View source for Quartodecimanism

{{Short description|Observing the Easter on the eve of 14 Nisan}}
'''Quartodecimanism''' (from the [[Vulgate]] [[Latin]] ''quarta decima'' in [[Leviticus]] 23:5,<ref>{{Bibleverse|Leviticus|23:5|4}}: "Mense primo, quarta decima die mensis, ad vesperum Pascha Domini est."</ref> meaning fourteenth) is the name given to the practice of commemorating the death of Christ on the day of Passover, the 14th of [[Nisan]] according to biblical dating, on whatever day of the week it occurs. The Quartodeciman controversy in the Church was the question of whether to celebrate [[Easter]] on Sunday (the first day of the week), or Passover (the time of sacrifice of the Passover lamb).<ref>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Easter Controversy |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05228a.htm |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=www.newadvent.org |quote=tell us almost all that we know concerning the paschal controversy in its first stage. A letter of St. Irenæus is among the extracts just referred to, and this shows that the diversity of practice regarding Easter had existed at least from the time of Pope Sixtus (c. 120). Further, Irenaeus states that St. Polycarp, who like the other Asiatics, kept Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon, whatever day of the week that might be, following therein the tradition which he claimed to have derived from St. John the Apostle, came to Rome c. 150 about this very question, but could not be persuaded by Pope Anicetus to relinquish his Quartodeciman observance. 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. After the pope's strong measures the Quartodecimans seem to have gradually dwindled away. Origen in the "Philosophumena" (VIII, xviii) seems to regard them as a mere handful of wrong-headed nonconformists.}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Early Christianity ===
[[File:Saint Polycarp. Engraving. Wellcome V0032929.jpg|thumb|Saint Polycarp was a Quartodeciman.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />]]
There is scholarly disagreement on which tradition is the original. Some scholars believe that Sunday observance began before Quartodecimanism, while others have argued that Quartodecimanism was original.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradshaw |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EHOpAwAAQBAJ&dq=Quartodeciman+easter+celebration&pg=PT61 |title=Early Christian Worship: An introduction to ideas and practice |date=2011-02-15 |publisher=SPCK |isbn=978-0-281-06488-5 |language=en}}</ref> The Quartodecimans claimed that their traditions are inherited from the Apostles [[John the Apostle|John]] and [[Philip the Apostle|Philip]], while western churches claimed that their views of Easter have been inherited from [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] and [[Saint Peter|Peter]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hefele |first=bp Charles Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cL5lAAAAMAAJ&dq=Quartodeciman+Orthodox&pg=PA307 |title=A History of the Christian Councils, From the Original Documents, to the Close of the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325 |date=1894 |publisher=Clark |language=en}}</ref> Quartodecimanism was popular in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], [[Jerusalem]] and [[Syria]],<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=IshYoBoy.com |date=2018-03-30 |title=When Heresy was Orthodox: Quartodecimanism as a Brief Case Study {{!}} CSCO |url=http://www.christianorigins.div.ed.ac.uk/2018/03/30/when-heresy-was-orthodox-quartodecimanism-as-a-brief-case-study/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |language=en-GB}}</ref>{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 23]}} however it was rejected by churches in other regions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawson |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y45LAwAAQBAJ&dq=Quartodeciman+western+church&pg=PA5 |title=The Biblical Theology of Saint Irenaeus |date=2006-02-21 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-59752-580-0 |language=en}}</ref> [[Polycarp]], like other Asiatics, kept Easter on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan. According to Eusebius, Polycarp claimed that his practice came from the apostle John.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Easter Controversy |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05228a.htm |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Passover-Easter-Quartodeciman Controversy |url=https://www.gci.org/articles/the-passover-easter-quartodeciman-controversy/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Grace Communion International |language=en-US}}</ref> Some of the [[Montanism|Montanists]] were also Quartodeciman.{{Sfn|Trevett|1996|p=202}} Montanism brought Quartodeciman practices to the west, for example [[Blastus (Montanist)|Blastus]] was a Roman Montanist who was also a Quartodeciman.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=taagmnUcsD8C&dq=Blastus+montanist+quartodeciman&pg=PT530 |title=NPNF2-01. Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine |publisher=CCEL |isbn=978-1-61025-062-7}}</ref> It is unclear if the [[Ebionites]] were Quartodeciman, however they probably observed Passover in addition to other Jewish festivals.<ref name=":0" />

