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The apologetic interpretation of the Apostolic Canon 71

Fr. Dan Bdulescu The way of celebration of the Christian Easter is a crucial element in the liturgy, canon law and dogmatic of the Catholic Orthodox Church.Therefore it was determined following conciliar decisions, all having as the basis the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325. These canons are based on the "Apostolic Canon 7" and its interpretation. In the realm of contemporary Romanian Orthodoxy in the reach of theologians is usually this: Canon 7 (Apostolic) (CELEBRATING EASTER)2 "If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon celebrate the holy day of Easter before the vernal equinox with the Jews, let him be deposed." (Can. 64, 70 Apost., 11 Trulan, 1 Antioch, 37, 38 Laodicea, 51, 73, 106 Carthage). This canon provisions constitute the basis for the decision taken at the first Ecumenical Council regarding the Christian Easter feast, decision that establish the following: 1. Easter is celebrated on Sunday. 2. This Sunday should be the first Sunday of the full moon after the vernal equinox. 3. If in the same Sunday should fall the Jewish Easter, then, in order to avoid celebrating Christian Easter with the Jewish, Christians will celebrate Easter next Sunday. From here we see that the decision of the Council of Nicaea - which is not listed in any canon of this Council, but contained only in his acts - has taken into account two important ordinances comprised by the Apostolic Canon 7, namely: a. not to celebrate Easter before the vernal equinox b. not to celebrate Easter with the Jews at once. Those ordinances being complemented and completed by the first Ecumenical Council have to be followed exactly, for otherwise, the clergy would be subject to defrockment and laity, properly, to bannishment. The above interpretation is brief and does not seem to raise special problems: we never celebrate before the equinox and together with the Jews. But if we go back to the thread of history, also in the twentieth century, we find this version: CLXVI. EASTER3 1477. - "If any Bishop, or Presbyter or Deacon celebrate the holy day of Easter before the vernal
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See also: http://www.scribd.com/collections/4143678/Cronology-and-calendar Arhid. Ioan Floca Canoanele Bisericii Ortodoxe, 1992, p. 12 3 Ieromonah Nicodim Sachelarie Pravila bisericeasc, Ed. A III-a, Parohia Valea Plopului, Jud. Prahova, 1999, pp. 370-371

2 equinox (isimeria) with the Jews (the full moon day), let him be deposed." (but for celebration after the equinox, i.e. after the second full moon nothing is mentioned). - post. 7. The things are complicated already: the bracket but for celebration after the equinox, i.e. after the second full moon nothing is mentioned suggests an "interpretation" of the author which seems to imply that the rule of that canonical decision does not say anything special about the feast together with the Jews after equinox! To understand the purpose and meaning of this strange insertion, we must remember that in the interwar period in Romania was the acute problem of "fixing the calendar", in order to bring the astronomical vernal equinox on 21 March and with it the full moon after it. But the price paid for this achievement by this "Gregorian" reform, was that the Christian Easter is celebrate in this time frame, sometimes together, or even before the Jewish Easter! The "Romanian calendar reform" from 1924 to 1929 too encountered the same difficulties. In 1933 in Romania appeared on the first of November a Pedalion edition published by Archimandrite. Zosima Trl and Ic. Stavr. Haralambie Popescu. There is stated as follows: THE EASTER CELEBRATION Apostolic Canon 7 "If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon celebrate the holy day of Easter before the vernal equinox (isimeria) with the Jews (the full moon day), let him be deposed." Interpretation: Easter Celebration put problems to the Fathers of the Christian Church since before the emperor Constantine the Great, until the council of Nicea, a rule was not formally established. There were different views which of course had to give rise to special circumstances and views. Base don the Apostolic constitutions which showed the rules that take into account the Easter celebration, the Holy Fathers have filled the most important goal of the Christian Church. Even the emperor Constantine the Great had the desire to fix this Christian feast that produced regrettable trouble. Indeed, according to the Apostolic constitutions that said: "It is appropriate, you brethren, that the Easter days to be observed in all diligence and carefulness after the spring equinox, not to commit the remembering of the Passions of the Lord twice a year, but only once, because once He died. And again after the Jewish Pasha, because first have to be the prototype of the Lamb slaughter and then to follow what is imagined, i.e., the death and resurrection of the Lord: yet another, to not celebrate on other day of the week, as the Jews do, but always on Sunday. " (Book XVII Ch. 7). In other words, this rule is limited to four points: 1) The Easter should be celebrated after the vernal equinox, because sometimes it was celebrated twice a year, which is not allowed, 2) After the Jewish Pasha to distinguish them and us and because so occured. The Jewish Passover was before and then the Lord is risen, 3) After the first full moon of March, which will be after the equinox and 4) to celebrate the first Sunday after the full moon above. This being respected as is was determined by the Holy Fathers will not contravene the provisions of the holy Canons. But sometimes it happens that these rules, i.e. the fourth, to be violated, because of the irregular movement of the moon. And Blastaris says that after three hundred years the Jewish Easter will be celebrated two days after the first full moon on a Sunday. These two days which are left on account of this anomaly, when added, sometimes exceed the first Sunday that happens to occur after the full moon in March, on which Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday, and observe Easter on he following Sunday. This slight violation is not attended by any deviation from law, as St. Chrysostom says: "the Church of Christ knows no accuracy of times or

