Jesus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia    |    Improve this page[X]

Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about Jesus of Nazareth.  For other uses, see Jesus (disambiguation).

Jesus
Jesus as Good Shepherd (stained glass at St John’s Ashfield)
Born	7–2 BC/BCE[1] Judaea[2]
Died	30–36 AD/CE[3][4][5][6][7] Judaea
Cause of death	Crucifixion[8]
Nationality	Peregrinus,[9][10] Judea Province, Roman Empire[not in citation given]
Ethnicity	Jewish[11][12]
Home town	Nazareth, Galilee[13]

Jesus of Nazareth ( /ˈdʒiːzəs/; 7–2 BC/BCE to 30–36 AD/CE), also referred to as Jesus Christ or simply Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is also regarded as an important prophet of God in Islam. Most Christian denominations venerate him as God the Son incarnated and believe that he rose from the dead after being crucified.^[14][15] The principal sources of information regarding Jesus are the Bible’s four canonical gospels,^[16] which most biblical scholars find useful for reconstructing Jesus’ life and teachings.^{[17][18][19][20]} Scholars have correlated the New Testament accounts with non-Christian historical records to arrive at an estimated chronology for the major episodes in the life of Jesus.^{[21][5][3][22]}

Most modern historians agree that Jesus existed and was a Jewish teacher from Galilee in Roman Judaea, who was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire. ^{[23][24][25][8]} Scholars have offered competing descriptions and portraits of Jesus, which at times share a number of overlapping attributes, such as a rabbi, a charismatic healer, the leader of an apocalyptic movement, a self-described Messiah, a sage and philosopher, or a social reformer who preached of the “Kingdom of God” as a means for personal and egalitarian social transformation.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, performed miracles, founded the Church, died sacrificially to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, from which he will return.^[15] The majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, and the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.^[30] A few Christian groups, however, reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, believing it to be non-scriptural.^[30][31] Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah promised in the Old Testament and as God,^[32] arguing that he fulfilled many Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.^[33]

Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh.^[34] In Islam, Jesus (in Arabic: عيسى‎ in Islamic usage, commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God’s important prophets,^[35][36] a bringer of scripture, and the product of a virgin birth, but not the victim of crucifixion.^[37] Islam and the Bahá’í Faith use the title “Messiah” for Jesus,^[38][39] but do not teach that he was God incarnate.

Contents [hide] 1 Etymology of name 2 Chronology 2.1 Year of birth 2.2 Years of ministry 2.3 Year of death 3 Life and teachings in the New Testament 3.1 Canonical gospel accounts 3.1.1 Gospel sources, similarities and differences 3.1.2 Key elements and the five major milestones 3.2 Genealogy and Nativity 3.2.1 Genealogy 3.2.2 Nativity 3.3 Early life and profession 3.4 Baptism and temptation 3.5 Ministry 3.6 Teachings and preachings 3.7 Proclamation as Christ and Transfiguration 3.8 Final week: betrayal, arrest, trial, and death 3.8.1 Final entry into Jerusalem 3.8.2 Last Supper 3.8.3 Agony in the Garden, betrayal and arrest 3.8.4 Trials by the Sanhedrin, Herod and Pilate 3.8.5 Crucifixion and burial 3.9 Resurrection and ascension 3.10 Title attributions 4 Historical views 4.1 Existence 4.2 Language, race and appearance 4.3 Depictions 4.4 Analysis of the gospels 4.5 Historical analysis 4.5.1 Historicity of events 4.5.2 Role of archaeology 4.6 First century Jewish religious movements 4.7 Mythical view 5 Religious perspectives 5.1 Christian views 5.2 Gnostic views 5.3 Jewish views 5.4 Islamic views 5.4.1 Ahmadiyya views 5.5 Bahá’í views 5.6 Other views 5.7 Criticism 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links

