Peter Kirby

"About Passover"

There has been a little discussion concerning the use of the word "Easter" for the day of the resurrection of Christ. It was asserted that this name is based on a goddess, named variously Easter (is Eos in Greek meant?) or Ishtar or something else, and that the word "Easter" -- or, I presume, its Greek or Latin cognate -- occurs as early as 325, the year of the Nicene Council, and possibly earlier. I submit that this may be an error and that the first appearance of a cognate of "Easter" for the Christian celebration of the resurrection may actually date after Nicaea. Probably, someone remembered that the Council settled the date of the celebration but did not have access to the original language wording. Nor do I, so I won't be making any specific claims about whether "Easter" was used there, but some of the claims I do make cast doubt on that claim as a side effect.

I did a search for the word "Easter" in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (Roberts-Donaldson translation), which I have downloaded on my hard drive. Most of the matches came from the footnotes, introductions, or elucidations -- these I have omitted. Here are the results, with an occasional note on each.

Tertullian, De Corona, Ch. 3. As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honours. We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful. We rejoice in the same privilege also from Easter to Whitsunday. We feel pained should any wine or bread, even though our own, be cast upon the ground.

http://www.tertullian.org/latin/de_corona.htm

Eadem immunitate a die Paschae in Pentecosten usque gaudemus.

Note that the Latin of Tertullian uses "Paschae," etymologically derived from the word for Passover, in the place where the translator supplies the English word "Easter." This sets the tone for the other references, for which the original language may not be so readily available.

Acrostics of Commodianus, LXXV. They will assemble together at Easter, that day of ours most blessed; and let them rejoice, who ask for divine entertainments. Let what is sufficient be expended upon them, wine and food. Look back at the source whence these things may be told on your behalf. Ye are wanting in a gift to Christ, in moderate expenditure. Since ye yourselves do it not, in what manner can ye persuade the righteousness of the law to such people, even once in the year? Thus often blasphemy suggests to many concerning you.

Hippolytus, Refutation of all Heresies, Book VIII, Chapter XI.-The Quartodecimans. And certain other (heretics), contentious by nature, (and) wholly uniformed as regards knowledge, as well as in their manner more (than usually) quarrelsome, combine (in maintaining) that Easter should be kept on the fourteenth day39 of the first month, according to the commandment of the law, on whatever day (of the week) it should occur. (But in this) they only regard what has been written in the law, that he will be accursed who does not so keep (the commandment) as it is enjoined. They do not, however, attend to this (fact), that the legal enactment was made for Jews, who in times to come should kill the real Passover.40 And this (paschal sacrifice, in its efficacy,) has spread unto the Gentiles, and is discerned by faith, and not now observed in letter (merely). They attend to this one commandment, and do not look unto what has been spoken by the apostle: "For I testify to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law."41 In other respects, however, these consent to all the traditions delivered to the Church by the Apostles.42

(Authorship doubtful.) Heads OF The Canons OF Abulides OR Hippolytus, Which Are Used BY The AeThiopian Christians 22. Of the week of the Jews' passover; and of him who knows not passover (Easter).179

The equivalence of "passover" with our English term "Easter" is asserted here, which can lead to correct translations but does not mean that the underlying document uses a cognate of the word "Easter."

Cyprian, Epistle XXIII. Know, then, that I have made Saturus a reader, and Optatus, the confessor, a sub-deacon; whom already, by the general advice, we had made next to the clergy, in having entrusted to Saturus on Easter-day, once and again, the reading; and when with the teacher-presbyters2 we were carefully trying readers-in appointing Optatus from among the readers to be a teacher of the hearers;-examining, first of all, whether all things were found fitting in them, which ought to be found in such as were in preparation for the clerical office.

Cyprian, Epistle XXXIX. 7. It is now the occasion, dearly beloved brethren, both for you who stand fast to persevere bravely, and to maintain your glorious stability, which you kept in persecution with a continual firmness; and if any of you by the circumvention of the adversary have fallen, that in this second temptation you should faithfully take counsel for your hope and your peace; and in order that the Lord may pardon you, that you should not depart from the priests of the Lord, since it is written, "And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest or unto the judge that shall be in those days, even that man shall die."15 Of this persecution this is the latest and final temptation, which itself also, by the Lord's protection, shall quickly pass away; so that I shall be again presented to you after Easter-day with my colleagues, who, being present, we shall be able as well to arrange as to complete the matters which require to be done according to your judgment and to the general advice of all of us as it has been decided before.16 But if anybody, refusing to repent and to make satisfaction to God, shall yield to the party of Felicissimus and his satellites, and shall join himself to the heretical faction, let him know that he cannot afterwards return to the Church and communicate with the bishops and the people of Christ.

