The
Plain Truth About EASTER
by Herbert W. Armstrong
1957, 1973 edition
The Resurrection was not on Easter Sunday! Easter is not a Christian
name, but the title of the idolatrous "queen of heaven."
Here's an explanation of the true origin and meaning of Lent, Easter
eggs, and sunrise services!
WHY DO
you believe the things you believe, do the things you do?
The chances are you never
stopped to ask yourself that question. You have been taught since
childhood to accept Easter as the chief of the Christian holidays.
You have supposed it is part
of the true Christian religion to observe Lent, "Holy Week," "Good Friday,"
to buy hot cross buns at the bakery, to have colored Easter eggs, to
dress up and go to church Easter Sunday -- perhaps to attend an Easter
sunrise service!
Because of the "sheep"
instinct in humans, most of us believe a lot of things that are not
true. Most of us do a lot of things that are wrong, supposing these
things to be right, or even sacred!
Ishtar the Pagan Goddess
What is the meaning of the
name "Easter"?
You have been led to suppose the word means "resurrection of Christ."
For 1600 years the Western world has been taught that Christ rose from
the dead on Sunday morning. But that is merely one of the fables the
Apostle Paul warned readers of the New Testament to expect. The
resurrection did not occur on Sunday! (For the astonishing proof setting forth the
exact time of the resurrection, write for our free booklet "The
Resurrection Was Not on Sunday.")
The name "Easter," which
is marry the slightly changed English spelling of the name of the
ancient Assyrian and Babylonian goddess Ishtar, comes to us from old
Teutonic mythology where it is known as Ostern. The Phoenician name of
this goddess was Astarte, consort of Baal, the sun god, whose worship
is denounced by the Almighty in the Bible as the most abominable of all
pagan idolatry.
Look up the word "Easter" in
Webster's dictionary. You will find it clearly reveals the pagan origin
of the name.
In the large five-volume
Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, only six brief lines are given to the
name "Easter,"
because it occurs only once in the Bible -- and that only in the
Authorized King James translation. Says Hastings: "Easter, used in Authorized Version as the
translation of 'Pascha' in
Acts 12:4,
'Intending after Easter
to bring him forth to the people.' Revised Standard Version has substituted
correctly 'the Passover.'"
Apostles Observed
Passover
The World Almanac, 1968
edition, page 187, says: "In
the second century A.D., Easter Day was, among Christians in Asia Minor
[that is, in the Churches at
Ephesus, Galatia, etc. -- the so-called "Gentile" churches raised up by
the Apostle Paul] the 14th of Nisan, the seventh month of
the Jewish [civil]
calendar."
In other words, the 14th day of the first month of the sacred calendar,
and it was not then called by the name of the pagan deity "Easter," but by
the Bible name "Passover."
Passover, the Days of
Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and the holy days God had ordained forever
were all observed by Jesus, and the early apostles, and the converted
Gentile Christians (Acts
2:1; 12:3; 18:21; 20:6, 16; I Cor. 5:7-8; 16:8).
Passover is a memorial of the crucifixion of Christ (Luke 22:19).
Passover, observed by the early true Church, occurred not on Sunday or
any fixed day of the week, but on a calendar day of the year. The day
of the week varies from year to year.
Easter is one of the pagan
days Paul warned Gentile converts they must not return to observing (Gal. 4:9-10).
How, then, did this pagan
festival enter into and fasten itself upon a professing Christianity?
That is a surprising story -- but first, notice the true origin and
nature of Easter.
Its Chaldean Origin
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: Steele from Ur. Ishtar (Easter) sunrise
services.
--------------------
Easter, as Alexander Hislop
says (The Two
Babylons, p. 103), "bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead.
Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the
queen of heaven ...."
The ancient gods of the pagans
had many different names. While this goddess was called Astarte by the
Phoenicians, it appears on Assyrian monuments found by Layard in
excavations at Nineveh as Ishtar (Austen
H. Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, Vol. II, p. 629).
Both were pronounced "Easter."
Likewise, Bel (referred
to in the Old Testament), also was called
Molech. It was for sacrificing to Molech (I Kings
11:1-11, especially verse
7, where Molech is called an abomination)
and other pagan gods that the Eternal condemned Solomon, and rended
away the Kingdom of Israel from his son.
In the ancient Chaldean
idolatrous sun-worship, as practiced by the Phoenicians, Baal was the
sun god; Astarte, his consort or wife. And Astarte is the same as
Ishtar, or the English "Easter."
Says Hislop: "The festival, of which we read in Church
history, under the name of Easter, in the third or fourth centuries,
was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Romish [and Protestant] Church, and at
that time was not known by any such name as Easter. It was called
Pascha, or the Passover, and ... was very early observed by many
professing Christians .... That festival agreed originally with the
time of the Jewish Passover, when Christ was crucified .... That
festival was not idolatrous, and it was preceded by no Lent" (The Two
Babylons, p. 104).