3 observation of days". And further: "God does not take care to provide for any such accurate observation of times and days, but conline His attention to lostering concord and union."... Here already things begin to fall to normal, important details are given which clarifies the situation. More complex interpretations are in the original edition of Pedalion. In order to be understood, this interpretation (comment) to this extremely important canon for establishing the date of Easter celebration, as was done in Pedalion, it is absolutely necessary to transpose ourselves in the astronomical and astrological patristic teaching of the Fathers.This will reveal the full significance of this interpretation. First we give this interpretation: CANON VII If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon celebrate the holy day of Easter before the vernal equinox with the Jews, let him be deposed. (Ap cc, LXI, LXX, LXXI. c. XI of the 6th: c, I of Antioch. cc, XXXVIT. XXXVIII of Laodicca; and cc LX, LXXXI, CXVII of Carthage.)

Interpretation4
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Regarding the finding of Easter an excellent rule, and one which could not be any better, says Matthen Blastaris, was devised and published by he holy First Ecumenical Council. In accordance wilh c. I of the council held at Antioch: which rule is not to be found in the canons of the First Ecumenical Council, but is found, according to Balsamon, in its minutes. It is still preserved in the work of Matthew Blastaris, and printed in the holy Gospels, and in many other books. Leaving, therefore, exact knowledge of this Paschalion to be learned by itself and separately by those of our own Church who are specially occupied with the study of the Paschalion, we confine ourselves in he present footnote to stating that there are four necessary factors to be sought in connection with the date of our Easter. The first is that Easter must always be celebrated after the occurrence of the vernal equinox. Second. that it must not be celebrated on the same day as the legal Pesach (or Passover) of the Jews. (These two factors are ordained by the present Apostolical Canon VII.) Third, that it is not to be celebrated simply and indefinitely after the vernal equinox, but alter the first full moon of March that happens to occur after the equinox. And fourth, that it must not be celebrated on the first Sunday that comes after the full moon. (These two, factors are dcrivcd from tradition, and not from any canon.) Hence, in order for these four conditions to be observed equally throughout the inhabited earth, and for Christians to celebrate holy Easter at the same time and on the same day, and in order to escape from the necessity of consulting astronomers and synods every year, the God-wise and God-learned Fathers framed the rule concerning Easter. Note, however, that on account of the irregularity of the moon's motion, the fourth condition is not always kept, but is sometimes violated, because of the fact that, according to the same Blastaris, every three hundred years, two days after the first full moon, the legal Passover happens to occur on a Sunday. These two days which are left over on account of this anomaly, when added, sometimes exceed the first Sunday that happens to occur after the full moon in March, on which Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday, and observe Easter on he following Sunday. This slight violation is not

