Patristic Testimony on Nicea concerning Pascha

This is a post to list patristic quotes and primary sources concerning Pascha in order to attempt to piece together what Nicea decreed whether in law or in spirit. I'll limit the quotes to Fathers living before Chalcedon. I'll provide where on the net the patristic work can be located. Its a work in progress.


Eusebius of Caesaria 330 a.d. He attended Nicea:

For this reason, we celebrate the festival of our Pascha every week, on the day of our Savior and Lord, carrying out the mysteries of the true Lamb, by whom we have been ransomed...For grace, having freed us from our former habits that had grown old, bestowed on us the new man, the one created in accordance with God, and the new Law, a new circumcision, a new Pascha, and the "Jew in secret." And thus, it also left us free from the old appointed times.
8. When, however, the emperor most beloved of God was presiding in the midst of the holy Synod, and the question of the Pascha was brought forward, there was said all that was said. And three [fourths] of the bishops of the whole world had the advantage in numbers as they strove against those of the East: The peoples of the North, the South, and the Occident together, being fortified by their harmony, pulled in the opposite direction from those of the Orient, who were defending their ancient custom. But at the end of the discussion, the Orientals yielded, and thus there came to be a single festival of Christ—and thus they stood apart from the killers of the Lord, and were joined to those who hold the same doctrine. For nature draws like to like. (On the celebration of Pascha)tertullian.org

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St. Constantine circular letter about Nicea as recorded by Eusebius:

...Christian Pascha must be celebrated on the same day by everyone; and for the calculation of the date, no reference should be made to the Jews. Such would be humiliating and moreover it is possible for them to have two Passovers in one single year...
Consequently, the churches must conform to the practice followed by Rome, Africa Italy, Egypt, Spain, Gaul, Libya, Greece, Asia, Pontos and Cilicia... In fine, that I may express my meaning in as few words as possible, it has been determined by the common judgment of all, that the most holy feast of Easter should be kept on one and the same day. For on the one hand a discrepancy of opinion on so sacred a question is unbecoming, and on the other it is surely best to act on a decision which is free from strange folly and error. "RECEIVE, then, with all willingness this truly Divine injunction, and regard it as in truth the gift of God. For whatever is determined in the holy assemblies of the bishops is to be regarded as indicative of the Divine will. As soon, therefore, as you have communicated these proceedings to all our beloved brethren, you are bound from that time forward to adopt for yourselves, and to enjoin on others the arrangement above mentioned, and the due observance of this most sacred day; that whenever I come into the presence of your love, which I have long desired, I may have it in my power to celebrate the holy feast with you on the same day, and may rejoice with you on all accounts....(Constantinethegreatcoins.com)

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St Athanasios the Great, writing later in life after some looked to overturn nicea, post 360 a.d.:

For the former council was summoned because of the Arian heresy, and because of Easter, in that they of Syria, Cilicia and Mesopotamia differed from us, and kept the feast at the same season as the Jews. But thanks to the Lord, harmony has resulted not only as to the Faith, but also as to the Sacred Feast. And that was the reason of the synod at Nicaea. (Epistle To the African bishops)

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5. As to the Nicene Council, it was not a common meeting, but convened upon a pressing necessity, and for a reasonable object. The Syrians, Cilicians, and Mesopotamians, were out of order in celebrating the Feast, and kept Easter with the Jews; on the other hand, the Arian heresy had risen up against the Catholic Church, and found supporters in Eusebius and his fellows, who were both zealous for the heresy, and conducted the attack upon religious people. This gave occasion for an Ecumenical Council, that the feast might be everywhere celebrated on one day, and that the heresy which was springing up might be anathematized... Without pre-fixing Consulate, month, and day, they wrote concerning Easter, 'It seemed good as follows,' for it did then seem good that there should be a general compliance...(Epistle on the Councils ch. 5) elepnor.org

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Canon 1 of Antioch held in 341 a.d.:

As for all persons who dare to violate the definition of the holy and great Council convened in Nicaea in the presence of Eusebeia, the consort of the most God-beloved Emperor Constantine, concerning the holy festival of the soterial Pascha, we decree that they be excluded from Communion and be outcasts from the Church if they persist more captiously in objecting to the decisions that have been made as most fitting in regard thereto; and let these things be said with reference to laymen. But if any of the persons occupying prominent positions in the Church, such as a Bishop, or a Presbyter, or a Deacon, after the adoption of this definition, should dare to insist upon having his own way, to the perversion of the laity, and to the disturbance of the church, and upon celebrating Easter along with the Jews, the holy Council has hence judged that person to be an alien to the Church, on the ground that he has not only become guilty of sin by himself, but has also been the cause of corruption and perversion among the multitude. Accordingly, it not only deposes such persons from the liturgy, but also those who dare to commune with them after their deposition. Moreover, those who have been deposed are to be deprived of the external honor too of which the holy Canon and God’s priesthood have partaken.

