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Easter and its cycle Easter in the Middle Ages, as
now, was a movable feast that commemorated the Resur-
rection of Christ after his Passion. The Christian feast of
Easter began on Easter Sunday, prepared by for a FASTof
one or two days and prolonged by a Paschal celebration
50 days long, leading to the Ascension and PENTECOST.
The various events of the Passion and Resurrection were
made the object of celebrations over several days, espe-
cially Holy Thursday (Last Supper) and Good Friday
(Jesus’ death on the cross), the latter forming with Satur-
day, the Vigil, and Sunday the three days of his Passion
and Resurrection.
See alsoCOMPUTUS; HOLYWEEK; LENT.
Further reading: Gabriel Bertonière, The Historical
Development of the Easter Vigil and Related Services in the
Greek Church(Roma: Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orien-
talium, 1972); Paul Rorem, “Easter,” DMA 4.364–368;
Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year,2d ed.
(Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1991).

Eastern Orthodox Church See CHURCH,EASTERN
ORTHODOX.

Eastern Schism SeeSCHISM,GREAT.

Eckhart, Meister (Master, Eckhart von Hochheim,
Johannes Eckhart)(ca. 1260–ca. 1328)German Domini-
can theologian, mystic, preacher
Born about 1260 near Gotha in Thuringia, Johannes Eck-
hart at about age 15 joined the DOMINICAN ORDERand
studied in Strasbourg and COLOGNE. In PARIShe received
a master’s degree in THEOLOGYin 1302 and gained his

title, Meister. He became a Dominican provincial in 1303

and later a vicar general in BOHEMIA. In 1311–13 he was

again in Paris as a teacher and then was professor of the-

ology in Strasbourg until 1323. Finally, he taught and

preached as regent professor at the University of Cologne.

Eckhart was involved in ecclesiastical conflicts. He

favored the pope in the struggle between the emperor

Louis IV of Bavaria (r. 1314–47) and the papacy over the

imperial election. He was later a victim of the displeasure

of the archbishop of Cologne. Cited before a hostile epis-

copal tribunal, Eckhart was accused and found guilty of

heresy on 100 counts. He appealed to Pope JOHNXXII in

AVIGNONand was received there. A bull dated March 27,

1329, by John XXIII spoke of him as already dead and

condemned 28 of his propositions.

IDEAS AND LEGACY

Eckhart’s doctrine of the “little spark in man’s soul” sug-

gested a direct confrontation with GOD. To him God was

not just an aloof personal deity in whose image humans

were created, but a shapeless, incommensurable being

unchanged and immanent in all matter and creatures. If

people were to shed personal assertiveness and selfish

drives, they could merge with God, becoming one with

him, as did Christ. Eckhart was deemed heretical by

some for denying a difference between the essence of God

and that of His creatures and for questioning the tempo-

ral nature of the world. He was not, however, a pantheist.

In all this he was influenced by ARISTOTLE,ALBERTUS

Magnus, and Thomas AQUINAS, as well as the NEOPLATON-

ISM of the Spanish rabbi MAIMONIDESand the Muslim

philosopher IBNRUSHD(Averroës). As a preacher and pro-

lific writer, he addressed the people in the VERNACULAR

and wrote for his fellow clerics in LATIN. He influenced