Easter tawh kisai

The name "Easter" never appears in the Greek New Testament. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Eostre, the name of the goddess of spring. By the 8th century this name had come to be applied to the anniversary of Christ's resurrection. With the passage of time the connection with the goddess was lost, the only remaining meaning being associated with Christ's resurrection. To ask where and when practices originated is only partially valid, for most of our practices in everyday life have antecedents in the ancient world, often from nonbelievers. Over the centuries meanings change. Even the 60-minute hour came from the pagans of ancient Babylonia, and such time calculations play a part in our worship services today as we sense the passing of time.

 MORE RESOURCES Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. Unquestionably the resurrection was of enormous importance to the apostolic church, for it figures prominently in the evangelistic messages from the apostles as recorded in the book of Acts. No issue is made about the date when it occurred, however, other than to note in a factual manner that the resurrection occurred on the first day of the week. There is no suggestion that the resurrection made a new day holy. In the Bible is to be found only one holy day of the week, the Sabbath, formed as a part of the creation process by God Himself, and never suspended. For that reason we observe only the Sabbath as sacred or holy time.

It is to be noted that the apostolic church never gave attention to either the date of Christ's birth or the date of His resurrection, other than to note that the latter occurred on a Sunday. Neither of these days was observed by early Christians and if our model is that of the apostolic church we will be guided by the New Testament reports. Indeed, in the third and fourth centuries a tremendous debate arose among Christian churches as to when Easter is to be observed. For the Roman Catholic branch it was largely settled at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) with a rather artificial formula still followed to this day, which cannot possibly be commemoration of the actual resurrection. In current practice Easter always falls on a Sunday and the Sunday chosen wanders over a period of four weeks ranging from March 22-April 25.

The eastern branch of Christendom selected a different system, so that in the Eastern Orthodox tradition both Christmas and Easter fall on different dates from those in the Western Catholic and Protestant tradition. The point is that the early Christians gave no attention to commemorating the resurrection day of Christ. If they had been serious they would be observing the 17th day of the Jewish month, Nisan, which begins with the first new moon following the spring solstice. Passover among the Jews begins with the 14th day of Nisan. It would not be possible to commemorate the actual day of the month and have it always on Sunday, so the choice was made to have it on Sunday, adjusting the day of the month for convenience.

Given this information, although the resurrection of Jesus is a historical event of huge importance, we have no biblical precedent for making it a special day of celebration. That came in later centuries of Christian history. For this reason Seventh-day Adventists have never given the attention to Easter that other churches do. Our interest is to return to the practices and faith of the early Christian church.

However, we live in a society saturated with celebration of Easter. To a large degree this is driven, as with Christmas, by an opportunity to sell goods to people to mark the day. Clothing, in particular, is associated with Easter, as are toys with Christmas. In an effort to convey the idea that Adventists are believers in the resurrection, a few of our people have introduced Easter observances. They are fearful we will be misunderstood, and for them it is important that we be seen as orthodox and acceptable to the society around us. They conform to customs around us, at times unthoughtfully. Actually this practice conveys another misunderstanding — the idea that we give special significance to Sunday because it was the resurrection day. A few of our churches have introduced Sunday morning services for Easter, which for many Adventists creates problems. We recognize that we are not treating Sunday as holy time, but the public may not catch the subtle difference.

It is important that we encourage the leaders of our congregations to consider all the factors involved when they decide what to do with Easter. Several things are involved and need to be considered before making decisions. Often choices on matters such as this are made with minimal forethought. Always it is appropriate to allow the Scriptures to be our guide and to think carefully about the direction our actions will lead the church.

Although there exists no clear biblical reason for observing Easter as a religious festival, in parts of the world the public is so oriented to Easter observance that it is a time of year when they become open to special studies in the Bible. An opportunity opens to reach out to the public with the fuller message of Christ, often with good response. Under such circumstances Easter and its surrounding events can lend themselves to evangelistic outreach without, however, assigning any special religious meaning to the day itself. Wherever there is opportunity to advance the message of Christ without compromising biblical truth, the "wise as serpents, harmless as doves" counsel of Christ is appropriate.

