An Attempt to Date
the Creation of the Easter Tables
October 21, 2020
Apprentice Gabe
The original rules for regulating the celebration the Resurrection from the Council of Nicaea [allegedly held in 325 AD] are no longer extant and only second hand accounts for the decrees of determining Easter have survived to the present day.
The most commonly repeated exoteric explanation of concerning the date of Easter is that it is celebrated after the vernal equinox, after the full moon, and on the following Sunday. This understanding is elegant, modern, and incorrect.
The Easter table consists of nineteen entries numbering one through nineteen and each entry lists the calculated date of the full moon. To learn which entry is appropriate for the year under consideration, the digits of the year [in the AD system] are divided by 19 and adding 1 to the remainder. Since the AD system of chronology was not widely used until the 16th century, this method of utilizing the AD system must be a modern conversion of the original counting from the beginning of the world or Anno Mundi [AM] system.
This calculated full moon can be described as the ecclesiastical full moon [EFM] and is distinguished from the observable full moon or, for past ages, the astronomically calculated full moon [astronomical full moon or AFM]. The Easter tables gives the date of the EFM and the Sunday following this calculated full moon is the date of Easter. The Julian calendar is utilized for the dates of the AFM and Easter, not the modern Gregorian calendar [introduced in 1583 AD].
‘The Easter Book is based on the assumption that the dates of spring full moons punctually recur every 19 years.’ [p. 394] The date of the full moon returns every nineteen year, that is, April 15, 2014 is the date of the full moon and April 15, 2023 will be a full moon.
The most commonly repeated exoteric explanation of concerning the date of Easter is that it is celebrated after the vernal equinox, after the full moon, and on the following Sunday. This understanding is elegant, modern, and incorrect.
The Easter table consists of nineteen entries numbering one through nineteen and each entry lists the calculated date of the full moon. To learn which entry is appropriate for the year under consideration, the digits of the year [in the AD system] are divided by 19 and adding 1 to the remainder. Since the AD system of chronology was not widely used until the 16th century, this method of utilizing the AD system must be a modern conversion of the original counting from the beginning of the world or Anno Mundi [AM] system.
This calculated full moon can be described as the ecclesiastical full moon [EFM] and is distinguished from the observable full moon or, for past ages, the astronomically calculated full moon [astronomical full moon or AFM]. The Easter tables gives the date of the EFM and the Sunday following this calculated full moon is the date of Easter. The Julian calendar is utilized for the dates of the AFM and Easter, not the modern Gregorian calendar [introduced in 1583 AD].
‘The Easter Book is based on the assumption that the dates of spring full moons punctually recur every 19 years.’ [p. 394] The date of the full moon returns every nineteen year, that is, April 15, 2014 is the date of the full moon and April 15, 2023 will be a full moon.
the 19 year ecclesiastical full moon cycle
Number
[remainder plus 1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 |
Ecclesiastical Full Moon
April 5 March 25 April 13 April 2 March 22 April 10 March 30 April 18 April 7 March 27 April 15 April 4 March 24 April 12 April 1 March 21 April 9 March 29 April 17 |
The 19 year cycle of the Easter table is cyclical and by the table itself would be impossible to determine which year the table was implemented.
The Julian calendar year can begin on one of seven days [Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday] and every fourth year is a ‘leap year’ consisting of 366 days. Therefore, a repeating cycle of 532 years exists for the Easter dates [19×7×4=532].
This repeating cycle of 532 years is known as the Great Indiction. Based on the preceding information of when the Council of Nicaea formulated the rules of Easter, one would expect the first Great Indication to occur in the year 325 AD, however the closest Great Indiction is the twelfth Great Indication from the years 354 AD to 876 AD. For completeness, the Gentle Reader should be aware that the thirteenth Great Indication began in 877 AD, the fourteenth Great Indiction commenced in 1409 AD, and the fifteenth Great Indiction started in 1941 AD.
It is presumed that the Easter tables were created during the eleventh Great Indication which ended in 353 AD. Although the Great Indications repeat the dates of the EFM and the dates of Easter every 532 years, the AFM is delayed and slowly, through the centuries, occurs before the EFM.
The Julian calendar year can begin on one of seven days [Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday] and every fourth year is a ‘leap year’ consisting of 366 days. Therefore, a repeating cycle of 532 years exists for the Easter dates [19×7×4=532].
