Pascha, not Easter

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

In another thread, somebody said the Easter is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians". This is pure ignorance, and it is not true.

The Catholic Church calls it "Pascha", the Latin word derived from Passover. The Eastern Orthodox call it its Greek equivalent which, by sheer coincidence, is also spelled "Pascha". It is a celebration of the day Christ rose from the dead, and occurs at the same time as the Jewish passover, which we all know is when Christ was put to death and then rose again on the first day of the week.

That is the celebration, and the highest holy day on the Christian calendar.

The word "Easter" has been imposed on this holiday as a matter of the English language, not by the Church. The English language has given us a lot of rotten substitutions for religious words that were around before there even was an English language. The English language has its Genesis among the norther Barbarians of Europe, not the southern nations of the Empire. Have you ever noticed how Spanish and Italian and Portuguese all sound very similar? That because they all come from Latin, the language of the Empire. Other languages come from the Barbarians and the East.

In Spanish, Easter is "Pascua de Resurrección"
In Italian, Easter is "Pasqua"
In Portuguese Easter is "Páscoa".

Sadly, in English, we are stuck with Easter.

But this has absolutely nothing to do with the Church. The Church did not invent the English language. Pascha is what it is, the high holy day celebrating the day Christ rose from the dead. What it is NOT is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians".

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

Pascha, not Easter!
By Father Dr Dumitru Macaila
Pascha, not Easter!

"The Venerable Bede (673?-735) gives us information related to the Christian Feast of feasts “Pascha” that is, how the greatest of all the Christians feasts came to be named Easter in the English language. He claims that the term comes from the word Eastre, a pagan Germanic goddess of spring, named Ostarun in old high German language.

As to Eastre, it was not only the name of the pagan Germanic goddess of spring, it was also the name of her festival. It is quite strange, in fact, unexplainable to me, how her name came to be given to the greatest of all Christian feasts, the Festival of festivals, the very foundation of the Christian Church. It is twice as mystifying if one remembers that “Easter” is the Christian Passover, that the core belief related to it is that through Christ’s resurrection, we passed from death to life, from bondage to sin to eternal life. The Hebrew term Pesah or Pesach means Passover, and on this feast the people celebrated their deliverance from slavery. Our Christian Passover is in direct continuity with the Jewish feasts involving the lamb that was to be without blemish, as a reminder that their firstborn had been saved from death........"

Daisy · Nov 12, 2018

Easter as a celebration of the Goddess of Spring

A related perspective is that, rather than being a representation of the story of Ishtar, Easter was originally a celebration of Eostre, goddess of Spring, otherwise known as Ostara, Austra, and Eastre. One of the most revered aspects of Ostara for both ancient and modern observers is a spirit of renewal.

Celebrated at Spring Equinox on March 21, Ostara marks the day when light is equal to darkness, and will continue to grow. As the bringer of light after a long dark winter, the goddess was often depicted with the hare, an animal that represents the arrival of spring as well as the fertility of the season.

According to Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, the idea of resurrection was ingrained within the celebration of Ostara: “Ostara, Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the christian’s God.”

Most analyses of the origin of the word ‘Easter’ maintain that it was named after a goddess mentioned by the 7th to 8th-century English monk Bede, who wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English 'Month of Ēostre', translated in Bede's time as "Paschal month") was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month".

The origins of Easter customs

The most widely-practiced customs on Easter Sunday relate to the symbol of the rabbit (‘Easter bunny’) and the egg. As outlined previously, the rabbit was a symbol associated with Eostre, representing the beginning of Springtime. Likewise, the egg has come to represent Spring, fertility and renewal. In Germanic mythology, it is said that Ostara healed a wounded bird she found in the woods by changing it into a hare. Still partially a bird, the hare showed its gratitude to the goddess by laying eggs as gifts.