4 The sun passes through two equinoxes during the year, one in the springtime and the other in the season of autumn. They are called equinoxes because the day is then equal to the night, and, conversely, the night is equal to the day. The autumnal equinox occurs during September when the sun
attended by any deviation from piety or any unseemly fault or any danger to the soul. That is why St. Chrysostom (in his discourse to those fasting the first Easters) says that the Church of Christ "knows no accuracy of times or observation of days, since as often as she eats this life-creating bread, and drinks this cup, she is denouncing the death of the Lord and is celebrating Easter, but inasmuch as the Fathers assembled at the First Council and ordained how the data of Easter is to be reckoned for its celebration, because the Cliurch honors agreement and union evenwhere, she acceded the regulation which they provided." So, according to Chrysostom, the Latins too ought to have preferred the agreement and union of he Church to an observation of times (of he equinox, that is to say, which has now come to fall on March 11th, whereas it fell on March 21st in the time of the First Council), and to celebrate Easter with us Greeks, and not to dishonor those three hundred God-bearing and Spirit-bearing Fathers, who laid down this law under the guidance of divine enlightenment, deeming them silly and offering insult to the Church which is our common mother of all of us, because (the golden orator say in the sequel), though the Church made a mistake of course, no such great good could result from this accurate keeping of the time as the great evil which would ensue from this division and the schism from the catholic Church. For he says: "God and the Church do not take care to provide for any such accurate observation of times and days, but conline heir attention lo lostering concord and union." Accordingly, dear reader, notice that divine Chrysostom calls the Latins schismatics because they innovated in regard to the paschalion and the calendar, and not because, so far as this depends on the equinox, it is not correct; for we too can see that the equinox has remained behind eleven days: but because they separated from us on his mount, which is an unpardonable crime, according to he same saint. For he says in the same discourse that it is no crime for one to fast and to celebrate Easter at this time or that, after the twenty-first day of March, say, as we Greeks do, or after the eleventh day of March, as the Latins do. "But to split the Church and to resist her quarrelsomely, and to cause dissensions and divisions, and to separate oneself from the common convention of the Church, is an unpardonable sin, and one deserving to be denounced, and entailing much punishment and castigation." For let them know that the ecumcnical councils which were held after the first one, and the rest of the Fathers, learned as they were, could see of course that the equinox had deviated, or come down, a geal deal from where it used to be; nevertheless, they did not care to change its position from March 21st where the first council found it, because they preferred the agreement and union, of the Church to accuracy in the matter of the equinox, which causes no confusion in fixing the date of our Easter, nor any harm to piety. Indeed, this accuracy causes the Latins two great improprieties, to wit: that of celebrating Easter either with the Jews, which contravenes the present Canon, or before the Jews. But that God is more pleased with the order of the paschalion, and, in a word, with our calendar, than He is with the accuracy of the paschalion and calendar of the Latins, is evident from the miracles which He has shown and continues to show up till now in regard thereto. For in the region of Helipolis, Egypt, where the great pyramids are, God performs the following strange paradox every year, to wit: on the evening of our (not the Latins') Holy Thursday, the earth vomits old human relics and bones, which cover the ground of an extensive plain and which remain standing until the following Thursday of the Assumption (misnamed "Ascension" by the Latins), and then they go into hiding, and no longer show themselves at all, until Holy Thursday comes again. This is no myth or fable, but is true and certain, having been verified by older and recent historians, and particularly by George Coressios the Chian, and by Nectarius, of blessed memory, a former patriarch of Jerusalem, who in the Arabic manuscript which he composed tells about it on page 266 and, as appears from what he says further on, saw it with his own eyes. In fact, these human bones presage the future resurrection of the dead, just as the prophet Ezekiel too saw them. The afore-said Coressios stated that Paschasinos wrote to Leo (as shown in Leo's epistle IXII) that while Easterners were celebrating Easter once on he 22nd of Aprilie - when the Westerners had celebrated it on the 25th of March, a spring which had formerly been dry filled with water on the 22nd day of April, on the very same day, that is to say, as our Easter, and not that of the Latins. See Dositheus, in his Bk. XII or past patriarchs of Jerrusalem, page 1192, where he relates that when Paisius the patriarch of Jerusalem was once at Belgrade there occurred a miracle which verified our calendar, and refuted that of the Latins: this miracle consisted in the fact that the dough which a Latin woman had made on the day of the prophet Elias (or Elijah) became converted into pumice stone.

