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In today’s Gregorian calendar the calculation is complicated by the definition of which century years are leap years.
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In the Julian calendar this 19-year cycle can be fairly easily translated into a date for Easter. It is thus possible to have a 19-year cycle for the dates of full or new Moon. The Metonic cycle of 19 years is one in which the phases of the Moon repeat exactly. The method quoted here is valid for the determination of the date of Easter in Western Christian churches the date used by the Eastern churches can be one, four or five weeks later. It also allows the date of Easter to be calculated in advance regardless of the actual motion of the Earth around the Sun. The reasons for this are that the method is then independent of longitude on the Earth and is thus independent of time zone. The full Moon used is not the true full Moon but an artificial construct based on the Metonic cycle (below). The spring or vernal equinox used is not the true equinox but an artificial one always assumed to be on 21 March. Unfortunately this simple definition is not strictly speaking correct.
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The adoption of the Gregorian calendar requires some modifications to this scheme but it is still basically the same. Up to the 8th century AD, there was no uniform method for determining the date of Easter, but the method favoured by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 gradually became the accepted method. If the full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday. The simple standard definition of Easter is that it is the first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox.
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Therefore, in Western Christianity Easter falls on a Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th, while in Eastern churches it varies between April 4th and May 8th.Easter falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April, but working out which Sunday exactly requires an astronomical calculation. Further complicating matters when determining the date of Easter is the fact Western Christianity now follows the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Christianity continues to use the Julian calendar, which has accrued 13 days out of sync since 325AD. Unfortunately, Roman astronomy at the time was not advanced enough to realize axial precession caused the date of the equinox to change slightly every year from March 19th, 20th or 21st so the church simply fixed the date for the spring equinox at March 21st. Interestingly, though, The council of Nicaea (325AD) involved the full Moon so as to provide early christian pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem, with more night sky light to facilitate a safer journey. Associating Easter with the Vernal, or Spring equinox, made sense as this time represented renewal and rebirth for the Christian church.
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