Christian Churches of God
No. 195
The Calendar and the Moon
Postponements or Festivals?
(Edition 2.0 19970308-19990315-20071911)
With the aid of extensive quotes from authoritative sources and Scripture, this paper is designed
to enable the reader to see the uncertain and ad hoc derivation of the Judaic postponement
system. The postponements were not fully in place until the eleventh century from the
admission of the proponents of the postponement system themselves.
Christian Churches of God
PO Box 369,
WODEN
ACT 2606,
AUSTRALIA
Email: secretary@ccg.org
(Copyright  1997, 1999, 2007 Wade Cox, anor (ed. Wade Cox)
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This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
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The Calendar and the Moon
The Calendar and the Moon
Postponements or Festivals?
Introduction
Often termed the Hillel calendar, the calendar
of Judaism is actually a creation of more recent
derivation than generally known. There is no
doubt that the postponement system according
to the Encyclopedia Judaica and other
reference works was not fully in place until the
eleventh century and is not really the product of
Rabbi Hillel II from 358 CE, even though it is
commonly attributed to him. We should see the
progression from the following, and also
recognise that we are confronted with either the
observance of God’s Festivals or observance of
postponements. The intent of the Catholic
calendar is to avoid agreement with the original
Judaic calendar and the Jewish calendar avoids
agreement with the generally universal
Christian calendar. These points will become
evident in this paper.
The Months of Tishri and Abib
We will look first at the month called Tishri.
Tishre: From Aramaic shera or sherei, “to begin” ...
Seventh month in the religious or festival cycle; first
in chronological or civil cycle... The 1st never falls
on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday. In the
twentieth century, its earliest beginning is September
6th and its latest beginning is October 5th (The
Jewish Almanac, Bantam, 1980, p. 241).
This postponement rule ensures that the Day of
Trumpets (1 Tishri, Rosh HaShanah), and the
Day of Atonement (10 Tishri, Yom Kippur) do
not have a Sabbath immediately before or after
these sacred days. The Jewish postponement
rules also preclude correct observance of the
Feast of Tabernacles – as in 1997, where the
autumnal equinox was on the last day of the
Feast (21 Tishri) – and place it a month later
(16-23 October in 1997), well after the
autumnal equinox (23 September in 1997).
The Jewish Almanac also has an entry on the
month of Nisan or Abib.
Nisan: Related to the Babylonian first month
Nisannu, “to start”, or perhaps to Hebrew nitzan,
“blossoms.” Its pentateuchal name is Aviv [or Abib],
“spring”. ... The first never falls on Monday,
Wednesday, or Friday. In the twentieth century its
earliest beginning is March 13th and its latest
beginning is April 11th (ibid., p. 245).
The whole Passover season also symbolises the
preparation of the first-fruits of God for the
First-fruits’ harvest, Pentecost. The above
postponement rule avoids the Jewish
observance of their Passover coincident with a
Tuesday night occurring on 14 Abib (i.e.,
where a Wednesday is 1 Abib). The rules for
Abib do allow for a Sabbath to fall on the 14th
(where 1 Nisan is a Sunday), which is a
preparation day for the 15th, the first Holy Day
of the seven days of Unleavened Bread.
However, in Tishri, a Sabbath is not permitted
just before the 1st or the 10th of the month.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th edition,
article ‘Calendar’, has this to say:
The [spring] equinox is fixed on the 21st of March,
though the sun enters Aries generally on the 20th of
that month, sometimes on the 19th. It is accordingly
quite possible that a full moon may arrive after the
true equinox, and yet precede the 21st of March.
This, therefore, would not be the paschal moon of
the calendar, though it undoubtedly ought to be so, if
the intention of the Council of Nice [Nicea] were
rigidly followed. The new moons indicated by the
epacts [extra days needed to determine Easter
Sunday] also differ from the astronomical new
moons, and even from the mean new moons, in
general by one or two days.... The epacts are also
placed so as to indicate the full moons generally one
or two days after the true full moons; but this was
done purposely, to avoid the chance of concurring
with the Jewish Passover, which the framers of the
calendar seem to have considered a greater evil than
that of celebrating Easter a week too late (p. 599).
