How an ancient controversy unlocks the Gospels' Holy Week timeline
Fr Daniel Gabriel SJ explains what the Quartodeciman controversy over the date of Easter shows us about the Gospels.
Fr Daniel Gabriel SJ explains what the Quartodeciman controversy over the date of Easter shows us about the Gospels.
Editor’s Note
We previously republished our translation of Fray Luis de León’s important text on the timeline of Holy Week. This text was received well: Fr Dave Nix (Padre Peregrino) wrote the following:
In fact, that text was a translation of a translation: the French historian Fr Gabriel Daniel SJ (1649-1728) translated and edited it, and added a number of comments.
In addition to this translation, Fr Daniel wrote an extended essay on “the Quartodecimans” which is closely related to this subject. What follows is the first part of our translation of this latter work.
While an extended essay on a very early group of heretics may seem like a strange choice for Holy Week reading, it is directly related to the Church’s celebration of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ – and, if Fray Luis and Fr Daniel are correct, it not only makes sense of some apparent discrepancies in the Gospels, but also sheds further light on how the Resurrection fulfils the Mosaic Law, as we shall see in due course.
Who were the Quartodecimans, and what was the nature of the controversy? Fr Daniel gives an overview of both questions, but in brief: The controversy turned around the way of calculating the date of Easter. The Council of Nicaea adopted a uniform way of doing so, but a number of Christians – principally in Asia – refused to adopt it, citing the authority of St John the Apostle for their own tradition. In addition to St John, the Quartodecimans were able to point to other saints who followed their custom – such as the Apostle’s disciple St Polycarp.
This latter group’s calculations depended on the Jewish calendar, and the Jewish date of Passover. Fr Daniel states that this custom was indeed Apostolic, and notes that no party to the controversy denied it: the issue, rather, was a failure to accept the consent of the Church at Nicaea.
Aside from the historical interest, Fr Daniel’s essay sheds light on the order of events in the first Holy Week, and he states explicitly that he sees his work as being confirmatory of that of Fray Luis – the importance of which we have already seen.
This is an important text – but it is long and theological, rather than devotional. For a more devotional piece about Maundy Thursday, see the below:
Note on the text
The text contains a number of marginal notes, which I have omitted.
Fr Daniel’s argument is that confusion has arisen through the use of terms for various feasts. In French, he uses Pâques to denote the Passover, Easter and the Quartodeciman observation of the Passion on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. As such, the author’s own usage can be quite confusing itself. In order to bring more clarity, I have used Passover to denote the Jewish festival, Easter to denote the celebration of the Resurrection, and Pascha to indicate either the period of the Triduum or earlier uses in which the meaning was less clear.
The Discipline of the Quartodecimans for the Celebration of Pascha
Fr Daniel Gabriel SJ
Articles I-III
Taken from Recueil de divers ouvrages philosophiques, théologiques, historiques, Apologetiques et de Critique, Vol. III, MDCCXXIV, pp 473-508
Introduction
Everyone has heard of the Quartodecimans, people so called because one of their religious tenets was to celebrate Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon of the first month of the Jewish calendar, following the model of that [Jewish] nation. However, I dare say that few know precisely what their practice entailed, and what the Council of Nicaea aimed to decide on the matter. It appears that scholars have neglected this point of history, which was not, however, unworthy of their attention and critique. I will attempt to elucidate it by dispelling common false prejudices through the following propositions, which entirely oppose them.
First Proposition: The Quartodecimans never celebrated what we now call the feast of Easter on the fourteenth of the moon.
Second Proposition: On that day, they held the Paschal feast without any relation to the Resurrection of Our Lord.
Third Proposition: For them, celebrating the feast of Pascha according to their customs meant celebrating the feast of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fourth Proposition: They celebrated the Resurrection on the third day after the fourteenth of the moon.
Fifth Proposition: The Council of Nicaea did not aim to prevent what we now call the Feast of Easter from falling on the day of the Jewish Passover.
Sixth Proposition: It also did not have in view preventing the day of Our Lord’s Passion from coinciding with the Jewish Passover.
Seventh Proposition: It merely sought to ensure that the Church’s Easter did not depend on the Jewish Passover, their calculations, or their cycles – assuming they had any.
Eighth Proposition: Some scholars have misunderstood the Greek texts of Eusebius and Socrates regarding the Quartodecimans, and have corrupted those of Sozomen and Nicephorus by attempting to correct them according to their own biases. Evidence for this last proposition will be scattered throughout various parts of this work.
This encompasses the entirety of this dissertation, which I will make as concise as possible.
