BY: AUGUSTINE ANYIMADU-AHENKAE.
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” –
1 Cor 15:17
“then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man
stands before you healed.” – Acts 4:10
INTRODUCTION
I had hoped to write a treatise on the meaning and significance of Easter and
elaborate on its spiritual and inspirational aspects without having to get into the
apologetical details of correcting cheap fallacies and falsities leveled against
this yet another important tenet of the Christian faith and practice, but I was
wrong. The atheists are at it again, coming with their half truths, misleading
historical assessments and outright falsities aimed at ridiculing and denying the
truth of the Christian faith. “En hadat tahat beshemesh”, said the author of
Ecclesiastes- there is nothing new under the sun. What is has been, and will be
again. I know. Every year, when it is Easter time like this they will try to
ridicule and mislead. So as to stay focused, let me address the issue from its
correct perspective.
QUESTION ABOUT ORIGIN
Can anyone in his or her right senses tell us that if someone adopts a new name, it
means that person begins to exist only on the day of the new name? Say Kofi was born
in 1980, baptized as Peter in 1990, will we say that Kofi was born in 1990 rather
than his original date of birth of 1980, just because his current name was adopted
in 1990? Did the country Ghana and its people begin to exist in 1957? Then which
people were referred to as the Gold Coast?
You see, cheap, myopic anti-Catholic and anti-Christian apologists keep confusing
names with realities, and the pattern runs through all their attacks. In life, the
same reality can take on different names at different times, but the change in name
does not mean the reality did not exist before the new name was adopted. These
atheistic apologists do not think that way, sadly. In attacking Christian faith and
worship, they fail to question whether the reality designated by the name exists in
the Bible or not, and keep looking for only its current name, so if they don’t find
the name, they claim it is unbiblical. That’s what they do to deny a doctrine like
the holy trinity, among others. On Christmas and Easter, they only need to find
parallels in paganism, and once they find the parallel, they jump into false
conclusion, implying causation from correlation, that since there is a pagan
parallel, the Christian practice must have been stolen from the
pagan one. Constantine era is their cash cow. Because the conversion of
Constantine led eventually to imposition of Christianity on everyone in his empire,
an act which Christians ourselves did not exactly sanction, the church had to find
an authentic way of helping the pagan converts to embrace Christianity by
inculturating Christ’s gospel in their contexts, moving from known to unknown, and
the fact that the pagans had similar festivities to the Christians made it easier
for them to embrace that of the Christians, with renewed meaning though. But
anti-christian and anti-catholic trash peddlars keep twisting this for their own
intents and purposes. What they cleverly and impiously leave out is that all those
Christian tenets they allege to be of pagan origin were already being practiced or
believed by the church long before this Constantine era they talk of, and these
beliefs can all be traced to the earliest church of the apostles and
sub-apostolic times.
PAGAN ORIGINS? HOW ABOUT THE EARLY EASTER CONTROVERSIES?
Is Easter a pagan feast as alleged by these atheists? Kwaku Ba writes:
“So the first Easter as we could recognize today was celebrated on 327 AD, a good
327 years after Jesus. So Easter is from pagan origins and the date of the
celebration was chosen by ancient Roman church fathers who voted for it by a simple
majority. There is no biblical basis for this holiday.”
Wow! Seriously ? This is the kind of lies and deception that infuriate me . If
Easter did not exist until this 327 AD you talk about, how come there were
controversies in the church about the date of its celebration, as early as the 2nd
century? Did you never hear of the first Easter Controversy, precisely the
quartodeciman controversy? How could there be a controversy about the date for
celebrating something which did not exist? Or about the Roman-Alexandrian Easter
controversy?
That the celebration of Easter was already an established practice by the
sub-apostolic times is undoubted, but there was a disagreement about the correct
date for its celebration. Whereas the church in Asia had always celebrated it on the
day of Jewish Passover, as it historically happened, the church in Rome celebrated
it on a Sunday, also as historically happened. One kept the date, the other, the
day. Consequently, the Asians, called the quartodecimans (because they followed the
date of 14th day of the month of Nissan), occasionally celebrated Easter at the time
when the rest of the church (which followed Rome) were observing Good Friday, for
instance, because the date fell on that day. Both sides had stalwarts to defend
their choices, and the practice was allowed initially to continue, but after a while
the need for a unified date of celebration was inevitably felt. For instance,
getting to the end of the second century, Pope Victor I (189-198)
attempted to impose the Roman usage on everyone, but in the face of stiff
opposition, led by Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, he was unsuccessful. Of course
gradually, by the 3rd century, Quartodecimanism had waned, but the point is, the
existence of such a controversy about date for Easter celebration historically
speaks loudly against the pagan origin theorists who claim the church stole Easter
from paganism in the 4th century, by which time Easter was already a long
established practice in the church.