The Encyclopedia Britannica clearly explains the pagan traditions associated with the egg: “The egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of colouring and eating eggs during their spring festival.” In ancient Egypt, an egg symbolised the sun, while for the Babylonians, the egg represents the hatching of the Venus Ishtar, who fell from heaven to the Euphrates.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/ancient-pagan-origins-easter-001571

Now, go find your Easter eggs...:2razz:

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
In another thread, somebody said the Easter is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians". This is pure ignorance, and it is not true.

The Catholic Church calls it "Pascha", the Latin word derived from Passover. The Eastern Orthodox call it its Greek equivalent which, by sheer coincidence, is also spelled "Pascha". It is a celebration of the day Christ rose from the dead, and occurs at the same time as the Jewish passover, which we all know is when Christ was put to death and then rose again on the first day of the week.

That is the celebration, and the highest holy day on the Christian calendar.

The word "Easter" has been imposed on this holiday as a matter of the English language, not by the Church. The English language has given us a lot of rotten substitutions for religious words that were around before there even was an English language. The English language has its Genesis among the norther Barbarians of Europe, not the southern nations of the Empire. Have you ever noticed how Spanish and Italian and Portuguese all sound very similar? That because they all come from Latin, the language of the Empire. Other languages come from the Barbarians and the East.

In Spanish, Easter is "Pascua de Resurrección"
In Italian, Easter is "Pasqua"
In Portuguese Easter is "Páscoa".

Sadly, in English, we are stuck with Easter.

But this has absolutely nothing to do with the Church. The Church did not invent the English language. Pascha is what it is, the high holy day celebrating the day Christ rose from the dead. What it is NOT is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians".

Elvira said:
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/ancient-pagan-origins-easter-001571
Now, go find your Easter eggs...:2razz:

What a sadly ignorant and childish response.

Is there anyone here who can give me an intelligent response?

Daisy · Nov 12, 2018

Easter is a pagan festival. If Easter isn't really about Jesus, then what is it about? Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviours too.

The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld. One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome. Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother. Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life.

In an ironic twist, the Cybele cult flourished on today's Vatican Hill. Cybele's lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. This spring festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday, rising to a crescendo after three days, in rejoicing over the resurrection. There was violent conflict on Vatican Hill in the early days of Christianity between the Jesus worshippers and pagans who quarrelled over whose God was the true, and whose the imitation. What is interesting to note here is that in the ancient world, wherever you had popular resurrected god myths, Christianity found lots of converts. So, eventually Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival. Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering "sunrise services" at Easter – an obvious pagan solar celebration. The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon – how pagan is that?

All the fun things about Easter are pagan. Bunnies are a leftover from the pagan festival of Eostre, a great northern goddess whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. Exchange of eggs is an ancient custom, celebrated by many cultures. Hot cross buns are very ancient too. In the Old Testament we see the Israelites baking sweet buns for an idol, and religious leaders trying to put a stop to it. The early church clergy also tried to put a stop to sacred cakes being baked at Easter. In the end, in the face of defiant cake-baking pagan women, they gave up and blessed the cake instead.

Easter is essentially a pagan festival which is celebrated with cards, gifts and novelty Easter products, because it's fun and the ancient symbolism still works. It's always struck me that the power of nature and the longer days are often most felt in modern towns and cities, where we set off to work without putting on our car headlights and when our alarm clock goes off in the mornings, the streetlights outside are not still on because of the darkness.

What better way to celebrate, than to bite the head off the bunny goddess, go to a "sunrise service", get yourself a sticky-footed fluffy chick and stick it on your TV, whilst helping yourself to a hefty slice of pagan simnel cake? Happy Easter everyone!

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism

Daisy · Nov 12, 2018

From The Church of God website...

Christians called to act on truth, not tradition.

And so, even after Christ’s death, the Passover was still being kept by the New Testament Church. Yet, many professing Christians continue to celebrate Easter Sunday, thinking it is in honor of Christ, Who did not rise from the dead on Sunday at all!

God warns us to avoid these pagan practices: “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise” (Deut. 12:30).

The Easter traditions the world blindly celebrates were all based on ancient pagan customs and rituals. These pagan practices and traditions of Easter were incorporated into the religious worship and dressed up and labeled as Christian!

