Cycles of time
The calculation of Easter is complex and books dedicated to explanation form weighty tomes.
The past 50 years have been unusual. There have been 13 times (26%) when the Orthodox Easter has coincided with Roman Easter. They are tabulated below:
In the next 10000 years coincidence will only occur 112 times (1.12%).
There are a narrow range of dates that this coincidence can occur as can be seen by the overlap of the two distributions of dates of Easter. The blue distribution is Roman Easter, the red distribution Orthodox Easter, and the green distribution is the Jewish passover. This is the distribution of dates over the next 10000 years.
The spread of Easter is interesting:
- earliest date Easter Sunday will fall in the next 10000 years
- Roman: 22 March
- Orthodox: 5 April
- the latest date Easter Sunday will fall in the next 10000 years:
- Roman: 25 April
- Orthodox: 21 July
As the cycles of time turn and the divergence of dates unfold, will there be another calendrical revision? If there is, who will shift (for no group is right)? Will brother rise against brother as Old and New Calendarists at the turn of the twentieth century? Or will peace, love and harmony prevail as all “do this in remembrance of me”.
Peace to all at this time of year.