Historical and biblical facts about Easter, eggs and Easter cakes. What the Bible Says About Christian Passover
Very soon, our people will celebrate Easter and we will all hear the words "Christ is risen!"...
About 10 years ago we published a brochure, which I bring to your attention.
EASTER ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE
Many do not know that the word "Passover" in the Bible has 4 meanings: (1) the Jewish holiday of the deliverance of the Israelite people from Egyptian slavery (Exodus ch.12); (2) the lamb (lamb) slaughtered for the Passover (Exodus 12:21); (3) veneration of the sufferings of the crucified Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 5:7-8) and (4) Christ himself, the Lamb of God crucified for our sins (1 Cor. 5:7; John 1:29), but does not mean celebration resurrection of Christ and, moreover, not a rich bakery product.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Easter is the bright Resurrection of Christ. If you had told the apostles or early Christians that Easter is "Christ is Risen", they would all tell you that you are confusing Christ's suffering with His resurrection from the dead.
People have many concepts and traditions that are contrary to the Word of God. Moreover, many people look at Easter as an opportunity to indulge in drinking and overeating. And drunkenness and overeating for any reason is a sin.
The Bible is the Word of God. It expresses the will of God and strictly forbids anything added.
to its teaching, reduce or change (Rev. 22:18-19; 2 Cor. 2:17; Matt. 5:19).
The Bible consists of the Old Testament (39 books) and the New (27 books), which is also called the Gospel. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, while the New Testament was written in Greek.
The Greek word "Passover" comes from the Hebrew word "passover" (hsp) - "passing by" in the sense of "mercy". When the Egyptians did not release the Jews from slavery, God punished them with ten different punishments. The last punishment (the death of all first-born by the destroying angel) was to be carried out during the establishment of the celebration of the Jewish Passover (1462 BC). So that none of the Jews would die, God commanded to anoint the doorposts and crossbars with the blood of the Paschal lamb (lamb), so that for the destroying angel there would be a sign of mercy that it was impossible to enter this house, since instead of the first-born, the blood was shed by the lamb, and the angel will pass by, that is, spare the firstborn in that house. That's why the word "Easter" means "mercy."
The Old Testament is a type (prototype) of the New, so the Jewish Passover is a type of the Passover of the New Testament. The essence of the Jewish Passover was the lamb, which was slaughtered, cooked and eaten with bitter herbs. His blood was smeared on the jambs and crossbars
doors to avoid the death of the firstborn. The Paschal lamb is a type of Christ - the Lamb of God; the jamb and the crossbar are a prototype of the cross on which our Lord was crucified; the blood on the doorposts and crossbars is a type of the blood shed by Christ for our sins. Just as the blood of the lamb served as a sign of mercy for an angel, so the blood of Christ shed on the cross serves as a sign of mercy from God for everyone who accepts the sacrifice of the Son of God for their salvation from eternal punishment.
In the New Testament in 1 Cor. 5:7-8 about the correct understanding of Easter, the apostle Paul writes: “...our Easter, Christ, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us celebrate not with the old leaven... of vice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread (unleavened bread) of purity and truth.” Please note that Easter is Christ slain, that is, crucified, and not resurrected. That Easter is celebrated with spiritual purity and truth, and not with buns and alcohol.
Christ commanded to honor His sufferings until He comes again (1 Cor. 11:26) in order to take worthy Christians from the earth and judge this world. He did not command to celebrate His resurrection, but only to honor His suffering and death. How to do this is described in more detail by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 11:23-34.
So, we see what the Bible tells us about the meaning of Passover, as about the mercy of sinful man by God through the substitutionary sacrifice of the lamb.
Every person is sinful in himself and therefore needs God's mercy through the Lamb of Christ Christ, that is, the forgiveness of sins and salvation. If you believe with your heart that Christ instead of you took the punishment for your sins on the cross, in order to save you from eternal torment; If you recognize yourself as a sinner, repent (change, leave your sinful self-willed life and submit to God) and receive baptism by complete immersion in water in order to spiritually unite with Christ, Who died and rose again for you, then you will receive forgiveness of sins and salvation (Acts. 2:38; Mark 16:16; Rom 6:3-23). Further, it is necessary to accurately fulfill the will of God, recorded in the Holy Scriptures. Save your soul while there is an opportunity! May the Lord bless you in this!