Etymology of name

A series of articles on
[show]Jesus Christ and Christianity Gospel harmony ·Virgin birth Nativity ·Baptism Ministry ·Miracles ·Parables Humiliation ·Death ·Burial Resurrection ·Ascension Heavenly Session Intercession ·Second Coming Christology · Names and titles Relics ·Active obedience [show]Jesus and Islam Islamic views of Mary ·Disciples of Jesus in Islam Islamic view of Jesus’ death ·The Second coming ·The Mahdi ·Jesus in the end of time  ·The fight with the Anti-Christ
[show]Cultural-historical background Language spoken Race ·Genealogy Background of the NT
[show]Jesus and history Historicity ·Chronology Historical reliability of the Gospels Historical Jesus Comparative mythology Christ myth theory Jesus and the Torah Jesus in the Talmud Josephus on Jesus Tacitus on Christ Census of Quirinius [show]Perspectives on Jesus Biblical Christian ·Lutheran Jewish ·Islamic Ahmadi ·Scientology
[show]Jesus in culture Depiction ·Jesuism ·Music below = Christianity Portal series This box: view talk edit

Further information: Jesus (name), Holy Name of Jesus, Yeshua (name), and Messiah

“Jesus” is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), itself a hellenization of the Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yĕhōšuă‘, Joshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšûă‘), both meaning “Yahweh delivers” or “Yahweh rescues”. In Arabic, it is عيسى‎.^[40][41]

The etymology of the name Jesus in the context of the New Testament is generally expressed as “Yahweh saves”,^[42][43][44] “Yahweh is salvation”^[45][46] and at times as “Jehovah is salvation”.^[47] The name Jesus appears to have been in use in Judaea at the time of the birth of Jesus.^[47][48] Philo‘s reference (Mutatione Nominum item 121) indicates that the etymology of Joshua was known outside Judaea at the time.^[49]

In the New Testament, in Luke 1:26-33, the angel Gabriel tells Mary to name her child “Jesus”, and in Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child “Jesus”. The statement in Matthew 1:21 “you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” associates salvific attributes to the name Jesus in Christian theology.^[50][51]

“Christ” ( /ˈkraɪst/) is derived from the Greek Χριστός (Khrīstos), meaning “the anointed” or “the anointed one”, a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ), usually transliterated into English as “Messiah” ( /mɨˈsaɪ.ə/).^[52][53] In the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible (written well over a century before the time of Jesus), the word “Christ” (Χριστός) was used to translate the Hebrew word “Messiah” (מָשִׁיחַ) into Greek.^[54] In Matthew 16:16, the apostle Peter‘s profession “You are the Christ” identifies Jesus as the Messiah.^[55] In postbiblical usage, “Christ” became viewed as a name, one part of “Jesus Christ”, but originally it was a title (“Jesus the Anointed”).^[56][57][58]

Chronology

Main article: Chronology of Jesus

Judaea and Galilee at the time of Jesus.

Although a few scholars have questioned the existence of Jesus as an actual historical figure,^[59], and some early Christian sects denied that Jesus existed as a physical being (see below), most scholars involved with historical Jesus research believe his existence, but that the supernatural claims associated with him cannot be established using documentary and other evidence.^{[60][61][62][25][63][64]} As discussed in the sections immediately below, the estimation of the year of death of Jesus places his lifespan around the beginning of the 1st century AD/CE, in the geographic region of Roman Judaea.^{[65][66][67][68][69]}

Roman involvement in Judaea began around 63 BC/BCE and by 6 AD/CE Judaea had become a Roman province.^[70] From 26-37 AD/CE Pontius Pilate was the governor of Roman Judaea.^[71] In this time period, although Roman Judaea was strategically positioned in the Near East, close to Arabia and North Africa, it was not viewed as a critically important province by the Romans.^[72][73] At the time the Romans were highly tolerant of other religions and allowed the local populations such as the Jews to practice their own faiths.^[70]

Year of birth

Further information: Anno Domini, Common Era, and Year zero

Two independent approaches have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus, one by analyzing the Nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew along with other historical data, the other by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus, as also discussed in the next section.^[5][22]

In its Nativity account, the Gospel of Matthew associates the birth of Jesus with the reign of Herod the Great, who is generally believed to have died around 4 BC/BCE.^[22][74] Matthew 2:1 states that: “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king” and Luke 1:5 mentions the reign of Herod shortly before the birth of Jesus.^[22] Matthew also suggests that Jesus may have been as much as two years old at the time of the visit of the Magi and hence even older at the time of Herod’s death.^[75] But the author of Luke also describes the birth as taking place during the first census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea, which is generally believed to have occurred in 6 AD/CE.^[76] Most scholars generally assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC/BCE.^[77] Other scholars assume that Jesus was born sometime between 7–2 BC/BCE.^[78]

