resurrection feast, which had to be held three days later, did not usually fall on a

"Sunday". Their second difficulty was that the meals of the Passover did interrupt the

fasting three days before the feast of the resurrection.  For such reasons most the

"churches" outside Asia transferred the Passover to the Saturday evening following the

14th Nisan. In this way the feasting was not interrupted and the resurrection feast could

be held on a Sunday. They had "Christianized" the heathen day of the sun lord and

preferred to keep the feast of the resurrection on that day rather than on the "first of the

Sabbaths" indicated in the Scripture.

In all this we have certain indications that the apostles and all Christian Jews kept the

Passover during Acts. Gentile Christians were very careful to imitate them. They would

have been only too glad to reject anything from the Jews if the apostles had not observed

it. In the course of time many things were changed gradually, but, in principle, all

present ceremonies come from the practices of the twelve apostles and therefore from the

law.

Had the conditions of Acts remained, all this would be very good, at least for Christian

Jews. As it is, however, hopeless confusion reigns. So arise all the conflicts, unbelief

and criticism of the past, present and future. This is the penalty of not resting on

Scripture by believing Paul, and rightly dividing the Word of truth.

The later writings show the gradual changes. The Christian Passover became more

especially a resurrection feast, and the Jewish ritual was more or less preserved in the

Mass and the Lord's Supper. We will examine this further. In A.D.325 the Council of

Nicea decided that all churches should keep the Passover on Sunday. But even then some

preferred to adhere entirely to the tradition of the twelve, and kept it on the 14th Nisan.

They were called Quartodecimans (See Mosheim. Hist. Christ. Saec. 2 Ç 71). In Latin

quartodecim is 14.

A broad outline can be obtained from Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. In later times

the feast could not be held exactly as in Egypt, because the circumstances were very

different. The oldest source which gives us information about the manner in which it was

kept in the time of our Lord is the Mishna (recorded in the 2nd century from the teaching

of the Rabbis in the previous three centuries). Some references are also to be found in the

Tosiphta (a complement of the Mishna). Further, there are also some considerations of

later Rabbis concerning these things in the two Gemaras (4th and 5th centuries).

We should notice that the lamb was considered as an offering. It was killed in the

temple, and its blood was sprinkled by the priests on the altar. The fat was burned and

the flesh eaten. After the destruction of the temple, this could, of course, no longer be

done. The ritual was then adapted to the new circumstances.

It will be sufficient here to give only a short summary of the Passover. Four cups

were circulated. The first was that of that Kiddush, or the dedicating; the second was