Where Did We Get
Lent?
"Howbeit you should know,"
wrote Johannes Cassianus (John
Cassian) in the fifth century, "that as long as the primitive church
retained its perfection unbroken, this observance of Lent did not
exist" (First Conference Abbot Theonas, chapter 30).
Jesus observed no Lent. The
apostles and the early true Church of God observed no Lenten season.
Then how did this observance originate?
"The forty days' abstinence of Lent was
directly borrowed from the worshipers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a
Lent of forty days, in the spring of the year, is still observed by the
Yezidis or pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it
from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent of forty days
was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans .... Such a Lent of forty days
was observed in Egypt ..." (The Two Babylons, pp. 104, 105).
In fact this Egyptian Lent of forty days was observed expressly in
honor of Osiris, also known as Adonis in Syria and Tammuz in Babylonia (Sabean Researches, by John Landseer, pp.
111, 112).
Do you realize what has
happened? God Almighty commanded His
people to observe the Passover forever! (Ex. 12:24.)
This command was given while the Israelites were still in Egypt, prior
to the Old Covenant, or the Law of Moses! It pictured, before the
crucifixion, Christ's death for the remission of our sins, as a type
looking forward to it. At His last Passover, Jesus changed the emblems
used from the blood of a lamb and eating its roasted body to the bread
and wine.
Jesus did not abolish Passover
-- He merely changed the emblems, or symbols used. All the apostles of
Christ and true Christians of the first century true Church observed it
on the 14th day of the first month of the sacred calendar. It is now a
memorial of Christ's death, reaffirming, year by year on its
anniversary, the true Christian's faith in the blood of Christ
for the remission of his sins, and the broken body of Christ for his
physical healing.
But what has happened? Do you
realize it? All Western nations have been deceived into dropping the
festival God ordained forever to commemorate the death of the true
Saviour for our sins, and substituting in its place the pagan festival
in commemoration of the counterfeit "savior" and
mediator Baal, the sun god, named after the mythical Ishtar, his wife
-- actually none other than the ancient Semiramis, who palmed herself
off as the wife of the sun god, the idolatrous "queen of heaven."
This is not Christian! It is
pagan to the core!
Yet scores of millions are
deceived into observing this form of heathen idolatry, under the
delusion they are honoring Jesus Christ the Son of the Creator God!
Easter does not honor Christ!
And yet, have you not been like a blind sheep, following the other
millions in observing this custom? "The times of this ignorance God winked at;
but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30).
Dyed Eggs
But did you know that dyed
Easter eggs also figured in the ancient Babylonian mystery rites, just
as they do in Easter observance today? Yes, these are pagan, too.
It is recorded in Edward
Davies' "The
Mythology and Rites of the British Druids,"
page 210, that the ancient Druids bore an egg as the sacred emblem of
their idolatrous order.
Eggs were sacred to many
ancient civilizations and formed an integral part of the religious
ceremonies in Egypt and in the Orient.
According to James Bonwick: "Eggs were hung up in the Egyptian temples.
Bunsen calls attention to the mundane egg, the emblem of generative
life, proceeding from the mouth of the great god of Egypt. The mystic
egg of Babylon, hatching the Venus Ishtar, fell from heaven to the
Euphrates. Dyed eggs were sacred Easter offerings in Egypt, as they are
still in China and Europe. Easter, or spring, was the season of birth,
terrestrial and celestial" (Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, pp.
211-212).
Why do people who believe
themselves to be Christians dye eggs at Easter? Do they suppose the
Bible ordained, or commands, this heathen custom? There is not a word
of it in the New Testament. Certainly Christ did not start it, and the
apostles and early Christians did none of it!
Then why should you do it
today? Why follow heathenism and try to convince yourself you are a
Christian? God calls such things abomination!
Easter Sunrise
Services
You think Easter sunrise
services are beautiful? Listen! God was showing the Prophet Ezekiel the
sins of His people in a vision -- a prophecy for today! "Turn thee yet again,"
said God, "and thou
shalt see greater abominations than these [Ezekiel
had just been shown, in vision, idol worship among professing people of
God]. And he brought me
[in vision] into the inner court of the Eternal's house,
and behold ... between the porch and the altar, were about five and
twenty men, with ... their faces toward the east; and they worshipped
the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O
son of man? Is it a light thing ... that they commit the abominations
which they commit here? ... Therefore will I deal in fury: mine eye
shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine
ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them"! (Ezek. 8:15-18.)
Do you grasp what this most
abominable thing is?