The New Moon and the Molad
We should note that the conjunction, or molad,
is the astronomical crossover point from one
month to the next and that the determined
calendrical New Moon and the molad seldom
coincide. An example of the third dehiyyah
(postponement rule) is: If the molad of Tishri
occurs at 12 noon on Saturday [Under ideal
conditions, the very first sliver of the crescent
would be visible after the ensuing sunset, i.e.
about 6 to 8 hours after the molad], Rosh
The Calendar and the Moon
HaShanah would be deferred to Sunday,
“which again is not permitted, so that the
festival will be moved one further day, to
Monday” (Encyc. Judaica, Vol. V, Jerusalem,
1972, p. 44). In such eventuality some would
decide to start the observance of 1 Tishri on
Friday evening, some Saturday evening, and
those following Jewish reckoning would start
observance Sunday evening.
The present Jewish calendar is lunisolar, the months
being reckoned according to the moon and the years
according to the sun. A month is the period of time
between one conjunction of the moon with the sun
and the next. The conjunction of the moon with the
sun is the point in time at which the moon is directly
between the earth and the sun (but not in the same
plane) and it is thus invisible. This is known as the
molad (“birth”) (ibid., p. 43).
Since the molad is indeed the conjunction (all
authorities agree on that) then time just before
the molad is the end of the previous month, and
time after the molad is attributable to the next
month. The biblical day is evening to evening
(or dark to dark). Thus, the day of the New
Moon is taken as being that day in which the
molad or conjunction falls. This appears to be
the only practical way of dealing with the
precise event of the conjunction. Also, it seems
to be the way in which it has been dealt with in
ancient times and is the way nations deal with
the fact of the conjunction in normal
commercial practice even today. However,
those in disagreement with this system would
need
to
reach
agreement
about
a
“postponement” rule that does not contravene
biblical rule, and which is in line with
astronomy. No commercial organisation would
appear to accept such a view.
It should be noted in the discussion of the
crescent that the crescent is the ancient symbol
for the moon god Qamar, and his female
consort is Shams the sun. The crescent is not
the New Moon and never has been
acknowledged as being the New Moon.
Genesis 1:14 tells us that the sun and moon
[hence a solar-lunar calendar] are for “signs and
for seasons (mo’ed = time(s); season(s);
festival(s); assembly), and for days and years”.
The LXX confirms this translation. Targum
Neofiti has (Gen. 1:14):
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And the Lord [‘according to the decree of his
Memra’][Memra is the equivalent term for Logos in
the Hebrew and Aramaic; Cox ed.] said: “Let there
be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate
the daytime from the night, and let them act as signs
and (sacred) seasons [times] and so that the
intercalation of moons (and) months may be
consecrated by them (The Aramaic Bible, tr. Martin
McNamara MSC; T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1992).
Another Aramaic Targum, Pseudo-Jonathan,
says:
God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heavens to separate the day from the night, and let
them serve as signs and as festival times, and for
counting the reckoning of days, and for sanctifying
the beginnings of months and the beginnings of
years, the intercalations of months and the
intercalations of years, the solstices, the new moon,
and the cycles (of the sun) (The Aramaic Bible, tr.
Michael Maher MSC, The Liturgical Press,
Collegeville, MN, 1992).
It is generally accepted that these Targums predate the apostolic times and so their value in
revealing the earlier understanding of Genesis
1:14 is rather graphically shown.
New Year according to God
Abib or Nisan is the first month of the year by
direction of God and the first of Nisan or Abib
is therefore the first day of the sacred year and,
hence, begins the New Year.
Exodus 12:1-11 The LORD said to Moses and
Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month [Abib or
Nisan] shall be for you the beginning of months; it
shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all
the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of
this month they shall take every man a lamb
according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a
household; 4 and if the household is too small for a
lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house
shall take according to the number of persons;
according to what each can eat you shall make your
count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without
blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the
sheep or from the goats; 6 and you shall keep it until
the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their
lambs in the evening. 7 Then they shall take some of
the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the
lintel of the houses in which they eat them. 8 They
shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9
Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but
roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10
And you shall let none of it remain until the morning,
anything that remains until the morning you shall
burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: your loins
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The Calendar and the Moon
girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in
your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the
LORD's passover. (RSV)
Hosea 2:11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her
appointed feasts. (RSV)
The month of the Passover which is Nisan or
Abib is specifically commanded by the Lord as
being the beginning of the year (see also Num.