Article 1:
History of the Controversies on Passover
From the beginning of the Church, the manner of celebrating Easter varied by location. We see that everywhere, efforts were made to ensure that this feast did not fall before the fourteenth day of the moon in March. But in Rome and most other churches, this was not their primary rule. In some churches in Asia, they had no other rule, and celebrated Easter and ended their fasts on whichever day the full moon of March fell.
They followed their tradition, just as Rome followed its own. The author of the tradition of the Asian churches was Saint John. Each followed what they believed was appropriate for many years, without opposition and without much formality from either side. But seeing that this diversity caused great inconvenience, to the point of giving pagans an opportunity to ridicule our mysteries, the Bishops of Rome sought to establish uniformity in all the churches.
Pope Victor, towards the end of the second century of the Church, acted effectively on this matter, but not without encountering much opposition. Councils of Bishops were held in the most illustrious churches of the Christian world in Asia and Europe, where all agreed with the Pope to establish a common rule for the celebration of Easter, and they wrote to all other churches that henceforth the mystery of the Resurrection of Our Savior would only be celebrated on Sunday, and the Lenten [Paschal] fast would continue until that day.
The Bishops of the province of Asia, led by Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, strongly opposed the decree until Pope Victor threatened them with excommunication, and according to some, even did so (as Eusebius’s text is somewhat ambiguous on this point). However, the matter remained unresolved until the Council of Nicaea, and in the meantime, some churches separated from the Asian Quartodecimans, while others joined them. Finally, the difference was settled at the Ecumenical Council, and those who did not submit to its decisions were considered rebels and heretics by the entire Catholic Church.
Article II:
First Proposition: The Quartodecimans never celebrated what we now call the feast of Easter on the fourteenth of the moon.
What we call today the feast of Easter is the feast of the Resurrection, but the Quartodecimans never celebrated the feast of the Resurrection on the fourteenth of the moon. This is what I intend to prove.
Firstly, I maintain that no ancient author more than three hundred years after the Council of Nicaea ever blamed or accused the Quartodecimans of solemnizing the feast of the Resurrection on the fourteenth of the moon. None of them, discussing their controversies with other churches, have said so. It is correctly stated that they observed “Pascha” on the fourteenth of the moon, but I assert that by the word “Pascha”, the mystery of the Resurrection is not meant.
Second, with what sense would they have solemnized the glorious mystery of the Saviour’s Resurrection on that day? The feast was instituted in the Church from the birth of Christianity in memory of Christ’s triumph, and the victory he won over death and hell. He triumphed in this manner only on the sixteenth and seventeenth. Why commemorate this on the fourteenth, the day he was arrested, delivered to his enemies, succumbed temporarily to their power, and uttered these words: “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness”? (Lk. 22:53)
Thirdly, attributing such bizarre conduct to the Quartodecimans is also attributing it, not only to many wise and holy Bishops of the Asian churches during the time of Pope Victor, and many more of the same nature who lived from then until the Council of Nicaea, but also to Saint Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostles, and finally to Saint Philip and Saint John themselves.
It should be noted here that the tradition, on which the Bishop of Ephesus and his colleagues (the other Bishops) relied to oppose Pope Victor, was a genuine tradition. Polycrates strongly proved its authenticity, and no one ever refuted it.
“We others,” said Polycrates in Eusebius, “we attach ourselves to the true and genuine day, neither adding nor taking anything away.
“Our Asia has seen great luminaries of the Church fall asleep, who shall rise again on the great day of the Lord, when he shall come with glory from heaven and shall raise all the saints. To wit, Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis, and his two aged virgin daughters; and a third whom God honored with the gift of Prophecy, and who now rests in Ephesus.
“And more, John, who had the honor of reposing on the Lord’s breast, who was a Bishop, Martyr and Doctor of the Church, and who died in Ephesus; Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna; and Thraseas, Bishop of Eumenia, whose body rests in Smyrna; Bishop Sagaris also, who died in Laodicea, all martyrs of Jesus Christ. The Blessed Papirius, Saint Melito the eunuch, did nothing without the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and who now rests in Sardis, awaiting the visitation from heaven when he shall rise from the dead.
“All these great saints observed the fourteenth day of the Moon of the Pascha, according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect from anything, and following constantly the rule of their faith.
“Moreover, I, Polycrates, who am the least of you all, have also followed the tradition of my relatives, among whom I count seven bishops, and I am the eighth of my family; they all marked the Pascha on the day when the Jews put away the leaven out of their house.”
This is what Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, wrote to Pope Victor on the subject of “Pascha.”