It is the identical thing
millions are doing every Easter Sunday morning -- the sunrise service
-- standing with their faces toward the east, as the sun is rising, in
a service of worship which honors the sun god and his mythical
idolatrous consort, goddess Easter. Yes, deceived into believing this
is Christian, millions practice every Easter the identical form of the
ancient
sun worship of the sun god Baal! Throughout the Bible this is revealed
as the most abominable of all idolatry in the sight of the Eternal
Creator!
How Easter Crept Into the Church
Such is the origin and early
history of Easter.
How, then, was this pagan
festival injected into professing Christian religion, as a substitute
for an ordinance of God?
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: Colorfully dyed Easter eggs have been traced by
scholars to early Egypt. They were also featured in the ancient
Babylonian mystery rites.
--------------------
Before revealing briefly the
astonishing account of this great deception, two facts must be firmly
fixed in mind.
First, Jesus and the apostles
foretold, not a universal, widespread popular growth of the true New
Testament Church, but a falling away from the truth on the part of the
great majority. Prophesying a popular, universal falling away from the
faith once delivered, to the Thessalonians Paul stated, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work,"
only some 20 years after the Church began! He referred to the very "Chaldean Mysteries,"
of which Easter and Christmas were the two chief festivals!
Second, although Jesus said
the gates of hell would never prevail against His church, yet it is
prophesied in the New Testament to be the "little flock"
never as a great, large, popular universal church (Luke 12:32).
This is the very fact the
world does not realize today!
TWO Churches -- One
False, One True
In New Testament prophecy two
churches are described.
One, the great and powerful
and universal church, a part of the world, actually ruling in its
politics over many nations, and united with the "Holy Roman Empire,"
is brought to a concrete focus in Revelation 17.
This church is pictured with
great pomp, ritual and display, decked in purple, scarlet and gold --
proud, worldly, boastful. She is pictured as a universal deceiver --
all the Western nations spiritually drunk with her false doctrines,
their spiritual perception so blurred by her paganized teachings and
practices they are unable to clearly distinguish truth! She boasts she
is the true Church, yet she is drunken with the blood of the saints she
has caused to be martyred!
But how could she have
deceived the whole world, as foretold in God's Word? Surely, the
Protestant world isn't deceived!
Oh, but it is! Notice, verse 5, she is
a mother church! Her daughters are also churches who have come out of
her, in protest, calling themselves Protestant -- but they are
fundamentally of her family in pagan doctrines and practices! They,
too, make themselves a part of this world, taking active part in its
politics -- the very act which made a "harlot" out of
their mother!
The entire apostate family --
mother, and more than 400 daughter denominations, all divided against
each other and in confusion of doctrines, yet all united in the chief
pagan doctrines and festivals -- has a family name! They call
themselves "Christian,"
but God calls them something else -- "Mystery, Babylon the Great"!
"Babylon" means
confusion! God always names people and things by calling them what they
are! And here are the identical ancient Babylonian Mysteries now
wrapped in the false cloak labeled "Christianity"
-- but in fact it is the same old "Babylonian Mystery System."
But where, then, was the true
Church?
TRUE Church Small --
Scattered
Did the true Church of God, of
which Jesus Christ is the living, directing Head, become perverted --
did it merely apostatize into the system described above?
No! The gates of hell have
never prevailed against the true Church of God, and never will! The
true Church has never fallen! It has never ceased!
But the
true Church of God is pictured in prophecy as the "little flock"!
The New Testament describes this Church as continually persecuted,
despised by the large popular churches because it is not OF this world
or its politics, but has kept itself unspotted from the world! It has
always kept the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 12:17). It
has kept God's Festivals, not the pagan holidays. It has been empowered
with the Spirit of God!
That Church never became the
great popular church at Rome, as the Protestant world supposes! That
Church has always existed, and it exists today!
Then where did it go? Where
was it during the Middle Ages? Where is it today? (Write for our free booklet "Where Is God's
True Church Today?")
First, remember this Church
was never large, never politically powerful, or a world-known
organization of men. It is a spiritual organism, not a political
organization. It is composed of all whose hearts and lives have been
changed by the Spirit of God, whether visibly together, or individually
scattered.
Under the lash of continual
persecution and opposition from the organized forces of this world, it
is difficult for such a people to remain united and organized together.
Daniel prophesied the true
people of God would be scattered (Dan.
12:7). Ezekiel foretold it (Ezek. 34:5-12).
Jeremiah, too (Jer.
23:1-2). Jesus foretold it (Matt. 26:31).
The apostolic Church was soon scattered by persecution (Acts 8:1).
Ignored by Most Histories
You don't read much of this
true Body of Christ in the secular histories of this world! No, the
world little notes, nor long remembers, the activities of this "little flock,"
hated and despised by the world, driven to the wilderness by
persecution, always opposed, usually scattered! But there are enough
references to it in authentic histories to show that it has continued
through every century to now!
