Easter

== Theological significance ==
[[File:Pötting Kirchenfenster 7 Osterlamm.jpg|thumb|upright|A stained-glass window depicting the [[Lamb of God|Passover Lamb]], a concept integral to the foundation of Easter<ref name=Passover>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CRvzTM0kev4C&pg=PA96|title = Welcome to the Church Year: An Introduction to the Seasons of the Episcopal Church|author = Vicki K. Black|publisher = Church Publishing, Inc.|quote = Easter is still called by its older Greek name, ''Pascha'', which means "Passover", and it is this meaning as the Christian Passover-the celebration of Jesus's triumph over death and entrance into resurrected life-that is the heart of Easter in the church. For the early church, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover feast: through Jesus, we have been freed from slavery of sin and granted to the Promised Land of everlasting life.|date=2004 |isbn = 978-0819219664|access-date = 9 January 2020|archive-date = 8 August 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210808003357/https://books.google.com/books?id=CRvzTM0kev4C&pg=PA96|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PB-zfFmR0I0C&pg=PA21|title = The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History|author = Karl Gerlach|publisher = Peeters Publishers|quote = Long before this controversy, Ex 12 as a story of origins and its ritual expression had been firmly fixed in the Christian imagination. Though before the final decades of the 2nd century only accessible as an exegetical tradition, already in the Pauline letters the Exodus saga is deeply involved with the celebration of bath and meal. Even here, this relationship does not suddenly appear, but represents developments in ritual narrative that must have begun at the very inception of the Christian message. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified during Pesach-Mazzot, an event that a new covenant people of Jews and Gentiles both saw as definitive and defining. Ex 12 is thus one of the few reliable guides for tracing the synergism among ritual, text, and kerygma before the Council of Nicaea.|page = 21|date=1998 |isbn = 978-9042905702|access-date = 9 January 2020|archive-date = 8 August 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210808003356/https://books.google.com/books?id=PB-zfFmR0I0C&pg=PA21|url-status = live}}</ref>]]
Easter celebrates Jesus' supernatural resurrection from the dead, which is one of the chief tenets of the Christian faith.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Torrey |first1=Reuben Archer |author-link1=Reuben Archer Torrey |title=Torrey's New Topical Textbook |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/torrey/ttt.html |access-date=31 March 2013 |date=1897 |chapter=The Resurrection of Christ |archive-date=20 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120170816/https://www.ccel.org/ccel/torrey/ttt.html |url-status=live }} (interprets primary source references in this section as applying to the Resurrection)<br />{{cite encyclopedia | url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137622/The-Letter-of-Paul-to-the-Corinthians | title=The Letter of Paul to the Corinthians | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online | access-date=10 March 2013 | archive-date=24 April 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424020543/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137622/The-Letter-of-Paul-to-the-Corinthians | url-status=live }}</ref> Paul writes that, for those who trust in Jesus's death and resurrection, "death is swallowed up in victory." The [[First Epistle of Peter]] declares that God has given believers "a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". Christian theology holds that, through faith in the working of God, those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]], and can hope to be physically resurrected to dwell with him in the [[Kingdom of Heaven (Gospel of Matthew)|Kingdom of Heaven]].<ref name="Jesus EB">{{cite encyclopedia | url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/303091/Jesus-Christ | title=Jesus Christ | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online | access-date=11 March 2013 | archive-date=3 May 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503100711/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/303091/Jesus-Christ | url-status=live }}</ref>

Easter is linked to [[Passover]] and the [[Exodus from Egypt]] recorded in the [[Old Testament]] through the [[Last Supper]], [[passion of Jesus|sufferings]], and [[crucifixion of Jesus]] that preceded the resurrection.<ref name=Passover/> According to the three [[Synoptic Gospels]], Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the [[Cenacle|upper room]] during the Last Supper he prepared himself and his disciples for his death.<ref name=Passover/> He identified the bread and cup of wine as [[Body of Christ|his body]], soon to be sacrificed, and [[Blood of Christ|his blood]], soon to be shed. The Apostle [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] states, in his [[First Epistle to the Corinthians]], "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." This refers to the requirement in Jewish law that Jews eliminate all {{transliteration|he|[[chametz]]}}, or leavening, from their homes in advance of Passover, and to the allegory of Jesus as the [[Korban Pesach|Passover lamb]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=Barker, Kenneth|title=Zondervan NIV Study Bible|publisher=[[Zondervan]]|location=[[Grand Rapids]]|date=2002|isbn=0-310-92955-5|page=1520}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PB-zfFmR0I0C|title = The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History|author = Karl Gerlach|publisher = Peeters Publishers|pages = 32, 56|date=1998 |isbn = 978-9042905702|access-date = 9 January 2020|archive-date = 27 December 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211227231601/https://books.google.com/books?id=PB-zfFmR0I0C|url-status = live}}</ref>