[[Melito of Sardis]], [[Sagar of Laodicea]], [[Papirius of Smyrna]], perhaps [[Apollinaris of Laodicea]] and [[Polycrates of Ephesus]] held Quartodeciman views.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Stephen G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LJRkDQAAQBAJ&dq=Melito+Quartodeciman&pg=PA97 |title=Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity: Volume 2: Separation and Polemic |date=2006-01-01 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-88920-552-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lieu |first=Judith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eF2vAwAAQBAJ&dq=Melito+Quartodeciman&pg=PA232 |title=Image and Reality: The Jews in the World of the Christians in the Second Century |date=2003-06-01 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-48859-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hilhorst |first=A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCtergDhWo4C&dq=Polycrates+quartodeciman&pg=PA67 |title=The Apostolic Age in Patristic Thought |date=2004 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-12611-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hill |first=Charles E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCaQDwAAQBAJ&dq=Sagaris+quartodeciman&pg=PA297 |title=The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church |date=2004-03-19 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-153264-1 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Pullan|1896|p=305}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cassels |first=Walter Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNNhEAAAQBAJ&dq=Apollinaris+of+Laodicea+Quartodeciman&pg=PT413 |title=Supernatural Religion (Vol. 1-3): An Inquiry Into the Reality of Divine Revelation |date=2020-10-27 |publisher=e-artnow |language=en|edition=Complete }}</ref> The [[Didascalia Apostolorum|''Didascalia'']] likely drew from a Quartodeciman source.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Stewart-Sykes |first=A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-p5DwAAQBAJ&dq=Quartodeciman&pg=PA27 |title=The Lamb's High Feast: Melito, Peri Pascha and the Quartodeciman Paschal Liturgy at Sardis |date=2015-12-22 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31309-5 |language=en}}</ref> Some [[Novatianism|Novatians]] that spread into the east were Quartodecimans.<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Novatian and Novatianism|volume=11|first=Henry Palmer |last=Chapman}}</ref>

By the 4th century the influence of Quartodecimans declined; later they would even be persecuted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Passover-Easter-Quartodeciman Controversy |url=https://www.gci.org/articles/the-passover-easter-quartodeciman-controversy/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Grace Communion International |language=en-US}}</ref>

The opponents of Quartodecimanism argued that it is a form of [[Judaizers|Judaizing]].<ref name=":1" />

=== Roman Schism ===
[[Blastus (Montanist)|Blastus]], a Montanist caused a schism in Rome about the date of Easter, argued that Christians must keep Easter at the same time commanded in Exodus for the Passover and gained a following in Rome, and was then accused of Judaizing by the Church. This schism in Rome likely influenced the hostility of [[Pope Victor I]] against Quartodecimanism.{{sfn | Trevett | 1996 | p=202}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gerlach |first=Karl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PB-zfFmR0I0C&dq=Blastus+montanist+rome&pg=PA375 |title=The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History |date=1998 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=978-90-429-0570-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brent |first=Revd Allen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yep5DwAAQBAJ&dq=Blastus+montanist+2nd+century&pg=PA64 |title=Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century: Communities in Tension before the Emergence of a Monarch-Bishop |date=2015-12-22 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31298-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schaff |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTWTBwAAQBAJ&dq=Blastus+montanist+2nd+century&pg=PT1248 |title=The Christian Church from the 1st to the 20th Century |date=2015-03-24 |publisher=Delmarva Publications, Inc. |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkdAAQAAMAAJ&dq=Blastus+montanist+2nd+century&pg=PA229 |title=A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series |last2=Wace |first2=Henry |date=1890 |publisher=Parker |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=taagmnUcsD8C&dq=Blastus+montanist&pg=PT530 |title=NPNF2-01. Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine |publisher=CCEL |isbn=978-1-61025-062-7 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Quartodeciman controversy ===
The Quartodeciman controversy arose because Christians in Jerusalem and Asia Minor observed Easter on the date of Passover, the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar (Nisan), regardless of the day of the week on which it occurred, while the churches in and around Rome celebrated Easter on the Sunday following first Full Moon following the vernal equinox, calling it "the day of the resurrection of our Saviour". The difference became an ecclesiastical controversy when the practice was condemned by synods of bishops.{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 23]}}

==== Background ====
Of the disputes over the date when the Lord's Supper (Eucharist) should be celebrated, disputes known as [[Easter controversy|Paschal/Easter controversies]], the quartodeciman is the first recorded.