The prophecies bring this
Church into concrete focus in the 12th chapter of Revelation.
There she is shown spiritually, in the glory and splendor of the Spirit
of God, but visibly in the world as a persecuted Commandment keeping
Church driven into the wilderness, for 1260 years, through the Middle
Ages!
Even in Paul's day, many among
those attending at Antioch, at Jerusalem, at Ephesus, at Corinth, and
other places, began to apostatize and turn away from the truth.
Divisions sprang up. Those individuals, unconverted or turned from
God's truth and way of life, were no part of God's true Church, though
visibly assembling with those who were. The "mystery of iniquity"
was already working inside these visible churches. This apostasy
increased! By the year A.D. 125 the majority in most churches,
especially those Gentile-born, were continuing in many of their
old pagan beliefs and practices, though professing to be Christian!
Gradually, a smaller and smaller portion of the visible churches going
by the name "Christian"
remained truly yielded to God and His truth, and led of His Spirit.
After Constantine took virtual control of the visible, professing
Church in the early fourth century, this visible organization
became almost wholly pagan, and began excommunicating and
persecuting all who held to the true Word of God! Finally, it became
necessary for real Christians, who, even as a scattered people, alone
composed the true Christian Church, to flee from the jurisdiction of
Rome in order truly to worship God! Thus, the visible, organized Church
which rose to power was the FALSE Church
-- the "Great Whore"
of Revelation 17.
Injected Into the Church
Nothing illustrates this very
fact more vividly than the actual history of the injecting of Easter
into the Western Church.
Here is the quick, brief
history of it, from the Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, Vol. VIII, pp. 828-829):
"There is no indication of the observance
of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the
Apostolic Fathers .... The first Christians [the
original true Church] continued to
observe the Jewish [that is, God's]
festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which
those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new
conception added to it, of Christ as the true Paschal Lamb and the
first fruits from the dead, continued to be observed.
"Although the observance of Easter was at a
very early period in the practice of the Christian Church, a serious
difference as to the day for its observance soon arose between the
Christians of Jewish and those of Gentile descent, which led to a long
and bitter controversy. With the Jewish Christians ... the fast ended
... on the 14th day of the moon at evening ... without regard to the
day of the week. The Gentile Christians on the other hand [that is, the beginning of the Roman Church,
now substituting pagan for true Christian doctrines] ...
identified the first day of the week with the
resurrection, and kept the preceding Friday as the commemoration of the
crucifixion, irrespective of the day of the month.
"Generally speaking, the Western Churches [Catholic] kept Easter on the
1st day of the week, while the Eastern Churches [containing most of those who remained as
part of the true Christian Church] followed the Jewish
rule. [That is,
observing Passover on the 14th of the first sacred month instead of the
pagan Easter.]
"Polycarp, the disciple of John the Evangelist, and bishop of Smyrna,
visited Rome in 159 [sic]
to confer with Anicetus, the bishop of that see, on the subject, and
urged the tradition which he had received from the apostles of
observing the 14th day. Anicetus, however, declined. About forty years
later (197), the
question was discussed in a very different spirit between Victor,
bishop of Rome, and Polycrates, metropolitan of proconsular Asia [the territory of the Churches at Ephesus,
Galatia, Antioch, Philadelphia, and all those mentioned in Revelation 2
and 3 -- the Churches established through the Apostle Paul].
That province was the only portion of Christendom which still adhered
to the Jewish usage. Victor demanded that all should adopt the usage
prevailing at Rome. This Polycrates firmly refused to agree to, and
urged many weighty reasons to the contrary, whereupon Victor proceeded
to excommunicate Polycrates and the Christians who continued the
Eastern usage [that is, who
continued in God's way, as Jesus, Peter, Paul, and all the early true
Church had done]. He was, however, restrained [by other bishops] from
actually proceeding to enforce the decree of excommunication ... and
the Asiatic churches retained their usage unmolested. We find the
Jewish [true Christian Passover]
usage from time to time reasserting itself after this, but it never
prevailed to any large extent.
"A final settlement of the dispute was one
among the other reasons which led Constantine to summon the council at
Nicaea in 325. At that time the Syrians and Antiochenes were the
solitary champions of the observance of the 14th day. The decision of
the council was unanimous that Easter was to be kept on Sunday, and on
the same Sunday throughout the world, and that 'none hereafter should
follow the blindness of the Jews.' [That
is, in plain language, the Roman Church now decreed that none should be
allowed to follow the ways of Christ -- of the true Christian Church!]
"... The few who afterwards separated
themselves from the unity of the church [Roman
Church], and continued to keep the 14th day, were named
'Quarto-decimani,' and the dispute itself is known as the
'Quartodeciman controversy.'"
