A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

181A brief extract from the following may be found above in § 3in a somewhat different connection.Ch. 23. At this time a question of no small importance arose.For the parishes [i.e., dioceses in the later sense of that word] ofall Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth dayof the moon, being the day on which the Jews were commandedto sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of theSaviour's passover, and that it was necessary, therefore, to end [162]their fast on that day, on whatever day of the week it mighthappen to fall. It was not, however, the custom of the churcheselsewhere to end it at this time, but they observed the practice,which from apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time,of ending the fast on no other day than that of the resurrection ofthe Saviour. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on thisaccount, and all with one consent, by means of letters addressedto all, drew up an ecclesiastical decree that the mystery of theresurrection of the Lord from the dead should be celebrated onno other day than on the Lord's Day, and that we should observethe close of the paschal fast on that day only. There is stillextant a writing of those who were then assembled in Palestine,over whom Theophilus, bishop of the parish of Cæsarea, andNarcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, presided; also another of thosewho were likewise assembled at Rome, on account of the samequestion, which bears the name of Victor; also of the bishops inPontus, over whom Palmas, as the oldest, presided; and of theparishes in Gaul, of which Irenæus was bishop; and of those inOsrhoene and the cities there; and a personal letter of Bacchylus,bishop of the church in Corinth, and of a great many others whouttered one and the same opinion and judgment and cast thesame vote. Of these, there was one determination of the questionwhich has been stated.Ch. 24. But the bishops of Asia, led by Polycrates, decided tohold fast to the customs handed down to them. He himself, in a