The year of birth of Jesus has also been estimated in a manner that is independent of the Nativity accounts, by using information in the Gospel of John to work backwards from the statement in Luke 3:23 that Jesus was “about 30 years of age” at the start of his ministry.^[3][5] As discussed in the section below, by combining information fromJohn 2:13 and John 2:20 with the writings of Flavius Josephus, it has been estimated that around 27-29 AD/CE, Jesus was “about thirty years of age”.^[79][80] Some scholars thus estimate the year 28 AD/CE to be roughly the 32nd birthday of Jesus and the birth year of Jesus to be around 6-4 BC/BCE.^[3][5][81]

However, the common Gregorian calendar method for numbering years, in which the current year is 2012, is based on the decision of a monk Dionysius in the sixth century, to count the years from a point of reference (namely, Jesus’ birth) which he placed sometime between 2 BC and 1 AD.^[82] Although Christian feasts related to the Nativity have had specific dates (e.g. December 25 for Christmas) there is no historical evidence for the exact day or month of the birth of Jesus.^[83][84][85]

Years of ministry

Israel Museum model of Herod’s Temple, referred to in John 2:13.

There have been different approaches to estimating the date of the start of the ministry of Jesus.^{[3][79][80][86]} One approach, based on combining information from the Gospel of Luke with historical data about Emperor Tiberius yields a date around 28-29 AD/CE, while a second independent approach based on statements in the Gospel of John along with historical information from Josephus about the Temple in Jerusalem leads to a date around 27-29 AD/CE.^{[5][79][80][87][88][89]} A third method uses the date of the death of John the Baptist and the marriage of Herod Antipas to Herodias based on the writings of Josephus, and correlates it to Matthew 14:4.^[90][91][92]

The estimation of the date based on the Gospel of Luke relies on the statement in Luke 3:1 that the ministry of John the Baptist which preceded that of Jesus began “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar”.^[79] Given that Tiberius began his reign in 14 AD/CE, this yields a date about 28-29 AD/CE.^{[3][79][81][93][94]}

The estimation of the date based on the Gospel of John uses the statements in John 2:13 that Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem around the start of his ministry and in John 2:20 that “Forty and six years was this temple in building” at that time.^[5][79] According to Josephus (Ant 15.380) the temple reconstruction was started by Herod the Great in the 15th-18th year of his reign at about the time that Augustus arrived in Syria (Ant 15.354).^{[3][79][95][96]} Temple expansion and reconstruction was ongoing, and it was in constant reconstruction until it was destroyed in 70 AD/CE by the Romans.^[97] Given that it took 46 years of construction, the Temple visit in the Gospel of John has been estimated at around 27-29 AD/CE.^{[5][79][87][88][89][98]}

Although both the gospels and Josephus refer to Herod Antipas killing John the Baptist, they differ on the details, e.g. whether this act was a consequence of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias, as indicated in Matthew 14:4, or a pre-emptive measure by Herod which possibly took place before the marriage, as Josephus suggests in Ant 18.5.2.^{[99][100][101][102]} The exact year of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias is subject to debate among scholars.^[91] In his analysis of Herod’s life, Harold Hoehner estimates that John the Baptist’s imprisonment probably occurred around AD 30-31.^[103] The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia estimates the death of the Baptist to have occurred about AD 31-32.^[92] The death of John the Baptist relates to the end of the major Galilean ministry of Jesus, just before the half way point in the gospel narratives, before the start of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem through Judea.^{[104][105][105][106]}

Luke 3:23 states that at the start of his ministry Jesus was “about 30 years of age”, but the other gospels do not mention a specific age. However, in John 8:57 the Jews exclaimed to Jesus: “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” suggesting that he was much less than 50 years old during his ministry.^[5] The length of the ministry is subject to debate, based on the fact that the synoptic gospels mention only one passover during Jesus’ ministry, often interpreted as implying that the ministry lasted approximately one year, whereas the Gospel of John records multiple passovers, implying that his ministry may have lasted at least three years.^{[3][5][107][108]}

Year of death

A 1466 copy of Antiquities of the Jews.