In the mid–[[Christianity in the 2nd century|2nd century]], the practice in [[Early centers of Christianity#Anatolia|Asia Minor]] was for the pre-Paschal fast to end with a feast held on the 14th day of Nisan, when the [[barley]] was ripe after the new moon near the Jewish lunar month of Nisan (no matter the day of the week on which it occurred), the date on which the Passover sacrifice had been offered when the [[Second Temple]] stood, and "the day when the people put away the leaven".{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24]}} Those who observed this practice were called ''quartodecimani'', [[Latin]] for "fourteenthers", because of holding their celebration on the 14th day of Nisan.

The practice had been followed by [[Polycarp]], who was a disciple of [[John the Apostle]] and bishop of Smyrna (c. 69&nbsp;– c. 155) - one of the [[seven churches of Asia]], and by [[Melito of Sardis]] (d. c. 180).{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24]}} [[Irenaeus]] says that Polycarp visited Rome when [[Pope Anicetus|Anicetus]] was its bishop (c. 68–153), and among the topics discussed was this divergence of custom, with Rome celebrating the [[Easter]] always on Sunday. Irenaeus noted:

{{Blockquote|Neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John the disciple of our Lord, and the other [[Apostles in the New Testament|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.|source={{harvnb|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24]}} }}

But neither considered that the disagreement required them to break off [[communion (Christianity)|communion]] and initiate a [[schism (religion)|schism]]. Indeed, "Anicetus conceded the administration of the Eucharist in the church to Polycarp, manifestly as a mark of respect. And they parted from each other in peace, both those who observed, and those who did not, maintaining the peace of the whole church."{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24]}}

[[Sozomen]] also wrote:
{{Blockquote|As the bishops of the West did not deem it necessary to dishonor the tradition believed to be handed down to them by Peter and by Paul, and as, on the other hand, the Asiatic bishops persisted in following the rules laid down by John the evangelist, they unanimously agreed to continue in the observance of the festival according to their respective customs, without separation from communion with each other. They faithfully and justly assumed, that those who accorded in the essentials of worship ought not to separate from one another on account of customs.|source={{harvnb|Sozomen|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/26027.htm Book VII Chapter 19]}} }}

A modern source says that the discussion between Polycarp and Anicetus in Rome took place within the framework of a synod.<ref name = OrthAns />

Thus the churches in Asia appealed to the Apostle John in support of their practice, while Sozomen wrote that the Roman custom (observed, according to Irenaeus, since at least the time of [[Pope Sixtus I|Bishop Xystus]] of 115–25){{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24]}} was believed to have been handed down by the Apostles Peter and Paul,{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250107.htm Book VII Chapter 19]}} and Eusebius states that in Judea and Egypt the Sunday observance was also believed to have originated with the Apostles.{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 25]}}

===Condemnatory synods===
According to Eusebius, in the last decade of the 2nd century a number of synods were convened to deal with the controversy, ruling unanimously that the celebration of Easter should be observed and be exclusively on Sunday.
{{blockquote|Synods and conferences of bishops were convened, and drew up a decree of the Church, in the form of letters addressed to Christians everywhere, that never on any day other than the [[Lord's Day]] should the mystery of the Lord's resurrection from the dead be celebrated, and on that day alone we should observe the end of the Easter fast.|source={{harvnb|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 23]}} }}

These synods were held in [[Syria Palaestina|Palestine]], [[Diocese of Pontus|Pontus]] and [[Osrhoene]] in the east, and in Rome and [[Roman Gaul|Gaul]] in the west.{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 23]}} The council in Rome, presided over by its bishop [[Pope Victor I|Victor]], took place in 193 and sent a letter about the matter to [[Polycrates of Ephesus]] and the churches of the Roman province of Asia.<ref name=OrthAns /> Within the same year, Polycrates presided over a council at Ephesus attended by several bishops throughout that province, which rejected Victor's authority and kept the province's paschal tradition.<ref name=OrthAns />