Cyprian, Epistle LII. 3. Since, however, you have written for me to give full consideration to this matter with many of my colleagues; and so great a subject claims greater and more careful counsel from the conference of many; and as now almost all, during the first celebrations of Easter, are dwelling at home with their brethren: when they shall have completed the solenmity to be celebrated among their own people, and have begun to come to me, I will consider it more at large with each one, so that a decided opinion, weighed in the council of many priests, on the subject on which you have consulted me, may be established among us, and may be written to you. I bid you, dearest brethren, ever heartily farewell.3

[Does the reference to "the first celebrations of Easter" refer to those who celebrated on Nisan 14 or those who calculated the equinox differently, or perhaps something else?]

Firmilian to Cyprian, Epistle LXXIV. 6. But that they who are at Rome do not observe those things in all cases which are handed down from the beginning, and vainly pretend the authority of the apostles;10 any one may know also from the fact, that concerning the celebration of Easter, and concerning many other sacraments of divine matters, he may see that there are some diversities among them, and that all things are not observed among them alike, which are observed at Jerusalem, just as in very many other provinces also many things are varied because of the difference of the places and names.11 And yet on this account there is no departure at all from the peace and unity of the Catholic Church, such as Stephen has now dared to make;12 breaking the peace against you, which his predecessors have always kept with you in mutual love and honour, even herein defaming Peter and Paul the blessed apostles,13 as if the very men delivered this who in their epistles execrated heretics, and warned us to avoid them. Whence it appears that this tradition is of men which maintains heretics, and asserts that they have baptism, which belongs to the Church alone.

Methodius, Discourse III. 12. "Just as though, in the fast which prepares for the Easter celebration, one should offer food to an other who was dangerously ill, and say..."

Anatolius, fragments. ("First edited from ancient manuscript by Aegidius Bucherius, of the Society of Jesus"?) "Now, then, after the reckoning of the days and the exposition of the course of the moon, whereon the whole revolves on to its end, the cycle of the years may be set forth from the commencement).31 This makes the Passover (Easter season) circulate between the 6th day before the Kalends of April and the 9th before the Kalends of May, according to the following table:"

A Section on the Writings of Pierius. And also in the book on the Passover (Easter) and on Hosea, he treats both of the cherubim made by Moses, and of the pillar of Jacob, in which passages he admits the actual construction of those things, but propounds the foolish theory that they were given economically, and that they were in no respect like other things which are made; inasmuch as they bore the likeness of no other form, but had only, as he foolishly says, the appearance of wings.

"ON EASTER1 A Poem of Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus" - "1 Venantius Honorius, to whom this poem is ascribed, was an Italian presbyter and poet. In some editions the title is De Resurrectione. It was addressed to the bishop Felix."

Decrees of Fabian, Taken from the Decretal of Gratian, VI. Although they may not do it more frequently, yet at least three times in the year should the laity communicate, unless one happen to be hindered by any more serious offences,-to wit, at Easter, and Pentecost, and the Lord's Nativity.

Wow, and I was taught that it was a sin to miss any Sunday or any of the seven holy days of observance. I guess those "Christmas and Easter" Christians aren't so out of line after all.

Although I do not have an original language edition readily available in most cases above, from these references it may be surmised that references to the "pascha" or Passover have been translated as "Easter," a conjecture that is fully borne out with reference to the Church History of Eusebius.

Here are quotes from the Historia Ecclesiastica in which the word "Passover" appear. Since Schaff has scrupulously disallowed the translation of "Easter," the original Greek will only be given for a few parts.

2.23.10. "We entreat thee to persuade all that have come to the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus (TOU PASCA PERI IHSOU); for we all have confidence in thee." [quote of Eusebius of Hegesippus of James the Just]

The Greek, like the English, is ambiguous as to whether "concerning Jesus" modifies "Passover" or "persuade."

2.23.11. "For all the tribes, with the Gentiles also, are come together on account of the Passover (TO PASCA)." [quote of Eusebius of Hegesippus of James the Just]

3.5.5. But it is necessary to state that this writer records that the multitude of those who were assembled from all Judea at the time of the Passover (TOU PASCA), to the number of three million souls, were shut up in Jerusalem "as in a prison," to use his own words.

