Nicaea & Easter

From Mere Comments:

May 29 in the Eastern churches is the fixed date in the "synaxarion" for commemorating the first Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea in 325. It is also the commemoration of one the bishops in attendance, Alexander of Alexandria, who suffered the thorn of Arius in his side in the years leading up to the council. Arius was good at putting Arian doctrine to rhyme and music, which helped the doctrinal virus spread. While beating down Arius was the main business of Nicaea, the council also set the method for calculating the date of Easter and charged the Bishop of Alexandria (the city was known for its astronomical observatory) with sending at letter out each year announcing the date, based on the astronomical criteria set down by Nicaea.

Well as everyone knows, the date of Easter is still a matter of debate, even though Arianism is not. This year a meeting was held, not in Alexandria, but in L'viv, Ukraine, to address the topic. Here is a report from the conference:

On the 15th of May 2009, the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv organized a seminar entitled, “A Common Date for Easter is Possible: The 1997 Aleppo Consensus”. The meeting was organized in the framework of the Master Program of Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University and the Ivan Franko National University of L’viv.

The participants of the seminar included:

• From the World Council of Churches – Rev. Dr. Dagmar Heller, a professor from the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, who was also one of the co-organizers of the Aleppo conference in 1997.
• From the Roman Catholic Church – Rev. Dr. Milan Zust S.J., who came on behalf of the Pontifical Congregation for the Promoting of Christian Unity, Vatican City.
• From the Ukrainian Orthodox Church -- Dr. Constantine Sigov, Director of the St. Clement’s Center, and chief editor of the journal, “Spirit and Letter”.
  

The representatives of the many L’viv Churches took part in the lively discussion.

The main speakers of the seminar presented and analyzed the Aleppo document and discussed recommendations concerning what the document proposed for the establishment of a common method for calculating the date of Easter. (The agreed basis of calculating the date of Easter was settled on preserving the dictates of the first Ecumenical Council in Nicea, calculating the astronomical date with the most precise, scientific method, and using the Jerusalem meridian as the basis for such calculations). Also, the importance for seeking a common date for the celebration of Easter as the greatest of Christian feasts and the special role that the Aleppo consensus of 1997 plays toward this aim was greatly stressed...

Complete article here.