Saint Irenaeus, though on the side of Pope Victor and sharing his sentiment, confirms the truth of this tradition. In a letter, where he exhorts the Pope not to carry things too far on a point that was merely one of pure discipline, he writes:
“Your predecessors,” he says, “did not fail to communicate with the predecessors of those whom you threaten excommunication. And when the most blessed Polycarp came to Rome in the time of Anicetus, despite a few minor disagreements they had on various points, they did not fail to exchange the kiss of peace, and did not dispute a great deal on this particular point. For Anicetus could never persuade Polycarp to change his custom, because during all the time that he lived with Saint John and the other Apostles, he had always observed thus, etc.”
This manner, then, which seems so irregular and so little in conformity with good sense – celebrating the anniversary of Our Lord’s Resurrection on the day of His Passion – would have had Saint John and Saint Philip, and perhaps some other apostles, as its authors.
Furthermore, the reason Polycrates gives in his letter for not changing the custom of his church clearly shows that they did not celebrate the Resurrection on the fourteenth.
“All these holy bishops,” he said, “These Apostles, and these disciples of the Apostles whom I have cited, observed the fourteenth day of the Moon of Pascha only by follows the Gospel, without ranging anything and in conformity with the rule of our Faith.”
What does this Bishop mean here? Is there any explicit command in the Gospel regarding the celebration of the feast of Pascha? Do we see in some place that the fourteenth day is determined there? He means none of this. He only claims, and can claim nothing else, that by reading the Gospel, one can see the order to be kept in the celebration of Pascha, as Our Lord observed it on the fourteenth of the moon, so Christians should also observe it on that day. But if it were about the feast of the Resurrection, the Gospel would have clearly shown that it should not be solemnized on the fourteenth of the moon, because, according to the Gospel, Our Lord did not rise until three days later.
At that time, they aimed to observe literally everything Our Lord did on that occasion; hence, the historian Socrates (Book 5, Chapter 22), while maintaining that there was scrupulosity and superstition in celebrating in this manner, says about them:
“If they are such scrupulous observers of all these things, they should not only observe the months and the days but also everything that Jesus Christ did or suffered or expressed through figures. They should keep their Pascha in cenacle or an upper room, untie a donkey, have those they send to prepare the Pascha meet a man carrying a pitcher of water.”
Thus, the issue between Pope Victor and the Quartodecimans was not whether they celebrated the feast of the Resurrection on the fourteenth of the moon. I believe, therefore, that my first proposition is perfectly proven: that the Quartodecimans never celebrated the feast of the Resurrection on the fourteenth of the moon. I proceed to the second proposition, which will further confirm this.
Article III:
Second Proposition: On the fourteenth day of the Moon, they held the Paschal feast without any relation to the Mystery of the Resurrection.
When it is said that the Quartodecimans celebrated Passover on the fourteenth of the moon, it must be understood in the same sense as in the commandments Moses gave to the Jews, to eat their Passover on the fourteenth of the moon. But the Jews ate their Passover on the night of the fourteenth of the moon.
I maintain, therefore, that when it is said the Quartodecimans celebrated Pascha on the fourteenth of the moon, it principally means that they held the feast of Pascha on the night of the fourteenth.
Not only the Quartodecimans but also other churches had retained, in the celebration of the Paschal mysteries and related things, some Jewish ceremonies. However, they had Christianized them in their purpose and the significance which they gave them. Such was the most considerable and essential of all, namely, the eating of the Paschal Lamb, and even some legal observances that preceded it – not to mention the universal observance, which remains today, of not celebrating Pascha before the fourteenth of the moon, as stated in Exodus chapter 12 and often mentioned by Saint Epiphanius, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, etc., when speaking of the celebration of Passover.
Saint Epiphanius, discussing the error of the Quartodecimans in a passage where it is difficult to comprehend what he truly meant, nonetheless, makes very clear what I assert regarding the Paschal Lamb.
“The Quartodecimans,” he says, “celebrate Pascha on the fourteenth; they must bring the lamb on the tenth and keep it until the fourteenth.”
This is what he adds regarding the Catholics:
“The Catholic Church, gathering everything necessary for the celebration of this holy Mystery, does not depart from the truth. For it not only observes the fourteenth day but also an entire week, observing it as seven sabbaths, so that after the pattern of the things done by the Lord, everything ends with the Resurrection and the joy of the Paschal feast. Thus, besides the fourteenth of the moon, it also observes the solar course, to avoid two Paschas in one year, and to ensure no year passes without a Pascha. Therefore, we observe the fourteenth of the moon in such a way that we always wait for the equinox to pass before celebrating Pascha, ensuring that the end of this entire period is Sunday. We also take a lamb from the tenth day, representing the name of Jesus through the iota (which is the number ten and the first letter of Jesus), so that we omit nothing that can contribute to the solemnity of this holy feast of Pascha.”
