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Paschalion

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The '''Paschalion''' of the [[Orthodox Church]] combines the metonic and solar calendrical cycles to determine the date of [[Pascha]] for a given year. A common formula to determine the date of Pascha was created in connection with the [[First Ecumenical Council]], held at [[Nicea]] in A.D. 325.
== Early History ==
The origin of annual festivals in Christianity is obscure. St. Paul (1 Cor. 16.8) and St. Luke (Acts 2.1, 12.3, 20.6, 27.9) refer to Jewish annual festivals expecting their Gentile readers to know what is meant. Chapters 5-10 of John's Gospel is structured around the cycle of Jewish annual festivals, and all the Gospels' passion narratives are set at the time of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But nowhere are Christian annual observances are explicitly mentioned. Then, beginning in the mid-2nd century, evidence appears of Pascha and commemorations of martyrs. The commemorations of martyrs were held on fixed dates in the solar calendar. Pascha was computed according to a lunar calendar. This suggests the possibility that the annual Pascha entered Christianity earlier than martyrs' festivals, and that it may have been part of Christianity's initial Jewish inheritance.
 
Initially the date of Pascha was fixed by consulting Jewish informants to learn when the Jewish month of Nisan would fall, and setting Pascha to the third Sunday in Jewish Nisan, the Sunday of Unleavened Bread. But beginning in the third century there are indications that some Christians were becoming dissatisfied with this reliance on the Jewish calendar. The chief complaint was that the third week in Jewish Nisan was sometimes placed before the spring equinox. [[Peter, bishop of Alexandria]] (early 4th century A.D.), in a statement preserved in the preface to the [[Chronicon Paschale| ''Chronicon Paschale'']], expresses this view:<blockquote>On the fourteenth day of [the month], being accurately observed after the equinox, the ancients celebrated the Passover, according to the divine command. Whereas the men of the present day now celebrate it before the equinox, and that altogether through negligence and error.</blockquote>Those who held this view began to experiment with independent computations that would always place Pascha in the spring season. Traditionalists, however, felt that the old custom of consulting the Jewish community should continue, even if it sometimes placed Pascha before the equinox. [[Epiphanius]] of Salamis (''Panarion'' 3.1.10) quotes a version of the [[Apostolic Constitutions| ''Apostolic Constitutions'']] used by the sect of the Audiani which represents this school of thought: <blockquote>Do not do your own computations, but instead observe Passover when your brethren from the circumcision do. If they err [in the computation], it is no matter to you.</blockquote>The controversy was formally resolved by the Council of Nicea, which determined that a single system should be adopted by all the churches, and that this system should be independent of the Jewish calendar. The custom of consulting the Jewish community was formally abandoned, though the comments of canonists, preachers, and chroniclers indicates that the old custom continued to have adherents for generations.
== The Nicene Formula ==
From A.D. 326 (The computational system that was eventually worked out derives from the first year following calendrical experiments made at Alexandria beginning in the Council)mid-3rd century. According to this system, Pascha has been officially defined as the is first Sunday following the date of the Paschal Full Moon ("PFM") for a given year. The PFM is not, however, as commonly thought, the first full moon following the vernal equinox. Rather, the PFM is the first Ecclesiastical Full Moon ("EFM") date that falls on or after March 21 (or, what is the same thing, the first Ecclesiastical Full Moon that follows March 20). Ecclesiastical Full Moons are calendar dates that approximate of astronomical full moons using a cycle that repeats every 19 years. March 20 21 is the date used for determining the PFM because it was the near the date of the vernal equinox in the late 3rd and early 4th century A.D., when the Paschal cycle was first being developed. This formula is called Nicene because some commentators in later generations attributed it to the Nicene council. ==Shortcomings of the Julian Paschalion=====Solar-side flaws===Because of the inaccuracy of the [[Julian Calendar]]'s solar year, Pascha is drifting later into the year for those who use the Julian Paschalion. Even though for those using the Julian Calendar Pascha will always be sometime in March or April, it will eventually be celebrated in the northern hemisphere in the summer, the autumn, and then the winter. (For those using the [[Revised Julian Calendar]], the calendar date of Pascha is drifting along with its astronomical position.)  ===Lunar-side flaws===Additionally the Julian Ecclesiastical Full Moons are deviating further with time from the astronomical full moons: The EFM now falls 3 to 5 days after the corresponding astronomical full moon.
Because of the inaccuracy of the [[Julian Calendar]], Pascha is drifting later into the year for those who use the Julian Paschalion. Thus, while according to the calendar, for those using the Julian Calendar Pascha will always be sometime in March or April, it will eventually be celebrated in the northern hemisphere in the summer, the autumn, and then the winter. (For those using the [[Revised Julian Calendar]], the calendar date of Pascha is drifting along with its astronomical position.) Additionally the Julian Ecclesiastical Full Moons are deviating further with time from the astronomical full moons: The EFM now falls 3 to 5 days after the corresponding astronomical full moon. The [[Gregorian Calendar]], which includes its own revised Paschalion, has neither of these problems.
== The Gregorian Reform ==
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