Archpriest Boris Pivovarov
Easter in the Bible The Risen Christ is our Passover and Salvation
Easter is one of the most precious words of a Christian. Numerous sacred remembrances are associated with it for us, and with it we also express the joy of our salvation through the grace of the Risen Christ our God.
"Our Passover was devoured for us by Christ" ()
Theological content of the word Easter reveals to us church hymns Flesh asleep(exapostilary of Easter), ending with the words Easter of incorruption - salvation of the world. Easter is the salvation of the world, our salvation, the salvation given to us by Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, And resurrected on the third day, according to Scripture(). And the holy apostle Paul directly says: Our Passover, Christ, was slain for us ().
The testimony of the Apostle Paul that the Savior of the world, our Lord, died for our sins and rose again on the third day, according to the prophecies contained in the Holy Books of the Old Testament, is consistent with the testimony of the Resurrected Christ Himself. On the way to Emmaus, the Risen Christ spoke to two disciples who grieved after the events of Golgotha: Oh foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets foretold! Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer and enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses, out of all the prophets he expounded to them what was said about him in all the Scriptures ().
And to His closest disciples, appearing after the Resurrection, Christ opened the mind to the understanding of the Scriptures: this is what I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything that is written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled (). Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day, and to be preached in His name to repentance and the forgiveness of sins in all nations, beginning with Jerusalem. You are the witnesses ().
Having received on the day of the New Testament Pentecost the tongue-fire-like grace of the Holy Spirit, the disciples of Christ, starting from Jerusalem (), began to incessantly preach about the great things of God(), revealed to the world by the Resurrection of Christ. Announcing the sufferings, death on the cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Apostles constantly referred to the Divine promises, prophecies and types of the Old Testament, which predicted and prepared for the Pascha of the New Testament - the Resurrection of Christ.
The Resurrection of Christ - the Easter of the New Testament - we always confess in the Creed, although in the text of the Creed itself there is no word Easter. Reading or singing the Creed, we confess the faith of the Church and at the same time our faith in the One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified for us under Pontius Pilate and suffered, and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures.
The Resurrection of Christ is inseparable from the redemptive suffering and death on the cross of Christ the Savior: The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many(). And the joy of the Resurrection came to us through the Cross of Christ: Behold, the joy of the whole world has come by the Cross!- we sing in the Easter song “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ”.
Therefore, celebrating the Holy Resurrection of Christ every year, we first worship the sufferings of Christ - we celebrate the Easter of the Cross, as the ancient Christians said, and then we move on to the Paschal rejoicing of the Easter of the Resurrection, or Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, for many Christians, the theological significance of the word has been lost. Easter. Some in this word hear only the jubilant notes of the greatest church feast of the Resurrection of Christ and do not feel the horror of Golgotha, which is inseparable from the same word. In former centuries, as the liturgical books testify, when at all-night vigils, according to the Rule of the liturgical service, selected passages from the best theological works of the Holy Fathers of the Church were read, at the Paschal night service, in addition to the Catalogue of St. John Chrysostom, which is read everywhere even today, before 4- The th song of the Paschal canon also read the "Word for Pascha" (45th) of the Saint. It began with words from the book of the prophet Habakkuk I became my guard(), and after reading this Paschal Word, the next (4th) ode of the canon began with an irmos: On the Divine Guard, God-speaking Habakkuk…
In this amazing Paschal Word the greatest mysteries of Church Theology are revealed, it also gives the etymology of the word itself. Easter. Hebrew word Easter, meaning "passage" or "transition", according to St. Gregory the Theologian, in Greek vowel was enriched with a new meaning, for it became consonant with the Greek word meaning "suffering". This transformation of the word was undoubtedly facilitated by the fact that in both the first and second cases it meant salvation that came from the Lord. In the Old Testament, this is the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the sacrificial Paschal lamb and the annual celebration of the Old Testament Easter. In the New Testament, this is the Resurrection of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the world(), this is our Lord Himself, Easter is ours(), who sacrificed himself on the Cross for the salvation of the world, is a weekly (on Sundays) and annual (on Easter) remembrance of the Bright Resurrection of Christ.
