The announcement of Easter on Epiphany

From baby Jesus to Risen Christ

 From baby Jesus to Risen Christ  ING-003
21 January 2022
Shakespeare’s Cleopatra said that good news should be spread by a thousand voices. And it is really good news we hear on the day of the Epiphany. A few days after Christmas, during the Eucharistic concelebration on 6 January, after the proclamation of the Gospel, it is possible to announce Easter, thanks to a text that today can be found in the Appendix of the Roman Missal. In the fifth century this custom was already considered to be an ancient tradition based on the definition of the Council of Nicaea, in 325, on the date of Easter and on the difficulty of calculating the day exactly. In fact, after the so-called Quartodeciman controversy, the Council of Nicaea had established that the annual Passover of Christians be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox. A calculation not very easy to ...

This content is reserved for Subscribers

paywall-offer
Dear Reader,
access to all editions of L’Osservatore Romano is reserved for Subscribers.