5 is entering the first division of the zodiac; called Libra (i.e., the Balance), not of the starry and sensible one, but of the starless and supersensible one. The vernal, or spring, equinox, on the other hand, occurs in the month of March, when the sun is entering the first sign of the zodiac, called Aries (i.e., the Ram), not of the sensible and starry one, which is really variable, but of the supersensible and starless one, which is really invariable, according to astronomers. Well, this vernal equinox, because of an irregularity of the sun's course in its motion from west to east, does not occur always on one and the same day, but in the time ofthe holy Apostles it was on the 22nd day of the month of Drystrus, or March, according to the Injunction of the same Apostles (Book V, chap. 171, or, according to others, on the 23rd; whereas, at the time of the First Ecumenical Council it was on the 21st day of March, according to Sebastus and others. And now in our times it occurs on the 11 th, or even the 10th nearly, of March (for, according to the older astronomers, Ptolemy and others, the equinox descends a full day of 24 hours in the course of a little over three hundred years; but according to modern astronomers it descends the space of a day and night in 134 years, as appears on page 540 of the Tome of love). These facts having already become known, the present Apostolical Canon ordains that any bishop or presbyter or deacon that celebrates holy Easter before the equinox of spring, with the legal Passover of the Jews, is to be deposed from office (for even among the Jews the wisest and most learned ones observed file celebration of Passover at the time of the equinox, according to Blastaris, just as Moses had enjoined it, but the less refined ones celebrated it before the equinox in accordance with the present Canon, and consequently they celebrated Passover twice in the same year, as is made plainly evident in the letter Emperor Constantine concerning Easter5, which is to be found in Book I of the history written by Theodoret, chap. 10, or 9 according to others). But when is this performed? After the equinox, that is to say, and after the legal Passover. After the equinox, of course, because the equinox, because of its being a measure dividing the whole year into two halves, in case we celebrate Easter before the equinox, will make us observe Easter twice in the same year; and, in that event, we should consequently be marking the death of the Son of God twice. But if we celehate it after die equinox, we observe but one Easter, and consequently denounce but one death of Christ. That is why the Apostles themselves, in their Injunctions (Bk. V, ch. 17), say the following; "Brethren, you must fix the days of Easter accurately, with all diligence, after the turn of the equinox, and not commemorate one suffering twice a year, but once a year Him who died but once." Again; after the Passover of the Jews, for one thing, in order to have the type, or, more plainly speaking, the slaughter of the lamb, precede, and have what is typified, or, more plainly speaking, the death and resurrection of the Lord, afterwards follow. And, for another thing, in order not to celebrate it on any other day of the week, as the Jews celebrate Passover on any day that happens to be the fourteenth of the moon, but always on a Sunday, and the Apostles also say in the same place. On this account, moreover, whenever it so happens that the legal Passover falls on a Sunday, we do not celebrate Easter on that day, but on Sunday next thereafter, to avoid celebrating along with the Jews. For, even according to the very truth of the matter, it was then that the Jews first celebrated their Passover, and the resurrection of the Lord occurred afterwards; the Easter which we now celebrate every year serving as a figure to remind us of it.
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For, the peer of the apostles, Constantine the Great, besides the other good things that he did, did in addition this one, namely: that of asking he First Ecumenical Council to ordain that holy Easter be celebrated in all parts of the inhabited earth on one and the same day. For the blissful man could not bear seeing the Church of Christ divided on account of this festival, many councils being held in various parts, and the Westerners opposing the Asiatics on account of it, the former following the custom which had been established before them by their presbyters, the Asiatics, on the other hand. following the bosom disciple John and the rest of the Apostles, as Polycratcs, the bishop of Smyrna wrote to Victor, the bishop of Rome, according to Eusebius (Bk. V, ch. 23). See also the discourses of St. Chrysostom concerning Easter, wherein he unfolds a wonderful allegory in relating the facts of the old Passover to Christ.