The figurative meaning of Pascha in the Old Testament is always expressed by the 1st ode of the canons at Matins. But this Paschal connection between the Old and New Testaments finds its most remarkable expression in the irmos of the 1st ode of the Pascha canon: Resurrection day, enlighten, people! Pascha, the Lord's Pascha: from death to life and from earth to heaven, Christ forewarned us, singing victoriously. Prevede This is our Easter! Our Risen Christ grants us eternal life by His Resurrection. Therefore, at the end of each Easter service, we sing with gratitude: And we are given the gift of eternal life: we worship His three-day Resurrection.
The faith of the Church that Christ the Lord, who suffered for us on the Cross and Risen on the third day, is the New Pascha, our Pascha, that is, our salvation and renewal, is testified by the Monk John of Damascus in the Paschal Canon, which is sung at Easter Easter Matins. This canon is sometimes called the crown, that is, the pinnacle of church hymns.
Ubo male sex, as if opening a virgin womb, Christ appeared, as a man, called the Lamb, blameless, as if tasteless of filth, our Easter: and as true, perfect speech(first troparion of the 4th ode of the canon of Pascha). Translated into Russian and into modern syntax, this troparion reads as follows: “Our Easter - Christ appeared as a male, as (the Son) opened a virgin womb; called by the Lamb as condemned to death; immaculate as not partaker of uncleanness; but as the true God, he is called perfect.”
The following troparion of the same song of the Easter canon: Like a one-year-old lamb, the crown of Christ blessed to us, by will for all was slain, Easter purgatory: and packs from the tomb of red truth to us the Sun rises. Arrangement: “The crown blessed by us - Christ, like a one-year-old lamb, voluntarily sacrificed Himself for everyone, - He is our cleansing Easter, and behold, from the tomb He shone for us like a beautiful Sun of truth.”
In the refrain to the 9th ode of the Easter canon, it is sung: Christ is the New Easter, the Living Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the world(), - John the Baptist testified about Christ the Savior in the Jordan. Lamb slain from the foundation of the world calls the Resurrected Christ the Savior the Evangelist John the Theologian in Revelation ().
At the end of the canon, the Risen Christ is again called our Pascha: O great Easter, and most sacred to Christ! About wisdom and the Word of God and strength, give us the true communion of You, in the non-evening days of Your Kingdom. And in the first verse of Passover it is sung: Easter - Christ the Redeemer. Thus St. John of Damascus reveals in his inspired canon the teaching of the holy Apostle Paul: Our Easter was devoured for us by Christ().
The Pascha of Christ becomes saving for us only when we ourselves participate in it. How can a person participate in the Pascha of Christ?
The beginning of this participation is due in Holy Baptism. Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into Him? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.(). Baptized man buried to Christ and gracefully resurrects with Christ by the power of God (see). This is stated in the second troparion of the 3rd ode of the canon of Pascha: Yesterday I was buried with Thee, O Christ; I crucified you yesterday: Praise me yourself, Savior, in your kingdom. Arrangement: “Yesterday I was buried with You, O Christ, today I rise with You, Risen One; Yesterday I crucified with You, glorify me, You Yourself, Savior, in Your Kingdom. Baptism is for sin and life for God: if we are connected to Him(with Christ) in the likeness of His death, they must be united in the likeness of the resurrection ().
Participation in the Pascha of Christ is also celebrated in the Divine Eucharist. The Apostle Paul clearly testifies to this: I received from the Lord Himself what I also conveyed to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread and, having given thanks, broke it and said: Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me. Likewise with the cup after supper, and said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this whenever you drink, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's until he comes. ().
The promise of our resurrection into eternal life with Christ is also connected with Divine Communion: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day ().
Only by participating in the death of Christ (through repentance, Baptism, voluntary crucifixion), we become, by the grace of God, participants in the life of Christ through His Resurrection: We always carry in our body the death of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.(). This is the sacrament of the Pascha of God, saving for all who believe in the Resurrection of Christ.
