The Easter Controversy

Did Saint Patrick celebrate Easter?

Saint Ilid, a Jewish Child of Truth, who had been forced out of Rome by Claudius Caesar, brought the Good News to modern England in 54 AD, when Saint Cyllin (later King Cyllin) and his sister Saint Eigin returned to Roman Britain.

(This term "Saint: has been misused by the False Church of Rome to designate people, like the twelve Original Apostles of Truth, as people who are to be prayed to.  By Saint, I mean in the sense used in the Book of Truth (The Bible).  It is a term used to describe anyone who is part of the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him).)

Along with Saint Cyllin and his sister Saint Eigin, he formed a community to teach the people of Roman Britain how to follow the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) by total immersion in the teachings of the Apostles of Truth.  

In this community, they did not just hear about the teachings of the Apostles of Truth.  They put them into practice on a daily basis.  This was the beginning of Celtic Christianity.

The British Isles continued to follow these practices through the centuries, even during times of great persecution by the governors and emperors of the Roman Empire.

However, in the mainland of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, many had left the House of Truth when the only other option was persecution and death.  They began abandoning the practices of the Apostles of Truth while the Apostles of Truth were still alive. 

The Man of Truth had came to teach people how to follow the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) fully (Matthew 5:17-19).   Paul the Jew (Shaul aka Saul aka the Apostle Paul) warned the Children of Truth to withdraw from wicked leaders who taught otherwise (1 Timothy 6:3-5).

Paul the Jew warned the Children of Truth in Rome to avoid those who taught any doctrine contrary to that taught by the Apostles of Truth, because these deceivers did not serve the Man of Truth (Romans 16:17-18).  Some in Rome had used empty lies to overthrow the faith of others (2 Timothy 2:16-18).

There were heresies rising up in other congregations that Paul the Jew had started as well (1 Corinthians 11:18-19).  They had not resisted sin to the point of shedding their blood like the Man of Truth (Hebrews 12:2-4). Some of those in Macedonia had made shipwreck of their faith as well (1 Timothy 1:19-20).

Paul the Jew had warned the congregation at Ephesus that false teachers would rise up from among them to bring division by leading people away from the Man of Truth (Acts 20:28-32). Some of them had cast off their faith in the Man of Truth to turned aside to follow after the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil) (1 Timothy 5:11-15).

Some at Ephesus had departed from following the teachings of Paul the Jew (2 Timothy 1:15).  Some of them wore religious garb and were well educated, but they resisted the truth and denied the power of the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) in confirming the Good News (2 Timothy 3:5-8).

Many religious leaders went out from among the Apostles of Truth, because they were not part of the Children of Truth (1 John 2:19).  

Diotrephes opposed John the Jew (Yochanon son of Zebedee aka The Apostle John) and kicked him out of the congregation in Ephesus that he had helped start (3 John 1:9-10). 

Diotrephes was the first monarchical bishop in history.  

He set himself up to be called Pope, which means father, over priests, who were also to be called father, contrary to the commandment of the Man of Truth (Matthew 23:9-11).  He sought to lord it over the Children of Truth like the Gentile religious leaders did, contrary to the commandment of the Man of Truth (Luke 22:25-26). 

Diotrephes is the real founder of the False Church of Rome, not Peter the Jew (Sh'mon aka Simon aka Simeon aka Cephas aka The Apostle Peter).

Peter the Jew was never greeted by Paul the Jew in his letter to the Romans (Romans 16).  There is no mention of him when Paul the Jew had ended his house arrest in Rome (Hebrews 13:23-24).  Neither was he in Rome at the end of the life of Paul the Jew (2 Timothy 4:22).

Peter the Jew focused mainly on the Jews (Galatians 2:7).  He had been sent to the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire (1 Peter 1:1).  From there, he went outside of the Roman Empire to Babylon, which had one of the largest concentration of Jews in the world (1 Peter 5:12-13).

Peter the Jew died in Babylon (2 Peter 1:13-15).  Paul the Jew was still writing his epistles when it came time for him to die (2 Peter 3:15-16).

So, a great schism formed between those who continue to follow the practices of the Apostles of Truth and those who had abandoned them.  Many people left Roman Paganism to join both of these groups.

This caused great disruption and civil unrest throughout the Roman Empire.

After about two hundred years of effort to force everyone, but followers of Rabbinic Judaism, back into Roman Paganism, the Roman Empire had nearly gone bankrupt.

However, co-emperor Constantius did not support these efforts, like the other three co-emperors in his reign.

When he died in Roman Britain in 305 AD, his son Constantine became co-emperor in his place.  He immediately put an end to the persecution.  

Co-emperor Constantine wanted to put an end to this internal turmoil by creating a single religion that most of the people inside the Roman Empire would accept. 

In 312 AD, Constantine officially left Roman Paganism to embrace Christianity.  However, he was not sure how to follow the teachings of the Apostles of Truth, since there was so much disagreement among these factions. 

So, leaders from all over the Roman Empire sent representatives to the Synod of Arles in 314 AD to discuss with other leaders what should be presented to Emperor Constantine as the teachings of the Apostles of Truth.  The Children of Truth in Roman Britain sent three representatives.

The Synod voted on creating a version of Christianity that replaced the practices of the Jewish Apostles of Truth with many of the practices of Roman Paganism.  The representatives from Roman Britain vehemently dissented.

Then in 324 AD Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.  He made creation of an official Roman version of Christianity a top priority.

