In the Eastern Orthodox Church, we do not refer to the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord as "Easter." We call it the Pascha of our Lord. It is preceded by a lengthy period of fasting and other spiritual disciplines.
We also do not regard Sunday as the Sabbath, but as The Lord's Day. It is a mini-celebration of the Resurrection throughout the year.
That said, I see nothing wrong with taking a pagan holiday and repurposing it to a Christian use. Also, it is clear from the book of Acts that non-Jews are not required to become Jewish in order to become fully Christian. Therefore, expecting them to learn all the minutiae of Jewish law, calendar, custom, etc., is not called for.
Of course there were not the formal ecclesiastical celebrations of the traditional Christian holidays in the time of the Apostles! The Church was not yet fully established, and it was under great persecution. But Scripture also instructs us to do things in good order. In the beginning, the Resurrection was probably celebrated in conjunction with Passover. As the Church established itself as a separate entity from Judaism, it naturally developed its own traditions and Holy Days and seasons. By the second century, the Pascha of Our Lord was beginning to be celebrated separately, as evidenced by a mid-2nd-century Paschal homily by Melito of Sardis.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, we do not refer to the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord as "Easter." We call it the Pascha of our Lord. It is preceded by a lengthy period of fasting and other spiritual disciplines.
We also do not regard Sunday as the Sabbath, but as The Lord's Day. It is a mini-celebration of the Resurrection throughout the year.
That said, I see nothing wrong with taking a pagan holiday and repurposing it to a Christian use. Also, it is clear from the book of Acts that non-Jews are not required to become Jewish in order to become fully Christian. Therefore, expecting them to learn all the minutiae of Jewish law, calendar, custom, etc., is not called for.
Of course there were not the formal ecclesiastical celebrations of the traditional Christian holidays in the time of the Apostles! The Church was not yet fully established, and it was under great persecution. But Scripture also instructs us to do things in good order. In the beginning, the Resurrection was probably celebrated in conjunction with Passover. As the Church established itself as a separate entity from Judaism, it naturally developed its own traditions and Holy Days and seasons. By the second century, the Pascha of Our Lord was beginning to be celebrated separately, as evidenced by a mid-2nd-century Paschal homily by Melito of Sardis.