St. Gregory the Theologian in his Pascha sermon speaks of this thus: “We had need of God incarnate and mortified, that we might come to life. We died with Him to be cleansed; they rose with him, because they died with him; glorified with Him, because with Him they were raised.”
So, the Easter of the New Testament is the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ, which we inextricably honor and glorify as the foundation of our salvation. Easter of incorruption - salvation of the world! Our Easter is the Savior Christ God, who offered Himself as a sacrifice for our salvation. Therefore, Christ's unceasingly sings on the Paschal holy days: Resurrection day, enlighten people! Pascha, Lord's Pascha: from death to life, and from earth to heaven, Christ forewarned us of victorious singing.
How important it is sometimes to think about what we believe in and what we aspire to. We all have only one God the Father; but why is it that someone who is born in Israel, for example, most often becomes an adherent of Judaism? Residents of Iran, become Muslims? And those who are in China choose Buddhism?.. Often, we become adherents of the Christian denomination in which we were brought up from childhood; or someone told us - and we just believed?... So what is what we believe in - TRADITION? TRUE?..
So what is what we believe in - TRADITION? TRUE?..
What is Easter? The tradition of the Easter holiday is that the vast majority of us celebrate it as a bright holiday of the resurrection of Christ.
- It is worth paying attention to the fact that Christ himself, being at the earthly age of 12 years old, celebrated Pascha (Luke 2:41,42.).
- Also, in the days of the apostles, it was not celebrated in the way it is customary today (1 Cor. 11:23-28; 5:7,8.).
So What does Easter really mean?[in Hebrew Pesach] ?.. In order to come to the truth and understand the essence of this holiday, let's examine the history of Passover from the beginning.
Let's pay attention to the Scripture from the book of Exodus 12:24,26,27. In verse 27, it is made clear what the name Passover [Pesach] itself means:
"This is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed by the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians….
If you carefully read the entire 12th chapter of the book of Exodus, it becomes noticeable that the firstborn were saved those families where the blood of the Passover lamb was anointed on the doorposts. Also, the sacrifice of this lamb itself played a significant role here - as eating it.
It is important to pay attention to Exodus 12:24, where it is written: "Keep this as a law for yourself and for your sons forever"(Ex. 12:24). What do these words mean?
- About 1500 years later, John the Baptist said of Christ: "here Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world''(John 1:29).
- Our Lord, He was that sacrificial "lamb": "for Our Easter, Christ, slain for us"(1 Corinthians 5:7)
. 
This means that the essence of Easter has not changed; the sacrifice of the Lamb of Christ [bread as an image of the flesh - Luke 22:19.] and His blood [wine from grapes, as an image - Matt. 26:27-29.] still saves.
Also, in order to understand the essence of Easter, we need to understand the essence of two more subsequent holidays that were required to be observed according to the Mosaic Law ... These were: 1) the feast of the first harvest [Pentecost - Leviticus 23:9-12,15,16,21.]. 2) the feast of the second harvest [Tabernacles - Leviticus 23:34.]. What is the connection between these three holidays?
Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23,24,26. pointed out that the prototype of the true Pascha was the Lord's Supper; on which the Lord gave the command to accept bread - as a sacrifice broken [killed] for us. And the verse from 1 Corinthians 11:26 says: ‘ ’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the DEATH of the Lord until He comes.’’(1 Corinthians 11:26).
Also the parable of the wheat seed from John 12:23,24 points to this:
‘’Truly, truly, I say to you, if a grain of wheat, falling into the ground, does not die, it will remain alone; but if he dies, he will bring forth much fruit” (John 12:24).
Understanding the meaning of Easter, we can more clearly understand the meaning of the three holidays of the Old Testament (Leviticus 23 ch.):
- Easter- the image of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7).
- Seed - Christ, by His death redeemed first of all the firstborn, the image of which is the holiday first harvest - Pentecost- Acts 2:1-4,16-21. (1 Corinthians 15:22,23; Rev. 14:1,3,4; 20:4-6.).