Polycrates emphatically stated that he was following the tradition passed down to him:

{{blockquote|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 [[Second Coming|day of the Lord's coming]] ... 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. 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.'|source={{harvnb|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24]}} }}

===Excommunication===
On receiving the negative response of Polycrates, Victor attempted to cut off Polycrates and the others who took this stance from the common unity, but bishops including Irenaeus, [[bishop of Lugdunum]] in Gaul, interceded, recommending that Victor follow the more peaceful attitude of his predecessors.  The attempted excommunication did not take effect, though it is unclear if Victor reversed his decision or his excommunication was simply ignored.
{{Blockquote |Thereupon Victor, who presided over the church at Rome, immediately attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia, with the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox; and he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate. But this did not please all the bishops. And they besought him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are extant, sharply rebuking Victor. Among them was Irenaeus, who, sending letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be observed only on the "Lord's day" namely Easter. He fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom.|source={{harvnb|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24]}} see {{harvnb|Cantalamessa|1993|pp=33–37}} }}

===Resolution===
In the short following chapter of the account by Eusebius, a chapter headed "How All came to an Agreement respecting the Passover", he recounts that the Palestinian bishops [[Narcissus of Jerusalem|Narcissus]] and [[Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea|Theophilus]], together with the bishops of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and [[Acre, Israel|Ptolemais]], wrote a lengthy review of the tradition of Sunday celebration of Easter which believed "had come to them in succession from the apostles", and concluded by saying:
{{Blockquote |Endeavor to send copies of our epistle to every church, that we may not furnish occasion to those who easily deceive their souls. We show you indeed that also in Alexandria they keep it on the same day that we do. For letters are carried from us to them and from them to us, so that in the same manner and at the same time we keep the sacred day.|source={{harvnb|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 25]}} }}

Historically, there had been a debate about when quartodecimanism disappeared and in particular whether it disappeared before or after the [[first ecumenical council]] (Nicaea I) in 325. According to Mark DelCogliano, "the older opinion persists" but Duchesne's opinion{{sfn|Duchesne|1880}} "has gained widespread acceptance."{{sfn|DelCogliano|2011|p=44}} According to DelCogliano, "by the early 4th century all Christians were celebrating Easter on a Sunday. Accordingly, it was not the quartodeciman practice that Constantine sought to eliminate, but rather the so-called 'Protopaschite' practice which calculated the paschal full moon according to the Jewish lunar calendar and not the Julian solar calendar".{{sfn|DelCogliano|2011|p=44}}

As shown, for instance, by the [[Sardica paschal table]], it was quite common at that time that the Jewish calendrical year started before and after the equinox according to Exodus 12:2 and Deuteronomy 16:1. In case the previous year had started after the equinox, two Passovers would be celebrated in the same solar year (the solar New Year was starting on March 21). Note: (The word month being Hebrew ''Chodesh'' which literally means New Moon which is referenced in Deuteronomy 16:1). Since the 3rd century this disorder of the Jewish calendar of the time was lamented by several Christian writers, who felt that the Jews were often using a wrong lunation as their Nisan month and advocated the introduction of an independent ''[[computus]]'' by the Christians.

In a letter to the bishops who had not been present, Emperor [[Constantine I]] said that it had been decided to adopt a uniform date, rejecting the custom of the Jews, who had crucified Jesus and whose practice often meant that two passovers were celebrated in the same solar year: (Even though there is a commandment to keep a second passover in Numbers 9:10-12 if found unclean to keep the first)
{{Blockquote|It was resolved by the united judgment of all present, that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day. For what can be more becoming or honorable to us than that this feast, from which we date our hopes of immortality, should be observed unfailingly by all alike, according to one ascertained order and arrangement? And first of all, it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. For we have it in our power, if we abandon their custom, to prolong the due observance of this ordinance to future ages, by a truer order, which we have preserved from the very day of the passion until the present time. Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way. A course at once legitimate and honorable lies open to our most holy religion. Beloved brethren, let us with one consent adopt this course, and withdraw ourselves from all participation in their baseness... being altogether ignorant of the true adjustment of this question, they sometimes celebrate Pascha (Passover) twice in the same year. Why then should we follow those who are confessedly in grievous error? Surely we shall never consent to keep this feast a second time in the same year... And let your Holinesses' sagacity reflect how grievous and scandalous it is that on the self-same days some should be engaged in fasting, others in festive enjoyment; and again, that after the days of Pascha(Easter) some should be present at banquets and amusements, while others are fulfilling the appointed fasts. It is, then, plainly the will of Divine Providence (as I suppose you all clearly see), that this usage should receive fitting correction, and be reduced to one uniform rule.|source={{sfn|Eusebius|1890a|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/25023.htm Book III Chapter 18]}} }}