A number of approaches have been used to estimate the year of the death of Jesus, including information from the canonical gospels, the chronology of the life of Paul the Apostle in the New Testament correlated with historical events, as well as different astronomical models, as discussed below.

All four canonical gospels report that Jesus was crucified at Calvary during the prefecture of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who governed Judaea from 26 to 36 AD/CE. The late 1st century Jewish historian Josephus,^[65] writing in Antiquities of the Jews (c. 93 AD/CE), and the early 2nd century Roman historian Tacitus,^[66] writing in The Annals (c. 116 AD/CE), also state that Pilate ordered the execution of Jesus, though both writers use the title “procurator” instead of “prefect”.^[67]

The estimation of the date of the conversion of Paul places the death of Jesus before this conversion, which is estimated at around 33-36 AD/CE.^{[4][109][110]} (Also see the estimation of the start of Jesus’ ministry as a few years before this date above). The estimation of the year of Paul’s conversion relies on a series of calculations working backwards from the well established date of his trial before Gallio in Achaea Greece (Acts 18:12) around 51-52 AD/CE, the meeting of Priscilla and Aquila which were expelled from Rome about 49 AD/CE and the 14-year period before returning to Jerusalem in Galatians 2:1.^{[4][109][110]} The remaining period is generally accounted for by Paul’s missions (at times with Barnabas) such as those in Acts 11:25 and 2 Corinthians 11:23, resulting in the 33-36 AD/CE estimate.^{[4][109][110]}

For centuries, astronomers and scientists have used diverse computational methods to estimate the date of crucifixion, Isaac Newton being one of the first cases.^[68] Newton’s method relied on the relative visibility of the crescent of the new moon and he suggested the date as Friday, April 23, 34 AD/CE.^[111] In 1990 astronomer Bradley E. Schaefer computed the date as Friday, April 3, 33 AD/CE.^[112] In 1991, John Pratt stated that Newton’s method was sound, but included a minor error at the end. Pratt suggested the year 33 AD/CE as the answer.^[68] Using the completely different approach of a lunar eclipse model, Humphreys and Waddington arrived at the conclusion that Friday, April 3, 33 AD/CE was the date of the crucifixion

Christian books, Bibles, special occasion gifts and much more….

[hide] Part of a series on Christianity
Jesus ·Christ
Virgin birth ·Crucifixion ·Resurrection ·Easter ·Jesus in Christianity
Foundations
Apostles ·Church ·Creeds ·Gospel ·Kingdom ·New Covenant
Bible
Old Testament ·New Testament · Books ·Canon (Christian canons) ·Apocrypha
Theology
Apologetics ·Baptism ·Christology ·Father ·Son ·Holy Spirit · History of theology ·Salvation ·Trinity ·Ten Commandments
History and traditions
Timeline ·Mary ·Peter ·Paul · Fathers ·Early ·Constantine the Great · Ecumenical councils ·Missions · East–West Schism ·Crusades · Protestant Reformation
Denominations and movements
[show]Western Adventist ·Anabaptist ·Anglican ·Baptist ·Calvinism ·Evangelicalism ·Holiness ·Independent Catholic ·Lutheran ·Methodist ·Old Catholic ·Protestant ·Pentecostal ·Roman Catholic [show]Eastern Eastern Orthodox ·Eastern Catholic ·Oriental Orthodox (Miaphysite) ·Assyrian [show]Nontrinitarian Jehovah’s Witness · Latter Day Saint · Unitarian · Christadelphian · Oneness Pentecostal
General topics
Art ·Criticism ·Ecumenism ·Liturgical year ·Liturgy ·Music ·Other religions ·Prayer ·Sermon ·Symbolism Christianity Portal
This box: view talk edit

