Easter

Easter is the English rendering used in the King James Version at Acts 12:4, where the Greek text has pascha — the standard New Testament word for Passover. The KJV translators retained "Easter" here based on the English ecclesiastical calendar (and possibly an awareness of the pagan festival of Eostre, a Saxon spring goddess), but modern translations uniformly render it "Passover," which is the correct meaning in context: Herod Agrippa was waiting until after the Passover festival to bring Peter out for trial.

As a Christian celebration, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first day of the week following Passover. The New Testament does not use the term "Easter" for the resurrection celebration, but the apostolic church met on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2) and broke bread in remembrance of the risen Lord. The dating of Easter in relation to Passover became a major controversy in early church history (the Quartodeciman controversy), eventually resolved by the Council of Nicaea in 325.