Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

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Chur ch Mat ter s : Ret r i ev i ng the Great Trad i t i on

Easter in Christian Liturgy, continued

Already in the 2nd century the Easter celebrations were being continued over the following seven weeks, and a preparatory period of one or more days of fasting (the ultimate source of the later Lent) was also being added. The uniquely early origin of Easter, the scale of its celebrations, and the heat with which its date was debated, all bear witness to the unrivalled importance of Christ’s death and resurrection (the actual fulfilment of the ancient pascha) in primitive Christian thinking. — R. T. Beckwith, Bibliography R. T. Beckwith, ‘The Origin of the Festivals Easter and Whitsun’, SL 13 (1979), pp. 1-20; J. G. Davies, Holy Week (London, 1963); A. A. McArthur, The Evolution of the Christian Year (London, 1953); T. Talley, ‘Liturgical Times in the Ancient Church: the State of Research’, SL 14 (1982), pp. 34–51. Ferguson, S. B., and J. Packer. (2000, c1988). New Dictionary of Theology (electronic ed.) (214). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.