Christos anesti!

On Saturday night/Sunday morning I attended the Orthodox midnight Easter service with Patrick, Toby, Dan and Ellie (to be accurate, Kala Pascha, the English word "Easter" being derived from the name of a pagan goddess.) This service contains a number of elements, including candles being lit from person to person at midnight, people chanting in Greek with interesting harmonies, and being given a painted (dyed?) boiled egg at the end. We think the priest liked Ellie because she got two eggs. We then proceeded to Gardie's, which, being Greek, did good business.

If you're wondering why this was a week after most people that you're aware of celebrated Easter, there are long and complicated historical reasons for controversy over the date. Thus the Venerable Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English Speaking Peoples has one point of contention with the Celtic missionary Aidan, otherwise held up as a great example of a Christian life:

I have written thus much concerning the character and works of the aforesaid Aidan, in no way commending or approving his lack of wisdom with regard to the observance of Easter; nay, heartily detesting it [...] but, like an impartial historian, unreservedly relating what was done by or through him, and commending such things as are praiseworthy in his actions [...]To be brief, so far as I have learnt from those that knew him, he took care to neglect none of those things which he found in the Gospels and the writings of Apostles and prophets, but to the utmost of his power endeavoured to fulfil them all in his deeds. These things I greatly admire and love in the aforesaid bishop, because I do not doubt that they were pleasing to God; but I do not approve or praise his observance of Easter at the wrong time, either through ignorance of the canonical time appointed, or, if he knew it, being prevailed on by the authority of his nation not to adopt it. Yet this I approve in him, that in the celebration of his Easter, the object which he had at heart and reverenced and preached was the same as ours, to wit, the redemption of mankind, through the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven of the Man Christ Jesus, who is the mediator between God and man.
(Book III, chapter 17)

It seems to me that Bede is more on the right track with his final comment than the rest of what he says, i.e. the meaning of Easter is more important than the date we celebrate it on. A more blatant example of missing the point is a letter of complaint received by the liturgical committee of the US Episcopal Church, which read, "If Jesus Christ knew what you were doing to his prayer book, he'd be turning in his grave."

On Sunday evening I travelled out to Cromwell Road to watch a DVD with people. We watched Spirited Away, a Japanese animé. This was much more plotful than the animé I watched before, and the story was quite touching in places. The general effect of the style has an entrancing beauty. It was nice to see people too.

I got my assignment in yesterday on the minute of the deadline. I had been good and printed out my two copies the day before, but happened to check the regulations one last time that morning only to discover I needed to have a word count and cumulative word count on each page. It's a relief to have it in. Now I've just got a dissertation to write.

We had an Easter egg hunt yesterday evening at Risky Living. This was because it was the first student gathering after the Easter holidays and some people felt hard done by to have missed out on the children's Easter egg hunt by being away from Cambridge at the time. People had great fun throwing chocolate eggs at each other up to and down from the balcony. It had the secondary effect of bringing the timing of the western and eastern Easters together, but I'm not sure that was a conscious intention.

Tim Challies is liveblogging from the Together for the Gospel conference in the USA.

Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!
(Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!)