The date of Easter in 2018 is April 8, of course, Sunday. This holiday for believing Christians is associated primarily with the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The roots of Passover come from a specific historical day and even an exact time - midnight on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan. Then came the death of all the firstborn in Egypt, the tenth plague of Egypt. And at the same time, the holiday of liberation for God's people is Easter.
The Last Supper, this is the name of the last supper of Jesus with the disciples (the apostles and Judas), just a seder - a festive meal of special food and the beginning of the celebration of Easter for 7 days. The time when the Jews for centuries after the Exodus from Egypt and still gather at the table with the whole family. A special place is given to the presence of children and the obligatory reminder of the history of the liberation of the chosen people from slavery, as God commanded to do in the 12th chapter of the book of Exodus. So when Easter comes in 2018, He wants people to remember the Easter story again.
What the Bible says: Old Testament
What happened that night? the Bible, namely the Old Testament and itsThe book of Exodus contains the very beginning of the Easter story. For centuries afterwards, it had a large-scale development branching into confessions and traditions. It is overgrown with legends of miracles and saints. Other events in the formation of the Church also influenced it. But, as the Lord Jesus Himself said in the Bible, this is how God arranged it from the beginning!
The Tenth Plague of Egypt
It all started with the slavery of the Jews in Egypt. Moses, the greatest prophet, came to deliver them. God has already brought nine plagues on the Egyptians, but the cruel heart of the pharaoh did not soften. Therefore, the Lord sent an angel of death, who passed through the country at night, killing the first-born in every house - thus the tenth plague was accomplished. Looking at the dead children, Pharaoh and his subjects stopped stubbornness, not just let go, but hurried God's people to leave.
The Jews, in order to avoid the fate of the Egyptians and save the children's lives, had to take one lamb, sacrifice it in a special way, and anoint the doorposts with blood. As a sign for the angel of death that you need to pass by this house. The Hebrew name for the holiday is Pesach, or Passover in Russian, meaning “to pass.”
The Immaculate Lamb
The lamb (or kid) was supposed to be without blemish, a one-year-old male. He was to be taken on the 10th of Nisan and slaughtered at dusk on the 14th of Nisan. Anoint both jambs and the lintel at the front door of the house with blood, dipping a hyssop sprig in it, and fry the meat on the fire and eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread on the same night. It was necessary to eat especially - fully assembled on the road, hastily. What remains uneaten- burn before morning. This is what a night and what a lamb the Lord called Passover. And he prescribed every year to celebrate this day and this night in exactly the same way. And to prepare for the holiday and consider the beginning of the year - the 1st day of the month of Nisan, two weeks before the Easter dinner.
Bitter herbs were supposed to remind of the bitterness of captivity and slavery. Unleavened bread is a biblical symbol of purification and is mentioned in many passages of Scripture. Only such bread was prescribed to be eaten for seven days, from the 14th to the 21st day of the month of Nisan.
How many spiritual parallels arose during that first Easter in Egypt! The fundamental prophecy is about Christ, that He will be the immaculate Paschal Lamb, the sacrifice for the sins of all people. The liberation of the Jews from Egyptian slavery anticipated the freedom from sin of all mankind by the blood of Christ. And the death that passed by God's chosen ones that night will depart from Christians on the Day of Judgment. And they will be resurrected by Christ to eternal life.
Jewish holiday Passover
What is the date of Easter in 2018 for the Jews? Like thousands of years - the 14th of the month of Nisan. But their calendar is lunar. And most countries now live according to the Gregorian calendar, based on the period of the Earth's revolution around the Sun. Therefore, the Jewish Passover will be in 2018, when seven days will pass after the first spring full moon according to the Jewish calendar - on the night of March 31, and will last until April 7.
About two thousand years ago, like other Jews, Jesus and His disciples came to Jerusalem for Passover. The Lamb of God prepared to deliver himself into the hands ofhigh priests as a ransom, suffer, be crucified, and rise from the dead on the third day.
What the Bible Says: Evangelists
The Evangelist Luke was not an eyewitness to the resurrection, but questioned those who did, carefully investigated and recorded the sequence of events of those days. The apostle John personally looked into the empty tomb. The apostle Peter, who was with John and entered the empty burial place of Christ, not only told the evangelist Mark, but also wrote several letters to the early churches about the miracle of the resurrection. That's what they all talk about.