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The previous post are quotes from primary sources, those people that attended Nicea. Even the antiochan canon was passed by bishops present at Nicea while others were contemporaries of the council.


St. John Chrysostom as a young presbyter in Antioch approx 381 a.d.writes against those christians observing the fast early according to the jewish calendar as Pascha fell late that year:

But why do I speak on my own account? Three hundred Fathers or even more gathered together in the land of Bithynia and ordained this by law; yet you disdain their decrees. You must choose one of two courses: either you charge them with ignorance for their want of exact knowledge on this matter, or you charge them with cowardice because they were not ignorant, but played the hypocrite and betrayed the truth. When you do not abide by what they decreed, this is exactly the choice you must make. But all the events of the Council make it clear that they showed great wisdom and courage at that time. The article of faith they set forth at the Council show how wise they were, because they blocked up the mouths of heretics and, like an impregnable wall, they repelled the treachery of every hostile attack...

At that time the whole synodal gathering, welded together from these champions, along with their definition of what Christians must believe, also passed a decree that they celebrate the paschal feast in harmony together. They refused to betray their faith in those most difficult times [of persecution]; would they sink to pretense and deceit on the question of the Easter observance?
Look what you do when you condemn Fathers so great, so courageous, so wise. If the Pharisee lost all the blessings he possessed because he condemned the publican, what excuse will you have, what defense will you make for rising up against these great teachers beloved of God, especially since your attack is so unjust and irrational? Did you not hear Christ himself say: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them? But if Christ is in their midst where two or three are gathered together, was not his presence all the more pervasive among the more than three hundred Fathers at Nicaea? Christ was present there, it was Christ who formulated and passed the laws. Yet you condemn not only the Council Fathers but the whole world which approved their judgment.

(6) Do you consider that the Jews are wiser than the Fathers who came from everywhere in the world? How can you do that when the Jews have been driven from their ancestral commonwealth and way of life and have no sacred festival to celebrate? I hear many say that the Pasch and the feast of unleavened bread are one?...
So that you may seem to be observing the proper days, will you outrage the common Mother of us all and will you cut asunder the Holy Synod? How could you deserve pardon when you choose to commit sins so enormous for no good reason ?

(7) But why must I speak of the Jews? No matter how eagerly and earnestly we wish it, it is not altogether possible for us to observe that day on which He was crucified. This will make it clear. Let us suppose the Jews had not sinned, that they were not hard of heart, nor senseless, nor indifferent, nor despisers; suppose they had not fallen from their ancestral way of life but were still carefully observing it. Even if this was the case, we could not, by following in their footsteps, put our finger on the very day on which He was crucified and fulfilled the Pasch. Let me tell how this is the case. When He was crucified it was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and the day of preparation.

(8) But it is not possible for both of these to fall always on the same day. This year the first day of the feast of unleavened bread falls on Sunday, and the fast must still last for a whole week; According to this, after Passiontide, after the cross and resurrection have come and gone, we are still fasting. And it has often happened that, after the cross and resurrection, our fast is still being observed because the week is not yet over. This is why no observance of the exact time is possible...(Against the Judaizers homily 3)tertullian.org

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The following epistle is the most important and most detailed we have concerning what Nicea decreed about Pascha, St Ambrose of Milan writing in 386 a.d.:

TO THE LORDS, HIS BRETHREN MOST BELOVED, THE BISHOPS ESTABLISHED THROUGHOUT THE PROVINCE OF AEMILIA, AMBROSE, BISHOP.​

1. THAT to settle the day of the celebration of the Passover requires more than ordinary wisdom, we are taught both by the Holy Scripture and by the tradition of the Fathers, who, when assembled at the Nicene Synod, in addition to their true and admirable decrees concerning the Faith, formed also for the above-mentioned celebration a plan for nineteen years with the aid of the most skilful calculators, and constituted a sort of cycle to serve as a pattern for subsequent years. This cycle they called the nineteen years' cycle83, their aim being that we should not waver in uncertain and ungrounded opinions on such a celebration, but ascertain the true method and so ensure such concurrence of the affections of all, that the sacrifice for the Lord's Resurrection should be offered every where on the same night....

8. Accordingly, since, even after the calculations of the Egyptians, and the definitions of the church of Alexandria, and also of the Bishop of the church of Rome, several persons are still waiting my judgement by letter, it is needful that I should write what my opinion is about the day of the Passover. For though the question which has arisen is about the approaching Paschal day, yet we state what we think should be maintained for all subsequent time, in case any question of the kind should come up...

11. We must then keep this law of Easter, not to keep the fourteenth day as the day of the Resurrection, but rather as the day of the Passion, or at least one of the next preceding days, because the feast of the Resurrection is kept on the Lord's day; and on the Lord's day we cannot fast; for we rightly condemn the Manichaeans for their fast upon this day.

12....Consequently, if the fourteenth moon of the first month fall, as will be the case next time, on the Lord's day, inasmuch as we ought neither to fast on the Lord's day, nor on the thirteenth moon which falls on the Sabbath-day to break the fast, which must especially be observed on the day of the Passion, the celebration of Easter must be postponed to the next week...