Now that we know the pagan origin of the Easter celebration, let us be reminded of Paul’s admonition to the church of God in Corinth: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (II Cor. 6:17–18).

The Origins of Easter by Ross Abasolo - Enduring Church of God

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

Elvira said:
From The Church of God website...
The Origins of Easter by Ross Abasolo - Enduring Church of God

The Church of God are heretics. Is time for me to put your ignorant posts in Ignore. I prefer to hear from knowledgeable people, not people who continuously post lies. Welcome to the Ignore List.

Tanngrisnir · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
What a sadly ignorant and childish response.

Is there anyone here who can give me an intelligent response?

Why would you demand what you clearly don't merit?

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

Tanngrisnir said:
Why would you demand what you clearly don't merit?

Another childish response. My first two posts in this thread were informative and spot on. How do you figure they don't merit a thoughtful response? Or are you just intellectually unable to give one.

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

from the website
"The Orthodox Church in America"
https://oca.org/questions/liturgicalyear/is-easter-a-pagan-feast

YOU WRITE: Today, I had a brief conversation with a work college about Easter. It stemmed from the question I asked him, “How was your Easter”—assuming he celebrated on the Gregorian date. He responded that he doesn’t celebrate “Easter” because it is based on pagan rituals. He proceded to show me literature on where he based his claims.

RESPONSE: He probably belongs to a so-called “Christian” sect—and there are a number of sects that use the term “Christian” but, in fact, have little in common with historic Christianity—that completely ignores the fact that historically, the Church since ancient times has celebrated the Resurrection of Christ—known to this day as “Pascha” among Orthodox Christians. Such sects are thoroughly ignorant of Church history. They confuse the contemporary use of the non-Christian term “Easter,” the secular “Easter symbols”—bunnies, chicks, and so on, none of which are found in Christian tradition, in the liturgical rites and hymns, etc.—and the like with the Tradition of the Church, which employs no such terminology or symbols. Meanwhile, the historic Tradition of the Church—and, frankly, the history of the Church itself—is completely ignored or denied, as if it never happened.

It is claimed—and it is not widely known that there is no solid consensus on this—that the word “Easter” is derived from the name of a pagan fertility goddess, “Estre.” Yet the Church, since ancient times, has referred to the celebration of the Resurrection as “Pascha,” the Greek/Hebrew for “Passover,” and not “Easter,” thereby emphasizing that the Resurrection is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover. Pascha is the New Testament Passover; Jesus Christ is the new Paschal Lamb Who sheds His blood, as did the OT paschal lamb, for the salvation of God’s People, that they might “pass over” from death to life, just as the OT faithful “passed over” from Egypt to the Promised Land. Hence, anyone even remotely aware of Christian history and doctrine is aware of the fact that the ancient celebration of Christ’s Resurrection is the completion and fulfillment of the OT Passover, and not a “Christianization” of pagan fertility rites and observances.

Unfortunately, in many cultures—including our own—the image of a bunny, rather than that of the victorious Christ, predominates, bearing no relationship whatsoever to the essence of Pascha; such secular symbols, however, surely do not define the Church’s Paschal celebration, nor do they indicate that they are “Church approved,” so to speak. Further, their presence is hardly a serious basis for accusing the Church of celebrating a “Christianized” version of some fertility rite or cult, as your friend would undoubtedly opine.

I might add that in some cases, we Orthodox Christians have done a poor job in proclaiming the essence of Pascha—the victory of the risen Savior.

How often do we find stories in the secular press or on TV which imply that the focus of Pascha for Orthodox Christians lies in colorful decorated eggs or in eating “traditional soup” made of lamb organs or in any number of garlic-laden sausages, with little or no mention of the Resurrection of Our Lord? [Let a member of the Jehovah Witness sect read such things, and is there any wonder that non-Orthodox individuals might wonder just what it is that we’re celebrating!!] It is crucial for Orthodox Christians to consider whether we in fact present to the world a clear picture concerning the celebration of Pascha, or whether we simply confirm for the misinformed and the detractor that we are merely continuing some pagan festival that has nothing to do with the risen Christ. In other words, we sometimes speak more of our beloved lamb and sausage and cheese recipes than of the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world” and Who brings us “from death to life, from earth to heaven.”