Thus you see how the
politically organized church at Rome grew to great size and power by
adopting popular pagan practices and how she gradually stamped out the
true teachings, doctrines, and practices of Christ and the true Church,
so far as any collective practice is concerned.
The First Historical
Records
The early Church of God in New
Testament times was taught that Jesus was in the grave three days and
three nights -- that He arose at the close of the third day after the
crucifixion. The crucifixion occurred upon a Wednesday, April 25, A.D.
31.
The Passover was observed
annually, on the eve of Christ's death, on Nisan 14 of God's Sacred
Calendar. This New Testament practice was followed in the West
universally until shortly after the death of the Apostle John. In the
Eastern Roman Empire the true practice continued even longer.
Here is what happened in the
East!
During the middle of the
second century A.D., new ideas began to be introduced into the
professing Christian world. The true Christians who fled to Pella from
Jerusalem "continued
to use the Jewish cycle [God's
method of reckoning the Passover in the Sacred Calendar]
till the bishops of Jerusalem who were of the circumcision were
succeeded by others who were not of the circumcision [unconverted Gentiles -- and]
... they began to invent other cycles" (Bingham's Antiquities of the
Christian Church, p.
1152).
This same author continues: "We see, at this time [middle of second
century] the Jewish calculation
[determined by God's Calendar which the Jews had accurately preserved]
was generally rejected by the ... church, and yet no certain one agreed
upon in its room [stead] ...."
This is how the Passover --
sometimes called Lord's Supper or Eucharist -- was gradually
rejected.
Jesus Christ kept the
Passover. So did the Apostle John. And so did some Christians in
Scotland even until the 7th century A.D.
This information comes from no
less an ecclesiastical authority than the church historian Bede. His
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation would astound many who
have assumed that Christ and the early apostles all kept Easter.
He writes that "John, following the customs of the Law,
used to begin the Feast of Easter
[actually the Passover] on the evening of the fourteenth
day of the first month, whether it fell on the Sabbath or on any other
day" (III, 25).
The Apostle John was the
author of five books of the New Testament and the "disciple whom Jesus loved."
Yet he kept the Passover on the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) just as
God commanded in the time of Moses. That is the plain statement of this
early Catholic theologian!
But where did John's custom
come from? From the very example of Jesus Christ! "Nor did our Lord, the Author and Giver of
the Gospel, eat the old Passover or institute the Sacrament of the New
Testament to be celebrated by the Church in memory of His Passion on
... [any other day],
but on the fourteenth" (Equal. History, III, 25).
Bede thus reiterates what the
Bible itself plainly tells us- -that Christ partook of the old Passover
and then substituted the New Testament symbols of the bread and wine on
the 14th of the first month.
The custom of keeping the New
Testament Passover, after the example of Christ and John, persisted
among isolated groups for centuries. Bede tells us that some faithful
were still keeping it in Scotland in the 7th century! (II, 19.)
The Lord's Supper on
Saturday!
Remember that up to this point
the Churches of God universally understood that Jesus rose after three
days -- on Saturday evening shortly before sunset.
With the rejection of God's
Sacred Calendar by many in the professing Christian world, the many now
began to do what seemed right to them. Not only did they begin to
miscalculate the annual occurrence of the Passover, but in the East
they began to observe the Passover weekly on Saturday, the Sabbath,
believe it or not! Here is the proof:
For over 200 years this custom
was a universal practice of the Eastern churches. The church historian
Socrates wrote in his Ecclesiastical History, book V, chapter 22: "While therefore some in Asia Minor observed
the day above-mentioned [he means
that some continued to observe the Passover on the 14th of Nisan as the
apostles did] others in the East kept this feast on the
Sabbath indeed ...." By "sabbath" all
early writers meant Saturday!
So universal was the custom of
observing the "Lord's
Supper" on Saturday that he continued to
write: "For although
almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries
on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at
Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this."
Did you catch the real
significance of this quotation?
The Passover was transformed
from an annual memorial in memory of the death of Christ into a weekly
memorial in honor of His resurrection, which occurred on Saturday.
These weekly "passovers"
were called the "sacred
mysteries." A part of those ancient
mysteries was later the festival of Easter.
But Easter did not enter
suddenly. It entered slowly, under the pretext of being a Christian
custom.
Many faithful were still
observing the practices of the original true Church. Others began to
hold the "sacred
mysteries" every Saturday to honor, as they
thought, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But how were the false
teachers going to alter the knowledge that Jesus was three days and
three nights in the tomb?
"Good Friday-Easter Sunday" Tradition
Let's notice! From the "Syriac Didascalia",
composed shortly before the time of Constantine, we have a record of
what happened in those early days. False teachers began to interpret
the three days and three nights in the following clever fashion:
They claimed Jesus suffered on
the cross, supposedly on Friday, for about six hours. The daylight
hours from nine in the morning to noon they counted as one day. The
hours from noon to three o'clock -- when the land was darkened -- they
reckoned as the first night. Then the time from three o'clock to sunset
was reckoned as the second day. Friday night to Saturday morning became
the second night; the daylight of Saturday, the third day; and Saturday
night to Sunday morning, the third night.