9:1-3; 33:3; Josh. 4:19; Ezek. 45:18,21). This
beginning symbolises the redemption of the
Israel of God from the world’s system (Gal.
1:4; Rev. 14:4).
Here we see the pollution of the Feasts, New
Moons and Sabbaths. God ends them here
because He has not sanctioned the manner in
which they have been determined or kept.
The observation of the autumnal equinox, i.e., ‘the
going out of the year’ (see Ex. 23:16), and of the
spring or vernal equinox, called ‘the return of the
year’ (1 Ki. 20:26; 2 Ch. 36:10 AV), was important
for controlling the calendar and consequently the
festivals. Thus the year began with the new moon
nearest the vernal equinox when the sun was in
Aries (Jos., Ant. 3.201 [better to see Ant. (Antiquities
of the Jews) III.x.5]), and the Passover on the
fourteenth day of Nisan coincided with the first full
moon (Ex. 12:2-6). (The Illustrated Bible
Dictionary, J D Douglas & N Hillyer, editors, IVP,
1980; art. ‘Calendar’, Vol. 1, p. 223).
F. F. Bruce, the writer of this article, goes on to
say:
In general, the Jewish calendar in NT times (at least
before AD 70) followed the Sadducean reckoning,
since it was by that reckoning that the Temple
services were regulated. Thus the day of Pentecost
was reckoned as the fiftieth day after the
presentation of the first harvested sheaf of barley,
i.e., the fiftieth day (inclusive) from the first Sunday
after Passover (cf. Lv. 23:15f.); hence it always fell
on a Sunday, as it does in the Christian calendar. The
Pharisaic reckoning, which became standard after
AD 70, interpreted ‘sabbath’ in Lv. 23:15 as the
festival day of Unleavened Bread and not the weekly
sabbath; in that case Pentecost always fell on the
same day of the month [Sivan 6]. (ibid., p. 225)
It is quite evident that if 1 Abib is incorrectly
calculated then the festivals at the start of the
year will be observed on wrong dates and, if
1 Tishri is incorrectly determined, the
remaining festivals will also be observed on
incorrect dates. How then do we understand
Isaiah 1:13-14 and Hosea 2:11?
Isaiah 1:13-14 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me. New moon and
sabbath and the calling of assemblies – I cannot
endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new
moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they
have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing
them. (RSV)
New Year according to Judaism
Note here the comments of the Encyclopedia
Judaica concerning the accuracy or otherwise
of the postponements.
Fixing Rosh HaShanah (New Year’s Day). The
year begins on Tishri 1, which is rarely the day of
the molad, as there are four obstacles or
considerations, called dehiyyah, in fixing the first
day of the month (rosh hodesh). Each dehiyyot may
cause a postponement of two days: (1) mainly in
order to prevent the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10)
from falling on Friday or Sunday, and Hoshana
Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot; Tishri 21) from
falling on Saturday, but in part also serving an
astronomical purpose... (2) entirely for an
astronomical reason, if the molad is at noon or later
Rosh HaShanah is delayed by one day (ibid., p. 44).
The third and fourth dehiyyah are more
complex rules involving specific times of the
molad and the consequent postponement of
1 Tishri. These moladot are tabulated with
specific postponements outlined in the
Encyclopedia Judaica article. This rule of
postponement was not known at the time of
Christ and at the time of the compilation of the
Talmud. The Talmud clearly shows that the
Day of Atonement fell on a Friday or a Sunday
at the time of its compilation and at the time of
the compilation of the Mishnah and, hence, at
the time of Christ.
Holy Days were noted to have fallen on the day
before or after the Sabbath also (cf. Soncino
Talmud: Shabbat 114b; Menachoth 100b).
Mishnah:
(Besah 2:1) On a festival which coincided with the
eve of the Sabbath [Friday] a person should not do
cooking to begin with on the festival day [Friday] for
the purposes of the Sabbath. But he prepares food
for the festival day, and if he leaves something over,
he has it left over for use on the Sabbath. And he
prepares a cooked dish on the eve of the festival day
[Thursday] and relies on it [to prepare food on
Friday] for the Sabbath as well.
