The calendar, inasmuch as it affects Easter Sunday, has become a burning question in Roumania. A special session of the Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church was called for this week to determine the date this year of Easter.
The session was called because of a wide controversy which is raging in the religious press due to the fact that flexibility of the present calendar has created a situation said to be unparalleled in church history. The Jewish Passover begins this year on April 25, while Easter Sunday falls on March 31. The Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Easter thirteen days later, on April 13, twelve days before the Jewish Passover.
The majority of the clergymen of the Greek Orthodox Church in Bessarabia and Moldavia advocated some special action to change the date of Easter so that it occurs after the Jewish Passover, since, they assert, it is the tradition that the Jewish Passover must be observed before the Christian Easter. It has never yet occurred, they contend, that Easter should be celebrated before the middle of the Jewish month Nissan, which will be the case this year if the calendar is to be followed.
The matter has been discussed in Church circles for a number of months and is said to be threatening a split. The government has attempted to intervene in the matter but without success. It was for this reason that the session of the Synod was called.
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