The Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople has expressed his desire for Christians in the East and West to begin celebrating Easter on a “unified date” instead of adhering to separate Lenten calendars. “It is a scandal to celebrate separately the unique event of the one re-surrection of the one Lord,” said Patriarch Bartholomew I, who holds the title of “primus inter pares” in Eastern Orthodoxy. The Ecumenical Patriarch made these comments during a homily on March 31, which marked Easter on the Western calendar and the second Sunday of Lent on the Eastern calendar. “We extend a greeting full of love to all Chri-stians around the world who cele-brate Holy Easter today,” said Bartholomew during the homily. “We implore the Lord of Glory that the next celebration of Easter will not simply be a random event, but the beginning of a unified date for its observance by both Eastern and Western Christianity.” The Ecumenical Patriarch noted that the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople sent representa-tives to Christian communities that celebrated Easter on March 31 “to extend our sincere wishes.” He also said that this effort is “particularly significant” because the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 is approaching. That meeting took place at a time when the Eastern and Western Churches were in full communion with each other. “Among the key discussions of the Council of Nicaea was the matter of establishing a common timeframe for Easter festivities,” Bartholomew said. “We are opti-mistic, as there is goodwill and readiness on both sides.” Pope Francis has also expressed his intention to reach an agreement to establish a common date for Easter.
In 2015, the pontiff said that the two churches “have to reach an agreement.” The pontiff also said that the lack of unity is a scandal and joked that Christians could say to each other, “When did Christ rise from the dead? My Christ rose today, and yours next week.”
The Roman Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, in the late 16th century. This replaced the Julian calendar, which was promulgated in the Roman Empire by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. The Gregorian calendar was eventually adopted by most of the world as the standard calendar because its revision of leap years more accurately accounted for the Earth’s revolution around the sun than the Julian calendar, ensuring that dates more precisely reflected the seasons. In the Eastern Church, however, the liturgical calendar remained based on the Julian calendar for several more centuries. In the 20th century, most Orthodox churches adopted a revised version of the Julian calendar. Some Orthodox churches still adhere to the old Julian calendar, including the largest patriarchate, which is Moscow. Adherence to the old Julian calendar or the revised version leads to major festivities such as Christmas and Easter falling on different days than followers of the Gregorian calendar.