Importance of Easter for Orthodox Church: Analytical Essay

We see the moon as a beautiful bright light gleaming in the night’s dark abyss. The round wonder that mankind thought to be the end all and be all of measuring time, was eventually proven to be leading them to a dead end. What hunters and farmers truly needed was a calendar to predict when the seasons would change. To them, having such a calendar would be a game changer. The crucial knowledge of when to plant seeds, prepare for the winter, or brace the heavy rains and daunting heat would have changed the lives of many. Our ability to do this today is something we take for granted. We don’t realize that the 12 months we like to pin up on our wall went through many drastic changes and caused a whirlwind of controversy in order to get it correct. It was not an easy task to figure out the blueprint for the coming of seasons, but it had to start somewhere.

In 432 B.C. the early Babylonians were the first to start the lunar calendar. They based their calendar on moon cycles, but in the end, it ended up being a very important mistake. They discovered the 19-year cycle. As Boorstin wrote “ They found that if they used a nineteen year cycle, assigned to seven of the years thirteen months, and assigned the other twelve years only twelve months, they could continue to use the conveniently visible phases of the moon as the basis of their calendar.” By inserting extra months, they would eliminate a wandering year which made the seasons wander as well, so there was really no way of pinpointing which month would bring the new season.

The Egyptians had another option, and they were smart enough to resist the temptations of the moon. As far as history knows, the Egyptians were the first to create the solar year, and they used it well. The fact that Egyptians were the first to come up with such a great technique left people scratching their heads. They were not good at math, and they had no skills and tools for astronomy that was not already known. When 2500 B.C. rolled around, they had figured out how to predict the rising and setting of the sun. The Egyptians thought they had cracked the code. Once they knew that the sun would rise and fall every day, they began to take note and track the sun. They finally realized that having 12 months with 30 days would create a very useful way to track the seasons. As well as adding 5 days to each month making the calendar 365 days per year. The Nile River was their key to life. When its water rose, they began to sow and reap with their three seasons, Inundation, Growth, and Harvest. They knew that Nile would overflow from June until sometimes late October. With the ground being primed for planting they were able to plant their crops from late October to February, then the season of Harvest came from February to June. This rotation was called the “Nile year” which they began to use around 4241 B.C. Over a long period of time the Egyptians realized they had a problem with their calendar system, and that after centuries their method would cause a wandering year. Now they had certain months sliding into different seasons. Even with such a problem it was still the best calendar out there, which caught the eye of Julius Ceasar.

Now that the months were not lining up correctly with the seasons, Julius Ceasar stepped in to create what he called the Julian Calendar around 46 B.C. His calendar was made up of 12 months that included 30, or 31 days in each, and the month of February would subtract a day every three out of four years which created the leap year. Unfortunately for Julius, he was assassinated, but he left us with the month of July to remember him by.

Creating a perfect calendar that made everyone happy was hard to achieve, and the calendar that Julius Ceasar adopted from the Egyptians was not an accurate calculation of the solar cycle. In fact, this in-accurate calculation caused quite a stir and divide between the Eastern Orthodox church and the Church of Rome. Easter is one of the most important dates on the Christian calendar. The resurrection of Jesus falls on the first Sunday after the full moon date which falls on, or after March 21st. So if the full moon occurs on a Sunday, then Easter is celebrated the following Sunday. The problem this created was that in the New Testament Jesus was crucified on the Passover, and now this celebration was tied to the Jewish calendar. The date of Easter was now landing on the date of the Passover. “Many Christians, following their own interpretation of the Bible, fixed the death of Jesus on a Friday, and the Easter resurrection on the following Sunday. But if the anniversary of the festival was to follow the Jewish Lunar calendar, there was no assurance that Easter would occur on a Sunday” - Boorstin. Once the two churches divided, they tried a few different options so both would agree to come to terms, but nothing ended up settling the matter. They still needed a more precise tracking of the moon. The Council of Nicaea turned to the Bishop of Alexandria hoping he could predict all phases of the moon for years to come. But people did not agree with his work and it caused another divide in the church leading to certain parts of the world celebrating Easter on different Sundays.

Thankfully, Pope Gregory XIII set his sights on the calendar and was determined to correct its flaws. In 1582 the pope constructed a new calendar for all Catholic countries and it eventually became the calendar countries used around the world. The pope realized that the Julian calendar was off by about 11 minutes, which doesn’t seem significant, but over time it caused drastic changes between dates and the seasons. The Gregorian calendar brought March 21st back in line with the equinox by cutting off 13 days of the calendar for one year. By doing this he reset the calendar to adjust exactly how it was back in 325. He made sure that the 11-minute oversight never happened again by eliminating the leap day from years ending in hundreds, unless they could be divided by 400. “This produced the modern calendar in which the West still lives” said Boorstin. But not everyone was on board entirely, the Eastern Orthodox church still uses the Julian calendar to decide when they celebrate Easter, and the Christians still cannot agree on a date that that Jesus was resurrected.

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Through this entire journey we now have a calendar system in place accepted around the world that makes for a better life for farmers, merchants, and everyday living. Could you imagine still not being able to predict the seasons? It is because these great trials and errors that we now live so easily compared to years ago, and we don’t really realize that our entire lives revolve in the hands of the calendar.