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

It is worth noting that English and German are virtually the only major languages in the Church whose word for the Festival of the Resurrection of our Lord does not derive in from the Hebrew pesach (Passover).

Daisy · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
The Church of God are heretics. Is time for me to put your ignorant posts in Ignore. I prefer to hear from knowledgeable people, not people who continuously post lies. Welcome to the Ignore List.

Yah!:applaud :2dancing:

Daisy · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
It is worth noting that English and German are virtually the only major languages in the Church whose word for the Festival of the Resurrection of our Lord does not derive in from the Hebrew pesach (Passover).

Passover does not fall on Sunday every year...:roll:

Tanngrisnir · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
Another childish response. My first two posts in this thread were informative and spot on. How do you figure they don't merit a thoughtful response? Or are you just intellectually unable to give one.

Why are you responding to my post in such a childish manner?

You haven't merited any intellectual response. You've simply parroted ahistorical propaganda.

Meh.

PoS · Nov 12, 2018

Isnt Pasha a nickname for Pavel? :2razz:

zyzygy · Nov 12, 2018

The Christians usurped a pagan festival and called it Pascha. I already knew that.

Daisy · Nov 12, 2018

Jesus never mentioned anything about remembering his resurrection...the one and only day he did command his followers to observe is this, in commemoration of his death, which gives us life...

Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
In another thread, somebody said the Easter is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians". This is pure ignorance, and it is not true.

The Catholic Church calls it "Pascha", the Latin word derived from Passover. The Eastern Orthodox call it its Greek equivalent which, by sheer coincidence, is also spelled "Pascha". It is a celebration of the day Christ rose from the dead, and occurs at the same time as the Jewish passover, which we all know is when Christ was put to death and then rose again on the first day of the week.

That is the celebration, and the highest holy day on the Christian calendar.

The word "Easter" has been imposed on this holiday as a matter of the English language, not by the Church. The English language has given us a lot of rotten substitutions for religious words that were around before there even was an English language. The English language has its Genesis among the norther Barbarians of Europe, not the southern nations of the Empire. Have you ever noticed how Spanish and Italian and Portuguese all sound very similar? That because they all come from Latin, the language of the Empire. Other languages come from the Barbarians and the East.

In Spanish, Easter is "Pascua de Resurrección"
In Italian, Easter is "Pasqua"
In Portuguese Easter is "Páscoa".

Sadly, in English, we are stuck with Easter.

But this has absolutely nothing to do with the Church. The Church did not invent the English language. Pascha is what it is, the high holy day celebrating the day Christ rose from the dead. What it is NOT is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians".

TrumpTrain said:
.......Is there anyone here who can give me an intelligent response?

Tanngrisnir said:
Why would you demand what you clearly don't merit?

TrumpTrain said:
Another childish response. My first two posts in this thread were informative and spot on. How do you figure they don't merit a thoughtful response? Or are you just intellectually unable to give one.

Tanngrisnir said:
Why are you responding to my post in such a childish manner?........

Because you posted a childish ignorant post. If you post an intelligent post I will give you an intelligent post.

Just a recap: I posted a very good OP, I asked for an intelligent response, and you childishly said that I do not merit on.

Don't start sniveling now after you threw the first punch.

Now, do you ever plan on addressing the first post or do you just want to causing strife

TrumpTrain · Nov 12, 2018

PoS said:
Isnt Pasha a nickname for Pavel? :2razz:

Its "Pascha", not Pasha, and its how you spell the Latin or Greek word for Passover.

zyzygy · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
Because you posted a childish ignorant post. If you post an intelligent post I will give you an intelligent post.

Just a recap: I posted a very good OP, I asked for an intelligent response, and you childishly said that I do not merit on.

