The time of Easter. A study the for the dialogue between faith and reason

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleTimpul Paştilor, un studiu pentru dialogul dintre credinţă şi raţiune
3. Language term Romanian
4. lemma author Stavinschi, Alexandra
5. lemma category Ecumenism and dialogue > Ecumenism - Ecumenism and dialogue - Ecumenism and dialogue > Dialogue between churches - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Cult and spirituality
6. Publication date 2012
7. lemma work Macri, Ion [Author]. Timpul Paştilor, un studiu pentru dialogul dintre credinţă şi raţiune [The time of Easter. A study the for the dialogue between faith and reason]
8. lemma manifestations Caietele Institutului Catolic
9. Keywords Easter - calendar - astronomy - faith and knowledge - Catholic
10. Lemma body

    1. This study was carried out in the framework of the Templeton programme “Dialogue between science and religion”, which was run in Romania between 2007 and 2009 by the Association for Dialogue between Science and Theology, and was completed with new findings that emerged from subsequent research undertaken by the author. It was conceived as a contribution towards Christian unity. To determine the Easter data the same rule is used both in the Orthodox and in the Catholic-Protestant tradition. However, it is applied to two different calendars: the Gregorian calendar, which accurately reflects the time on Earth, and the Julian calendar, which currently shows two delays: a 13-day delay from the date of tropic sun, which postpones Easter by a month, and a five-day delay from the phase of full moon, which shifts the Easter date by a week. The Easter date determined by following the Julian calendar (between 4 April to 8 May) is suitable for areas that have a colder climate, always falls after the Hebrew Passover and coincides with the date in the Gregorian calendar on average once every three years. The date established following the Gregorian calendar (22 March - 25April 25) suits areas having a milder Mediterranean climate, meets the Easter criteria set out at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, and has an outstanding long-term accuracy. There is a geometric overlap of these two intervals, between 4 April to 25 April, when the data Easter should always be shared, leaving out only earlier and later data, for which an agreement can be reached. That means that the dates are appropriate for the specific geographic areas, and only one more step is needed to reach the unification of the pascal data for an Easter universal time.