The sciences of geology, ethnology, biology, and anthropology along with culture are all greatly affected by our understanding of the calendar year and how it is connected to the environment and time. Because of a uniform system such as the calendar that we currently have, these sciences are dependent upon its information, for example environmental factors or even important social and cultural events can be more easily marked and organized. If we can predict and pinpoint when things occur in a calendar year along with their corresponding seasons and environmental conditions, we gain a better understanding of how time and place are connected. Another example, in ethnology, comparing two different cultures around the same time period would be extremely difficult without the structure of todays calendar. If man did not improve the calendar system we would still be trying to compare cultures based off of when emperors ruled, which The Discoverers describes as very inaccurate. Even geologic time is condensed into one calendar year when determining events. It uses the calendar to determine when the earth was formed, when the first living organisms and bacteria were created, and it’s even used to tell the age of rocks. The calendar is absolutely vital to these sciences, in the past, and especially in the future.

Often in our lives we sit back and wonder about our past. The many steps we take in order to get to where we are now. But what if we went back in time, and one of those steps was a step in another direction? How would this one step alter our path? When reading the chapter “Latitudes of Time” from Boorstin’s The Discoverers, there was a section that jumped out at me. The Fourth Earl of Chesterfield Philip Dormer Stanhope introduced a bill in parliament to adopt the New Style calendar, in doing so he has improved my life without even knowing it. This bill changed the beginning of the year from March 25th to January 1st. Back when I started school the cutoff date to decide which graduation class you were to be placed in was January 1st. I always remembered this because I made the cutoff by one day and I was so excited to go to school and be in the same grade as my cousins who were just shy of a year older than me. I have made some lifelong friends from my school days, and they have had a tremendous impact on which paths I have taken in my life. I would one hundred percent be in an entirely different situation, and my sphere of people who I surrounded myself with would have been totally changed if Philip Dormer Stanhope, the Fourth Earl of Chesterfield had not introduced the bill to change the beginning of the year to January 1st. I tip my hat to him.

Kant’s hypothetical Imperatives “Rules of Skill”, and “Counsels of Prudence” can absolutely be impacted or reshaped when searching for and presenting the truth. I would like to apply Immanuel Kant’s philosophies to the world of sports. As we have mentioned before in class, we as a society tend to hold rich and famous individuals to a different standard. Here is an incident that happened a few months ago in the NFL. The NFL star Antonio Brown has a laundry list of criminal activity including his recent multiple accusations of rape. Antonio Brown was released by the Oakland Raiders because of these charges, and his behavior towards his coaches. A few coaches of other NFL teams including the New England Patriots coach Bill Belichik, were still interested in the wide receiver because he is one of the best to ever play the game. As Kant said “If you want the end, you will seek the appropriate means”. Because “Rules of Skill” and “Counsels of Prudence” are individual based, these coaches are willing to put aside the ugly truth that Antonio Brown is a horrible human being, because of the truth that he can help them win a Superbowl.

Bill Belichik has been building his “Rules of Skill” since he was a young boy, following in the footsteps of his father, and learning from great coaches in the younger years of his NFL career. Belichick has always had a special spot for Antonio Brown, who used to play on the Pittsburg Steelers, a Patriots rival. He would always praise his work ethic, and talk about how he is an unbelievable player on the field. Belichick knows what it takes to win a Superbowl, he has done it numerous times. Patriots owner Robert Kraft has always listened to Belichick as his own “Counsel of Prudence”. Kraft has great trust in Belichick knowing that he always makes decisions for the best interest of the team. The Patriots were very short at the wide receiver position, and when news broke that Antonio Brown had been released from the Raiders, Belichick called Kraft. Kraft was in a quagmire, his team has always been known as the high standard of teams in the league, not a team that would ever take on a player with such a reputation. Kraft knew they needed a good wide receiver, but he didn’t know if Brown was worth the trouble, and the possibility of tainting the prestigious Patriot name, so he asked Belichick for his advice. Belichick told Kraft he thinks they should sign him, and that he can really help the team, they can keep him in line. Patriots owner Robert Kraft sought out the appropriate means by signing Antonio Brown to the 53 man roster, and giving him 9 million dollars just to put his John Hancock on the dotted line. Not only Kraft and Belichick were willing to take on Brown, but the quarterback Tom Brady was also putting the ugly truth aside, and doing everything he could to accommodate Brown. Brady who was giddy about his new weapon on the field, let Brown stay at his home until he found his own place to live (I’m sure his wife loved that). Most of the New England fan base was tearing Brown apart, screaming scumbag and did not want him on the team. When he was signed the Patriots had a lot of upset fans, they couldn’t believe that their beloved team brought aboard a player with such a dark character. The drama surrounding Brown was completely silenced in the minds of his new teammates, coaches, and owner with the excitement of winning.

The unpleasant truth is that Antonio Brown is not a good person, and the Patriots could have easily shopped around for another wide receiver, but they value Antonio Browns ability on the field more than his moral character. The organization and players were willing to silence their inner critics of what is right, and turn the other cheek so their end desire could be accomplished. Their willingness in accepting him or judging him changes because the end result is that it makes them happy that they have a better chance to win the Superbowl, even though a Superbowl has absolutely no basis in morality. The truth is, the powers that be have a goal to win a Superbowl, and they are willing to sign the best players in order to get there, no matter the undesired truth about these players.