Western Christianity

The Easter festival is kept in many different ways among Western Christians. The traditional, liturgical observation of Easter, as practised among Roman Catholics and some Lutherans and Anglicans begins on the night of Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil. This, the most important liturgy of the year, begins in total darkness with the blessing of the Easter fire, the lighting of the large Paschal candle (symbolic of the Risen Christ) and the chanting of the Exultet or Easter Proclamation attributed to Saint Ambrose of Milan. After this service of light, a number of readings from the Old Testament are read; these tell the stories of creation, the sacrifice of Isaac, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the foretold coming of the Messiah. This part of the service climaxes with the singing of the Gloria and the Alleluia and the proclamation of the Gospel of the resurrection. At this time, the lights are brought up and the church bells are rung, according to local custom. A sermon may be preached after the gospel. Then the focus moves from the lectern to the font. Anciently, Easter was considered the ideal time for converts to receive baptism, and this practice continues within Roman Catholicism and the Anglican Communion. Whether there are baptisms at this point or not, it is traditional for the congregation to renew the vows of their baptismal faith. This act is often sealed by the sprinkling of the congregation with holy water from the font. The Catholic sacrament of Confirmation is also celebrated at the Vigil.

Holy Week procession in Santiago de Compostela.

The Easter Vigil concludes with the celebration of the Eucharist (known in some traditions as Holy Communion). Certain variations in the Easter Vigil exist: Some churches read the Old Testament lessons before the procession of the Paschal candle, and then read the gospel immediately after the Exsultet. Some churches prefer to keep this vigil very early on the Sunday morning instead of the Saturday night, particularly Protestant churches, to reflect the gospel account of the women coming to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. These services are known as the Sunrise service and often occur in outdoor setting such as the church cemetery, yard, or a nearby park.

The first recorded “Sunrise Service” took place in 1732 among the Single Brethren in the Moravian Congregation at Herrnhut, Saxony, in what is now Germany. Following an all-night vigil they went before dawn to the town graveyard, God’s Acre, on the hill above the town, to celebrate the Resurrection among the graves of the departed. This service was repeated the following year by the whole congregation and subsequently spread with the Moravian Missionaries around the world, including Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Additional celebrations are usually offered on Easter Sunday itself. Typically these services follow the usual order of Sunday services in a congregation, but also typically incorporate more highly festive elements. The music of the service, in particular, often displays a highly festive tone; the incorporation of brass instruments (trumpets, etc.) to supplement a congregation’s usual instrumentation is common. Often a congregation’s worship space is decorated with special banners and flowers (such as Easter lilies).

In predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, the morning of Easter (known in the national language as “Pasko ng Muling Pagkabuhay” or the Pasch of the Resurrection) is marked with joyous celebration, the first being the dawn “Salubong”, wherein large statues of Jesus and Mary are brought together to meet, imagining the first reunion of Jesus and his mother Mary after Jesus’ Resurrection. This is followed by the joyous Easter Mass.

In Polish culture, The Rezurekcja (Resurrection Procession) is the joyous Easter morning Mass at daybreak when church bells ring out and explosions resound to commemorate Christ rising from the dead. Before the Mass begins at dawn, a festive procession with the Blessed Sacrament carried beneath a canopy encircles the church. As church bells ring out, handbells are vigorously shaken by altar boys, the air is filled with incense and the faithful raise their voices heavenward in a triumphant rendering of age-old Easter hymns. After the Blessed Sacrament is carried around the church and Adoration is complete, the Easter Mass begins. Another Polish Easter tradition is Święconka, the blessing of Easter baskets by the parish priest on Holy Saturday. This custom is celebrated not only in Poland, but also in the United States by Polish-Americans.

Eastern Christianity

Pascha is the fundamental and most important festival of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches:

This is the Expected and Holy Day,

the One among the Sabbaths,

the Sovereign and Lady of days,

Feast of feasts, Celebration of celebrations,

on which we praise Christ for all eternity!

Every other religious festival in their calendar, including Christmas, is secondary in importance to the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is reflected in rich Paschal customs in the cultures of countries that have traditionally had an Orthodox Christian majority. Eastern Catholics have similar emphasis in their calendars, and many of their liturgical customs are very similar.

