Happy Second Week of Lent!

[trifecta]

. . . and to my Western friends, Happy Easter.

We celebrate Easter way late this year.  Why the difference?

The First Ecumenical Council (which gave us the Nicene Creed) set up the rules for the dating of Easter (which we call Pascha - although some Western languages call it Pascha too).   As you probably know, the date is based on the new moon.

One of those rules is that Pascha (Easter) must follow --not precede-- the Jewish Passover (Pascha means Passover).   Since Passover is like April 29 this year, we must wait until the Passover is over.
So, our Easter is May 1 this year.

I don't know who upended the agreed-upon rules to make Pascha earlier, but we prefer to do things the way of the early church.