Early church celebrated Passover

[NathanH83]

If you look up the Council of Nicaea on Wikipedia, it says that one of the things discussed was when to celebrate Easter.

But that’s actually not true.

The early church fathers who spoke Greek used the word “Pascha”. That word is used 29 times in our New Testament and is translated as “Passover.”

The early churches were celebrating Passover.

 

[Albion]

If you look up the Council of Nicaea on Wikipedia, it says that one of the things discussed was when to celebrate Easter.

But that’s actually not true.

The early church fathers who spoke Greek used the word “Pascha”. That word is used 29 times in our New Testament and is translated as “Passover.”

The early churches were celebrating Passover.

The early churches were celebrating Easter--also called Pascha and Resurrection Sunday--not the old Hebrew seder. They celebrated, and we celebrate, the day Christ rose from the dead, not Passover.

There is no doubt about this whatsoever.

Everything about the service both then and now would be different if the observance was some sort of Christian version of a seder. It's on Holy Thursday that the Last Supper, originally referred to by Christ as a Passover meal, is remembered.

In short, the complaint raised by the Original Post, which is also frequently raised by a variety of cult religious movements...

is without merit.

 

[NathanH83]

The early churches were celebrating Easter--also called Pascha and Resurrection Sunday--not the old Hebrew seder. They celebrated, and we celebrate, the day Christ rose from the dead, not Passover.

There is no doubt about this whatsoever.

Everything about the service both then and now would be different if the observance was some sort of Christian version of a seder. It's on Holy Thursday that the Last Supper, originally referred to by Christ as a Passover meal, is remembered.

In short, the complaint raised by the Original Post, which is also frequently raised by a variety of cult religious movements...

is without merit.

They celebrated Pascha. That Greek word is translated as Passover.

Obviously they were also celebrating the Resurrection Sunday. But they were also celebrating the Passover along with it. Lamb, unleavened bread, the whole feast.

 

[Josiah]

If any Christian wants to celebrate Passover, he/she can.

Simple.



.

 

[NathanH83]

If any Christian wants to celebrate Passover, he/she can.

Simple.



.

Yea, but that’s not what this post is about. It’s about what did the early church do?

 

[Albion]

They celebrated Pascha. That Greek word is translated as Passover.

What the word originally meant doesn't make them be celebrating something that they explicitly were not celebrating.

They simply utilized the word because Jesus had sacrificed himself as the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus' sacrifice picked up on the earlier idea of sacrificing a living victim in order to make men right with God but did it in the perfect way. As you should know, much of the earlier Hebrew religion foreshadowed the coming of the Lord and, consequently, the Christian religion.

To contend that because they used the same word for a similar event, they MUST have been worshipping or commemorating something that we know they were NOT worshipping or commemorating is naive at best and anti-Christian at worst.

We baptize converts and use that same word which describes what John the Baptist, among others of his era, did; but our sacrament doesn't therefore accomplish the same thing that the pre-Christian ceremony did. And we Christians have priests, but they are not the same in function as the temple priests of the Old Testament.

Get it now??
.

Obviously they were also celebrating the Resurrection Sunday. But they were also celebrating the Passover along with it. Lamb, unleavened bread, the whole feast.

All you are doing is wondering 'out loud' as usual and imagining alternative scenarios--completely without any evidence. It's gotten to be offensive on this, a supposedly "Christians Only" forum.

 

[NathanH83]

What the word originally meant doesn't make them be celebrating something that they explicitly were not celebrating.

They simply utilized the word because Jesus had sacrificed himself as the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus' sacrifice picked up on the earlier idea of sacrificing a living victim in order to make men right with God but did it in the perfect way. As you should know, much of the earlier Hebrew religion foreshadowed the coming of the Lord and, consequently, the Christian religion.

To contend that because they used the same word for a similar event, they MUST have been worshipping or commemorating something that we know they were NOT worshipping or commemorating is naive at best and anti-Christian at worst.

We baptize converts and use that same word which describes what John the Baptist, among others of his era, did; but our sacrament doesn't therefore accomplish the same thing that the pre-Christian ceremony did. And we Christians have priests, but they are not the same in function as the temple priests of the Old Testament.

Get it now??
.

All you are doing is wondering 'out loud' as usual and imagining alternative scenarios--completely without any evidence. It's gotten to be offensive on this, a supposedly "Christians Only" forum.

They celebrated Pascha. Period. That means Passover in English. What are you going on about? You wanna believe they are coloring eggs?

 

[Albion]

They celebrated Pascha. Period.

...which means that they celebrated what we most often call Easter. Period.

What's more, Easter is STILL referred to as Pascha in the Christian churches of that region, proving that your guess is dead wrong.

 

[Lanman87]

What's more, Easter is STILL referred to as Pascha in the Christian churches of that region, proving that your guess is dead wrong

This is correct. Christian appropriated the word Pascha and changed it from a Passover to remember the Deliverance for Egypt to a special time of remembrance for the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The word Pascha meant different things to Christians than it did to Jews.

In a very real sense, the Lord's Supper instituted by Christ, is a passover meal. Instead of celebrating, giving thanks for, and remembering the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, We celebrate, remember, and give thanks for the deliverance from sin through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and His resurrection.

 

[Albion]

In a very real sense, the Lord's Supper instituted by Christ, is a passover meal. Instead of celebrating, giving thanks for, and remembering the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, We celebrate, remember, and give thanks for the deliverance from sin through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and His resurrection.

...and we know this from the Holy Bible itself. Our friend most likely is unaware that the one who instituted and defined the Lord's Supper--Christ himself--said that for his listeners to continue to observe that ceremony later on would be them doing it in remembrance of him! (Luke22:19).

The Lord's Supper in not at all a ceremony in which Christians carry on the same commemorations as are the focus of the Passover meal.