Speaking about Easter or Passover, we have to mention the
controversy about the timing. This strife was finally settled at the Council at
Nicaea in AD 325, where it was agreed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ on
a Sunday whatever the date. In Wikipedia we read:
"The second stage in the Easter controversy centers
around the First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325). Granted that the great Easter
festival was always to be held on a Sunday, and was not to coincide with a
particular age of the moon, which might occur on any day of the week, a new
dispute arose as to the determination of the Sunday itself, since Sundays can
occur on any date of the month. Shortly before the Nicean Council, in 314, the
Provincial Council of Arles in Gaul had maintained that the Lord's Pasch
should be observed on the same day throughout the world and that each year the
Bishop of Rome should send out letters setting the date of Easter." [1]
First time we hear of divergences in this question is around
the AD 120. According to the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (d. 339)
Polycarp (d. 155), the bishop of Smyrna and a companion of Papias,[2]
who had known the Apostle John, had travelled to Rome to convince the Pope that the right thing was to commemorate
the death of Jesus on the 14th of the lunar month Nisan. In Rome, and
in the West, Sunday had been chosen instead to celebrate the resurrection of
Christ.
Quoting Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, (d. c. 202) Eusebius
writes:
"And when the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in the time
of [Pope] Anicetus, and they disagreed a little about certain other things,
they immediately made peace with one another, not caring to quarrel over this
matter. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had
always observed with John the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with
whom he had associated; neither could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it
as he said that he ought to follow the customs of the presbyters that had
preceded him." [3]
Interestingly, Polycarp based the celebration of the 14th
of Nisan on the practise of the apostles. This would be in harmony with the words
of Jesus when he instituted the Lords Supper: "Then he took a loaf of
bread, gave thanks, broke it in pieces, and handed it to them, saying, 'This is
my body, which is given for you. Keep on doing this in memory of me.'" [4]
Polycarp and Anicetus parted in disagreement, but in peace.
But this was not the end of the controversy. A footnote to Eusebius has this to
tell us:
"About 170 a.d. the controversy broke out again in
Laodicea, the chief disputants being Melito of Sardis and Apolinarius of
Hierapolis. In this controversy Melito advocated the traditional Asiatic custom
of observing the fourteenth day, while Apolinarius opposed it." [5]
Many years after the death of Polycarp, the problem was up
again. Eusebius writes:
"A question of no small importance arose at that time.
For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the
fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice
the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s passover. It was therefore
necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should
happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the
world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from
apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast
on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Saviour." [6]
Polycrates, the Bishop of Ephesus where the Apostle John had
died a hundred years earlier, went to Rome to see Pope Victor (d. 199).
Eusebius quotes Polycrates addressing Victor with these words:
"We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking
away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again
on the day of the Lord’s coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and
shall seek out all the saints. Among these are Philip, one of the twelve
apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis; and his two aged virgin daughters, and
another daughter, who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests at Ephesus; and,
moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the
bosom of the Lord, and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate.
"He fell asleep at Ephesus.
"And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr;
and Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who fell asleep in Smyrna.
"Why need I mention the bishop and martyr Sagaris who
fell asleep in Laodicea, or the blessed Papirius, or Melito, the Eunuch who
lived altogether in the Holy Spirit, and who lies in Sardis, awaiting the
episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead?
"All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover
according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of
faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the
tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of
my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always
observed the day when the people put away the leaven. I, therefore, brethren,
who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren
throughout the world, and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not
affrighted by terrifying words. For those greater than I have said ‘We ought to
obey God rather than man.’” [7]
It seems, therefore, that Christians in the East, Antioch
included, continued to observe the 14th of the lunar month of Nisan
as the day of Jesus' death.
Interestingly, there was never any disagreement between the
eastern and western churches about the date of Jesus' resurrection. All of them
admitted that it fell on Sunday, Nisan 16. The issue was about which day to
observe. In the words of Catholic Encyclopedia:
"The question thus debated was therefore primarily
whether Easter was to be kept on a Sunday, or whether Christians should observe
the Holy Day of the Jews, the fourteenth of Nisan, which might occur on any day
of the week. Those who kept Easter with the Jews were called Quartodecimans or terountes
(observants); but even in the time of Pope Victor this usage hardly extended
beyond the churches of Asia Minor." [8]
That the Sunday celebration of western churches was for the
Lord's resurrection is clear enough. But what did the Quartodecimans, or the eastern
churches do on Nisan 14?
These words of Eusebius seem to clarify the matter:
"A question of no small importance arose at that time.
For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the
fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice
the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s Passover." [9]
Keeping in mind that the 14th of Nisan started at
sunset on Thursday and continued until Friday evening, it is reasonable to
believe that the ancient custom consisted of celebrating the Lord's Supper (also
called Eucharist) in commemoration of the death of Christ. As a footnote to
Eusebius states:
"The Asiatic churches, in observing the fourteenth of
Nisan, were commemorating the last passover feast and the death of the paschal
Lamb." [10]
The question now is how this dissent came about. The
standpoint of the eastern churches is clear: they just did what the scriptures apostles
had told them to do. The West chose to celebrate the resurrection instead of
the death of Christ, claiming that this was what the apostles Peter and Paul
had told them to do.[11] However, both Peter and Paul are connected
to the eastern city of Antioch as well, and Paul travelled extensively in Asia
Minor, where the practice of the Quartodecimans was widespread.
One cannot help wondering if the western churches changed an
ancient custom simply to disassociate themselves from the Jews, who celebrated
their Passover on the same day Christ instituted the Lord's Supper.
________
1. "Easter
controversy," Wikipedia, accessed April 4, 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_controversy.
2. Papias is
reported to have said:
"I will
not hesitate to add also for you to my interpretations what I formerly learned
with care from the Presbyters and have carefully stored in memory, giving
assurance of its truth. For I did not take pleasure as the many do in those who
speak much, but in those who teach what is true, nor in those who relate
foreign precepts, but in those who relate the precepts which were given by the
Lord to the faith and came down from the Truth itself. And also if any follower
of the Presbyters happened to come, I would inquire for the sayings of the
Presbyters, what Andrew said, or what Peter said, or what Philip or what Thomas
or James or what John or Matthew or any other of the Lord's disciples, and for
the things which other of the Lord's disciples, and for the things which
Aristion and the Presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, were saying. For I
considered that I should not get so much advantage from matter in books as from
the voice which yet lives and remains." - Michael
William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers in English (Baker Academic, 2006) 309,
quoted at Wikipedia, "Papias," accessed on April 6, 2013.
3. Eusebius Pamphilius, ed.
Philip Shaff, Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of
Constantine, (New York:Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890 493 (Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.html
).
4. Luke 22:19, International
Standard Version (© 2012).
5. Eusebius Pamphilius, Church
History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine, 487n1687.
6. Ibid., 487-88.
7. Ibid., 489-90.
8. "Easter
Controversy," Catholic Encyclipedia (New Advent), accessed April 6,
2013, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05228a.htm.
9. Eusebius Pamphilius, Church History, Life of
Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine,485.
10. Ibid., 409n1702.
11. Thus Early
Church History to A. D. 451, Lesson 10, Page1, accessed April 6, 2013, http://www.parsonsapple.com/church%20history/Lecture10.pdf.
