170 



A. M. W. DOWNING, M.A., D.SC, F.K.S., OX 



from the astronomical point of view, that, as there is evidence 

 that the original Good Friday fell either on April 3 (a.d. 33), 

 or on April 7 (A.D. 30), the change to he effected should 

 ensure that Good Friday should be the first Friday in April. 

 This meets both the cases mentioned above, and Easter Day 

 would then be either the first or second Sunday in April. But 

 alas ! " the time is out of joint." All such proposals must now, 

 it is to be feared, be relegated to the Greek Kalends. 



Discussion. 



The Chairman, in opening the discussion, said : — Not only is the 

 Victoria Institute happy in hearing such a paper as we have now 

 before us, but it is also happy in the prospect of a good discussion. 

 We have with us this afternoon a great historian, Dr. J. K. Fother- 

 ingham, and Mr. R. Pearce, a Member of Parliament much interested 

 in questions of the calendar, beside our Secretary, Mr. Maunder, 

 who is well known as an Astronomer. If Dr. Fotheringham is 

 prepared to address us we should be greatly pleased to hear him. 



Dr. J. K. Fotheringham said that the paper to which they had 

 listened was full of interest, and some of the points raised in it were 

 new to him. Others seemed to call for a little further comment, 

 since in the short time devoted to the paper it was difficult to 

 explain every detail fully, and a condensed explanation was some- 

 times misleading. Thus on p. 153 the definition of Easter given in 

 the English Prayer Book was said to have been handed clown to us 

 from the time of the Council of Nicaea. The Council of Nicsea 

 did not define any rule in the matter : that arose from a later 

 interpretation of their action. No acts of the Council were now 

 extant, but there was a letter of the Council to the Church of 

 Alexandria, and another letter from the Emperor Constantine to the 

 Bishops who had not been present at the Council, from which it 

 appeared that the Council decided that Easter was not to be observed 

 at the same time as the Jews, but in accordance with a certain 

 number of Christian churches that observed it rightly. Churches 

 that had observed Easter in accordance with the Jewish practice 

 were exhorted to alter their custom, and a list was given of Churches 

 who were in harmony. Unhappily, so far as we can ascertain, these 

 Churches were not all in harmony, and the rule that in the course of 

 some centuries won its. way to general acceptance was that in use in 



