Easter, also called Pascha, or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus Christ, preceded by Lent, 40 days of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week. In Western Christianity, it begins on Palm Sunday, marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem, includes Spy Wednesday, and contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus.
The Last Supper is the final meal that Jesus shared with his apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion, and it is commemorated by Christians on Holy Thursday.
Easter is also linked to the Jewish Passover. It celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt.
The Last Supper occurred during the Passover, days after Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and before Jesus was crucified on Good Friday.
All four canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, describe the last meal Jesus shared with his apostles.
However, one of the most interesting interpretations of the Last Supper is presented by George Ivanovich Gurdjieff.
“For instance, in all the denominations of Christianity a great part is played by the tradition of the Last Supper of Christ and his disciples. Liturgies and a whole series of dogmas, rites, and sacraments are based upon it. This has been a ground for schism, for the separation of churches, for the formation of sects; how many people have perished because they would not accept this or that interpretation of it. But, as a matter of fact, nobody understands what this was precisely, or what was done by Christ and his disciples that evening. There exists no explanation that even approximately resembles the truth, because what is written in the Gospels has been, in the first place, much distorted in being copied and translated; and secondly, it was written for those who know. To those who do not know it can explain nothing, but the more they try to understand it, the deeper they are led into error.”
To understand what took place at the Last Supper it is first of all necessary to know certain laws. You remember what I said about the ‘astral body’?
Let us go over it briefly. People who have an ‘astral body’ can communicate with one another at a distance without having recourse to ordinary physical means. But for such communication to be possible they must establish some ‘connection’ between them. For this purpose when going to different places or different countries people sometimes take with them something belonging to another, especially things that have been in contact with his body and are permeated with his emanations, and so on. In the same way, in order to maintain a connection with a dead person, his friends used to keep objects which had belonged to him. These things leave, as it were, a trace behind them, something like invisible wires or threads which remain stretched out through space. These threads connect a given object with the person, living or in certain cases dead, to whom the object belonged. Men have known this from the remotest antiquity and have made various uses of this knowledge.
Traces of it may be found among the customs of many peoples. You know, for instance, that several nations have the custom of blood-brotherhood. Two men, or several men, mix their blood together in the same cup and then drink from this cup. After that they are regarded as brothers by blood. But the origin of this custom lies deeper. In its origin it was a magical ceremony for establishing a connection between ‘astral bodies.’ Blood has special qualities. And certain peoples, for instance the Jews, ascribed a special significance of magical properties to blood. Now, you see, if a connection between ‘astral bodies’ had been established, then again according to the beliefs of certain nations it is not broken by death.
Christ knew that he must die. It had been decided thus beforehand. He knew it and his disciples knew it. And each one knew what part he had to play. But at the same time they wanted to establish a permanent link with Christ. And for this purpose he gave them his blood to drink and his flesh to eat. It was not bread and wine at all, but real flesh and real blood. The Last Supper was a magical ceremony similar to ‘blood-brotherhood’ for establishing a connection between ‘astral bodies.’ But who is there who knows about this in existing religions and who understands what it means? All this has been long forgotten and everything has been given quite a different meaning. The words have remained but their meaning has long been lost.”
(P. D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous)
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