The Calendar and the Moon
(2:2) [If a festival day] coincided with the day after
the Sabbath [Sunday]. the house of Shammai say,
“They immerse everything before the Sabbath.” And
the house of Hillel say, “Utensils [are to be
immersed] before the Sabbath. But man [may
immerse] on the Sabbath [itself].”
(Shabbat 15:3) They fold up clothing even four or
five times. And they spread beds on the night of the
Sabbath for use on the Sabbath, but not on the
Sabbath for use after the Sabbath. R. Ishmael says,
“They fold clothes and lay out beds on the Day of
Atonement for the Sabbath.”
(Sukkah 5:7) Three times a year all the priestly
watches shared equally in the offerings of the feasts
and in the division of the Show Bread. At Pentecost
they would say to him, “Here you have unleavened
bread, here is leavened bread for you.” The priestly
watch whose time of service is scheduled for that
week is the one which offers the daily whole
offerings, the offerings brought by reason of vows
and freewill offerings, and the other public offerings.
And it offers everything. On a festival day which
comes next to a Sabbath, whether before or after it,
all of the priestly watches were equal in the division
of the Show Bread.
(Arakhin 2:2) They do not count less than four full
months in the year, and [to sages] have never
appeared more than eight.
(Hagigah 2:4) Pentecost which coincided with a
Friday – The House of Shammai say, “The day of
slaughtering [the whole offering brought in
fulfillment of the requirements of appearing before
the Lord] is on the day after the Sabbath.” And the
House of Hillel say, “The day of slaughtering [the
whole offering] is not after the Sabbath.” But they
concur that if it coincided with the Sabbath, the day
of slaughtering [the whole offering] is after the
Sabbath. And the high priest does not put on his
garments. And they are permitted to conduct a
lamentation or to hold a fast, so as not to affirm the
opinion of those who say, The date of Pentecost
[must always fall] after the Sabbath [on Sunday].
It is thus impossible for the postponements to
have been in place at the time of Christ. We
continue:
... the present system was expected to be replaced
[emphasis added] again by a system based on true
values [as opposed to mean values] more akin to the
earlier Jewish calendar in which New Moons (days
of the phasis [i.e., the length of the interval from the
true conjunction to the first sighting of the new
crescent]) and intercalations were proclaimed on the
basis of both observation and calculation (ibid., p.
47).
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It ought to be noted that we are being told that
the present Jewish calendar is not correct and
needs revision! Furthermore, we are informed
that the Day of Trumpets is rarely on the day of
the molad (the conjunction) which means the
‘holy’ day is often not observed on the correct
day as are the subsequent festival days. Please
recall the earlier references to Genesis 1:14.
Historical. According to a tradition quoted in the
name of Hai Gaon (d. 1038), the present Jewish
calendar was introduced by the patriarch Hillel II ...
in 358/59 AD ... While it is not unreasonable to
attribute to Hillel II the fixing of the regular order of
intercalations, his full share in the present fixed
calendar is doubtful (ibid., p. 48).
The intervals of intercalation were at first irregular,
intercalation being in part due to the prevailing state
of various agricultural products and to social
conditions. ... the state of crops is ultimately
determined by the sun’s position in its annual path
(ibid., p. 49).
Readers may have already noticed that some
calendar commentators seem to put more store
in local weather conditions in determining
whether spring has started or not. Surely it is
recognised that it is the Earth’s spring
equinoctial position that determines the start
of the annual spring, and the full moon (the
night of the 15 Abib) after the equinox
determines the timing of the Passover season.
There is, on the other hand, unimpeachable evidence
from the works of writers with expert knowledge of
the calendar that the present ordo intercalationis and
epochal molad were not yet intrinsic parts of the
calendar of Hillel II, these being seen still side by
side with the other styles of the ordo intercalationis
and the molad as late as the 11th century. These are
likely to have affected the remaining two dehiyyot ...
By the tenth century the Jewish calendar was exactly
the same as today (ibid., p. 50).
The methods of determining the calendar
evolved around the traditions of Judah until the
tenth century when they were then in place.
Since then, Judaism has been following its own
system, which places and determines its new
year from its traditions and not the first of the
first month as ordained by God through Jesus
Christ.
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The New Moon
The New Moon was the most important aspect
of determining the months and the New Moon
of Nisan determined the year, not Tishri as
observed by Judaism. Rosh HaShanah, under
its present system of determination, cannot be
regarded as a correct biblical observance or as
being a correct Christian observance.