This repeating cycle of 532 years is known as the Great Indiction. Based on the preceding information of when the Council of Nicaea formulated the rules of Easter, one would expect the first Great Indication to occur in the year 325 AD, however the closest Great Indiction is the twelfth Great Indication from the years 354 AD to 876 AD. For completeness, the Gentle Reader should be aware that the thirteenth Great Indication began in 877 AD, the fourteenth Great Indiction commenced in 1409 AD, and the fifteenth Great Indiction started in 1941 AD.
It is presumed that the Easter tables were created during the eleventh Great Indication which ended in 353 AD. Although the Great Indications repeat the dates of the EFM and the dates of Easter every 532 years, the AFM is delayed and slowly, through the centuries, occurs before the EFM.
Ecclesiastical full moon for April 5 [342 to 988 ad]
Year
342 361 380 399 418 437 456 475 494 513 532 551 570 589 608 627 646 665 684 703 722 741 760 779 798 817 836 855 874 893 912 931 950 969 988 |
EFM
April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 |
AFM
April 7 April 7 April 6 April 7 April 6 April 6 April 6 April 7 April 6 April 6 April 5 April 6 April 6 April 6 April 6 April 6 April 6 April 5 April 6 April 6 April 6 April 6 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 6 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 4 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 |
Easter
April 11 April 8 April 12 April 10 April 7 April 11 April 8 April 6 April 10 April 7 April 11 April 9 April 6 April 10 April 7 April 12 April 9 April 6 April 10 April 8 April 12 April 9 April 6 April 11 April 8 April 12 April 9 April 7 April 11 April 8 April 12 April 10 April 7 April 11 April 8 |
95 Year Average AFM
- - - - 6.60 6.40 6.20 6.40 6.20 6.20 6.00 6.00 5.80 5.80 5.80 6.00 6.00 5.80 5.80 5.80 5.80 5.80 5.80 5.60 5.40 5.20 5.00 5.20 5.20 5.20 5.00 5.00 4.80 4.80 4.80 |
ecclesiastical full moon for April 5 [1007 to 2014 ad]
Year
1007 1026 1045 1064 1083 1102 1121 1140 1159 1178 1197 1216 1235 1254 1273 1292 1311 1330 1349 1368 1387 1406 1425 1444 1463 1482 1501 1520 1539 1558 1577 1596 1615 1634 1653 1672 1691 1710 1729 1748 1767 1786 1805 1824 1843 1862 1881 1900 1919 1938 1957 1976 1995 2014 |
EFM
April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 April 5 |
AFM
April 5 April 4 April 4 April 4 April 5 April 5 April 4 April 4 April 4 April 4 April 4 April 4 April 5 April 4 April 4 April 3 April 4 April 4 April 4 April 3 April 4 April 3 April 3 April 3 April 4 April 4 April 3 April 3 April 3 April 3 April 2 April 2 April 3 April 3 April 2 April 2 April 2 April 2 April 2 April 2 April 3 April 2 April 2 April 1 April 2 April 2 April 2 April 2 April 2 April 1 April 1 April 1 April 2 April 2 |
Easter
April 6 April 10 April 7 April 11 April 9 April 6 April 10 April 7 April 12 April 9 April 6 April 10 April 8 April 12 April 9 April6 April 11 April 8 April 12 April 9 April 7 April 11 April 8 April 12 April 10 April 7 April 11 April 8 April 6 April 10 April 7 April 11 April 9 April 6 April 10 April 7 April 12 April 9 April 6 April 10 April 8 April 12 April 9 April 6 April 11 April 8 April 12 April 9 April 7 April 11 April 8 April 12 April 10 April 7 |
95 Year Average AFM
5.00 4.80 4.60 4.40 4.40 4.40 4.40 4.40 4.40 4.20 4.00 4.00 4.20 4.20 4.20 4.00 4.00 3.80 3.80 3.60 3.80 3.60 3.40 3.20 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.40 3.20 2.80 2.60 2.60 2.60 2.40 2.40 2.40 2.20 2.00 2.00 2.20 2.20 2.20 2.00 2.00 1.80 1.80 1.80 2.00 1.80 1.60 1.40 1.40 1.40 |
conclusion
From the preceding table, the date of the creation of the Easter tables could only occur from 798 AD to 1045 AD when the average date of astronomical full moon was April 5 [the calculated full moon] for the first entry of the Easter tables.