4.26.2. The following works of these writers have come to our knowledge. Of Melito,204 the two books On the Passover (PERI TOU PASCA),205 and one On the Conduct of Life and the Prophets,206 the discourse On the Church,207 and one On the Lord's Day,208 still further one On the Faith of Man,209 and one On his Creation,210 another also On the Obedience of Faith, and one On the Senses;211 besides these the work On the Soul and Body,212 and that On Baptism,213 and the one On Truth,214 and On the Creation and Generation of Christ;215 his discourse also On Prophecy,216 and that On Hospitality;217 still further, The Key,218 and the books On the Devil and the Apocalypse of John,219 and the work On the Corporeality of God,220 and finally the book addressed to Antoninus.221

[Footnote 205 The quotation from this work given by Eusebius in ?7, perhaps enables us to fix approximately the date at which it was written. Rufinus reads Sergius Paulus, instead of Servilius Paulus, which is found in all the Greek mss. Sergius Paulus is known to have had his second consulship in 168, and it is inferred by Wad-dington that he was proconsul about 164 to 166 (see Fastes des provinces Asiatiques, chap. 2, ?148). No Servilius Paulus is known in connection with the province of Asia, and hence it seems probable that Rufinus is correct; and if so, the work on the Passover was written early in the sixties. The fragment which Eusebius gives in this chapter is the only part of his work that is extant. It was undoubtedly in favor of the Quartodeciman practice, for Polycrates, who was a decided Quartodeciman, cites Melito in support of his position.]

4.26.3. In the books On the Passover (PERI TOU PASCA) he indicates the time at which he wrote, beginning with these words: "While Servilius Paulus was proconsul of Asia, at the time when Sagaris suffered martyrdom, there arose in Laodicea a great strife concerning the Passover (PERI TOU PASCA), which fell according to rule in those days; and these were written."222

4.26.4. And Clement of Alexandria refers to this work in his own discourse On the Passover (EN IDIWi PERI TOU PASCA LOGWi),223 which, he says, he wrote on occasion of Melito's work.

5.23.1. A Question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour's passover (TOU SWTHRIOU PASCA).343 It was therefore necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Saviour.

[Footnote 343 The great question of dispute between the church of Asia Minor and the rest of Christendom was whether the paschal communion should be celebrated on the fourteenth of Nisan, or on the Sunday of the resurrection festival, without regard to Jewish chronology. The Christians of Asia Minor, appealing to the example of the apostles, John and Philip, and to the uniform practice of the Church, celebrated the Christian passover always on the fourteenth of Nisan, whatever day of the week that might be, by a solemn fast, and closed the day with the communion in commemoration of the last paschal supper of Christ. The Roman church, on the other hand, followed by all the rest of Christendom, celebrated the death of Christ always on Friday, and his resurrection on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox, and continued their paschal fast until the latter day. It thus happened that the fast of the Asiatic Christians, terminating, as it did, with the fourteenth of Nisan, often closed some days before the fast of the other churches, and the lack of uniformity occasioned great scandal. As Schaff says: "The gist of the paschal controversy was whether the Jewish paschal day (be it a Friday or not) or the Christian Sunday should control the idea and time of the entire festival." The former practice emphasized Christ's death; the latter his resurrection. The first discussion of the question took place between Polycarp and Anicetus, bishop of Rome, when the former was on a visit to that city, between 150 and 155. Irenaeus gives an account of this which is quoted by Eusebius in chap. 25. Polycarp clung to the Asiatic practice of observing the 14th of Nisan, but could not persuade Anicetus to do the same, nor could Anicetus persuade him not to observe that day. They nevertheless communed together in Rome, and separated in peace. About 170 a.d. the controversy broke out again in Laodicea, the chief disputants being Melito of Sardis and Apolinarius of Hierapolis (see above, Bk. IV. chap. 26, note 1, and chap. 27, note 1). In this controversy Melito advocated the traditional Asiatic custom of observing the fourteenth day, while Apolinarius opposed it. To distinguish two parties of Quartodecimans,-a Judaizing and a more orthodox,-as must be done if Apolinarius is regarded, as he is by many, as a Quartodeciman, is, as Schaff shows entirely unwarranted. We know only of the one party, and Apolinarius did not belong to it. The third stage of the controversy, which took place while Victor was bishop of Rome, in the last decade of the second century, was much more bitter and important. The leaders of the two sides were Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, and Victor, bishop of Rome,-the latter an overbearing man, who believed that he, as Bishop of Rome, had a right to demand of all other churches conformity to the practices of his own church. The controversy came to an open rupture between the churches of Asia and that of Rome, but other churches did not sympathize with the severe measures of Victor, and the breach was gradually healed-just how and when we do not know; but the Roman practice gradually prevailed over the Asiatic, and finally, at the Council of Nicaea (325), was declared binding upon the whole Church, while the old Asiatic practice was condemned. This decision was acquiesced in by the bishops of Asia, as well as by the rest of the world, and only scattered churches continued to cling to the practice of the earlier Asiatics, and they were branded as heretics, and called Quartodecimanians (from quarta decima), a name which we carry back and apply to all who observed the fourteenth day, even those of the second and third centuries. This brief summary will enable us better to understand the accounts of Eusebius, who is our chief authority on the subject. The paschal controversy has had an important bearing upon the question of the authenticity of the fourth Gospel, the T?n critics having drawn from this controversy one of their strongest arguments against its genuineness. This subject cannot be discussed here, but the reader is referred, for a brief statement of the case, to Schaff's Ch. Hist. II. 219. The Johannine controversy has given rise to an extensive literature on these paschal disputes. Among the most important' works are Hilgenfeld's Der Paschastreit der alien Kirche nach seiner Bedeutung fur die Kirchengesch. u. s. w.; and Sch? Die Paschastreitigkeiten des zweiten Fahrhunderts, in the Zeitschrift f?t. Theologie, 1870, p. 182-284,-the latter perhaps the ablest extended discussion of the subject extant. The reader is also referred to the article Easter, in Smith's Dict. of Christ. Ant.; to Hefele's Conciliengesch. I. p. 86-101; and especially to the chapter on the paschal controversies in Schaff's Ch. Hist. Vol. II. p. 209-220. This chapter of Schaff's is the clearest, and, in the opinion of the writer, by far the most satisfactory, brief statement of the whole subject which we have.]

