Pope Francis has agreed to the proposal offered last year by the Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II to unify the date of Easter so that Churches all over the world would celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on the same date. The proposal has already been accepted by Mor. Ignatius Aphrem II Patriarch of Antioch and Bartholomew I Patriarch of Constantinople.
The proposal comes within joint efforts by Pope Tawadros and Pope Francis to work towards unifying the Church. Pope Tawadros’s proposal suggested the second Sunday in April to celebrate Easter.
The date of Easter has not been constant throughout the years. Since the Nicene Council in AD325 it has been moving according to an annual four-to-five-week cycle that has to do with the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.
Written by Watani