Easter date calculator [at bottom of page]:
http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=413
The ‘Date and Time’ website [the phases of the moon]:
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1204&country=11
‘The Dating of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and the Beginning of the Christian Era’
by G. V. Nosovsky.
file:///C:/Users/Manif/Downloads/1994_Bookmatter_Empirico-StatisticalAnalysisOf.pdf
Easter date calculator [at bottom of page]:
http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=413
The ‘Date and Time’ website [the phases of the moon]:
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1204&country=11
‘The Dating of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and the Beginning of the Christian Era’
by G. V. Nosovsky.
file:///C:/Users/Manif/Downloads/1994_Bookmatter_Empirico-StatisticalAnalysisOf.pdf
appendix
Our select commentary from ‘The Dating of the First Oecumenical Council of Nicaea and the Beginning of the Christian Era’ by G. V. Nosovsky.
It is striking that the "Collection of the Holy Father's Rules" of Matthew Vlastar (Constantinople, 14th century), the book referred to by all researchers of the Easter Book, contains an explicit indication of the date of the compilation of the Easter Book: after 743 A.D., and this dating remained "unnoticed" (?!) by all researchers. Still more striking is that citations of the most frequently quoted excerpt from the book of Vlastar concerning the rules for calculating the dates of Easters break off immediately before this explicit indication. We cite here this paragraph completely:’ [p. 396]
There are four rules concerning the Easter. The first two are the apostolic rules, and the other two are known from tradition.
The first rule is that the Easter should be celebrated after the spring equinox. The second is that is should not be celebrated together with the Judeans.’
The earliest date in the Easter tables is March 22, so the implied date of the springe equinox is March 21.
‘the third: not just after the equinox, but also after the first full moon following the equinox. And the fourth: not just after the full moon, but the first Sunday following the full moon…’
Two of the rules, the first [after the spring equinox] and the third [the full moon after the equinox] are identical to the celebration of Passover. The second and fourth rules distinguish Easter from Passover.
The current Paschalia was compiled and given to the church by our fathers in full faith that it does not contradict any of the quoted postulates.
[This is the place the quoting typically stops].
They created it [the current Paschalia] the following way: 19 consecutive years were taken starting with the year 6233 since Genesis (= 725 AD – Auth.) and up until the year 6251 (= 743 AD – Auth.), and the date of the first full moon after the spring equinox was looked up for each one of them. The Paschalia makes it obvious that when the Elders were doing it; the equinox fell on the 21st of March ([518]).
Year
722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 |
EFM
April 5 March 25 April 13 April 2 March 22 April 10 March 30 April 18 April 7 March 27 April 15 April 4 March 24 April 12 April 1 March 21 April 9 March 29 April 17 April 5 March 25 April 13 |
AFM
April 6 March 25 April 13 April 2 March 22 April 10 March 30 April 18 April 8 March 28 April 15 April 4 March 24 April 12 March 31 March 21 April 9 March 29 April 16 April 6 March 26 April 13 |
Easter
April 12 March 28 April 16 April 8 March 24 April 13 April 4 April 24 April 9 April 1 April 20 April 5 March 28 April 17 April 8 March 24 April 13 April 5 April 24 April 9 April 1 April 14 |
If we consider the cycle of 19 years, 304 after the Elders who had devised it – it shall be the 17th, one that started in the year 6537 (=1029 AD – Auth.) – we shall see that the first vernal full moons precede the full moons of the first 19-year cycle by a day…
Year
1029 |
EFM
April 2 |
AFM
April 1 |
Easter
April 6 |
If we consider the other 19-year circle in a similar manner, the one that starts in the year 6842 (=1333 AD), we shall discover that the full moons it gives predate the real ones by yet another day… This is why these two days are added to the Lawful Easter (Passover – Auth.) ([518]).
Year
1333 |
EFM
April 2 |
AFM
April 1 |
Easter
April 4 |
The sources we researched agree that April 1, 1333 was the full moon and this fact conflicts with the statement of Vlastar. However, Vlastar is aware that the date of the full moon steadily and predictably regresses.