==Legacy==
It is not known how long the Nisan 14 practice lasted. The church historian [[Socrates of Constantinople]] knew of quartodecimans who were deprived of their churches by [[John Chrysostom]],{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250106.htm Book VI Chapter 11]}}{{sfn|Socrates of Constantinople|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/26016.htm Book 6, Chapter 11]}} and harassed in unspecified ways by [[Nestorius]],{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250107.htm Book VII Chapter 29]}} both bishops of Constantinople. This indicates that the Nisan 14 practice, or a practice that was called by the same name, lingered into the 4th century.

Because this was the first-recorded Paschal/Easter controversy, it has had a strong influence on the minds of some subsequent generations. [[Wilfrid]], the 7th-century bishop of [[York]] in [[Northumbria]], styled his opponents in the Paschal/Easter controversy of his day "quartodecimans",{{sfn|Stephanus|1983|pp=117–118}} though they celebrated Pascha ([[Easter]]) on Sunday. Many scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries thought that the dispute over Pascha ([[Easter]]) that was discussed at Nicaea was between the Nisan 14 practice and Sunday observance.{{sfn|Jones|1943|p=18}} According to one account, "A final settlement of the dispute was one among the other reasons which led Constantine to summon the council at Nicaea in 325. At that time, the Syrians and Antiochenes were the solitary champions of the observance of the 14th day. The decision of the council was unanimous that Pascha ([[Easter]]) was to be kept on Sunday, and on the same Sunday throughout the world, and that 'none hereafter should follow the blindness of the Jews{{'"}}.{{sfn|Fallow|1911|pp=828–829}} A new translation, published in 1999, of Eusebius' ''Life of Constantine'' suggests that this view is no longer widely accepted;{{sfn|Cameron|Hall|1999|p=260}} its view is that the dispute at Nicaea was between two schools of Sunday observance: those who followed the traditional practice of relying on Jewish informants to determine the lunar month of the Nisan in which Passover would fall, and those who wished to set it using Christian computations using the spring equinox on the solar calendar. Laurent Cleenewerck suggests that the [[East-West schism]] could even be argued to have started with Victor's attempt to excommunicate the [[Roman province of Asia|Asian]] churches.{{Sfn|Cleenewerck|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oeKOUb6OcG4C&pg=PA155 155]}} Despite Victor's failure to carry out his intent to excommunicate the Asian churches, many Catholic theologians point to this episode as evidence of [[papal primacy]] and authority in the [[Early Christianity|early Church]], citing the fact that none of the bishops challenged his right to excommunicate but rather questioned the wisdom and charity of doing so.{{Sfn|Cleenewerck|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oeKOUb6OcG4C&pg=PA155 155]}} From the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox perspective]], Victor had to relent in the end and we see that the [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern Churches]] never grant him presidency over anything other than his own church, his own synod.{{citation needed |date=October 2012}} Cleenewerck points out that [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] simply refers to Victor as one of the "rulers of the Churches", not the ruler of a yet unknown or unformed "universal Church".{{Sfn|Cleenewerck|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oeKOUb6OcG4C&pg=PA155 155]}} As the date of observance of the Resurrection of Christ as being on the Sunday day of the week rather than the 14th day of the month was not resolved by Papal authority it was only finally resolved by an Ecumenical Council.{{Sfn | Cleenewerck | 2008 | pp = [https://books.google.com/books?id=oeKOUb6OcG4C&pg=PA157 150–57]}} [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] even called Quartodecimanism a heresy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tabbernee |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wu2vCQAAQBAJ&dq=Quartodecimans+eucharist&pg=PA367 |title=Fake Prophecy and Polluted Sacraments: Ecclesiastical and Imperial Reactions to Montanism |date=2007-10-01 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-2131-3 |language=en}}</ref>