Philo of Alexandria (tr. by F H Colson
(Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical
Library, Cambridge, MA, 1937); The Special
Laws, II, XI,41) tells us: “The third [feast] is
the new moon which follows the conjunction of
the moon with the sun”. And in II, XXVI,140:
“This is the New Moon, or beginning of the
lunar month, namely the period between one
conjunction and the next, the length of which
has been accurately calculated in the
astronomical schools”. It should be noted that
the popular Hendrickson Publishers edition
(1993) of C. D. Jonge’s 1854 translation does
not have the same information that the Colson
translation gives. And the indications are that
the conjunctions were determinative in
deciding the first of the month.
The Calendar of “Christianity”
Readers should note the indications of no
postponement rules in the early Church,
admittedly Catholic, but nevertheless pertinent
to our decision-making on these matters of
determining what calendar Christians ought to
observe.
Hippolytus (170-236 CE) in his work The
Refutation of All Heresies (VIII.xi, in ANF,
Vol. V, p. 123) states:
Easter should be kept on the fourteenth day of the
first month, according to the commandment of the
law, on whatever day (of the month) it should occur.
Anatolius of Alexandria (ca. 230-ca.280 CE) in
The Paschal Canon (ANF, Vol. VI, pp. 146147) says:
(I) just as they [Isodore, Jerome, Clement] differ also
in language, have, nevertheless, come harmoniously
to one and the same most exact reckoning of Easter,
day and month and season meeting in accord with
the highest honour for the Lord’s resurrection. But
Origen also, the most erudite of all, and the acutest
in making calculations, .... has published in a very
elegant manner a little book on Easter. And in this
The Calendar and the Moon
book, while declaring, with respect to the day of
Easter, that attention must be given not only to the
course of the moon and the transit of the equinox,
but also the passage of the sun, (II) There is, then, in
the first year, the new moon of the first month, which
is the beginning of every cycle of nineteen years, on
the six and twentieth day of the month called by the
Egyptians Phamenoth. But, according to the months
of the Macedonians, it is on the two-and-twentieth
day of Dystrus. And, as the Romans would say, it is
the eleventh day before the Kalends [first] of April.
(III) And this may be learned from what Philo, and
Josephus, and Musaeus have written ... the two
Agothobuli, who were surnamed the Masters, and
the eminent Aristobulus, who was one of the Seventy
who translated the sacred and holy Scriptures of the
Hebrews for Ptolemy Philadelphus and his father....
These writers, in solving some questions which are
raised with respect to Exodus, say that all alike ought
to sacrifice the Passover after the vernal equinox in
the middle of the first month. And that is found to be
when the sun passes through the first segment of the
solar, or, as some among them have named it, the
zodiacal circle. (IV) But this Aristobulus also adds,
that for the feast of the Passover it was necessary not
only that the sun should pass the equinoctial
segment, but the moon also.
This post-Nicaean letter from the emperor,
Constantine I (306-337 CE), should further
illustrate the kind of calendrical problem with
which we are confronted.
Constantine, august, to the churches. ...
When the question arose concerning the most holy
day of Easter, it was decreed by common consent to
be expedient, that this festival should be celebrated
on the same day by all, in every place. ... it seemed
to every one a most unworthy thing that we should
follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of
this most holy solemnity, who, polluted wretches!
having stained their hands with a nefarious crime,
are justly blinded in their minds. It is fit, therefore,
that, rejecting the practice of this people, we should
perpetuate to all future ages the celebration of this
rite, in a more legitimate order, which we have kept
from the first day of our Lord’s passion even to the
present times. Let us then have nothing in common
with the most hostile rabble of the Jews. We have
received another method from the Saviour. A more
lawful and proper course is open to our most holy
religion. In pursuing this course with a unanimous
consent, let us withdraw ourselves, my much
honored brethren, from that most odious fellowship.