John the Baptist
At the beginning of our era, which, by the way, counts down from the Nativity of Christ, the Mission was still expected in Jerusalem. The power of Rome in the province of Judea as part of the Eternal Empire caused tension for a long time, but the confrontation between slaves and invaders reached its climax. Therefore, zealous Jews eagerly awaited the coming of the Savior, who would overthrow the power of the damned pagan Romans and establish a kingdom pleasing to God.
Waiting for a new King, and a strange man in camel clothes appeared - John the Baptist. He ate locusts and honey, lived outside the city in the desert, and baptized people in the Jordan River for repentance.
But the most important and incomprehensible thing is that he proclaimed the speedy arrival of the King, whom everyone was waiting for. And he called himself a herald in the desert. And one day he pointed to a man and said: “Here he is, the Lamb of God, who will bear the sins of the world!”
Jesus
JesusHe was baptized by John the Baptist, went through a forty-day test in the wilderness and temptations from the devil, and then began to preach repentance, the coming judgment and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. He healed and called, fed and preached to many thousands of people, worked great miracles, but did not build a political kingdom and did not start a revolution against the Roman invaders.
Tension in society was growing. The religious leaders of that time seriously feared the uprising and, as a result, its brutal suppression by the Roman troops. Therefore, they decided to execute Christ.
He was betrayed and handed over to the authorities by Judas for thirty pieces of silver, other students fled from the Garden of Gethsemane from the place of arrest, the godless court of the Sanhedrin called on false witnesses and pronounced a death sentence. The procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, washed his hands literally and figuratively, sending Jesus to Mount Golgotha for a terrible execution after being tortured with a whip and a crown of thorns. This is how Easter day came in that turning point in the history of the whole world.
Therefore, it is important, when thinking about when Easter will be in 2018, to remember what year and event is counted from.
Empty tomb
Natural question: where did the tomb of the executed as the last slave on the cross of Christ come from? Joseph of Arimathea, who was not mentioned anywhere in the Bible before, for example, as a disciple of Christ, asked for His body from Pilate and buried him not far from Golgotha.
On the third day after the execution, according to the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene came to the coffin with oils for burial. Butdid not find the body, but only a stone rolled away from the entrance and an empty tomb. She hurried to the apostles Peter and John to tell about it. The men ran to the coffin. Having reached the first, John only look inside. Peter entered and found folded burial linens and a head scarf, folded separately. They believed Mary that the body of the Lord had been stolen, and they left saddened. Mary was left to weep at the coffin.
Mary and the angels
And the angels sitting at the head and at the feet of the burial place, and the resurrected Christ, who came up behind, asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for. At this moment, the star of hope rose for all faithful Christians, for at this moment the Lord first appeared to the resurrected from the dead.
As He predicted, the world rejoiced on the day of His death, and the disciples wept. But on the third day, the time of sorrow passed, and no one will ever take away the joy of Christians!
How Easter is calculated each year
It will be useful to know how the date of Easter is calculated annually, wondering when Easter is in 2018. It is customary for Orthodox, Catholics and Jews to calculate it in different ways. First of all, because the holiday for them is timed to coincide with various historical events, if we talk about Christians and Jews. And the Catholic and Orthodox denominations live according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars, respectively.
When Easter is in 2018 in Russia, it is difficult to calculate on your own. The first and simple condition is Easter in the spring. And a similar second - on Sunday.
Ever since the First Ecumenical Councilit was decided not to celebrate the holiday with the Jews, which is important to consider when calculating the date of Easter in 2018. Orthodox clergy consider it important to celebrate Easter after the Old Testament Easter. Therefore, one full moon must pass from the day of the spring equinox. This is necessary to keep the chronology of the Old Testament.
So to determine the number of Easter in 2018, the easiest way is to use special tables. They are compiled by priests, using a special method of calculation and taking into account the necessary conditions. With their help, it is easy for anyone to know in advance when Easter will be in 2018 and prepare their soul and heart.
And let everyone be ready to meet Easter full not of vice and wickedness, but of purity and truth of the Christian life!
