoenix; the Rev. Victor C.
Langford III, St. Mark Lutheran Church, Seattle; the Rev. Thomas R. Lee,
associate to the bishop of the ELCA Montana Synod, Great Falls, Mont.;
Dr. Lynne Lorenzen, Augsburg College, Minneapolis; Dr. Bruce Marshall,
St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.; the Rev. Mark N. Swanson, Luther
Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; and Dr. David S. Yeago, Lutheran Theological
Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.
     Orthodox members of the talks are Metropolitan Maximos; His
Eminence Metropolitan Christopher, Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A.
& Canada, Libertyville, Ill.; the Rev. James Jorgenson, Livonia, Mich.;
the Very Reverend John Morris, Shreveport, La.; Dr. Bradley Nassif,
Fuller Seminary, Southern California Extension, Irvine, Calif.; the Rev.
Robert G. Stephanopoulos, Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity,
New York; and the Rev. Gregory C. Wingenbach, Christian Associates of
Southwest Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh.

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