salvation, came down from heaven, and took our nature, and became man. He suffered, and rose again the third day. He ascended into heaven, and will come to judge the living and the dead. And we believe in the Holy Ghost.[1]
HYMN TO GOD DECREED.
A certain hymn to the glory of God was decreed and established by the Nicene Synod, which, as Sozomen seems to think, the Arians took the liberty to alter and corrupt. He says, "The Catholics had been accustomed, according to ancient tradition and common usage, to sing, 'Gloria Patri et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,' whereas the Arians, in baptizing, used the form following: 'Gloria Patri per Filium in Spiritu Sancto.' "
CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL FESTIVAL; THAT IS, THE PASSOVER,[2] COMMONLY CALLED EASTER.
The Council assigned the first Sunday after the fourteenth moon following the vernal equinox for the celebration of the Passover in all the Christian countries everywhere,—this day having been proposed by Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, which nation was considered "the most skilful as to the course of the stars."[3]
- ↑ See the pastoral letter of Eusebius of Cæsarea.
- ↑ The day in remembrance of Christ's dying and expiating the sins of men, was called the Passover or Easter (Pascha) because they supposed that Christ was crucified on the same day in which the Jews kept their Passover—Mosheim.
- ↑ This time was not founded upon a true and accurate calculation. Pope Gregory XIII. reformed and corrected it, A. D. 1582. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs after the 21st of March.
