Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. (Colossians 2.16-23)
Christian writers of the 2nd century came to view Sunday, “the Lord’s day,” as a symbol of Christianity in distinction from Judaism. Most churches decided to observe the Lord’s Passover (Easter) on a Sunday after the Jewish feast was over. In addition, local churches began to celebrate the anniversaries of the deaths of their martyrs, called “birthdays in eternity,” for these also were regarded as witnesses to the resurrection triumph of Christ in his followers. The weekly Sunday and the annual Paschal (Passover) observance of 50 days from Easter to Pentecost (the Jewish harvest festival that also commemorated the revelation of the Law to Moses) were thus the principal frameworks of the church year until the 4th century—reminders of the new age to be brought by Christ at his coming again in glory at the end of time when the true believers would enter their inheritance of perpetual joy and feasting with their Redeemer and Lord.
It goes on to say:
The establishment of Christianity as a state religion, following the “conversion” of the emperor Constantine (312 CE), brought new developments. The Paschal season was matched by a longer season of preparation (Lent) for the many new candidates for baptism at the Easter ceremonies and for the discipline and penance of those who for grievous sins had been cut off from the communion of the church.
A new focus of the celebration, to commemorate the birth of Christ, the world Redeemer, was instituted at ancient winter solstices (December 25 and January 6 in the Northern Hemisphere) to rival the pagan feasts in honor of the birth of a new age brought by the “Unconquered Sun.” Later the Western churches created a preparatory season for the Christmas festival, known as Advent. Many new days were gradually added to the roster of martyr anniversaries to commemorate distinguished leaders, the dedication of buildings and shrines in honor of the saints, and the transferal of their relics.
None of these events are based on apostolic teaching. None of these events can be seen in any passages in the New Testament. The Roman Catholic Church says this about the "Liturgical Calendar":
The liturgical year is made up of six seasons: Advent – four weeks of preparation before the celebration of Jesus’ birth Christmas – recalling the Nativity of Jesus Christ and his manifestation to the peoples of the world Lent – a six-week period of penance before Easter Sacred Paschal Triduum – the holiest “Three Days” of the Church’s year, where the Christian people recall the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Easter – 50 days of the joyful celebration of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead and his sending forth of the Holy Spirit Ordinary Time – divided into two sections (one span of 4-8 weeks after Christmas Time and another lasting about six months after Easter Time), wherein the faithful consider the fullness of Jesus’ teachings and works among his people. The mystery of Christ, unfolded through the cycle of the year, calls us to live his mystery in our own lives.
The Protestant Reformers, “…With their strong sense of the prime authority of Scripture and the freedom of the gospel from all legalisms in liturgical matters, revised the church year with varying degrees of radicalism. Lutherans and Anglicans took a conservative position, retaining the traditional seasons but eliminating commemorations that had no connection with the biblical record.”
But the Puritans and the “Anabaptists” changed things more in agreement with the Bible:
The Reformed churches, on the other hand, allowed only those feasts with a clear basis in the New Testament: Sundays, Holy Week and Easter, Pentecost, and in some cases Christmas. The Church of Scotland, Anabaptist, and Puritan groups abolished the church year entirely except for Sundays. In recent years this attitude has been very much modified. Their protest has been a reminder to the church that all days are regarded as belonging to Christ in the freedom of his Spirit, who cannot be controlled by rigid systems of fixed special observances.
The Roman Catholic Church
“The basic structure of the church year was the creation of the ancient churches in the varied cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea that were embraced in the Roman Empire. Christian missionaries have carried the church year throughout the world—first in the Northern Hemisphere and, since the 16th century, in the Southern Hemisphere, where the natural seasons are reversed. It is unlikely that the dates of the two major feasts, Easter and Christmas, which control the seasons of the church year, will be changed. But new symbols and popular customs associated with them will emerge in areas where, for example, Easter is celebrated in the autumn rather than as a spring festival.”
The Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox and the Roman church split over the date of Easter! To this day they remain separate!
Robert Robinson wrote in The History and the Mystery of Good Friday:
Jesus Christ was crucified at the time of the Jewish Passover. The Christians of Asia celebrated Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon, according to the law of Moses, on whatever day of the week it fell, so that if they kept some years a Good Friday, they also kept in other years Good Monday, Good Saturday, or Good any day, for the day of Christ's crucifixion must be at its due distance from the day of his resurrection. These Eastern Christians pretended St. John kept Easter so. The Western churches used to observe the Sunday after the fourteenth day of the March moon, and they said St. Peter and St. Paul always did so. If these Christians could not convince one another in times so near those of the Apostles, it Is not likely we should be able to determine the time of Easter now. We have nothing more then to add here, except that they debated and differed like Christians, they tolerated one another, they communicated together, and the liberal temper of such disputants is always edifying, however idle we may think the dispute.
The Orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition recall the Resurrection of Christ every Sunday. Many Sundays take their title from the Gospel lesson for the day. In addition to Easter, “the feast of feasts,” there are 12 other major feasts: Christmas, Epiphany, Hypapante (Meeting of Christ with Simeon, February 2), Palm Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, Transfiguration (August 6), Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14), and four feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary—her Nativity (September 8), Presentation in the Temple (November 21), Annunciation (March 25), and Falling Asleep (August 15).
The principal cycle consists of (1) 10 weeks before Easter, contained in the Triōdion (pre-Easter liturgical service book)—the first four of these Sundays prepare for the Great Fast, or Lent (i.e., the Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican; the Sunday of the Prodigal Son; Meat-Fast Sunday, after which abstinence from meat is enjoined; and Cheese-Fast Sunday, after which the fast includes cheese, eggs, butter, and milk)—and (2) eight weeks after Easter, contained in the Pentēkostarion (post-Easter liturgical service book), including the Feast of Ascension, 40 days after Easter, and concluding with the Festival of All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost. Other special commemorations of the period are the Feast of Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday in Lent, recalling the end of the Iconoclastic Controversy in 843, and the feast of the Fathers of the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 on the sixth Sunday after Easter.
Let us look at some of the pagan origins of these “feasts” and “festivals”.
EASTER
As Christianity began to sweep across Europe, many pagan festivals and traditions were absorbed and adapted into the Christian faith. It made sense that the already ingrained concept of new life being celebrated during springtime should become associated with Jesus conquering death and being reborn. If you’ve noticed, the date of Easter changes every year and this is because it is governed by the phases of the moon and not a specific date on which Christ was said to have risen from the dead. It falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox making it a celebration of the seasons, a concept rooted in paganism. What about the name 'Easter', where did that come from? It is believed that in most European countries, the name came from the Hebrew word 'Pesach', otherwise known as Passover - the Jewish springtime holiday. However, in English-speaking languages and Germany, some historians have argued the word derives from a pagan springtime goddess called Ēostre, who is documented by an Anglo-Saxon monk who wrote during the 8th century AD. Ēostre was a goddess celebrated with a festival during the spring equinox and according to some scholars, her association with hares is the origin of the Easter Bunny story, although this is still hotly debated.[1]
PALM SUNDAY AND GOOD FRIDAY
The earliest known record of any Holy Week observance, which includes a description of Palm Sunday, is found in the travel diaries of a woman named Egeria. Egeria, also known as Etheria, was a nun, who documented her pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the late 4th century.
What some people might find surprising is that the Bible is does not mention any religious observance on the Friday before a believed resurrection of Jesus on Sunday morning (see our article "Three days and three nights" for more information). In fact, even the name of the day of the week Jesus was believed to be crucified on does not appear anywhere in the Bible. The only day given a name in Scripture is the seventh day (the Sabbath). The names of the other days are first, second, third and so on… The origin of what is called Easter has no Biblical basis whatsoever. The early New Testament church neither taught nor observed an Easter holiday. In order to move people away from celebrating the Biblical Christian Passover, the Catholic Church adopted and Christianized a pagan holiday that celebrated the false goddess Ishtar (Astarte). The Babylonians and Assyrians worshipped this goddess. She symbolized fertility, love, war, and sex. The holiday in her honor occurred around the spring equinox. According to the Bible, Jesus was crucified and died at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday (in 30 A.D.), spent three full days and nights in a tomb (72 hours total), then was resurrected back to life by God just before sunset Saturday. In order to fulfill prophecy Jesus could not have died on "Good Friday!"[3]
We, as Baptists, should not be practicing or speaking about these holidays. Here we post a video that deals with the scholarship of the term Easter. Like all scholarship and science, it is tentative and subject to new discoveries and schools of thought.
This is an accurate explanation of how Easter originated in the Greek Orthodox Church from which it came.
For those who say that Paul left it up to the believer to decide which days to keep in Colossians, there is a caveat to that position. The holidays there were Jewish holidays practiced mostly in the Old Testament. We can see this when Paul made his vows in the temple according to the law. They were not totally invented by men. Obviously, Easter was a total innovation and invention by the "Church Fathers". So this holy day would not fall under the instructions given to the church in Colossians.
[1] https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-pagan-roots-of-easter
[2] https://time.com/5567157/holy-week-history/
[3] https://www.biblestudy.org/question/why-is-friday-before-easter-called-good-friday.html
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