So, the Council of Nicaea met in 325 AD to create an official version of Christianity endorsed by the Roman Government.  Every part of the Sasanian Empire to the east of the Roman Empire also sent representatives to the Council of Nicaea.  This made 318 representatives in total.

When the Council was over, there were only two representatives who rejected the official Roman version of Christianity.  They were both excommunicated from the official Roman church and banished from the Roman Empire.

Roman Britain was the only part of the Roman Empire that refused to send representatives to the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD to create an official version of Christianity endorsed by the Roman Government.  

They had refused to go because they wanted nothing to do with this pollution of the teachings of the Apostles of Truth with the customs of Roman idolatry that had been endorsed in Synod of Arles.

Around the time that the Romans left Britain for good in 411 AD, Saint Patrick brought the Good News to the people of Ireland.  He taught the people of Ireland using the same teachings and practices as Saint Ilid.

Then the Pope sent a monk named Augustine to modern England in 597 AD to convince the people of the British Isles to adapt the practices of mainland Europe, which was under the control of the False Church of Rome. 

When he arrived he found that there as very little that Celtic Christianity shared with the False Church of Rome.  

The False Church of Rome had used the practices of Roman Paganism in the worship of the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD).  However, Celtic Christianity was still using the practices of the Apostles of Truth.

Augustine observed that in the British Isles, they were still meeting to worship on the Sabbath instead of Sunday.  They would only eat the same animals as the Jews. 

The biggest problem was holidays.  

The Children of Truth in the British Isles did not even know of many of the holidays practiced by the False Church of Rome like Ash Wednesday.  Instead, they observed the same holidays as the Jews.

However, there was a little overlap in the holidays.  

Both groups observed Pentecost, some years on the same day, but in completely different ways.  They also both observed the death, burial and resurrection of the Man of Truth, but in completely different ways.

This disagreement over practices for commemorating the death, burial and resurrection of the Man of Truth was called the Easter Controversy.

However, it is really misnamed.  Celtic Christianity was not disagreeing with the False Church of Rome over the timing of a holiday called Easter as commonly reported.  Celtic Christianity did not have a holiday called Easter.

Easter was the name of the goddess fertility that the False Church of Rome had applied to Resurrection Sunday.  When the resurrection was celebrated in Celtic Christianity, they greeted each other with "Happy Firstfruits!".

While the False Church of Rome observed the death of the Man of Truth with Good Friday, Passover was used by Celtic Christianity.  While the False Church of Rome kept Holy Week, Celtic Christianity kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Why?

Like Paul the Jew had done with the almost entirely Gentile congregation in Philippi, Saint Ilid had kept the Feast of Unleavened with the people of Roman Britain (Acts 20:5-6).

Like Paul the Jew had done with the congregation in Corinth, Saint Ilid had taught them to use Passover to observe the death of the Man of Truth (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). 

Like Paul the Jew, Saint Ilid had used First Fruits to celebrate the resurrection of the Man of Truth (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). 

Like Paul the Jew had done with the congregation in Ephesus, Saint Ilid had taught them to observe Pentecost in the same manner as the Apostles of Truth (1 Corinthians 16:8).

Like Paul the Jew, Saint Ilid had turned the people of Roman Britain from idol worship (Galatians 4:8). 

Now Augustine sought to get them to return to observing the very holidays from idol worship that the Children of Truth in the British Isles had been taught to forsake by people like Saint Patrick (Galatians 4:9-10).

So, Saint Patrick never observed Easter.  

Neither did the rest of the British Isles, until after Augustine began introducing it in 597 AD.  

He began by talking to those who had rejected the Good News.  He assured them that if they would join the False Church of Rome, then many of their practices could be incorporated into their counterfeit version of Christianity.  These practices were incorporated into things like Halloween.

Easter continued to be considered a Pagan holiday in the Seven Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England until it officially replaced Firstfruits at the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD.

Easter and other like holidays continued to be rejected throughout much of the rest of the British Isles for hundreds of years.  Celtic Christianity continued to observe holidays like Passover instead.

Celtic Christianity has faded into obscurity, but there has been a continuous thread of people in the British Isles who have retained the practices of the Apostles of Truth that Saint Ilid first brought to them.

Christmas and the like have been outlawed numerous times in Scotland and England. The congregation on the Island of Lewis, just off the northwest coast of Scotland, has continued to meet on the Sabbath to this day.

The Pilgrims were Brownists who continued to observe the practices of the Apostles of Truth.  The Feast of the Pilgrims that became Thanksgiving was the Feast of Tabernacles. 

Even today, there has been a return to the practices of the Apostles of Truth in remembrance of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Man of Truth, especially in America.

Like the days after Saint Patrick, this is causing conflict between those who are returning to the practices of the Apostles of Truth and those who want to continue to the practices of Roman Paganism adopted by the False Church of Rome. 

So, what are you going to do?

The Children of Truth should do what is acceptable to the Man of Truth, and reprove these unfruitful works of darkness, instead of continuing in them (Ephesians 5:8-11).

This is not about doing something to get saved, but rather making a change in your life that is pleasing to the Father of Truth because you have been saved.

However, if you have never been saved, then none of this matters.  

Changing the holidays that you use to observe the death, burial, and resurrection of the Man of Truth will make no difference, until you come into the House of Truth.

Surrender control of your life to the Man of Truth because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).

Come into the House of Truth!