ORIGIN OF EASTER
CELEBRATION
That what we now call “Easter” is about the celebration of the passion, death and
resurrection of Christ, also called the paschal mystery, cannot be denied by anyone
who visits any church during this season. These events which Easter celebrates are
more than amply recorded in scripture, so the question as to whether Easter is
Biblical or not does not even come in at all. One doesn’t even need to waste time
answering that question, ideally speaking. However, in the face of fact –twisting
and misleadingly wrong allegations by those who claim Easter celebration is pagan
originated, the relevant question to ask is, did the church steal this celebration
from paganism? We know we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, but did the idea or
practice of having any such celebration come from the pagan festivities? Did the
church only begin to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, as a season or event of
the year, only after it encountered paganism at some
point in her history, as alleged by the atheists? Because to say Easter is pagan
means that either the idea or practice of celebrating what Easter celebrates, as we
have it now, sprung from paganism. Is that true?
Evidence from history shows that this is not the case. Early church history
evidences that the church was already celebrating this paschal mystery – the
passion, death and resurrection of the Lord- as the central feast of the church,
with the same themes and most of the practices we have today (like Easter vigil,
observance of good Friday, Easter Sunday itself, etc) from the beginning. Other
aspects like baptisms around this time were added in the earliest stages.
PASCHA
The Greek word “pascha” is a transliteration of the Aramaic word for the Hebrew “
pesach”, which means Passover. The church had this annual celebration from its
earliest times. While every Sunday was celebrated in a miniature way as the
resurrection of the Lord, the Church, reflecting on the Christ event, celebrated the
Jewish Passover in their own different way, putting this Christ event at the center,
and doing this annually at or around the same time as the Jewish Passover. The name
“Easter” was not used from the beginning, but the celebration of the event as an
annual feast was done.
Traces of the apostolic church’s continual marking of this “Christianized” Jewish
feast, with a new central theme and activities on the Christ event, is seen in such
a passage as 1 Cor 5: 8, where St. Paul had to encourage the Corinthians to
celebrate it:
“Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and
wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” – St.
Paul, 1 Cor 5:8.
For the avoidance of doubt as to the fact of keeping this feast not in the Jewish
way but with Christ as the center, the verse before this one makes it clear:
“Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really
are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. “ – 1 Cor 5;7
Note the emphasis- “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”, and so “keep
the feast” or “continue to mark the feast “ in which we celebrate this event- THE
PASCHA, later called Easter.
So the church, following from the apostles, kept this Easter event as an annual
celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, and they always marked
it on or around the Jewish Passover feast, when the event happened. As far as the
feast we now call Easter is concerned, its origin then lies in the earliest church
who started and continued to celebrate it every year in memory of its founder.
THE ENGLISH WORD ‘EASTER’:
Venerable Bede, an English Historian of the 8th century, was the one who started the
claim that the word was derived from Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring to
whom the month of April was dedicated. The English word Easter is said to be adopted
by the early English Christians who, in their quest for converting others to
Christianity, decided to use this name to coincide with that of their old spring
celebration, and make it easier for them to convert. As much as we may abhor such a
move today, we have to be careful not to judge too quickly, and have to remember
many things:
1- This is English. The others, like the Greeks and Latin for example, have
different names for the event. Frederick Holweck writes in the Catholic Encyclopedia
that:
“The Greeks called Easter the pascha anastasimon; Good Friday the pascha
staurosimon. The respective terms used by the Latins are Pascha resurrectionis and
Pascha crucifixionis. In the Roman and Monastic Breviaries the feast bears the title
Dominica Resurrectionis; in the Mozarabic Breviary, In Lætatione Diei Pasch
Resurrectionis; in the Ambrosian Breviary, In Die Sancto Paschæ. The Romance
languages have adopted the Hebrew-Greek term: Latin, Pascha; Italian, Pasqua;
Spanish, Pascua; French, Pâques. Also some Celtic and Teutonic nations use it”
2- That the English adopted this name because they wanted the pagans to see the
parallels and convert to Christ, which they did, after abandoning their own pagan
practices
3- Those pagan practices were never and have never been a feature of the
Christian celebration which was already established in the universal church before,
during and after these English Christians adopted the name
4- There was already the Christian celebration of this feast in the universal
church before, during and after this nickname, which is what we celebrate today. It
is the same celebration.