This is not to say that Christmas and other elements of the Christian liturgical calendar are ignored. Instead, these events are all seen as necessary but preliminary to, and illuminated by, the full climax of the Resurrection, in which all that has come before reaches fulfillment and fruition. They shine only in the light of the Resurrection. Pascha is the primary act that fulfills the purpose of Christ’s ministry on earth—to defeat death by dying and to purify and exalt humanity by voluntarily assuming and overcoming human frailty. This is succinctly summarized by the Paschal troparion, sung repeatedly during Pascha until the Apodosis of Pascha, which is the day before Ascension:

Boris Kustodiev‘s Pascha Greetings (1912) shows traditional Russian khristosovanie (exchanging a triple kiss), with such foods as red eggs, kulich and paskha in the background

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν,

θανάτῳ θάνατον πατήσας,

καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς μνήμασι

ζωὴν χαρισάμενος.

Christ is risen from the dead,

Trampling down death by death,

And upon those in the tombs

Bestowing life!

Preparation for Pascha begins with the season of Great Lent. In addition to fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, Orthodox Christians cut down on all entertainment and non-essential worldly activities, gradually eliminating them until Great and Holy Friday, the most austere day of the year. Traditionally, on the evening of Great and Holy Saturday, the Midnight Office is celebrated shortly after 11:00 p.m. (see Paschal Vigil). At its completion all light in the church building is extinguished, and all wait in darkness and silence for the stroke of midnight. Then, a new flame is struck in the altar, or the priest lights his candle from the perpetual lamp kept burning there, and he then lights candles held by deacons or other assistants, who then go to light candles held by the congregation (this practice has its origin in the reception of the Holy Fire at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem). Then the priest and congregation go in a Crucession (procession with the cross) around the temple (church building), holding lit candles, chanting:

By Thy Resurrection O Christ our savior, the angels in Heaven sing, enable us who are on Earth, to glorify thee in purity of heart.

Easter Procession in the Region of Kursk, Russia, painting by Ilya Repin (1880-83), depicting a Bright Week Crucession

This procession reenacts the journey of the Myrrhbearers to the Tomb of Jesus “very early in the morning” (Luke 24:1). After circling around the temple once or three times, the procession halts in front of the closed doors. In the Greek practice the priest reads a selection from the Gospel Book (Mark 16:1-8). Then, in all traditions, the priest makes the sign of the cross with the censer in front of the closed doors (which represent the sealed tomb). He and the people chant the Paschal Troparion, and all of the bells and semantra are sounded. Then all re-enter the temple and Paschal Matins begins immediately, followed by the Paschal Hours and then the Paschal Divine Liturgy. The high point of the liturgy is the delivery of Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, for which the congregation stands.

Traditional Paschal Crucession during Bright Week by Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, the priest may bless Paschal eggs and baskets brought by the faithful containing those foods which have been forbidden during the Great Fast. Immediately after the Liturgy it is customary for the congregation to share a meal, essentially an Agápē dinner (albeit at 2:00 a.m. or later). In Greece the traditional meal is mageiritsa, a hearty stew of chopped lamb liver and wild greens seasoned with egg-and-lemon sauce. Traditionally, Easter eggs, hard-boiled eggs dyed bright red to symbolize the spilt Blood of Christ and the promise of eternal life, are cracked together to celebrate the opening of the Tomb of Christ.

The next morning, Easter Sunday proper, there is no Divine Liturgy, since the Liturgy for that day has already been celebrated. Instead, in the afternoon, it is often traditional to celebrate “Agápē Vespers“. In this service, it has become customary during the last few centuries for the priest and members of the congregation to read a portion of the Gospel of John 20:19-25 (in some places the reading is extended to include verses 19:26-31) in as many languages as they can manage, to show the universality of the Resurrection.

For the remainder of the week, known as “Bright Week“, all fasting is prohibited, and the customary Paschal greeting is: “Christ is risen!”, to which the response is: “Truly He is risen!” This may also be done in many different languages. The services during Bright Week are nearly identical to those on Pascha itself, except that they do not take place at midnight, but at their normal times during the day. The Crucession during Bright Week takes place either after Paschal Matins or the Paschal Divine Liturgy.

Non-observing Christian groups

Along with Christmas celebrations, many Easter traditions ultimately became casualties of the various off-shoots of the Protestant Reformation, being deemed “pagan” or “Popish” (and therefore tainted) by many Puritan movements^{[citation needed]} – although there were some major Reformation Churches and movements (Lutheran, Methodist and Anglican for example), that chose to retain a reasonably full observance of the Church Year and many of its associated traditions. In Lutheran Churches, for example, not only were the days of Holy Week observed, but also Christmas, Easter and Pentecost were observed with three day festivals, including the day itself and the two following.