The death and resurrection of the Christ has been celebrated for nearly 2,000 years but one group of Christians -- about 10,000 of them who worship in Loma Linda -- do not observe Easter Sunday.

"Worshipping on Sunday really comes from sun worship," said Darold Retzer, executive pastor of

The church has a congregation of 6,000, according to Retzer.

The idea of worshipping on a Sunday has pagan connotations for Adventists and as Retzer said, in the Old Testament of the Bible, the Sabbath is meant to fall on a Saturday.

Other Christians set aside an entire week of veneration -- from Palm Sunday -- when according to biblical scripture, Jesus triumphantly rode into Jerusalem and people laid palms in the street for Him -- through Good Friday, Holy Saturday and finally Easter Sunday.

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However, Seventh-day Adventists do not observe what Christians worldwide refer to as Holy Week.

"We focus on the Resurrection but we do refer to it as Easter; Our worships are on Saturday.

"We recognize that Palm Sunday represents Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem," said Retzer, but because of Sunday's pagan roots, it is not a holy day for Adventists.

In celebration of Easter -- and Adventists use the word because it has been accepted through the centuries -- the Adventists' usual Saturday night worship service is split into two days.

"There are only two days named for Easter in the Bible," Retzer said.

On Friday, the congregation will do what Roman Catholics do on what they call Holy Thursday -- priests wash the feet of congregants.

"The way we celebrate Communion is that we have an actual foot washing," Retzer said.

The congregants will wash each other's feet, as there are no priests in the Seventh-day Adventist religion.

"We don't have an altar ... we don't even have a pulpit," Retzer said.

The pastor stands on a platform, with nothing between him and his congregation, Retzer said.

Instead of just one day of Sabbath observance, said Retzer, "because of Easter we break them up."

On Friday night, "we have a service of contemplation, in which we commemorate the crucifixion, focusing on the crucifixion and sacrifice of Our Lord."

Following the foot washing, there will be a homily, a kind of sermon.

On what is Easter for Seventh-day Adventists, the congregants Saturday will share Communion -- they call it "Emblems" because of the food's symbolism -- as part of the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper is usually unleavened wheat bread -- more of a cracker than the thin wafers used by Roman Catholics -- and grape juice rather than the grape wine used by Roman Catholics.

"At Easter we make somethng special of it and we have a 3-by-3 wafer of bread and a (small) bottle of grape juice," Retzer said.

Congregants are handed silver gift bags, with a napkin.

"People get a bag at the beginning and then as the pastor begins his homily, he has people open their bags and eat their bread and drink their grape juice."

An important distinction between Seventh-day Adventists and Roman Catholics is that Catholics believe in transubstantiation; tbey believe that in a miracle,  bread is transformed into the body of Christ and wine into the blood of the Christ.

The word "Christ" comes from the Greek "Christos" which translates into "Messiah."

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, following the foot washing ceremony, Pastor Randy Roberts will deliver a homily on "The Feet of Our Souls."

On Saturday evening, again because it is Easter and after the Resurrection celebration, the Loma Linda University congregation will listen to a choir's rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus, from Handel's Messiah.

The Seventh-day Adventists, said Retzer, are "basically mainstream evangelical protestant Christians, who do not cling to ritual and tradition, as do some other Christian faiths.

"We take the Bible ... as it reads," he said.

Q: I’ve heard that many Seventh-day Adventists think that we shouldn't make a big deal out of Easter weekend due to its pagan traditions. Why would Adventists think that we should mention the crucifixion and resurrection throughout the year but that we shouldn't recognize that on Easter weekend? — David, from the United States 

A: David, Seventh-day Adventists certainly recognize the importance of Christ’s death and resurrection as essential to our salvation. Without the cross, there would be no life, and if there is no resurrection, there is no hope (see 1 Cor. 15). These important topics are worthy of our contemplation, study, and preaching at any time of the year. 

As Seventh-day Adventists, we not only look back to the cross, we also look up to heaven, where the resurrected Jesus is even now ministering as our High Priest in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. We also look forward to the soon coming of the triumphant Christ, coming with the hosts of heavenly angels to take us to live with Him forever!