5- The date we fix this Easter celebration has never followed the pagan
reckoning. Rather, together with the rest of the universal church, it follows the
Jewish Passover, the 14th of Nissan. All the controversies, whether it is on the
Sunday after the 14th of Nissan, or the 14th of Nissan itself, or the Sunday after
the vernal equinox, are following the Jewish tradition or using that as a guide, not
any pagan feast.. This gives more evidence that it is not a pagan feast, nor has
paganism influenced the christian celebration- rather its Jewish origins are clear.
Consequently, it cannot be called a pagan feast. If anything, call it a Jewish
feast- but because we have replaced the elements with Christ’s paschal mystery, it
is truly a Christian feast .
ROOTED IN SCRIPTURE
As I said, the Easter event is so central to Scripture and to the Christian faith
that for anyone to claim it is not in the Bible, that person must be seeing stars
when he or she reads the Bible. The Bible records the crucifixion, death and
resurrection of Christ in all the four gospels, as well as the epistles. This is
exactly what Easter celebrates. If someone celebrates a different thing during
Easter, then I don’t know about that. By the way, when did atheists like Kwaku Ba
start to use the Bible which they always condemn and reject, as the standard for
determining the authenticity of something? Hmm, these guys think they are smarter
than everyone else.
IN THREE DAYS?
Another difficulty one would encounter if one adopts a wrong approach to reading the
Bible is that the Easter story does not add up in terms of the “three days and three
nights” claim by Jesus.
Newsflash: it is correct as it is!
These are the events as recorded:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all inform us that the Last Supper and the Crucifixion
took place on Preparation Day.
• Mark and John inform us that the next day, the day after the Crucifixion, was the
Sabbath.
• Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John inform us that the Resurrection took place on the
first day of the week.
• Matthew, Mark, and Luke inform us that the day before the Resurrection was the
Sabbath, and John heavily implies it.
Anytime we use our current understanding of things to judge the manner of reckoning
used centuries ago, we encounter problems. It is obvious from the narratives that
the crucifixion took place on Friday, Jesus rested in the tomb on Saturday, and was
raised on Sunday. But these facts have to be born in mind:
1- The gospel writers were writing for an audience beyond Palestine, and in the
first century Roman empire, there was no general consensus about the names of the
days of the week, the number of the current year, the names and lengths of the
months, the date of the new year
2- No consensus on the time at which the day began. For example, the day began
at midnight in Egypt, at sunrise in Greece, and at sunset in Palestine. So even
though it is not what we are used to, the gospels are really worded in such a way as
to make the dates and times comprehensible to anyone in the Roman Empire who was
familiar with the Jewish Scriptures.
3- When you count days by addition, you get a different answer from when you
subtract them. For instance, a three day seminar can begin on Monday night and end
on Wednesday morning, and everyone will still call it a three day seminar, even
though if you add the hours it may not even reach 48 hours. But if you were to
subtract Wednesday from Monday’s dates, you would get only two days. So Jesus was
right in his three day claim – Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday early morning.
4- “Day and night” is an expression that is used to represent one day.
5- The ancients calculated the days by adding, as in the example of the seminar
above, rather than subtracting, and that is why for example Pentecost, the fiftieth
day, falls on Sunday, and not on Monday.
SPIRITUAL LESSONS FOR EASTER
The Easter event has abundance of lessons for all of us, as individuals, families,
churches, and as a nation.
From Holy Thursday through good Friday and Saturday to Easter morning, lessons
abound about the narratives that we can draw from. Let me give just a few here
HOLY THURSDAY:
1-In Jesus’ relentless prayers, we learn of the need to persevere in prayer.
2-In Jesus’ frequent temptation to avoid the passion, we are forwarned about
choosing the cosy, easy way, and in his frequent rejection of that path, we are
admonished to leave our comfort zones and reach out for the higher calling.
3-In the apostles’ tiredness and sleepiness, we see ourselves: frail, weak, needing
to be on the watch always.
6- In their inability (not just failure) to watch with Jesus, we see how futile
it is to put one’s trust in human beings, because even when they promise to help
you, there’s always the familiar excuse: circumstances beyond control.