... As it is necessary that this fault should be so
amended that we may have nothing in common with
the usage of these parricides and murderers of our
Lord; and so that order is most convenient which is
observed by all the churches of the West, as well as
those of the southern and northern parts of the world,
and also by some in the East, it is judged therefore to
be most equitable and proper, and I pledged myself
The Calendar and the Moon
that this arrangement should meet your approbation,
viz. that the custom which prevails with one consent
in the city of Rome, and throughout all Italy, Africa
and Egypt, in Spain, Gaul, Britain, Lybia, the whole
of Greece, the diocese of Asia, Pontus and Cilicia,
would be gladly embraced by your prudence, ... and
to have no fellowship with the perjury of the Jews.
And, to sum up the whole in a few words, it is
agreeable to the common judgment of all, that the
most holy feast of Easter should be celebrated on
one and the same day (A Historical View of THE
COUNCIL OF NICE; with a TRANSLATION OF
DOCUMENTS by Rev. Isaac Boyle, D.D.; T Mason
and G Lane, New York, 1839; pp. 51-54).
Not only do we perceive a high level of
manipulation of power, propaganda, and
religious belief, but we see also the expression
of roots of anti-Semitism in Western culture
from the world government of the day.
It is worthwhile to see how the last larger
bastion of resistance, Britain, fell to the
onslaught of calendrical and further religious
distortion. The British historian and bishop,
Bede (ca. 672-735 CE), in his The
Ecclesiastical History of the English People,
especially in chapters 25-26 of Book III, has
much to say about the Synod of Whitby of 664
CE and the discussions presided over by King
Oswy (612-670), particularly between Bishop
Colman and the Rome enthusiast, the Abbot of
Ripon, Wilfred, in the monastery of
Streanaeshalch (lit. The Bay of the Beacon,
later known as Hilda’s Abbey).
Bede makes it very clear that the calculation of the
date of Easter was not merely a technical or isolated
issue. The movement of Easter was one of the many
things which argument in terms of symbols (as we
would say, but symbol is for us a limiting word,
mysteries they would say) showed to be loaded with
significance. Easter had to be just at the equinox, for
the lengthening days represented Christ’s triumph
over the powers of darkness. It had to be in the first
month of the lunar year, for this was the month in
which the world had been created and in which it
ought to be newly created. It had to be as the moon
was about to wane, for the moon turns from earth to
heavenly things [Rev. 12:1; Mal. 4:2; Lk. 2:32; Isa.
60:1-3]. It was appropriate that Easter should always
fall within a space of seven days, for seven was a
number of divine significance. Considered from
another point of view, Easter was to be calculated in
such a way as to fulfil both of the Old Law of the
Jews and the New Law of Christ. If it was celebrated
at the right time, then all was in harmony.
Page 7
(Introduction, p. xviii, by James Campbell, who
translated Bede’s The Ecclesiastical History of the
English People for The Great Histories Series by
Washington Square Press, NY, 1968).
That is why we celebrated the Wave Sheaf on
Sunday of 15 Nisan in 1997 and from which
date we counted Pentecost. That is also why the
mainstream church system waited until the next
or following Sunday – which was effectively
22 Nisan in 1997 – to celebrate Easter Sunday
and from which to count Pentecost.
Before quoting directly from Bede, let us look
at a footnote.
Both the Celts and their opponents agreed that Easter
was to be calculated by reference to the full moon
which came on or first after the spring equinox. But
the Celts held Easter Sunday to be that which came
in between the fourteenth day of the moon (i.e., the
day of the full moon) and the twentieth, both
included. That is to say, that if the full moon came
on a Sunday, they made this Easter Sunday. The
other churches refused to make the day of the full
moon Easter Sunday. Thus the system which Bede
used, and which became universal in the west,
reckoned Easter Sunday as that which fell between
the fifteenth and the twenty-first days of the moon. If
the full moon on or next after the equinox came on a
Sunday, then the next Sunday was Easter Sunday
(ibid., n. 44, pp. 400-401).
After Bishop Colman had indicated that his
observance of Easter was received from his
elders and was “the same which the blessed
Evangelist John, the disciple especially dear to
the Lord, celebrated”, the founder of the
Benedictine Order in Britain, Wilfred,
responded:
The Easter which we observe we saw celebrated by
all at Rome, where the blessed Apostles Peter and
Paul lived, taught, suffered, and were buried. This is
what we saw observed by all in Gaul and in Italy
when we travelled through them to study and to pray.