- As well as Feast of the Second Harvest - Feast of Tabernacles, was an image of the gathering of a great multitude of other saved from mankind - Zechar.14:16-21. (Heb.11:32,39,40. Rev.20:5.). (Mat. 25:31-36,40. Rev. 7:9,14.). And all this thanks to the ''Seed of Wheat'' from John 12:24.
Also indirect evidence that the essence of Easter is death - ransom, can serve as a passage from Nehemiah 6:15. That the wall of Jerusalem was built precisely for fifty two days, at first glance it may seem something ordinary. But pay attention to the Song of Songs 8:10 and the book of Revelation (Rev. 14:1,3,4; 21:9,10,12,17.).
This indicates that the “wall of Jerusalem” is the image of the firstborn of Christ. And the passage from Nehemiah 6:15 is an important detail, given that from the death of Christ to the feast of Pentecost fifty two days.
So: we do not want to argue with established traditions, we just drew your attention to some places from the Word of God. And what is true for you is up to you ...
Sergey Iakovlev (Bokhan).
Why are you coloring eggs?
Why such a shape of the Easter cake?
What do you know about the origins of Easter?
What do you even know about Easter?
Passover (Pesach) is an important Jewish holiday established by God himself (Ex. 12:1–14). Translated from Hebrew, this word means “to pass by”: on the very first celebration of Passover, an angel passed by houses where the jambs were smeared with the blood of a lamb, and spared the firstborn in them. The Jewish holidays were part of the Mosaic law, which Christ ended (Rom. 10:4). This should be rejoiced, because the Law of Moses condemned man as an incorrigible sinner, unable to be justified before God (Rom. 3:19, 20). Why return to this law?
There is not a single mention in the New Testament that Christians celebrated Easter in any form. The word “Passover” itself, apart from the references to the Jewish holiday, occurs only once: “Purge the old leaven, therefore, to be a new dough for you, since you are without leaven, for our Passover, Christ, was slain for us” (1 Cor. 5 :7).
As you can see, Paul does not introduce a new holiday, but simply explains to his readers that the Jewish Passover and animal sacrifices in general were types of the sacrifice of Christ - the true sacrificial Lamb. Therefore, after this sacrifice, there is no need for sacrifices and related holidays. The era of prototypes is over, the era of reality has begun. Moreover, we note that Paul associates with Easter the exact opposite meaning - not the resurrection of Christ, but his death. This connection is not accidental, because Christ died just on the day of Passover, Nisan 14 according to the Jewish calendar (Matt. 26:2).
Jesus himself celebrated Easter in exactly the same way and pointed out to his disciples that he was the same Passover lamb. But on his last Easter (when he was to be executed in order to fulfill the prophecy), he introduced a new celebration for his students, since the old one should have exhausted itself in a few hours. So, Christians from now on were to celebrate not the old traditional Jewish Passover, but the death of their Lord Jesus Christ, "... do this in remembrance of me." (1 Corinthians 11:24). The symbols of the Lord's Supper were the products left over from the Jewish Passover - unleavened bread and wine (the lamb had already been eaten by that time), as well as prayer. And, pay attention, it was the death of Christ that was celebrated, and not his resurrection. And there were no eggs, Easter cakes, cheese Easter. These traditions were brought over from pagan religions later.
So why does Easter mean his resurrection today?
The origins of Easter and its attributes
In principle, the entire so-called Christian religion is crammed with “copy papers” from paganism, and all because initially, it was very difficult for pagans to be baptized into another faith. So the “baptists” began to use pagan holidays and symbols in the Christian faith, only under a different name, so that the people could more easily get used to the “true” new faith.
As for the inalienable attributes of the celebration of modern Christian Easter, it is worth seriously considering whether Easter cake belongs to Orthodoxy, to Christianity, and to the Easter holiday in general?
The answer is unequivocal: NO, IT DOES NOT APPLY ...
Because the popular Easter attributes - eggs and Easter cakes - are of pagan origin: many pagan customs associated with the celebration of the arrival of spring have penetrated into the celebration of Christian Easter.
The egg is a symbol of the birth of life in early spring (The Catholic Encyclopedia).