A very clever argument and it
deceived a great many people! Those false ministers twisted the truth
that Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights.
For the first time the idea of
a Sunday resurrection was injected into the churches. Now observe what
happened.
Easter Sunday Begins Earlier at Rome
In commenting on those who did
not observe the Passover in accordance with the practice of the
apostles, Irenaeus, who lived toward the close of the second century,
wrote to Bishop Victor of Rome, "We
mean Anicetus, and Pius, and Hyginus, and Telesphorus, and Xystus. They
neither observed it [the true
Passover on the 14th of Nisan] nor did they permit those
after them to do so" (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, p. 243).
Who were these men? -- bishops
of the church at Rome! Here is the first record, by a Catholic, of the
fact that the Roman bishops no longer observed the Passover at the
correct God-given time, but on a Sunday!
It was Bishop Xystus (his name is also spelled Sixtus)
who was the first recorded individual to prevent the proper observance
of the Passover, and to celebrate the sacred mysteries annually on a
Sunday. Irenaeus speaks further of him, declaring that his doctrine was
in direct "opposition"
to the practice of the remainder of the churches. Bishop Sixtus was
living at the beginning of the second century, just after the Apostle
John died.
Notice, too, that Easter
Sunday did not begin with Peter or Paul in the 60's A.D., but with
Sixtus in the second century!
Here you have the astounding
origin of Easter Sunday in the Western churches. Together with this
practice, the "sacred
mysteries" were also observed every Sunday!
The Romans Divided
The introduction of this
custom naturally divided the Christians at Rome. The Catholic historian
Abbe Duchesne wrote: "There
were many Christians of Asia in Rome at that time [remember that the Church of God at Rome was
founded by those who came from Asia Minor where Paul preached]
and the very early Popes, Xystus and Telesphorus, saw them every year
keep their Pasch [the true Passover]
the same day as did the Jews. They maintained that was correct. It was
allowed to pass ... though the rest of Rome observed a different use"
(The Early History of the Church, Vol. I, p. 210).
These are startling facts, but
they are true! It is time we knew about them!
Irenaeus wrote even more
regarding the observance of Easter at Rome and elsewhere as follows: "But Polycarp also was not only instructed
by the apostles, and acquainted with many that had seen Christ, but was
also appointed by apostles in Asia, bishop of the Church of Smyrna ....
He also was in Rome in the time of Anicetus [bishop
of Rome, A.D. 155-166] and caused many to turn away from
the ... heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he had received
from the apostles this one and sole truth ..." While
at Rome, Polycarp discussed the matter of Easter with the Roman bishop.
Irenaeus continued: "For neither could Anicetus persuade
Polycarp not to observe it [the
Passover] because he had always observed it with John the
disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he
associated; and neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it,
who said that he was bound to follow the customs of the presbyters
before him" (Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, book V, chapter 24,
quoted in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 244).
Counterfeit Vision
Shortly after Polycarp left,
there appeared an amazing letter -- said by many scholars to have been
a deliberate forgery. This letter states: "Pope Pius, who lived about 147, had made a
decree, That the annual solemnity of the Pasch [Pasch
is the Greek word for Passover] should be kept on the
Lord's day [Sunday]
and in confirmation of this he pretended, that Hermes [Hermas], his brother, who was
then an eminent teacher among them, had received instruction from an
angel, who commanded that all men should keep the Pasch on the Lord's
day" (Joseph Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, pp.
1148-1149).
Of this same hoax, we read in
Apostolical Fathers, by James Donaldson, page 324: "One of the letters forged in the name of
Pius, where one Hermas [Hermes]
is mentioned as the author; and it is stated that in his book a
commandment was given through an angel to observe the Passover on a
Sunday."
If this letter was a
deliberate forgery, it was invented after Polycarp's time in an effort
to lend weight to the custom of Anicetus, bishop of Rome, who
maintained the Sunday observance of the Eucharist or Passover. If it
was not a forgery, then Pius himself was the author of this deceptive
letter. (Pius died
just prior to the visit of Polycarp to Rome.)
Constantine -- the
Man of Power
Constantine then convoked the
first general council of the Christian-professing world. The Council of
Nicaea decided, under his authority, that Easter must be celebrated on
Sunday and that the Passover must be forbidden!
Without regard to these
decisions, many continued faithful. For this reason Constantine issued
an edict declaring: "We
have directed, accordingly, that you be deprived of all houses in which
you are accustomed to hold your assemblies ... public or private" (Life
of Constantine, book III).