This we have learned to be practiced in Africa, Asia,
Egypt, and Greece, and by the whole world wherever
the faith of Christ has been spread through various
races and tongues; all make use of the one single
way of determining the date of Easter. The only
exceptions are these people and their accomplices in
obstinacy, I mean the Picts and the Britons, with
whom (the inhabitants of the two last islands of the
ocean, and only on part of those) they stand against
the whole of the world, struggling foolishly (ibid.,
pp. 160-161).
Wilfred’s next comment is fascinating,
especially when we note that both were wrong;
Page 8
but Wilfred was obviously the more cunning
and informed.
Far be it from us to charge John with foolishness, for
he observed the precepts of the Law of Moses
literally, at a time when the church still followed the
Jews in many things; and the Apostles were not able
suddenly to set aside the entire observance of the
Law laid down by God ... So, John, according to the
custom of the Law, began the celebration of the feast
of Easter on the evening of the fourteenth day of the
first month, paying no attention to whether it fell on
the Sabbath or on some other day [So there were no
postponements here!] (ibid., pp. 161-162).
Wilfred then proceeds to contradict what he
said and espouses the Catholic convention.
This pattern of universal imposition of the
dating and mode of observance in the
Passover/Easter controversy has persisted
through the centuries. The New Catholic
Encyclopedia comments:
Since the majority of the early Christians were
Jewish converts, it is understandable that from the
outset the Christian calendar was governed by the
fact that the death and Resurrection of Christ had
taken place at the time of the chief Jewish feast, the
Pasch, or Passover, celebrated on the 14th day of the
month of Nisan, i.e., at the full moon following the
Spring equinox. However, rather than literally follow
the Jewish Passover, since this would necessitate the
commemoration of the Resurrection on a different
day of the week each year, Christian custom
(sanctioned by the Council of Nicaea I in 325;
ConOecDecr 2-3, n.6) fixed the anniversary of
Christ’s Resurrection on the actual day of the week
(the first day) on which the Resurrection had taken
place. As a result, Easter falls on the first day of the
week (Sunday) after the first full moon following the
spring equinox, and thus can be as early as March 22
and as late as April 25 [which would make it the
second full moon after the equinox] (ibid., McGraw
Hill, NY, 1967, pp. 1062-1063).
The latest dates here do not deal with the
determination of the Passover dates of
14-15 Nisan but refer to the latest dates on
which Sunday falls and which may be many
days after 14 Nisan. The latest possible dates
on which the Passover may fall are dictated by
the ancient rules which also state that the sun is
in the sign of Aries. The sun leaves Aries from
the 10-20 April, and the latest possible date for
the Passover is thus 20-21 April.
What is most important with the quotes here is
that we see that the influence of both Rome
and, later, Judaism has all but obscured the true
Passover. The later Orthodox schisms have
The Calendar and the Moon
made the problem even more complicated in
that they adopted the later Jewish
postponements and then kept their Easter a
week after the Jewish dates for 14-15 Nisan.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (St
Pauls, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994, Item
1170) says: “At the Council of Nicaea, in 325,
all the Churches agreed that Easter, the
Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the
Sunday following the first full moon (Nisan 14)
after the vernal equinox. The reform of the
Western calendar, called “Gregorian” after
Pope Gregory XIII (1582), caused a
discrepancy of several days with the Eastern
calendar. Today, the Western and Eastern
Churches are seeking agreement in order once
again to celebrate the day of the Lord’s
Resurrection on a common date”.
In 1997, the Western churches celebrated
Easter one week after the Sunday which fell on
the true 15 Nisan in March. The Orthodox
system, of which the Ukrainian church is an
example, held its Easter on the Sunday a week
later than the Jewish postponements on
27 April. The Jews are a month later than the
West in the eighth and the nineteenth years of
their calendar cycle. There is an additional
consequence in that Pentecost and the end of
the sacred year’s festivals (Feast of Trumpets,
Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles) will
be a month later. An effect similar to that of the
Jewish postponements was taken into the
Orthodox system. Originally the Western
convention was not accepted by the Eastern
church in Syria and Mesopotamia, especially
from Antioch. They kept to the Quartodeciman
system until that matter was resolved. Canon I
of the Council of Antioch of 341 shows that the
Eastern bishops were coerced into accepting
the Roman system as determined from
Alexandria (see the paper Jeroboam and the
Hillel Calendar (No. 191) for details). The
Russians were converted to Christianity
following the baptism of Olga of Kiev in 955.