6 Concord Not only does Ap. c. LXX ordain that we must not celebrate with the Jews, but so does also cc. XXXVTI and XXXVIIT of Laodicea. But neither must we even pray together with them,, according to Ap. c. LXV, nor take oil to their synagogues, according to Ap. c. LXXI. Canon I ofAntioch, in fact, deposes those ill holy orders who fail to keep the definition of the First Council concerning Easter, 1 but celebrate it with the Jews. Canons LX, LXXX I, and CXVII of Carthage ordain with reference to the date of Easter when it is to be found and where it is to be written, and to be announced to others. Canon XI of the Sixth even goes so far as to prohibit a Christian from calling in Jews for medical treatment or bathing with them." During the time the oblivion was laid upon the aspects of church astrology, and for most of us theologians, and even monks, these interpretations are the unsolved mysteries. The words of "supersensible", "sensible" Aries, etc. look up at the most some astrological incomprehensible and unnecessary details. We will see that things are not so in the slightest way. We give below some basic explanations of patristic astro/logy/nomi to help clarify these passages. As shown, there are two zodiacs, the tropical and sidereal. The sun is on the 4th sky (from the earth), the sidereal zodiac (the one with zodiac-constellations, the "sensible"), is the 8th sky. During the 7521 years since the creation of the world (2013), the two zodiacs were shifted so that today the spring equinox in the zodiac is happening in the "sensible" sign (sidereal) of Fish, to its end.

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Sidereal zodiac ("sensible") and tropical ("supersensible") year 7517 (2009): Spring equinox "sensible" (end of Pisces); Spring Equinox "supersensible" (Aries, grade 1)

And because nowadays most people, be they believers even practitioners, need as air a confirmation from the scientific authority too, we offer them an item that will be shocking to many: a current astronomical map (obtained by program Home Planet - hp - you can download it free from the internet) to the vernal equinox:

Spring Equinox March 21, 2010

The sky on 21 March 2010, viewed from Bucharest local time 06:00. Note the sun ,, at the core diagram Pisces (on the chart between 0 - 30), and close to the sign Aquarius (on the chart between 360 - 330) To achieve the above astronomical map were used for astronomical observations and a modern computer program. Let's see what it says about the same time an astrological chart (produced with the program ASTROLOGY 5.40)

Sidereal zodiac on March 21 03.16.2010

Notice the equinox when the sun : exactly the same shown in the previous diagram. According to traditional cosmological revelation most clearly depicted by Matthew Blastaris in the first week of Creation things were as follows: on days I-VI extended spring equinox. I Day III Day IV Day equinox plants, so the spring equinox. the appearance of lights, spring equinox found in the sidereal zodiac Aries (sensible), which now corresponds identical to the tropical one (supersensible), grade 1. human creation. The same astral configuration.

VI Day

From the eighth day (Sunday), the astral movements are those known. From this point the phenomenon of precession of the equinoxes makest hat the the sun is reaching the vernal equinox now in different positions on the ecliptic, which is to have variations in the zodiac. This is the situation of the "sensible" zodiac, sidereal. Regarding the "supersensible" zodiac, tropical, it does not change: "supersensible Aries" is perpetually vernal equinox, for whatever might occur in the sidereal zodiac. Once clarified the situation of the "supersensible" zodiac, we see that it appears again that the problem of dating equinox, i.e.:

9 could this date in its turn be unchangeable? Can it be fixed at some point, say March 21? Should we do this or not? Exactly at this point alluded Pedalions interpretation. Since it was written at the end of eighteenth century, we have here an apologetic and polemical interpretation, as an answer to the Roman Catholic challenges and pressures. The answer becomes clear: The Holy Fathers were not at all concerned that the astronomical vernal equinox ("sensible"!) to be forever linked to dating "21 March". They knew perfectly that the precession of the equinoxes makes that it gradually occur at more and more remote data. Or in other words: the date "March 21" in the church calendar ("Julian") no longer accords more with the vernal equinox and therefore nor with the grade 1 from the "supersensible" Aries. Or, if, however, it is considered here that also the supersensible Aries begins always at March 21 (Julian), then the two moments occur not on the same day! Here is the real explanation of the term of 21 March, which, indeed, ist o be found within the traditional canonic period of Easter celebration, March 22-April 25: "The Alexandrian paschalion, made in the 4th century (between 284 and 322) based on the Julian style was adopted by the Catholic Church as one that reunited fully compendia itself with the biblical and church looking to celebrate Easter. The Alexandrian paschalion considered the lunar month, of which the full moon occurs after March 21, as Nisan; March 21 is considered as the unchanged boundary of the paschalion - "tecufan-Nisan" - during Nisan, when the new paschal year begins, the spring quarter; but in no way the astronomical equinox. As in Egypt, where for the first time was given by the Lord the law on Easter, grain baking take place no earlier than March 21. This circumstance has made the paschalists that for determining of the full moon of the first month aviv to consider March 21 as a fixed boundary. In addition to this, the Alexandrian astronomers began to consider March 21 for Easter boundary passing through the Great Indiction, knowing very well that the moment of equinox is mobile, and that during the Easter indiction (over 532 years) the equinox can not stay still."6 Not only that, but it might be objected that, although "supersensible, or sensible Aries" is a clarified matter, even so in the "Julian" calendar the astronomical spring equinox does not occur on March 21.The answer at this is: indeed, even this "supersensible Aries" does not guarantee the astronomical vernal equinox, but in fact we are dealing here also with a "supersensible invariable" equinox, one liturgical, not astronomical: "The equinoxes are not fixed points but are constantly moving (read about the precession of the equinoxes first discovered by Hipparchus of Rhodes in the 2nd century B.C.). The equinox in 2010 has precessed since 2009 and will precess even more by 2011, and more still in 2012 etc..eventually the spring equinox will be at the point that today marks the winter solstice. The Fathers knew this and so were not interested in the actual physical equinox but built their own equinox into their cycle, an equinox that would not move but would permanently remain fixed. The beauty of this system is that although the equinox of the Fathers drifts relative to the physical equinox in remains fixed relative to the Church feasts, and this is what they were interested in not in the seasons and the weather."7 The Gregorian instead followed the opposite: the binding and fixing the date of March 21 to the "sensible Aries" and to the "sensible" vernal equinox. What is worse and false is that the reform was justified - and still is! by the compliance with the provision of the Fathers of Nicaea, which, as we have seen, have never had it, but only as the range of celebration of Easter is March 22 to April 25,
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Docent AI Gheorghievski: Debates and decisions of the Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, church calendar problem - Moscow, July 8 to 18, 1948 (the occasion of the celebration of the 500 th year anniversary of the Russian Orthodox autocephaly) stenographic report. 7 http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/09/spiritual-insignificance-of-church.html

10 which was observed from then until the 20th century in the whole Church. The proof is in maintaining the traditional patristic paschaleon for 1700 years without the Eastern Orthodox Church breaching so crass that claimed decision of Nicaea. Following the "calendar reform" of 1923, the so-called "reformed Calendar" or "new style" shows the Paschal range delayed by 13 days, i.e. April 4 to May 10. This is the price at which it could be kept in Orthodoxy a correlation of the equinox with the 1 degree of supersensible Aries in the day of (or at least around the date) March 218. The "gregorians" paid for the same ambition a much higher price: the breach in some years of the decision of the Apostolic Canon 4 of the Council of Nicea! Here it is obvious the bodily character nature of this reform that seeks to chronologically align the church calendar with the natural phenomena - the equinox and the first full moon after it - that is exactly the "accurate observation of times" that reminded St. John Chrysostom. This is done simultaneously in violation of a spiritual commandments: to not celebrate with the Jews, even when those elements would lead to astronomical that coincidence: the celebration is delayed in the known way. Not to mention the situation of celebration before the legal Pascha, there is the already a blasphemy! In the patristic church calendar (Julian), Easter will always occur after the vernal sidereal, astronomical equinox, no matter what calendar date shall fall. As for the date of March 21 of the Julian calendar, that means a "supersensible", "liturgical" equinox which is the most important in the economy of the Church, that of salvation.

Canonical and liturgical implications of this modification are not covered by this article ...