Easter Still Observed
on Different Sundays
Though everyone was now forced
to observe Easter or flee the urban areas of the Roman Empire, the
churches were still divided over the exact Sunday for Easter. Here is
how confusing matters became:
"But notwithstanding any endeavors that
could be used then, or afterwards, there remained great differences in
the church about it for many ages. For the churches of Great Britain
and Ireland did not accord with the Roman church in keeping Easter on
the same Sunday, till about the year 800. Nor was the Roman way fully
received in France, till it was settled there by the authority of
Charles the Great ..." (Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church,
p. 1151).
These are startling facts --
but they ought to make you wake up to the truth! It is high time we
learned exactly what has happened to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to
the practices of the New Testament Church of God these past 1900 years!
True Christians Kept
Passover
The New Testament reveals that
Jesus, the apostles, and the New Testament Church, both Jewish- and
Gentile-born, observed God's Sabbaths, and God's Festivals weekly and
annually! Take your Bible and carefully read Acts 2:1; 12:3-4
(remember the
word "Easter" here is
a mistranslation in the King James Version -- originally inspired "Passover," and so corrected in
the Revised Standard Version); Acts 18:21; 20:6, 16; I Corinthians 16:8.
Eusebius, historian of the
early centuries of the Church, speaks of the true Christians observing
Passover on the 14th of Nisan, first month of the Sacred Calendar.
"A question of no small importance arose at
that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition,
held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were
commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the
Saviour's passover ... the bishops of Asia, led by Polycrates, decided
to hold to the old custom handed down to them. He himself, in a letter
which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome, set forth in the
following words the tradition which had come down to him:
"'We observe the exact day; neither adding,
nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep,
which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shall
come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints. Among
these are Philip, one of the twelve apostles ... and, moreover, John,
who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of
the Lord ... and Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr; and
Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia ... the bishop and martyr
Sagaris ... the blessed Papirius, or Melito ....All these observed the
fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel, deviating in no
respect, but following the rule of faith' " (Ecclesiastical History,
book V, chapters XXIII and XXIV).
But as the false, paganized
church grew in size and political power, decrees were passed in the
fourth century A.D. imposing the death sentence upon Christians found
keeping God's Sabbath, or God's Festivals. Finally, in order to keep
the true way of God, many Christians (composing the true Church)
fled for their lives.
But another large portion of
the true Church of God, failing to flee, yet remaining true to God's
truth, paid with their lives in martyrdom (Rev. 2:13; 6:9; 13:15; 17:6; 18:24).
They loved obedience to God
more than their lives! Do you?
But through all generations,
through every century, though persecuted, scattered, unrecognized by
the world, many true Christians have kept alive the true Church of God
-- the Church composed of those who have the Holy Spirit of God.
What God Did Command
The "communion,"
often called the "Lord's
Supper," is actually the Passover -- as the
ordinance should more properly be called. On observing the Passover, as
on every practice, Jude exhorts "that
ye should contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to
the saints."
Now that we know the pagan
origin of the Easter celebration, let's clear away the web of error
that covers the truth about keeping the Passover, the memorial of
Christ's death.
Let's examine the way Jesus
observed this ordinance, because we can't be wrong if we follow His
example. In Luke
22:14-20, we read, "And when the hour was come, he [Jesus] sat
down ....And he took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave
unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in
remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup
is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."
Notice, it was "when the hour was come,"
that Jesus introduced the unleavened bread and the wine. There was a
definite time -- a definite hour -- when He held this ordinance as an
example for us.
Notice, too, He commanded them
to observe it -- "This
do"! And why? "In remembrance of me,"
said Jesus. He instituted this New Testament way of keeping the
Passover, on that tragic night, the very eve of His death.
In
Matthew's account, the Bible shows that this ordinance was at the very
time of the Passover, "as
they were eating" (Matt. 26:2, 26). Jesus
knew that His time had come. He was our passover, sacrificed for us (I Cor. 5:7).
The Passover had always been
held on the eve of the 14th of God's first month, according to the
Sacred or Jewish Calendar. It was the night of the final and last
Passover supper that Jesus introduced these New Testament emblems --
the unleavened bread and the wine -- in place of the lamb that was
always slain annually.
For a full explanation of the
original Passover as God instituted it, write immediately for our free
booklet "Pagan
Holidays or God's Holy Days -- Which?"
Remember Jesus commanded: "This do in remembrance of me."
Why? Because the Passover was commanded "forever."
The Passover was to be
observed annually, along with the Days of Unleavened Bread. "Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in
his season year to year" (Ex. 13:10). Jesus
set us an example (I
Peter 2:21), observing this ordinance at
the same time once a year (Luke
2:42). Suppose the Israelites in Egypt had
observed this ordinance at some other time than that set by God? They
would not have been saved when the death angel passed by that night!