Her son Svyatoslav of Kiev sacked the Khazar
Jewish kingdom of the Askenaz in 967. Thus,
they were absorbed into Russia, and Olga’s
grandson Vladimir accepted Christianity and
officially adopted the religion in 988/989 (cf.
The Calendar and the Moon
Milner-Gulland and Dejevsky, Cultural Atlas
of Russia and the Soviet Union, Time-Life
Books, 1994, p. 8).
The influence of the Khazar Jewish system
should not be underestimated. The Judaic
influence on the Russian Orthodox system was
so great that by the latter half of the fifteenth
century it was considered necessary to place it
under severe repression (see ERE, art. ‘Russian
Church’, Vol. 10, p. 869). Until 1480, with Ivan
III Vasilievich, Russia had been under the
Tartars or Mongols (ibid., p. 870) and they had
been extremely tolerant of religions as had
Khazaria before them. Russia was divided into
two political aggregations in the middle of the
fifteenth century and the western section under
Lithuano-Polish Catholic domination repressed
the Orthodox in every way (ibid., pp. 869-870).
Combined with the effect of the failure of the
Orthodox Church to adopt the Gregorian
calendar, this probably accounts for the
variation in the Easter dating. It is a
combination of the failure to adjust the errors in
the calendar to coincide with the Gregorian
system and the postponement to the following
New Moon which, in 1997, corresponded to the
Jewish postponements.
Duration of Passover
When Jesus Christ met with the Apostles for
what Paul calls the Lord’s Supper (1Cor.
11:20; see also Jn. 13:2,4; 21:20), that night
was the night before the Jewish Passover. The
event that Christians should observe is on the
evening of the 14 Abib, whereas Jews observe
only the evening of 15 Abib, with the killing of
the Passover lambs in the afternoon
immediately preceding that night as described
also in Exodus 12:40-42. The Lord’s Supper
for 1997 fell on the evening of Friday, 21
March (14 Abib), since the vernal New Moon
was 9 March and the vernal equinox was just
before midnight of 20 March. Is it ironic that
22 March coincided with the Jewish Purim
(14 Adar II)? (See Esther 9:18-19.)
The evening of 15 Nisan is described as the
Night to Be Much Observed and the Christian
Page 9
thus observes both evenings – but the emphasis
is on 14 Nisan not 15 Nisan, and the Passover
proceeds until the Sunday (as is recorded by
Tertullian) regardless of when 14 Nisan falls.
According to Tertullian, the crucifixion and the
resurrection were treated equally, and the word
Pascha (or Passover) designated both days or
the period of the crucifixion commencing from
14 Nisan to the Sunday (which was the WaveSheaf Offering and from which Pentecost was
determined) (cf. Cath. Encyc., Vol. III, art.
'Calendar', pp. 159ff.). It should also be
remembered that the fixing of the Easter system
is accorded to the Council of Nicaea, but there
is no record in the canons of the Council of
such a decision (cf. Cath. Encyc., ibid., p. 160;
cf. Turner, Monumenta Nicaeana 152; cf. Cath.
Encyc., Vol. V, art. ‘Easter’, p. 228).
Summary
The intent of calendrical history makers, as
shown in this brief paper, seems to be to create
sufficient confusion to make it impossible to
keep the true Passover season based on the
correct dates as determined from the true New
Moon of the northern spring. Biblical calendars
and hence the times of the Feasts are
determined from the First month, Abib (Ex.
12:2; 23:14-16 [v.16 says that the Feast of
Tabernacles is at the end of the year (or, more
correctly, the turn of the year); see also Ex.
34:18-22]; Lev. 23:4; Num. 9:1-2; 28:16; Deut.
16:1;
Josh.
4:19;
Ezek.
45:18-21).
Postponements are in effect a denial that the
Calendar is determined from the First day of
the First month! The flow of festivals is from
the First month, Abib, and not the Seventh
month, Tishri.
It is therefore self-evident that we have an
awesome responsibility to faithfully observe the
correct sacred days and also help to fully restore
them so that others may keep them in rewarding
obedience to the Word of the Almighty God.
See also the paper Distortion of God’s
Calendar in Judah (No. 195B).
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