Beloved in the Lord,

 

Christ is risen from the dead, 

trampling down death by death 

and upon those in the tombs bestowing life! - Paschal Troparion

 

 

Thanks to the deacons, readers, Cyndee and the music folks, the techies, the church decorators, cleaners, Staff and all who made this unique Holy Week and Pascha prayerful and beautiful.

 

A word about the word “Easter.”  Did you know?

 

The word “Easter” is an Anglo-Saxon word for a pagan festival. The word in its original use is entirely pagan. According to the English Church historian St. Bede, it derives from a pagan Spring festival in honor of Eastra or Ostara a Teutonic (German) goddess. “Easter” has no association with Christ, His death and Resurrection, or anything Christian. Until very recently the Church referred to the Day of Resurrection not as “Easter” but as “the Passover of the Lord” or the Latin form “paschalis” or “pascha.”

 

Those who speak French, Italian and Spanish do not make the same mistake. The French call the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ, “Pâques,” the Italians, “Pasqua,” and the Spanish, “Pascua.” In these languages the words come from the proper source — “Passover”, which in Greek is the word "Pascha".

 

“Pascha” is derived from the Jewish word “Pesah” which means "Passover". And here there is a direct link with the New Testament.  In 1 Corinthians 5:7 we read, "…for our passover lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed". According to St. John’s Gospel, Christ was crucified at the very time that the paschal lambs were being sacrificed in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Jewish Passover.  

 

There is another link with the Old Testament because of the importance to the Jews of the Feast of the Passover. The word “Passover” also means to “protect” and “to have compassion.”  The experience of the Israelites was literally a "Passover.”  Remember God told the people of Israel to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of the Passover lamb. This would be a sign to the angel of death to “pass over” the house of the Hebrews sparing the first born son from death. But this was also an experience of both God’s compassion for his people, and a great act of protection, as for example, the Israelite people’s passage through the Red Sea when fleeing Pharaoh’s army. The crucifixion and later Resurrection of Christ took place during the days of the Passover Feast. So for Christians Christ was clearly the Paschal Lamb, the fulfilment of all that the Hebrew Passover had foreshadowed since the first Passover celebrated the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Let us remember that because the word "Pascha" is in its origin a Hebrew word, by using it we are a witness to the Jewish community, for whom the Passover is still one of the most important words in their religious faith.

 

Is the word “Easter” bad? No, but words and their sources have meaning. Why call the Day of the Lord’s Resurrection by a name for a pagan Goddess of Spring?

 

You have heard me for many years use the words “Passover of the Lord” or “Pascha” for our Lord’s Resurrection. You might think that is picky or “not with the times”. But we as Catholic Christians should be faithful to our heritage and Tradition. Would you deliberately call your child by the wrong name, even if her friends have chosen another name for her? Would we call covid-19 a chest cold?

 

Society speaks of the “Easter Bunny,” “Easter Dinner,” or “Easter egg hunts.” That’s not a problem. All these things generally have no sacred connotations or meanings. It would sound silly to talk of the “Paschal Bunny” or “Paschal egg hunts” (but maybe not “Paschal dinner”).

 

But as faithful Catholics I suggest when we speak of the Lord’s Resurrection we call it what it is: the “Passover of the Lord” or for short, “Pascha.” (Don’t worry, I won’t correct people if they say, “Easter”…most of the time.)

 

But in speaking of the Resurrection of the Lord we honor the bright Feast and the One who passed over from death to life so that we could follow him to eternal life.

 

“Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us, therefore, let us keep the feast!”

 

In the Lord’s love,

Fr. Phil