Among many other Reformation and counter Counter-Reformation traditions, however, things were a very different, with most Anabaptists, Quakers, Congregational and Presbyterian Puritans, regarding such festivals as an abomination.^[63] The Puritan rejection of Easter traditions was (and is) based partly upon their interpretation of 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 and partly upon a more general belief that if a religious practice or celebration is not actually written in the Old and/or New Testaments of the Christian Bible then that practice/celebration must be a later development and cannot be considered an authentic part of Christian practice or belief – so at best simply unnecessary, at worst actually “sinful”.

Some Christian groups continue to reject the celebration of Easter, due to perceived pagan roots and historical connections to the practices and permissions of the “Roman” Catholic Church.^[64] Other “Nonconformist” Christian groups that do still celebrate the event prefer to call it “Resurrection Sunday” or “Resurrection Day”,^{[citation needed]} for the same reasons as well as a rejection of secular or commercial aspects of the holiday in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses maintain a similar view, observing a yearly commemorative service of the Last Supper and subsequent execution of Christ on the evening of Nisan 14, as they calculate it derived from the lunar Hebrew Calendar. It is commonly referred to by many Witnesses as simply “The Memorial”.^{[citation needed]} Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that such verses as Luke 22:19-20 and 1 Cor 11:26 constitute a commandment to remember the death of Christ (and not the resurrection, as only the remembrance of the death was observed by early Christians), and they do so on a yearly basis just as Passover is celebrated yearly by the Jews.

Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), as part of their historic testimony against times and seasons, do not celebrate or observe Easter or any other Church holidays, believing instead that “every day is the Lord’s day”,^[65] and that elevation of one day above others suggests that it is acceptable to do un-Christian acts on other days.^[66] During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Quakers were persecuted for this non-observance of Holy Days.^[67]

Some Christian groups feel that Easter is something to be regarded with great joy: not marking the day itself, but remembering and rejoicing in the event it commemorates—the miracle of Christ’s resurrection. In this spirit, these Christians teach that each day and all Sabbaths should be kept holy, in Christ’s teachings. Hebrew-Christian, Sacred Name, and Armstrong movement churches (such as the Living Church of God) usually reject Easter in favor of Nisan 14 observance and celebration of the Christian Passover. This is especially true of Christian groups that celebrate the New Moons or annual High Sabbaths in addition to seventh-day Sabbath. They support this textually with reference to the letter to the Colossians: “Let no one…pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath. These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ.” (Col. 2:16-17, NAB)

Easter celebrations around the world

In some countries where Christianity is a state religion, or where the country has large Christian population, Easter is a public holiday. Some European and other countries in the world have also Easter Monday as a public holiday.

United States & Canada

In the United States, Easter Sunday is a flag day but has not been a federal and state holiday due to falling on a Sunday, which is already a non working day for federal and state employees. However, nearly every retail store, shopping malls and some restaurants are closed on Easter Sunday. Few banks that are normally open on regular Sundays are closed on Easter. Two days before Easter Sunday, on Good Friday, is a holiday in 12 states. Most private businesses and sectors, as well as financial and stock market, and public schools are closed on Good Friday. Historically, schools have given extended spring breaks of one to two weeks around the Easter holiday, but this practice has been declining in favor of fixed one-week recesses around Washington’s Birthday and in late April.

Many Americans follow the tradition of coloring hard-boiled eggs and giving children baskets of candy. On the next day, Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the White House lawn for young children. New York City holds an annual Easter parade on Easter Sunday.

In Canada, both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. In province of Quebec, either Good Friday or Easter Monday (although most companies give both) are statutory holidays. Two days before Easter Sunday, on Good Friday, is a public holiday as well.

Scandinavia

In Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. It is a holiday for most workers except some shopping malls which keep open for half day. Many businesses give their employees almost a week off called Easter break

* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *

* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *

To unsubscribe to this publication, just reply to this message and put “unsubscribe” somewhere in the subject line. You can also unsubscribe by clicking here.