5.24.6. All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel (hOUTOI PANTES ETHRHSAN THN hHMERAN THS TESSRESKAIDEKATHS TOU PASCA KATA TO EUAGGELION), deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith.358 And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people359 put away the leaven.

5.25.1. Those in Palestine whom we have recently mentioned, Narcissus and Theophilus,373 and with them Cassius,374 bishop of the church of Tyre, and Clarus of the church of Ptolemais, and those who met with them,375 having stated many things respecting the tradition concerning the passover (PERI TOU PASCA) which had come to them in succession from the apostles, at the close of their writing add these words:376

6.13.3. Besides these there is his Hortatory Discourse addressed to the Greeks;80 three books of a work entitled the Instructor;81 another with the title What Rich Man is Saved?82 the work on the Passover (PERI TOU PASCA);83 discussions on Fasting and on Evil Speaking;84 the Hortatory Discourse on Patience, or To Those Recently Baptized;85 and the one bearing the title Ecclesiastical Canon, or Against the Judaizers,86 which he dedicated to Alexander, the bishop mentioned above.

[Footnote 83. This work is no longer extant, nor had Photius seen it although he reports that he had heard of it. Two fragments of it are found in the Chronicon Paschale, and are given by Potter. The work was composed, according to ?9, below, at the instigation of friends, who urged him to commit to writing the traditions which he had received from the ancient presbyters. From Bk. IV. chap. 26, we learn that it was written in reply to Melito's work on the same subject (see notes 5 and 23 on that chapter); and hence we may conclude that it was undertaken at the solicitation of friends who desired to see the arguments presented by Melito, as a representative of the Quartodeciman practice, refined. The date of the work we have no means of ascertaining, for Melito's work was written early in the sixties (see ibid.).]

6.13.9 In them he promises also to write a commentary on Genesis.103 In his book on the Passover (PERI TOU PASCA) 104 he acknowledges that he had been urged by his friends to commit to writing, for posterity, the traditions which he had heard from the ancient presbyters; and in the same work he mentions Melito and Irenaeus, and certain others, and gives extracts from their writings.

6.22.1 At that time Hippolytus,183 besides many other treatises, wrote a work on the passover.184 He gives in this a chronological table, and presents a certain paschal canon of sixteen years, bringing the time down to the first year of the Emperor Alexander.

In saying that the table ended in the first year of the Emperor Alexander, this is not a good representation of the sense, although the mistake is understandable.