The rejection of Bishop [[Pope Anicetus|Anicetus]]' position on the quartodeciman by Polycarp, and later Polycrates' letter to Pope Victor I, has been used by Orthodox theologians as proof against the argument that the Churches in Asia Minor accepted the [[Primacy of the Bishop of Rome]] and the teaching of [[Papal supremacy]].{{Sfn | Cleenewerck | 2008 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=oeKOUb6OcG4C&pg=PA154 154]}}

[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and [[Bible Student movement|Bible Students]] celebrate the [[Jehovah's Witnesses practices#Memorial of Christ.27s death|Memorial of Christ's death]] on Nisan 14, as it begins at sunset,<ref name=JW /> while the [[Living Church of God]] keeps the quartodeciman Passover<ref name=tomorrowsworld /> on the evening beginning Nisan 14.<ref name=tomorrowsworld1 />
{{Table of dates of Easter|nonotelist=y}}

==See also==
* [[Anti-Judaism]]
* [[Celtic Christianity]]
* [[Celtic Rite]]
* [[Christian Torah-submission]]
* [[Christian views on the Old Covenant]]
* [[Easter controversy]]
* [[Expounding of the Law]]
* [[New Covenant]]
* [[Paschal mystery]]
* [[Peri Pascha]]
* [[Supersessionism]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name = OrthAns>{{Citation | url = http://www.orthodoxanswers.org/historyOrthodox | title = Orthodox Answers | contribution = An Orthodox Christian Historical Timeline}}.</ref>

<ref name=JW>{{Citation | title = Insight on The Scriptures |volume=1 | publisher = Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society | year = 1988 | page = 268}}.</ref>

<ref name=tomorrowsworld>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2013/march-april/are-you-a-quartodeciman-should-you-be|title=Are You a Quartodeciman? Should You Be?|date=2013-09-30|work=Tomorrow's World|access-date=2018-05-18|language=en-US}}</ref>

<ref name=tomorrowsworld1>{{Cite book|url=https://www.tomorrowsworld.org/booklets/the-holy-days-gods-master-plan|title=The Holy Days: God's Master Plan|publisher=Tomorrow's World|date=19 August 2013 |access-date=2018-05-18}}</ref>

