Comments on: Calculating Easter

By: Matthew D. Healy

Matthew D. Healy — Mon, 09 May 2011 03:41:44 +0000

At a World Council of Churches meeting some years ago the proposal was made that instead of using any human-devised calendar the date of Easter be defined entirely by astronomical phenomena: the first Sunday following the first Full Moon after the Equinox, all calculations based on the longitude of Jerusalem. So far I do not believe any major denomination has adopted this definition, which I personally think is a shame: the various human methods for calculating Easter were all basically pencil-and-paper approximations to the astronomical reality because in prior centuries an exact prediction of the astronomical phenomena would have been very challenging. Today of course there are many software programs, both commercial and open source, by which any interested person can predict the motions of the Sun, Moon, and Earth to sufficient accuracy for hundreds of years into the future.

See:
http://arxiv.org/ftp/math/papers/0404/0404109.pdf

By: Uskršnja formula » excelancije

Uskršnja formula » excelancije — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:58:08 +0000

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By: Mockingbird

Mockingbird — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:12:23 +0000

You write

“Both are based on misinterpretations of the Jewish lunar calendar”

This is false. The Gregorian lunar calendar, Julian lunar calendar, and Rabbinic lunar calendar are all three implementations of the Metonic cycle.

You also write:

“The one-week differential [in the Julian lunar calendar] is an offset in the Greek calculation to ensure that Easter follows Passover”

This also is false. The Julian ecclesiastical full moon is 4 (sometimes 5) days later than the Gregorian ecclesiastical full moon simply because the Julian ecclesiastical moon has accumulated 4 or 5 days of error since the time it has been in use.

By: Excel Links of the week - What do you dream about? [Aug 19] | Pointy Haired Dilbert - Chandoo.org

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:42:28 +0000

[...] Calculating Easter in Excel, apparently calculating the date on which Easter falls this year is much more difficult than celebrating it. [via Jon Peltier] [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:14:24 +0000

Hi Jon -

More Easter background is here (with credits)

http://www.erlandsendata.no/english/index.php?d=enfunctionsdateholidays

…best, Michael