J.E.L. Oulton in the Loeb edition gives this translation, which I think comes closer but also misses the mark: "At that very time also Hippolytus, besides very many other memoirs, composed the treatise On the Pascha, in which he sets forth a register of the times and puts forward a certain canon of a sixteen-year cycle for the Pasca, using the first year of the Emperor Alexander as a terminus in measuring his dates."

The transliterated Greek is: "TOTE DHTA KAI hIPPOLUTOS SUNTATTWN META PLEISTWN ALLWN hUPOMNHMATWN KAI TO PERI TOU PASCA PEPOIHTAI SUGGRAMMA, EN hWi TWN CRONWN ANAGRAFHN EKQEMENOS KAI TINA KANONA hEKKAIDEKAETHRIDOS PERI TOU PASCA PROQEIS, EPI TO PRWTON ETOS AUTOKRATOROS ALEXANDROU TOUS CRONOUS PERIGRAFEI."

KAI - "and"

TINA - "a certain"

KANONA - "canon"

hEKKAIDEKA... - sixteen

...ETHRIDOS - year cycle (? not in my dictionary)

PERI TOU PASCA - "On the Passover"

PROQEIS - Verb: Aorist Active Participle Masculine Singular Nominative - to put; to inter; to ordain; to reckon; to estimate; to suppose; to make.

EPI - Preposition (+ accusative) - my dictionary states, "with _acc._ extending over, towards, up to; against; (with numbers) about, nearly, during; in quest of."

PRWTON - Adjective: Neuter Singular Accusative - first

ETOS - Noun: Neuter Singular Accusative - year

AUTOKRATOROS - Noun: Masculine Singular Nominative - sovereignty (from the adjective AUTOKRATWR "sovereign, independent; authorized")

ALEXANDROU - "of Alexander"

CRONOUS - Noun: Masculine Plural Accusative - "time, duration; period; term"

PERIGRAFEI - Verb: Present Active Indicative 3rd Singular - to circumscribe; to define, determine

I would give this more accurate if uglier translation: ". . . And having estimated a certain sixteen-year cycle canon _On the Passover_, the reign of Alexander about (or: during) the first year defines (or: determines) the period (or: duration) [of the canon]."

Unlike the ANF or Loeb translations, this one does justice to the facts that AUTOKRATOROS appears in the nominative and thus should be taken as the subject and that PERIGRAFEI is a verb indicating a separate clause, if not a new sentence. Yes, the first clause ("And having estimated") is a dangling participle in my translation. The Loeb is closer to the sense than the ANF, but this translation is closer to both the sense and the grammar, in my reckoning.

Look here to see that Severus Alexander ascended in 222:

http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm

Notably, the list of paschal dates on the statue of Hippolytus begins in 222, probably based on the written work of Hippolytus mentioned by Eusebius.

[Footnote 184 This chronological work on the passover, which contained a cycle for the purpose of determining the date of the festival, is mentioned also by Jerome, and is given in the list on the statue, on which the cycle itself is also engraved. Jerome says that this work was the occasion of Eusebius' work upon the same subject in which a nineteen-year cycle was substituted for that of Hippolytus. The latter was a sixteen-year cycle and was formed by putting together two of the eight-year cycles of the Greek astronomers,-according to whose calculation the full moon fell on the same day of the month once in eight years,-in order to exhibit also the day of the week on which it fell; for he noticed that after sixteen years the full moon moved one day backward (if on Saturday at the beginning of the cycle, it fell on Friday after the sixteen years were past). He therefore put together seven sixteen-year cycles, assuming that after they had passed the full moon would return again to the same day of the week, as well as month. This cycle is astronomically incorrect, the fact being that after sixteen years the full moon falls not on the same day of the week, but three days later. Hippolytus, however, was not aware of this, and published his cycle in perfect good faith. The work referred to seems to have contained an explanation of the cycle, together with a computation by means of it of the dates of the Old and New Testament passovers. It is no longer extant, but the cycle itself, which was the chief thing, is preserved on the statue, evidently in the form in which it was drawn up by Hippolytus himself.]

6.22.2. Of his [Hipplolytus'] other writings the following have reached us: On the Hexaemeron,185 On the Works after the Hexaemeron,186 Against Marcion,187 On the Song of Songs,188 On Portions of Ezekiel,189 On the Passover (PERI TOU PASCA),190 Against All the Heresies;191 and you can find many other works preserved by many.