}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}

*{{harvc|last1=Cameron|first1=Averil|last2=Hall |first2=Stuart G.|chapter=Commentary|p=|url=|in=Eusebius of Caesarea|year=1999}}
*{{cite book|last=Cantalamessa|first=Raniero |author-link=Raniero Cantalamessa|year=1993|editor1-last=Cantalamessa|editor1-first=Raniero|editor2-last=Quigley|editor2-first=James M.|editor3-last=Lienhard|editor3-first=Joseph T.|translator1-last=Quigley|translator1-first=James M.|translator2-last=Lienhard|translator2-first=Joseph T.|title=Easter in the early church: an anthology of Jewish and early Christian texts|location=Collegeville, MN|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=9780814621646|pages=1–23, 33–37}}
*{{cite book|last=Cleenewerck|first=Laurent |year=2008|title=His broken body: understanding and healing the schism between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeKOUb6OcG4C |access-date=28 October 2012|publisher=Euclid University Press|isbn=978-0-615-18361-9}} {{Self-published source|date=June 2015}}
*{{cite book|last=DelCogliano|first=Mark |year=2011|chapter=The promotion of the Constantinian agenda in Eusebius of Caesarea's ''On the feast of Pascha''|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkhHst91hQIC&pg=PA46 |editor1-last=Inowlocki|editor1-first=Sabrina|editor2-last=Zamagni|editor2-first=Claudio|title=Reconsidering Eusebius: collected papers on literary, historical, and theological issues|series=Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae|volume=107|location=Leiden [u.a.]|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004203853}}
*{{cite journal|last=Duchesne|first=Louis |title=La question de la Pâque au Concile de Nicée |journal=[[Revue des questions historiques]]|language=fr|volume=28|location=Paris|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k16946d/f5.item|date=1 July 1880|publisher=Victor Palmé|pages=5–43}}
*{{cite book|last=Stephanus|first=Eddius |editor=David Hugh Farmer|title=The Age of Bede |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1buAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-044437-7|chapter=Ch. 12 Life of Wilfrid}}
*{{cite book|translator=Arthur Cushman McGiffert |series=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series |volume=1 |editor1=Philip Schaff |editor2=Henry Wace |location=Buffalo, NY |publisher=Christian Literature Publishing Co. |date=1890 |title=Church History |author=Eusebius |author-link=Eusebius |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2501.htm}}
*{{cite book|translator=Ernest Cushing Richardson |series=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series |volume=1 |editor1=Philip Schaff |editor2=Henry Wace |location=Buffalo, NY |publisher=Christian Literature Publishing Co. |date=1890a |title=Life of Constantine |author=Eusebius |author-link=Eusebius |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2502.htm}}
*{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Charles W |title=Bedae Opera de Temporibus |publisher=Medieval Academy of America |place=Cambridge |year=1943}}
*{{cite book|translator= A.C. Zenos|series= Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series|volume= 2|editor1= Philip Schaff |editor2= Henry Wace|location=Buffalo, NY|publisher= Christian Literature Publishing Co.|date= 1890 |via=[[New Advent]]|title=Church History|author=Socrates of Constantinople|author-link=Socrates of Constantinople}}
*{{cite book|translator= Chester D. Hartranft |series= Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series|volume= 3 |editor1= Philip Schaff |editor2= Henry Wace|location=Buffalo, NY |publisher= Christian Literature Publishing Co. |date= 1890 |via=[[New Advent]] |title=Ecclesiastical History|author=Sozomen |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2602.htm}}
*{{Cite book |last=Pullan |first=Leighton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzgsAAAAYAAJ&dq=Papirius+quartodeciman&pg=PA305 |title=Lectures on Religion |date=1896 |publisher=Longmans, Green |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last=Trevett |first=C. |title=Montanism: Gender, Authority and the New Prophecy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=Montanism: Gender, Authority, and the New Prophecy |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-52870-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvVKBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202}}
{{refend}}

===Further reading===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.vi.iii.ii.i.html | title = The Paschal Canon | author= Anatolius of Alexandria| author-link= Anatolius of Alexandria| editor-last = Schaff | publisher = CCEL}}
*{{cite book|author=Eusebius of Caesarea|year=1999|editor1-last=Cameron|editor1-first=Averil|editor2-last=Hall|editor2-first=Stuart G.|translator1-last=Cameron|translator1-first=Averil|translator2-last=Hall|translator2-first=Stuart G.|title=Life of Constantine|series=Clarendon ancient history series|location=Oxford [u.a.]|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9781423767664|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KchhO8KEy3cC}}
*{{cite EB1911|last=Fallow|first=Thomas MacCall|wstitle=Easter|volume=8|pages=}}
*{{cite CE1913|last=Thurston|first=Herbert|wstitle=Easter Controversy|volume=5}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|quartodeciman}}
* {{Citation | url = http://www.kerux.com/documents/KeruxV4N1A1.asp | last = Melito | title = Homily on Passover, also known as ''Peri Pascha'' | journal = [[Kerux: The Journal of Northwest Theological Seminary]] | access-date = 2005-09-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070312203732/http://www.kerux.com/documents/KeruxV4N1A1.asp | archive-date = 2007-03-12 | url-status = dead }}.
* {{Citation | archive-date = 2005-10-30 | chapter-url = http://www2.andrews.edu/~samuele/books/sabbath_to_sunday/6.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051030010707/http://www2.andrews.edu/~samuele/books/sabbath_to_sunday/6.html | title = Sabbath to Sunday | last = Samuel | first = E | publisher = Andrews | chapter = 6. Sunday and the Quartodeciman}}.

[[Category:Ancient Christian controversies]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Early Christianity and Judaism]]
[[Category:Date of Easter]]
[[Category:Judeo-Christian topics]]
[[Category:Mosaic law in Christian theology]]
[[Category:Schisms in Christianity]]
[[Category:Theological controversies]]
[[Category:Vulgate Latin words and phrases]]