Easter Sunday

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The women at the empty grave (Russian icon, 17th century)

In Christianity, Easter Sunday is the feast day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ , who, according to the New Testament, overcame death as the Son of God . It is the most senior public holiday in the church year . With him the feast of Easter and the Easter season begin , at the same time the liturgical Vespers on Easter Sunday ends the Triduum Sacrum (the three holy days).

The date of Easter as the main Jewish festival of Passover over a bound lunar calendar determined. In the western churches it falls on the first Sunday after the spring full moon and also determines the dates of the movable feast days of the Easter festival circle . In many countries, Easter Monday follows Easter Sunday as a public holiday. The Easter octave begins on Easter Sunday and ends on White Sunday .

Historical context

In the New Testament, according to the Johannine Passion chronology, the resurrection of Christ falls on the feast of the first fruits . The apostle Paul also describes Jesus in 1 Cor 15:20  LUT as “first fruits (aparchē) of those who have fallen asleep”.

liturgy

Highest public holiday in the church year

The Evangelical Church in Germany states that Easter Sunday is the highest “Evangelical holiday” and that this applies to all Christian communities: “In the media it is wrongly pointed out again and again that Good Friday is the highest holiday in the Evangelical Church. […] But for them, as for all of Christianity, Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, is the highest festival. "

History and process

On the evening of Holy Saturday that goes Lent to a close. By Easter Sunday which begins octave , with the White Sunday ends. Only in this context, Easter Tuesday is still celebrated today.

The liturgy of Easter Sunday begins with the celebration of the Easter Vigil. Since, according to the testimony of the New Testament, the Easter time of joy began in the early morning of the first day of the week with the discovery of the empty tomb of Jesus, the Easter night liturgy in the Western churches ideally ends today with the celebration of the Eucharist at sunrise . Often, however, it is already celebrated on the eve of Easter Sunday after dark. It is a nocturnal vigil , which goes back to the old church Easter matutess as a night watch, in the Eastern Church the Pannychis . The liturgical movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries rediscovered the importance of the Easter vigil as a vigil. For the Catholic Church it was made by Pope Pius XII. Reformed from 1951 and redesigned again through the liturgical reform in 1969, after having led a shadowy existence on the morning of Holy Saturday since the 14th century . With the beginning of the Easter Vigil, the liturgical color changes to the white of the Easter time.

The race of the disciples Peter and John to the grave (painting by Eugène Burnand from 1898)

Today's missal of the Roman rite contains two Easter masses: the Eucharistic celebration as the last part of the Easter Vigil and the “Mass on the day” ( Missa in the , with the Introitus Resurrexi , I am resurrected) on Easter Sunday.

On Easter Sunday the Pope gives the Apostolic Blessing Urbi et Orbi , usually after the Holy Mass in St. Peter's Square in Rome , but it is not the final blessing of the Mass, but a separate rite; It is therefore not donated from the altar , but from the benediction loggia above the main portal of St. Peter's Basilica . Usually over 100,000 people take part in St. Peter's Square, and the blessing is broadcast live by over 150 television stations worldwide.

Reading order

While the scriptures read on Easter vigil represent the Easter event as the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is only hinted at in the Gospel ( e.g. Lk 24 : 1-12  EU , the message of the angels at the empty grave), the scriptures on Easter already point beyond this to the importance of Easter for the church. In the fifty days of Easter from Easter Sunday to Pentecost , according to the reading order of the Roman Catholic Church, no readings from the Old Testament are given, but readings from the letters of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles . As gospel on Easter Sunday Jn 20.1 to 18  EU (discovery of the empty tomb, Mary of Magdala encounter with the Risen) in an evening mass also Lk 24.13 to 35  EU (narration of the Emmaus disciples read). The daily prayer is Deus, qui hodierna die .

Gregorian chant

The Gregorian chants on Easter Sunday are among the best known in the entire Gregorian repertoire. These are:

For Ordinary is Missa lux et origo provided.

date

Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring (fixed beginning of spring and earliest spring full moon : March 21). The earliest possible date for Easter Sunday is March 22nd, the latest possible April 25th.

Dates in the years from 2015 to 2025

  • 2015: April 5th
  • 2016: March 27th
  • 2017: April 16
  • 2018: April 1st
  • 2019: April 21
  • 2020: April 12th
  • 2021: April 4th
  • 2022: April 17th
  • 2023: April 9th
  • 2024: March 31
  • 2025: April 20th

Easter Sunday as an anchor point in the church year

Most of the movable commemorations and holidays of the liturgical year depend on the date of Easter Sunday:

Additionally in the Catholic Church

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Easter Sunday  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Peter Stuhlmacher : Biblical Theology of the New Testament 1: Foundation. From Jesus to Paulus , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 3rd edition Gottingen 2005 , ISBN 3-525-53146-X , p. 53ff
  2. ^ Jacob Thiessen : The Resurrection of Jesus in the Controversy , Lit Verlag, Berlin 2009 , ISBN 978-3-643-80029-9 , p. 111
  3. Jacob Thiessen: First gift and resurrection day of Jesus , theological supplement to the STH perspective November 2011 ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. Good Friday. In: ekd.de . Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  5. cf. on this: Balthasar Fischer : Easter. I. Liturgical . In: Josef Höfer , Karl Rahner (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 2nd Edition. tape 7 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1962.
  6. ^ Vatican: Easter mass without visitors. In: Katholisch.de. March 15, 2020 ( online at Zeit Online ).