All these restrictions except the last one have been kept firmly till now, but now we often change for a later Sunday. Namely, we always count two days after the Passover (i.e., the full moon- G. Nosovsky) and then turn to the following Sunday. This happened not by ignorance or inability of the Church fathers who confirmed the rules, but because of the lunar motion … [p. 392]
According to Vlastar, the first three of the four rules are kept strictly, but the 4th rule, demanding that the Easter Sunday should be the one following the full moon, is infringed due to the discrepancy between the Easter lunar cycle ([the 19 year cycle of the moon or the] "circle for the moon") and the length of the Julian year; there are at least two days between the full moon and Easter (in the times of Vlastar, 14th century).’[p.392]
This happened because of the slow (and apparently unknown to the Fathers of the Council) shift of the full moons away from the dates fixed in the "circle for the moon" (as we now know, this shift amounts to twenty-four hours per 300 years). The fourth rule is infringed, for example, if Passover falls on a Saturday. Indeed, by the 4th rule, the Easter should fall on the next day, the Sunday. But because of ensuing two-day shift, Easter is placed by the Easter Book to be a week later, on the next Sunday. [p.392]
The fact that, when the Easter Book was compiled Easter was defined as the first Sunday after the first spring full moon is not only known from the ecclesiastical tradition; it ensues also from the Easter Book Tables. [p.394]
The compilers of the Easter Book regarded the schedule of spring full moons they used (the "circle for the moon" or "the Metonian cycle") as perpetual; they canonized it and based the entire Easter Book on it. This implies at least that in their time the real "circle for the moon" was exactly as they canonized it. That they did not suspect any inaccuracy of the Metonian cycle and believed that the "circle for the moon" would ever correspond accurately to real full moons observable in the sky, is also noted by ecclesiastical tradition (Matthew Vlastar, see above). But today we know that the Metonian cycle is in fact not precise. Real spring moons shift slowly to earlier dates of the Julian calendar (the shift amounts to approximately 24 hours per 300 years). [p.394]
Two Byzantic eras . . . took an important place in chronological calculations. In the first of them, the time is counted from Saturday, September 1, 5509 B.C Since the 6th century, in Byzantium, another era "since the Creation of the World" came into use, with the epoch starting on March 1, 5508 B.C. [335, p. 238).
September 1 is the commencement of the ecclesiastical year and March 1 is the beginning of the civil year.
Apparently, in Scaliger's chronology the time when the era since Adam (since the creation of the world) came in use ''fell in the past" together with the time of the canonization of Easter Book. Probably, this era had been established together with the beginning of the great indiction (877 [AD]) by counting 12 complete great indictions to the past (876- 532 x 12 = -5508 = 5509 B.C.; a one-year difference comes from the peculiarity of "historical" chronology arising at the crossing of the epoch of the era). However, this is only a conjecture, and the question of what is primary, the era since Adam or the beginning of the great indiction in 877 A.D. -requires a special investigation, which we did not carry out. [p.395]
Apparently, this was the reason for the traditional conclusion that the Church fathers of the Council of Nicaea assumed that the equinox fell exactly on March 21. A similar conclusion was drawn by Matthew Vlastar [331, sheet 190]. But, first, such a conclusion, strictly speaking, does not ensue from the Easter Book; we only can imply that the Church fathers of the Council who established the Easter Book assumed the spring equinox to occur no later than March 21. [p.399]
And God suffered for the sake of our salvation in 5539, when the "circle of the sun" was 23, the "circle of the moon" was 10, and Passover fell on Saturday (as the evangelists write), March 24. On the next day to this Saturday, on Sunday, March 25, Christ was resurrected. The legitimate Passover is celebrated on the equinox on the 14th moon (i.e., on the full moon), from March 21 till April18. As for Easter, it is celebrated on the Sunday following Passover. [pp. 402-403]
I. A. Klimishin writes: "As for the Eastern Church, it, by evidence of E. Bickermann, avoided using it (the era since the birth of Christ) because the controversy concerning the date of the birth of Christ continued in Constantinople till the 14th century. But probably there were some exceptions. Thus, in the table of Easter dates, compiled in the 9th century for the whole of the 13th indiction (877-1408) by lohann Presbyter, the years since the birth of Christ were indicated together with the years since the creation of the world, the moon and sun circles and epacts" [335, p. 250].