It is interesting that the Bible does not refer to the day of Christ’s resurrection with any special name such as “Easter” or “Resurrection Day,” but simply as “the first day of the week” to identify which day of the week Jesus rose. In 1 Corinthians 15:4, Paul calls it “the third day” to remind his readers that it was a fulfillment of prophecy (see Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Luke 24:46). Some of the challenges facing Christian believers regarding Easter are pagan influences and commercialization that have crept into Easter activities.

Historically, the celebration of Sunday as a special day for Christians appears to have begun with the celebration of Easter in the second century. The only commemoration of Christ’s resurrection authorized by Scripture is baptism (see Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12; 1 Peter 3:21). 

In many countries where Easter is highly featured, Seventh-day Adventist churches use that period as a time for evangelistic outreach to the community — in essence, Total Member Involvement. During Easter and all year long, let us Lift up Christ, His Word, His righteousness, His sanctuary service, His saving power in the great controversy, His three angels’ messages, His health message, His last-day mission to the world and His soon Second Comin

Easter is known for its bunny rabbits, colored eggs, hot cross buns, and the return of springtime. But where did Easter come from?

Few people realize that Easter is not about the resurrection of Christ.

The only time the word “Easter” is found in the Bible (Acts 12:4), it is there by mistranslation. The word in the original Greek is “Passover.” Jesus died at the time of the Passover feast, but the Passover is not Easter and Jesus did not die at Easter time. Easter is an ancient spring festival. Long before the time of Christ, the pagan goddess Ishtar, or sometimes known as Astarte or Ashtoreth, was worshiped in different countries. Our modern practice of sunrise worship originates from the pagan festival honoring Ishtar. The story of Easter also helps explain how Sunday became sacred and the origin of virgin worship.

The Scheme of Imitation

Centuries before the birth of Christ, Satan encouraged people to have religious beliefs and practices that would imitate the coming Saviour’s resurrection.

This was a brilliant strategy that kept people from recognizing and appreciating the plan of salvation. Because pagans had similar beliefs of a “resurrection” before Christ, it is much easier to say that Christ’s resurrection was just another version of the same old pagan story from long ago that has nothing to do with reality or a plan of salvation of any kind. Many scoffers use this type of reasoning to explain away the Bible’s truths.

The sacrificial system was also imitated by pagans, but perverted to be all about appeasing a wrathful God instead of a loving God that became flesh and died willingly in our place. Satan has always counterfeited and perverted the truth because he knows that if he does so, many will be led to disbelieve the Bible and not choose Christ.

The early pagan practices and beliefs about Ishtar and the resurrection prepared the world for the religious apostasy which would occur after the time of Christ. The pagans believed in a god that was resurrected each spring on Easter—a day which was dedicated to Ishtar, the mother goddess. She was also called thequeen of heaven and supposedly interceded with the gods on behalf of humankind. This precise belief has been applied to Mary by the Roman Catholic Church, but it is as pagan as it gets, and has no basis in the Bible whatsoever.

The mother goddess has had many names throughout the various pagan religions in history. She has been known as Astarte, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Cybele, Rhea, Demeter, Ceres, Aphrodite, Venus, Diana, and Freya. 

Easter did not originate for the purpose of celebrating Christ, but rather for the purpose of worshiping the mother goddess Ishtar. Because worshipers of Ishtar presented her with two fertility symbols—eggs and rabbits—these became part of the Christian Easter celebration. Because sunrise at the beginning of spring was the holiest day in the Mithraic calendar (next to December 25), the practice of Easter sunrise services continued on into Christianity.

Because the Ishtar celebration was held each spring on a Sunday, close to the vernal equinox, the ascension of Christ was changed from 40 days after the time of Passover (as told us in the Bible) to the annual Easter celebration. All this began in paganism, with the Ishtar and Tammuz legend. 

Many Christians celebrate Easter as the day celebrating the resurrection of Christ, but the truth is that the celebration of Easter actually comes from paganism.

Ahead to The Title of Pontifex Maximus

This article is adapted by Wendy Goubej from Vance Ferrell, Christmas, Easter and Halloween—Where Do They Come From? (Altamont, TN: Harvestime Books, 2003). 

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