1913.
            That’s the last year Lent and Easter fell this early. And none of us will have to worry about it happening again in our lifetimes, because the next year it will do so is in 2160!
            As a result of these extraordinarily early dates (February 6 for Ash Wednesday, March 23 for Easter), many parishioners have pulled me aside at coffee hour recently to ask: just how is the date of Easter set?
            The answer takes us back to the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, which was the same gathering that produced the first part of our Nicene Creed. At that council, the bishops were mindful of two historical facts associated with the first Easter: it took place during the weeklong festival of Passover/Unleavened Bread (Mark 14:12, John 18:28), and it fell on the first day of the week in the Hebrew calendar - that is, Sunday (Mark 16:2, John 20:1).
            Since Passover occurs on the first full moon of the Spring Equinox, the bishops set the date of Easter as the first Sunday after Passover. Although astronomically the Spring Equinox can fall on either March 20 or 21, in ancient times, that date was fixed as March 21. If the full moon were to fall on Saturday, March 21, then Easter would fall on the 22nd, the earliest possible date. That happens very rarely: the last time was in 1818 and the next time will be in 2285. Conversely, if the full moon falls on March 20 and the next one in April comes on a Monday, then Easter would be on April 25, its latest possible date. That happens more often: last in 1943 and next in 2038.
            As a side note, the Eastern Orthodox Churches calculate the date similarly, but using the Julian calendar. That currently lags behind the Gregorian calendar by thirteen days. Because some of these churches (Jerusalem, Russia, Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine) also use this calendar for fixed-date holidays, they celebrate Christmas on January 7 (their December 25), always thirteen days after ours. But since the calculations for Easter involve both solar and lunar cycles, occasionally we celebrate Easter with the Eastern Orthodox on the same date, as was the case last year.
            If you ever want to find the dates for Easter and its associated holy days (Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day, Pentecost), you can look them up in The Book of Common Prayer on pp. 880-885 or on one of the online Easter tables.
            The upshot of all this for us this year is that our Lenten commemorations will begin in earnest not long after you receive this month’s Pohick Post. On Ash Wednesday (February 6), we’ll offer the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion at 7 am, 12:00 noon, 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm.
            The following Wednesday (February 13), we’ll begin our five-week series of Lenten Potluck Suppers (6:30 - 7:05 pm), Studies for all ages (7:10 - 7:50 pm), and Services (8:00 pm). We’ll also begin our Adult Inquirers’ and Young Peoples’ Confirmation Classes on the first Sunday of Lent (February 10), the former during the Sunday School Hour (10:15 - 11:05 am) and the latter from 5:00 - 6:00 pm.
             So mark your calendars! They may be early, but we hope this year’s Lenten commemorations will be just as spiritually meaningful as when we get a bigger break between Christmas and Easter!