These last words show, as I have observed, how the faithful infused the Christian spirit and elevated some observances from Judaism to Christianity through mystical meanings; not as precepts, nor would those who were not Quartodecimans have felt much scruple in missing them but as ceremonies very suitable for preserving the memory of some circumstance of our Redemption or another mystery that was figurative in the Old Testament. However, I would not assert that Saint Epiphanius did not speak of the Lamb in relation to the Catholics in a figurative and mystical way. The contrary does not seem evident to me.
Be that as it may, the Quartodecimans ate the lamb on the night of the fourteenth of the moon, and the Catholics always held the feast on the night or day of Pascha. But just as celebrating the Paschal feast was what the Jews properly called celebrating Passover, so in the early times of the Church, for the Christians, the feast was a part of the ceremony, of which the essential was the participation in the holy Mysteries. And since the Quartodecimans held this feast and partook of the sacred mysteries on the night of the fourteenth of the moon, and the other Christians only did so on Sunday, the day they celebrated the Resurrection, it was said that the latter celebrated Pascha on Sunday, and thus the day of the Resurrection and Pascha became synonymous, with either term being used interchangeably to signify the same feast.
The first Christians were Jews; It is by analogy with their Jewish customs and ways of speaking that we must understand those they employed after embracing Christianity, when some of the latter bore a resemblance to the former.
I have added to my proposition that the Quartodecimans observed this Pascha without any relation to the mystery of the Resurrection. My reason is that the ceremony itself has no such relation, neither in its Jewish nor in its Christian aspects. As a Jewish ceremony, it reminded the Jews of their deliverance from Egypt and the miracles God performed to free them, above all how they were spared from the sword of the destroying angel upon seeing the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts – and this is an aspect to which Christians no longer paid attention in this solemnity. As a Christian ceremony, it represented the Passover and the Supper that the Savior celebrated the night before his death, aiming to preserve the memory and institution of the adorable Sacrament of His body and blood. It is to this kind of feast that Saint Paul refers, condemning its abuses in 1 Corinthians 10.
This ceremony, as a Christian observance, did not in any way represent the Resurrection of Jesus Christ but rather manifestly represented His Passion. The Paschal Lamb has always been seen by Christians as a figure of our Savior sacrificed for us. Jesus Christ, says Saint Paul, “Our Passover or our Passover victim, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). One of the Evangelists tells us that it was to foreshadow a circumstance of His Passion that it was said of the Paschal Lamb: “Not a bone of him shall be broken” (John 19:36). Finally, the participation in the body and blood of the Son of God was intended on this occasion to remind the faithful of His death. The Apostle says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death.” (1 Cor. 11:26). Thus observed, this ceremony, in this context, directs the mind to a thought very different from that of the Resurrection; therefore, they celebrated it without relation to this mystery.
The reflection I made in the preceding article about the Quartodecimans’ protest of following exactly the order of the evangelical history, and the incongruity that would have existed in celebrating the feast of the Resurrection on the fourteenth of the moon, which has never been reproached, is further proof of what I have affirmed. And this is not the last time I will present this to my reader’s attention.
But it is good to confirm all this through a passage from Saint John Chrysostom that shows, at the same time, how the Quartodecimans were bound to their manner of celebrating Pascha by this order of the evangelical history, and how the celebration of Pascha was not about the Resurrection. It is in the Homily titled “Against those who fast before the other faithful to accommodate themselves to the Passover of the Jews.” It was a remnant of Quartodecimans still found in Antioch.
“But why speak of the Jews?” he asks. “We ourselves, Christians, no matter how much we desire, can we celebrate precisely the day on which the Lord was crucified? Even if the Jews were neither apostates, nor ungrateful, nor foolish, nor base, nor utterly despicable persons. Even if it is true that they have not departed from the ceremonies and customs of their ancestors, can we, accommodating ourselves to them, celebrate that day on which the Lord was placed upon the Cross, and celebrated the Passover? For note that the day He was crucified was the first day of Unleavened Bread, and a Friday. But these two things cannot always coincide.”
One can see from this, I say, what troubled these devout Judaizers: they imagined that the Church did not sufficiently align its ceremonies with the days on which the mysteries occurred; and it was not about the mystery of the Resurrection but about the Paschal feast and the Passion of Jesus Christ. And that is the third proposition I will prove in the next article.
To be continued.
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Based text of translation made with the assistance of AI and each line scrutinised and checked against the French text.