7- In Jesus battling it out alone with his father through prayers, we are given
the blueprint to use when we are faced with difficulties – rather than telling
everyone how miserable we are, we should pray and pray and pray
8- In Jesus’ pleading with the father to take the cup of suffering from him, we
are reminded of Abraham’s and Moses’ intercessions, and are encouraged to ask God
for more, even the one we think is obvious- we should still ask God for more.
GOOD FRIDAY
9- In Judas’ betrayal we are forwarned to take care of “the sins which so easily
doth beset us” Hebrews 12:1. Remember, Judas already loved money so much, and was
once being described as a thief. He didn’t hate Christ, he just loved money, and saw
an opportunity to make money, and, regardless of the consequences, pursued it. He is
the kind that could do ritual murder before thinking about what he’s done.
10- In Pilate’s failure to free Jesus even though he was convinced of his
righteousness, but for fear of the Jews and for maintaining his political post, we
are warned to always speak the truth no matter the cost, and to be courageous and
bold.
11- In Jesus’ willing sacrifice, we have role models for individuals, families,
leaders, nation- and are reminded that sacrificing for the general good may appear
unpleasant at first, but may have eternal rewards: “Therefore God has raised him on
high, and given him a name above every other name, that at the mention of the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…every
tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is God, to the glory of God the father…” (cf
Phil 2:6-11
12- In Jesus’ forgiveness of his assailants, we are given a model of forgiveness,
remembering that “vengeance is the Lord’s”, and if we really don’t like our enemies,
they would be worse off being avenged by God than by us, so the earlier we release
them from our hearts and minds and allow God to do it, the better.
HOLY SATURDAY
13- In Jesus’ date with hell, we have received a high priest and intercessor who has
truly experienced everything humans can possibly experience in both life and death,
and therefore can help us better.
14- In his death, we see the death of our old self, and everything that wars with us
(more in my book)
EASTER SUNDAY
15- In the rolling of the stone on the tomb by the power of God, we see our
liberation from the deep shackles entangling us, the stones being put on us by the
many things that war with us in life
16- In the resurrection of Christ from the dead, we see our own resurrection from
both our present deaths and our rising to eternal life: “ if the spirit of Christ
dwells in you, the spirit which raised Christ from the dead will quicken your bodies
and give it life”
17- In the women’s early rising to care for the body, they get the reward of being
the first to meet the risen Christ. Love, care and service pay good dividends
always.
18- In Jesus’ glorified resurrected body which makes him enter into a closed room
and yet they can touch him, as Thomas did, we see the immensity of the glory God has
prepared for us if we follow him and serve him well. Some of the Catholic saints
achieved this state of incorruptibility and bilocation while on earth. St Martin De
Porres could enter a closed room just like Jesus did after the resurrection. Padre
Pio and Saint Anthony of Padua could be in many places physically at the same time.
The list is a long one, but Jesus’ resurrection is not only a foretaste, but a
catalyst and causal factor of our own glorification in God.
19- The greatest news of all: his resurrection enables everyone who accepts him to
come to God, for now, after the resurrection, all the promises of God for us can
come true.
20- His victory is our victory. After his resurrection, nothing can separate us from
the love of God: neither death, nor life, nor things that are, nor things that will
be, nor problems, nor situations, nor rulers, nor authorities…. We are truly set
free indeed
21- For in all these things, WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS, through Christ who died
for us and rose again. ALLELUIA, HE IS RISEN! On the rooftops shout alleluia, our
savior is risen. Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, land of Ghana, the people who
walked in darkness, have seen a great light… today our redemption is concretized!
GOD BLESS OUR HOMELAND GHANA
And make our nation great and strong/Bold to defend forever/The cause of Freedom and
of right/Fill all our hearts with true humility/Make us cherish, fearless
honesty/And help us to resist oppressors’ rule/With all our will and might for
evermore.
Happy Easter to you all! Happy Happy Happy Easter!
-Augustine Anyimadu- Ahenkae
New York, NY
gtrabboni@yahoo.com
REFERENCES
Anyimadu-Ahenkae Augustine . More Than Conquerors: How to Live the Victorious Life
amidst Trials and Tribulations. New York: Inspired Word Publishers LLC. 2011. Print.
Anyimadu-Ahenkae Augustine. Easter : How Biblical ? New York: Inspired Word
Publishers LLC. 2011. Print.
Anyimadu-Ahenkae Augustine. The Easter Story: Origin, Meaning and
Significance.Inspired Word Publications LLC. 2011. Print
Gailard, J. Holy Week and Easter. Tr. W. Busch. Minnesota: Collegeville
Press.1954.Print
Holweck, Frederick. "Easter." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1909.