God does things on time. He has given us an exact time for this
ordinance. Jesus instituted the New Testament symbols "when the hour
was come."
The Ordinance of Humility
In giving us their accounts,
Matthew, Mark and Luke describe the taking of unleavened bread and
wine. But John relates another part of this ordinance.
In the 13th chapter of John
we notice that after the Passover supper was ended (verse 2), Jesus
took a towel (verse 4)
and began to wash His disciples' feet (verse 5).
"So after he had washed their feet, and had
taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye
what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well;
for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye
also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example,
that ye should do as I have done to you" (John 13:12-15).
If any of you are wondering if
this ordinance of humility is a command to you, then turn to Matthew 28:19, 20.
Here Jesus said to these same disciples: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them ... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded YOU." So they were to teach
us to observe all things whatsoever Jesus commanded them!
Kept Once a Year in
the Apostolic Church
In I Corinthians 5:7, 8,
Paul tells the Corinthians: "Christ
our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not
with old leaven ... but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth." And in the 11th chapter
he gives the directions regarding this ordinance.
Some misunderstand verse 26 which
says: "As often as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup," by
interpreting it "take
it as often as you wish." But it does not
say that!
It says "as often" as
you observe it, "ye
do show the Lord's death till he come."
Even Jesus commanded, "This
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" (verse 25).
We do it in remembrance of the Lord's death -- a memorial of His death.
As you know, memorials are celebrated annually, once a year, on the
anniversary of the events commemorated. So we observe the memorial of
Christ's death annually. And just as often as each year comes around,
we are to "show the
Lord's death till he come," by keeping this
memorial.
Christ instituted this
ordinance on the eve of His death. It was the 14th of Abib, by God's
Sacred Calendar, in the very beginning of the day. God starts days at
sunset, not midnight. So, later that same day, after Jesus had gone out
to Gethsemane, Judas Iscariot led the crowd to seize Jesus. Then He was
crucified later that same day, in the daylight part of this same
14th of the month Abib.
By following the example of
Jesus in observing this sacred ordinance at the same time He did -- the
very same time the Passover was forever commanded to be observed -- we
continue to remember His death, annually, on the eve of the
crucifixion.
Some always question the
meaning of Paul in verses
27-29, in I Corinthians 11.
The apostle is not speaking about a Christian being worthy or unworthy
to take it. It is speaking of the manner in which it is done. We take
it unworthily if we take it wrongly, in the wrong manner. Once we learn
the truth about its observance, and yet take it at any other time than
when God says, then we take it unworthily. We take it unworthily if we
do not accept the body and blood of Christ. So let's not take this most
sacred ordinance to our condemnation, but take it worthily instead!
"Easter" a
Mistranslation
Following the example of Jesus
and the apostles, the early Church observed the Passover, and the Days
of Unleavened Bread which immediately followed. Notice Acts 12:3. The
Holy Spirit of God inspired these words: "Then were the days of unleavened bread."
But in the next verse we read of "Easter."
We have already seen that "Easter" was
injected into the Church years after the time of Christ. Again, this
word "Easter"
is a mistranslation. The original Greek word is pascha, meaning
Passover. In every other place, exactly the same word is used in the
original and always rendered Passover. Many other translations
faithfully render this verse in Acts as "intending
after the Passover to bring him forth to the people."
So this verse, instead of
mentioning Easter, really proves that the Church, ten years after the
death of Christ, was still observing Passover.
What Does "Break
Bread" Mean?
There are some denominations
that read Acts 20:7
as a proof that the "Lord's
Supper" should be taken each Sunday
morning! First notice that this was after the Days of Unleavened Bread (verse 6). Paul
was preaching a farewell meeting, not on Sunday morning, but on
Saturday night. It was after midnight (verse 7), that
they broke bread because they were hungry. When they "had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a
long while, even till break of day," Paul
departed.
So this was just an ordinary
meal!
The same expression "break bread" is
found in Acts 27:34,
35. "Wherefore I pray you to take some meat ... he took bread ... and
when he had broken it, he began to eat."
Also Acts 2:46: "And
breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness."
This could not possibly have been the "Lord's Supper"
or, more properly, Passover, because Paul says that if we take it to
satisfy our hunger we take it to our condemnation (I Cor. 11:34).
In that day, everyone "broke
bread" at ordinary meals, because they did
not have the kind of bread that we slice. Jesus broke bread because it
was at the Passover supper, while eating a meal.
We need to return to the faith
once delivered. Let us humbly and obediently observe this sacred
ordinance as we are commanded, at the scriptural time, after sunset,
the 14th of Abib according to the Sacred Calendar. If you haven't as
yet written about the observance of this ordinance, write us
immediately for our booklet "How
Often Should We Partake of the Lord's Supper?"
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