Don't start sniveling now after you threw the first punch.

Now, do you ever plan on addressing the first post or do you just want to causing strife

There's the loving Christian spirit going full blast.

zyzygy · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
Its "Pascha", not Pasha, and its how you spell the Latin or Greek word for Passover.

Passover, another myth.

Daisy · Nov 12, 2018

If a Christian observes the Lord's Evening meal, which falls on the same day as the Day of Passover...Nisan 14...that is one thing, but to observe Easter Sunday is not what Jesus commanded, so that is in direct disobedience to what Christians are told to do by Jesus himself...

Tanngrisnir · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
Because you posted a childish ignorant post. If you post an intelligent post I will give you an intelligent post.

Just a recap: I posted a very good OP, I asked for an intelligent response, and you childishly said that I do not merit on.

Don't start sniveling now after you threw the first punch.

Now, do you ever plan on addressing the first post or do you just want to causing strife

You posted utter irrelevancies and tripe, trying to lend some importance to the trivial fact that in German and in English, the word for "Easter" is different from the word for it in Romance languages.

It merits no intelligent response since your OP itself wasn't intelligent.

Duh.

Rich2018 · Nov 12, 2018

TrumpTrain said:
In another thread, somebody said the Easter is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians". This is pure ignorance, and it is not true.

The Catholic Church calls it "Pascha", the Latin word derived from Passover. The Eastern Orthodox call it its Greek equivalent which, by sheer coincidence, is also spelled "Pascha". It is a celebration of the day Christ rose from the dead, and occurs at the same time as the Jewish passover, which we all know is when Christ was put to death and then rose again on the first day of the week.

That is the celebration, and the highest holy day on the Christian calendar.

The word "Easter" has been imposed on this holiday as a matter of the English language, not by the Church. The English language has given us a lot of rotten substitutions for religious words that were around before there even was an English language. The English language has its Genesis among the norther Barbarians of Europe, not the southern nations of the Empire. Have you ever noticed how Spanish and Italian and Portuguese all sound very similar? That because they all come from Latin, the language of the Empire. Other languages come from the Barbarians and the East.

In Spanish, Easter is "Pascua de Resurrección"
In Italian, Easter is "Pasqua"
In Portuguese Easter is "Páscoa".

Sadly, in English, we are stuck with Easter.

But this has absolutely nothing to do with the Church. The Church did not invent the English language. Pascha is what it is, the high holy day celebrating the day Christ rose from the dead. What it is NOT is "another pagan festival stolen by the Christians".

"...in Latin and Greek, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Pascha (Greek: Πάσχα), a word derived from Aramaic פסחא (Paskha), cognate to Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesach). The word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt..."

So the Christians stole Easter from the Hebrews ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

zyzygy · Nov 12, 2018

Tanngrisnir said:
You posted utter irrelevancies and tripe, trying to lend some importance to the trivial fact that in German and in English, the word for "Easter" is different from the word for it in Romance languages.

It merits no intelligent response since your OP itself wasn't intelligent.

Duh.

He can call it what he likes but it will still remain a usurped pagan festival, just like Christmas.

Pascha, not Easter

TrumpTrain

TrumpTrain

Daisy

"Make sure of the more important things."

TrumpTrain

Daisy

"Make sure of the more important things."

Daisy

"Make sure of the more important things."

TrumpTrain

Tanngrisnir

TrumpTrain

TrumpTrain

TrumpTrain

Daisy

"Make sure of the more important things."

Daisy

"Make sure of the more important things."

Tanngrisnir

PoS

Minister of Love

zyzygy

Daisy

"Make sure of the more important things."

TrumpTrain

TrumpTrain

zyzygy

zyzygy

Daisy

"Make sure of the more important things."

Tanngrisnir

Rich2018

zyzygy

Pascha, not Easter

"Make sure of the more important things."

"Make sure of the more important things."

"Make sure of the more important things."

"Make sure of the more important things."

"Make sure of the more important things."

Minister of Love

"Make sure of the more important things."

"Make sure of the more important things."

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