复活节日期的确定？，本文主要内容关键词为：复活节论文,日期论文，此文献不代表本站观点，内容供学术参考，文章仅供参考阅读下载。
According to the New Testament,Christ was crucified on the eveof Passover and shortly afterward rose from the dead.In consequence,the Easter festival commemorated Christ's resurrection.In time,a serious difference over the date of the Easter festival aroseamong Christians.Those of Jewish origin celebrated the resurrectionimmediately following the Passover festival,which,according totheir Babylonian lunar calendar,fell on the evening of the 14thday in the first month of the year;by their reckoning,EasLer.from year to year,fell on different days of the week.
Christians of Gentile origin,however,wished to commemoratethe resurrection on the first day of the week,Sunday;by theirmethod,Easter occurred on the same day of the week,but fromyear to year it fell on different dates.
An important historical result of the difference in reckoningthe date of Easter was that the Christian churches in the East,which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and inwhich old traditions were strong,observed Easter according to thedate of the Passover festival.The churches of the West,descendantsof Greco-Roman civilization,celebrated Easter on a Sunday.
Constantine the Great,Roman emperor,convoked the Council of Nicaeain 325.The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festivalshould be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the firstSunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox;and thatif the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincidewith the Passover festival,Easter should be commemorated on theSunday following.Coincidence of the feasts of Easter ane Passoverwas thus avoided.
The Council of Nicaea also decided that the calendar date ofEaster was to be calculated at Alexandria,then the principalastronomical center of the world.The accurate determinationof the date,however,proved an impossible task in view of thelimited knowledge of the 4th-century world.The principalastronomical problem involved was the discrepancy between thesolar year and the lunar year.The chief calendric problemwas a gradually increasing discrepancy between the trueastronomical year and the Julian calendar then in use.
Reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.through adoption of the Gregorian calendar,eliminated muchof the difficulty in fixing the date of Easter and in arrangingthe ecclesiastical year.Since 1752,when the Gregorian calendarwas also adopted in Great Britain and Ireland,Easter has beencelebrated on the same day in the Western part of the ChristianWorld.The Eastern churches,however,which did not adopt theGregorian calendar,commemorate Easter on a Sunday either precedingor following the date observed in the West.Occasionally the datescoincide;the most recent times were in 1865 and 1963.
Because the Easter holiday affects a varied number of secularaffairs in many countries,it has long been urged as a matterof convenience that the movable dates of the festival be eithernarrowed in range or replaced by a fixed date in the mannerof Christmas.In 1923 the problem was referred to the Holy See,which has found no canonical objection to the proposed reform.In 1928 the British Parliament enacted a measure allowingthe Church of England to commemorate Easter on the first Sundayafter the second Saturday in April.Despite these steps towardreform,Easter continues to be a movable feasp.
根据《新约》记载，基督是逾越节前夕在十字架上受难的，其后不久便死而复生。因此，复活节是纪念基督复活的节日。可后来基督教徒之间在复活节的日期问题上却发生了严重分歧。具有犹太教背景的基督徒紧接着逾越节之后庆祝复活节，而逾越节的日期，按他们所用的巴比伦阴历，是一年的第一个月份中第十四天的夜晚。依照他们的推算方法，每年的复活节不会来临于一个星期七天中的同一天。
然而，非犹太教背景的基督徒却希望于一个星期的第一天即星期日纪念基督的复活。按照他们的测算方法，每年的复活节会来临于一个星期中的同一天，但每年的日期却不一样。
复活节日期推算方法的差异所带来的一个重大历史结果是距离基督教这种新生宗教的诞生地较近，有着浓重古老传统的东方的教会按照逾越节的日期纪念复活节。而作为希腊——罗马文化继承者的西方教会则于某个星期天庆祝复活节。
罗马皇帝君士坦丁大帝曾于公元325年召集尼西亚教士大会，会议一致裁定整个基督教世界纪念复活节的日期应定在春分月圆之后第一个星期日，而如果月圆正好发生于某个星期天并因而与逾越节时间重合的话，则复活节应推迟到下一个星期日，这样便使复活节和逾越节重合现象得以避免。
尼西亚教士大会还决定复活节的历法日期的测定工作应于当时世界的天文学研究中以亚历山大城进行。然而，由于公元四世纪的世界所掌握的知识有限，要精确推定复活节的日期实在是不可能的一道难题。最主要的天文学难题是阳历年与阴历年之间的差异。主要的历法难题在于真正的天文年份与人们所使用的儒略历之间的差距日渐扩大。
1582年格列高利十三世敦皇改革儒略历，通过采用格列高利历，消除了确定复活节日期和安排基督教会年的许多困难。自从1752年格列高利历在不列颠和爱尔兰被采用以来，基督教世界的西部各地庆祝复活节的日期就一直统一定在同一天。但没有采用格列高利历的东正教会纪念复活节的日期要么是西方日期的前一个星期日，要么是西方日期的后一个星期日。两地的日期偶尔也有重合的时候，最近的两次分别发生在1865和1963年。
由于复活节对很多国家的一些世俗社会事务产生影响，为方便起见，人们长期以来一直主张对该节日的变动日期加以限制或者像圣诞节一样以一个固定日期取而代之。1923年，这一问题被提交给罗马教会裁决。教会对人们提出的这项改革并没有反对意见。1928年，英国议会通过子一项法案，允许英国教会将复活节定于四月第二个星期六之后的第一个星期日，尽管有上述各种改革措施，复活节依然是一个日期不固定的节日。