The 2nd issue of the Science and Life magazine for 1999 noted: “It is obvious that this symbol [egg], like many others, passed into Christianity from pagan cults ... Our distant ancestors revered ... the egg as a symbol of the beginning of life, fertility , spring revival".
About dyeing eggs, the book “The World of Russian Culture” says: “The roots of this custom lie in ancient superstitions. […] During the Slavic holiday of the propitiation of the spirits, along with other gifts, they brought eggs painted with blood, since blood, according to ancient beliefs, was considered a tasty food. Subsequently, the eggs began to be painted in various bright colors, so that the spirits would pay attention to the gifts brought to them by people.
The spring pagan holiday gave the Christian Easter its rites (consecration of Easter cakes, making cheese Easter, dyeing eggs, etc.) (Great Soviet Encyclopedia).
... Why are eggs painted for Easter ...?
To connect Christ with eggs - you need a "rich" fantasy ...
And it is SUCH fantasy that takes the lead over common sense in such cults.
Unfortunately, the vast majority would not even think about it, and the answer would most likely be:
“Everyone paints and I paint” or “My ancestors painted, I paint and my children will paint.”
The clearest example of how the words of Jesus come true: "As it was in the days of Noah, ... people ate, drank ... AND did not think ... So it will be during the presence of the Son of man."
We would say that to know the truth, some people DON'T NEED it, while others are simply DECEPTED! So to speak, they are the VICTIMS of pagan cults presented as Christian. In a word, victims of religious deception.
Unfortunately, most people don't really need the truth. But among them there are still those who are "worthy". WE ALL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN THE TRUTH FROM THE Scripture! If you are one of them, we are sure that you will accept these facts with intellectual honesty.
Spring cults of harvest and fertility coexisted not only with eggs, but also with phallic symbols.
Historian A. Oparin writes: The arrival of spring was considered the second big holiday among the Tengrians (ancient Mongols and Turks - A.Ch.). According to a tradition that has its roots in India, it was celebrated on March 25th. It is known that Tengrians baked Easter cakes by this day. Kulich personified the masculine principle.
In India and in many other countries, his symbol was the phallus. Tengrian Easter cake was given an appropriate shape, it was supposed to put two colored eggs next to it. This already has a connection with the phallistic agricultural cults of India, but the connection of this custom with the Easter traditions of Christianity is just as obvious.
Priest Oleg Molenko (not the Russian Orthodox Church): “Easter cake was not known in the Old Testament Easter. The Passover lamb was eaten with unleavened bread (unleavened cakes) and bitter herbs. The origin of the Easter cake is more pagan than Christian. Kulich, like tall bread with eggs, is a well-known pagan symbol of the god of fruitfulness Phaloss or, what is the same, the male childbearing ud.
The kulich oven is the oldest pagan tradition of the Slavs. People baked and still continue to bake Easter cakes in the form of a male reproductive organ, a special shape, with a brown hat sprinkled with white sugar (poured seed) and sprinkled with grain - a symbol of fertility and the beginning of spring, the beginning of the awakening of nature. For the same purpose, chicken eggs were also painted - as a symbol of new life, and, as many have already understood, it is suitable for "Kulich" in terms of characteristic parameters.
I apologize for the juicy details, but what does Easter cake look like - vertically standing bread with white fudge on top and eggs on the bottom? As they say, it is better to see once than to try a hundred times. In some places you can even see such a spectacle:
Perhaps Easter is the worst joke that Satan has played on Christianity.
Now that the origin of some customs is not a secret for us, we can honestly ask ourselves, did Jesus Christ, the Son of God, want us to come to him for a feast, having with us a sacred phallus, which his Father Jehovah God always opposed to worship? And since God does not change his principles, it is naive to believe that his view of these traditions has changed over time. And no matter how dear these rituals are to someone, do not forget that they all came from an unclean source.
We can say: well, but the church not only borrowed pagan elements, but also sanctified them, and now they glorify Christ.
Of course, no one prevents the church from sanctifying everything it wants, but there is a more important question: does God sanctify it?
In the Bible, we will not find cases where God sanctifies and approves the attributes of false religion. Moreover, when people tried to do it themselves, they were severely punished. The most famous example occurred at Mount Sinai, when the Jews held a "feast to the Lord (Jehovah)" using an element of the Egyptian religion - the golden calf.
