Bible Dictionaries
Easter

　　The day on which the Christian church commemorates our Saviour's resurrection. It is called by the Greeks Pasga; and by the Latins Pascha, a Hebrew word signifying passage, applied to the Jewish feast at the passover. It is called Easter in English, from the Saxon goddess Eostre, whose festival was held in April. The Asiatic churches kept their Easter upon the very same day that the Jews observed their passover, and others on the first Sunday after the first full moon in the new year. This controversy was determined in the council of Nice, when it was ordained that Easter should be kept upon one and the same day, which should always be Sunday, in all Christian churches in the world.