Note that Scaliger, as he compiled in 16th century the chronology hitherto accepted, could not defect this nonsense [after 500 years did the Easter Book begin to conform faultlessly to the rules that determined Easter], because in his time calculation of the full moons for the distant past was an extremely difficult problem. [p.394]
The compilers of the Easter Book regarded the schedule of spring full moons they used (the "circle for the moon" or "the Metonian cycle") as perpetual; they canonized it and based the entire Easter Book on it. This implies at least that in their time the real "circle for the moon" was exactly as they canonized it. That they did not suspect any inaccuracy of the Metonian cycle and believed that the "circle for the moon" would ever correspond accurately to real full moons observable in the sky, is also noted by ecclesiastical tradition (Matthew Vlastar, see above). [p.394]
Indeed, the Council established the Easter Book for immediate usage and for usage for as long as possible without additional recalculations. Therefore, the Council had to compile the table for the whole 532 year great indiction. [pp.394-395]
[Even] in the 14th century, Matthew Vlastar determined the contemporary spring equinox with a 6-day (!) error. The spring equinox is an astronomic event not so easy to determine. An exact determination of it requires special astronomic equipment and (in Middle Ages) long-time observations. [p. 399]
[The] second [consideration] is erroneous because it presupposes that the Fathers of the Council of Nicaea had at their disposal an exact date (in the 4th century) for the spring equinox, while in the 14th century this date was sometimes determined with a 6-day error. [p. 400]
Statement 3. The First Easter conditions (1)-(4), associated by the ecclesiastical tradition of the 14th century with the date of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, were satisfied in the interval 100 B.C.-1700 A.D. ONLY ONCE: in 1095 A.D. [p. 403]
The Dating of the First Oecumenical Council 403
Statement 4. The First Easter conditions (3) and (4) are satisfied only in the following years in the interval 100 B.C.-1700 A.D.:
1) 43 B.C.,
2) 53 A.D.,
3) 137 A.D.,
4) 479 A.D.,
5) 574 A.D.,
6) 658 A.D.,
7) 753 A.D.,
8) 848 A.D.,
9) 1095 A.D. (satisfies the entire set of conditions (1)-(4)),
10) 1190 A.D.
One can easily see that this list contains no solution satisfying the chronologists of the Scaliger school.’ [p.404]
[The] chronology in Vlastar's book is based on the dates of equinoxes alone. Vlastar often does not cite direct dates but only gives the date of the spring equinox contemporary to the event and gives separately a table of spring equinoxes in years since Adam (since the creation of the world). Here is his table:
4156 (1351 B.C.)- March 27, Alexandrite noon;
4456 (1051 B.C.)- March 26;
4756 (751 B.C.)- March 25;
5056 (451 B.C.)- March 23 (in fact the equinox fell at the time on March 24);
5656 (148 A.D.)- March 22 (true: March 21);
5956 (448 A.D.)- March 21 (true: March 19);
6256 (748 A.D.)- March 20 (true: March 17);
6556 (1048 A.D.)- March 19 (true: March 14);
6856 (1348 A.D.)- March 18 (true: March 12).
[p. 408]
Neither the date for the birth of Christ nor other dates of ecclesiastical history were ever canonized by Orthodox Church in Byzantium. [p.409]
It seems that Orthodox Christians are free to either accept some or all of these opinions of the dates of ecclesiastical history or to reject some or all of them. Otherwise said, the Orthodox Church has no dogma concerning chronology.
As for the Eastern Church, it … avoided using it (the era since the birth of Christ) because the controversy concerning the date of the birth of Christ continued in Constantinople till the 14th century. But probably there were some exceptions. Thus, in the table of Easter dates, compiled in the 9th century for the whole of the 13th indiction (877-1408) by lohann Presbyter, the years since the birth of Christ were indicated together with the years since the creation of the world, the moon and sun circles and epacts. [335, p. 250].
[331] Collection of the Holy Fathers' Rules by Matthew Vlastar, Publ. P. A. Ovchinnikov, Balahna, 1908 (in Church Slavonic).
[335] I. A. Klimishin, Calendar and chronology, Nauka, Moscow, 1985 (in Russian).
"The Collection of Rules of the Holy Fathers of the Church" of Matthew Vlastar (Constantinople, 14th century)
[335] I. A. Klimishin, Calendar and chronology, Nauka, Moscow, 1985 (in Russian).
"The Collection of Rules of the Holy Fathers of the Church" of Matthew Vlastar (Constantinople, 14th century)