The holiday was dedicated not to someone, but to the true God, but what about the golden calf - what's wrong with it? It's beautiful. He was "sanctified" by none other than Moses' brother, who remained "in charge" in the absence of Moses himself. However, the wrath of God was kindled against the Jews, and thousands of them lost their lives (Ex. 32).
This story is worth remembering whenever we want to celebrate something and the thought creeps into our head: “What's wrong with that?”
The Bible demands to remove from life any lie, including religious, and not to “sanctify” it.
Now, having clearly seen the whole ugly side of this event, which is in no way connected with Christ, does everyone need to make a personal and conscious decision whether to take part in the holidays that stain the name of God and Christ? Which, in addition, make a person guilty before God, because by doing this he continues to support the vile rites of the pagans and idolaters.
A holiday is not a reason to have fun (you don’t need a reason for this), but a way to remember something important. Holidays are serious business. The servants of God never approached the holidays lightly, never celebrated them for show or because "it is customary." And the religious holiday is doubly serious, because it is associated with the worship of God. In the case of Easter, we have a holiday that:
1) has no calendar connection with the day of the resurrection of Christ;
2) is not mentioned in the New Testament as a Christian holiday;
3) is part of the Mosaic law, eliminated by the sacrifice of Christ (and therefore devalues this sacrifice);
4) is filled with pagan paraphernalia that offends the Creator.
Not celebrating Easter, we do not sin (by virtue of paragraph 2), and by celebrating, we can displease God (by virtue of paragraphs 3 and 4). Maybe it's better to play it safe?
If someone likes paganism - please. This is a personal choice. But if someone wants to be a Christian, let him be. But we should not forget that it is also impossible to be both at the same time.
Easter(from Heb. "passing by") in Christianity; also the Resurrection of Christ - an ancient Christian holiday; important feast of the liturgical year. Established in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the current time, its date in each specific year is calculated according to the lunisolar calendar (movable holiday).
What the Bible Says About Passover
The Easter holiday has its roots far back in the past of the Jewish people - those periods when they were in Egyptian slavery, God made a tribunal over Egypt and brought out His own people. Before the tenth execution over Egypt, the Lord gave a command to the Jewish people about the feast of Passover. It was the greatest of the Old Testament feasts (Ex. 13:3-16; Deut. 16:1-8 - hereinafter, Scriptures are indicated). The Law of Moses forbade the consumption of leavened food during the Passover (Ex. 13:3; 23:15), therefore Passover was also called the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" (Ezek. 45:21; John 12:1).
“And Moses summoned all the elders [sons] of Israel and said to them: Choose and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and kill the passover; and take a bundle of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the vessel, and anoint the crossbar and both doorposts with the blood that is in the vessel; and you no one go out of the door of your own abode until the morning. And the Lord will go to strike Egypt, and he will see blood on the crossbar and on both doorposts, and the Lord will pass by the doors, and will not allow the destroyer to enter into your houses to defeat (Final 12:21-23).
This saving, Easter lamb is considered in Christianity to be the prototype of Jesus Christ, and the blood of the lamb on the doorposts was evidence that someone's life was given in exchange for those living in this house.
"Purge therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new dough, because you are without leaven, for our Passover, Christ, was slain for us (1 Corinthians 5:7)."
The feast of the Resurrection of Christ bears the Old Testament title "Easter" not only because the Resurrection of Jesus chronologically coincided with the Jewish Passover, but, first, because the salvation of the Jews from Egyptian slavery is for Christians a symbol of the salvation of people from slavery to sin and death.
The Resurrection of Christ is the essence of the Christian faith. “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain,” the Apostle Paul addresses Christians. At one point he was preaching in Athens. The inhabitants of the city, from ancient times famous for their curiosity for everything new, seemed ready to listen to Paul ... He spoke to them about the One God, about the creation of the world, about the need for repentance, about the appearance of Jesus Christ into the world.