7.20.1. 1 Dionysius, besides his epistles already mentioned,144 wrote at that time145 also his extant Festal Epistles,146 in which he uses words of panegyric respecting the passover feast (PERI THS TOU PASCA hEORTHS). He addressed one of these to Flavius,147 and another to Domitius and Didymus,148 in which he sets forth a canon of eight years,149 maintaining that it is not proper to observe the paschal feast until after the vernal equinox. Besides these he sent another epistle to his fellow-presbyters in Alexandria, as well as various others to different persons while the persecution was still prevailing.150

7.21.1. Peace had but just been restored when he returned to Alexandria;151 but as sedition and war broke out again, rendering it impossible for him to oversee all the brethren, separated in different places by the insurrection, at the feast of the passover (EN THi TOU PASCA hEORTHi), as if he were still an exile from Alexandria, he addressed them again by letter.152

7.30.10. and stops the psalms to our Lord Jesus Christ, as being the modern productions of modern men, and trains women to sing psalms to himself in the midst of the church on the great day of the passover (THi MEGALHi TOU PASCA hHMERAi), which any one might shudder to hear, and persuades the bishops and presbyters of the neighboring districts and cities who fawn upon him, to advance the same ideas in their discourses to the people.

7.32.13. Anatolius did not write very many works; but in such as have come down to us we can discern his eloquence and erudition. In these he states particularly his opinions on the passover (PERI TOU PASCA). It seems important to give here the following extracts from them.296

7.32.15. On the said twenty-sixth of Phamenoth, the sun is found not only entered on the first segment,300 but already passing through the fourth day in it. They are accustomed to call this segment the first dodecatomorion,301 and the equinox, and the beginning of months, and the head of the cycle, and the starting-point of the planetary circuit. But they call the one preceding this the last of months, and the twelfth segment, and the final dodecatomorion, and the end of the planetary circuit. Wherefore we maintain that those who place the first month in it, and determine by it the fourteenth of the passover (THN TESSARESKAIDEKATHN TOU PASCA), commit no slight or common blunder.

7.32.17. These writers, explaining questions in regard to the Exodus, say that all alike should sacrifice the passover offerings (TA DIABATHRIA, lit. "offerings for a happy [bridge] crossing"; I don't know whether Jews used this term) after the vernal equinox, in the middle of the first month. But this occurs while the sun is passing through the first segment of the solar, or as some of them have styled it, the zodiacal circle. Aristobulus adds that it is necessary for the feast of the passover, that not only the sun should pass through the equinoctial segment, but the moon also.

7.32.18. For as there are two equinoctial segments, the vernal and the autumnal, directly opposite each other, and as the day of the passover (THS TWN DIABATHRIWN hHMERAS, lit. the day of the offerings) was appointed on the fourteenth of the month, beginning with the evening, the moon will hold a position diametrically opposite the sun, as may be seen in full moons; and the sun will be in the segment of the vernal equinox, and of necessity the moon in that of the autumnal.

7.32.19 I know that many other things have been said by them, some of them probable, and some approaching absolute demonstration, by which they endeavor to prove that it is altogether necessary to keep the passover and the feast of unleavened bread (THN TOU PASCA KAI TWN AZUMWN hEORTHN) after the equinox. But I refrain from demanding this sort of demonstration for matters from which the veil of the Mosaic law has been removed, so that now at length with uncovered face we continually behold as in a glass Christ and the teachings and sufferings of Christ.306 But that with the Hebrews the first month was near the equinox, the teachings also of the Book of Enoch show.'307

From all these references, it is clear that Eusebius of Caesarea, who was a key player in the Council of Niceae, knew no separate Greek term for "Easter." The day of the celebration of Christ's resurrection is known to Eusebius as TO PASCA, derived from the Jewish term for the Passover.

Based on the references in Tertullian and in Eusebius, there are very good reasons to doubt that a cognate of "Easter" was used in Latin or Greek of the fourth century or earlier. Rather, Christians called their resurrection holiday after the manner of the Jews, "the Passover."

As a sidenote, since I find it hard to fathom that Christians originally celebrated on the first Sunday after the who-knows-what related to the Equinox or something (that calculation itself was a matter of controversy), it seems clear to me that Christians at first celebrated only the Passover festival on the fourteenth of Nisan and no separate Sunday holiday for the resurrection. Therefore, the original date of the celebration that became "Easter" was derived from Judaism, even though this is no longer the date celebrated by most Christians today.

1 Corinthians 5:7 (Darby). Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened. For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed.

best,
Peter Kirby