The Athenians enthusiastically listened to the Apostle Paul until the time when he began to talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hearing about this incredible fact, they began to disperse, throwing sarcastically to Pavel: "We will listen to you next time." The story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ seemed absurd to them. However, the main thing in Paul's preaching was specifically that Christ had risen from the dead! Christ overcame death. By His own death and resurrection, He brought to life everyone for whom the event that took place in the burial cave is an indisputable fact and is perceived so closely that it becomes a fact of his own resurrection: “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then those who died in Jesus God will lead with Him! (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
Christ resurrected on the 2nd day after the Jewish Passover - a holiday established in honor of the liberation of the Israeli people from Egyptian slavery. The Resurrection of Christ has become the newest Pascha - the joy of liberation from the slavery of perdition. “The word Easter,” writes Ambrose of Milan, “means “transition.” This feast, the most solemn of feasts, was named so in the Old Testament Church - in remembrance of the finale of the sons of Israel from Egypt and at the same time delivering them from slavery, and in the New Testament Church - in commemoration of the fact that the Offspring of God Himself, through the Resurrection from the dead, fled from this world to the Heavenly Pope, from earth to heaven, freeing us from endless perdition and slavery to the enemy, granting us "the power to become children of God" (John 1:12) ".
The significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the population of the earth makes Easter the most significant celebration among all other holidays - the Feast of Feasts and the Feast of Feasts. Jesus Christ overcame death, the catastrophe of death is followed by the triumph of life. After His own resurrection, the Lord greeted everyone with the word: “Rejoice!”. There is no more death.
This contentment the apostles proclaimed to the world. This contentment they dubbed the "Gospel" - the good news of the resurrection of Christ. The same satisfaction overwhelms a person’s heart when he hears: “Christ is risen!”, And it also echoes in him with the main words of his life: “He has truly risen!”
History of Easter
Holidays in honor of the resurrection of the deity existed for a long time before Christianity. On the eve of April in ancient Egypt, celebrations were held in honor of Osiris. Enemies tore apart the peacefully slumbering god, and his wife Isis restored the deceased husband piece by piece.
The ancient Greeks revered the goddess of fertility, Demeter. The holiday was considered only for ladies, and men were not allowed to be at festive meetings.
The ancient Slavs also celebrated Velikden. This celebration was closely connected with the beginning of spring and the awakening of all living things. Yearning for warmth, the people honored the Tsar Maiden (the hypostasis of Spring) with pleasure and looked forward to her merging with the Sun itself ... At the same time, they did not forget the deceased fathers - at dawn, people went to the cemetery and shared classic dishes with the deceased.
The rituals of the holiday were simple. With them, people sought to awaken to life all living things, plowing and irrigating the earth with water. At the end of the festive event, the villagers and villagers returned home. There they laid tables, took out Easter cakes, painted eggs and honey. The feast began with battles on the testicles - uncracked promised the fulfillment of all desires.
When the meal was over, people set off to play various games. People excitedly jumped over the fire, danced round dances, doused each other with water, played with burners and skittles. Skittles, by the way, were rounded, which is why this game was valued more than others.
In that period of time (as, in general, even now), the egg symbolized the sun, as well as the world around us, inside of which there is a majestic actual force.
After the baptism of Russia, the celebration of Great Day did not end, despite the fact that the place of the Tsar Maiden was taken by a new deity. The rituals, traditions and customs of the celebration remained similar…
New Testament Christian Easter
During the establishment of Christian Easter, customs were supplemented by an all-night service, as well as a procession and, of course, a new meaning. Now Easter was identified with congratulations to the victory of life over death.
Prior to this, the New Testament Easter was considered a veneration of the death of the Savior (then - approximately in the 2nd century - the rite of the feast was established by the Christian Church). When - in 325 - the 1st Ecumenical Council of Christian Churches took place, it was decided to celebrate the Orthodox holiday later than the Jewish one. The council also decided that Easter must be celebrated on the 1st Sunday, which followed the first full moon after the end of the vernal equinox. That is why the date of Easter came out "wandering". Once a year, Easter Day falls at a different time - from March 22 to April 25 (according to the old style).
A lot of time passed before (in the 5th century) customs, rituals and Easter canons were streamlined, and the rules for celebrating the Great Day were also correctly developed.
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