14. In times lately past, when the fourteenth moon of the first month fell on the Lord's day, the solemnity was celebrated on the Lord's day next ensuing(383 a.d.). But in the eighty-ninth year of the Era of Diocletian (373 a.d.), when the fourteenth moon was on the 21th of March, Easter was kept by us on the last day of March. The Alexandrians and Egyptians also, as they wrote themselves, when the fourteenth day of the moon fell on the 28th day of the month Phamenoth, kept Easter on the fifth day of the month Pharmuthi, which is the last day of March, and so agreed with us. Again in the ninety-third year of the Era of Diocletian (379 a.d.), when the fourteenth moon fell on the fourteenth day of the month Pharmuthi, which is the 9th of April, and was the Lord's day, Easter was kept on the Lord's day, the 21st day of Pharmuthi, or according to us on the 16th of April. Wherefore since we have both reason and precedent, nothing should disturb us upon this head....

16. Nor do I consider it unreasonable to borrow a precedent for observing the month from the country in which the first Passover was celebrated. For which reason also our predecessors in the ordinance of the Nicene Council thought fit to decide that their cycle of nineteen years should belong to the same month....The first of April therefore is in the eighth month. But the month begins not according to vulgar usage, but according to the custom of learned men, from the day of the equinox, which is the 21st of March, and ends on the 21st of April. Therefore the days of Easter have been generally kept as much as possible within these thirty-one days...

21. We have made it clear then that the day of the Resurrection ought to be observed after the day of the Passion, and that this day of the Resurrection ought not to be on the fourteenth moon, but later, as the Old Testament says, because the day of the Resurrection is that on which the people going out of Egypt, after being baptized, as the Apostle says, in the sea and in the cloud, overcame death... and further that the Lord's Passion cannot be celebrated on the Lord's day, and that if the fourteenth moon should fall upon the Lord's day, that another week ought to be added, as was done in the seventy sixth year of the era of Diocletian (360 A.D). For then without any doubt or hesitation on the part of our fathers we celebrated Easter Sunday on the twenty-eighth day of the month Pharmuthi, which is the 23rd of April...(Epistle 23 to the Emilian bishops) tertullian.org

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Continuing with secondary sources, many of these Fathers were born at the time of Nicea or even before and know the decrees firsthand.


St Epiphanios of Salamis 390 a.d. in his treatise the Panarion (Against the heresies).

11, 1 When this was over the emperor felt concerned for the church, because by now many members often differed with one another and there were many schisms. He therefore convened an ecumenical council of 318 bishops, whose names are still preserved. And they condemned Arius' creed in the city of Nicaea, and confessed the orthodox and unswerving creed of the fathers, which has been handed down to us from the apostles and prophets.... They passed certain ecclesiastical canons at the council besides, and at the same time decreed with regard to the Passover that there must be one unanimous concord in the celebration of God's holy and supremely excellent day. For it was variously observed by people; some kept it early, some between [the disputed dates], but others, late. (3) And in a word, there was a great deal of controversy then. But through the blessed Constantine God directed the right ordering of these things for the sake of peace. (Bk2 heresy 69)



(2) For they choose to celebrate the Passover with the jews - that is, they contentiously celebrate the Passover at the same time that the Jews are holding their Festival of Unleavened Bread. And indeed, <it is true> that this used to be the church's custom - even though they tell churchmen a slanderous thing in this regard and say (3) "You abandoned the fathers' Paschal rite in Constantine's time from deference to the emperor, and changed the day to suit the emperor." (4) And some, again, declare with a contentiousness of their own, "You changed the Passover to Constantine's birthday" 29
9, 5 And if the Passover were celebrated on the same day each year, and it had been decided to keep it on that day at the council convoked by Constantine, what they say might be plausible. But since the rite cannot fall on the same day each year, their argument is worthless. The emperor was not concerned for his birthday, but for the unity of the church. (6) In fact God accomplished two highly important things through Constantine, the most beloved of God and forever the most blessed. [One was] the gathering of an ecumenical council, and the publication of the creed that was issued at Nicaea and confessed <by> the assembled bishops with their signatures - the deposition of Arius and the declaration to all of the purity of the faith. [The other was] their correction of the Passover for our unity's sake.
9, 7 For long ago, even from the earliest days, the Passover was celebrated at different times in the church... (bk3 heresy 70) excerpts from tertullian.org

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Canon 7 of the Holy Apostles 395 a.d.

If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon celebrate the holy day of Easter before the vernal equinox with the Jews, let him be deposed.

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Annianus of Alexandria who wrote during Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria's rule at about 400 a,d,. He wrote a chronology dating back to 5492 BC, the year Adam and Eve were created. What we know is he dated it using 532 year paschal cycles back. Thus making him the first known writer to speak of the Great Indiction and 532 year Paschal cycle. Here is some info on him from wiki:

As a result, Annianus developed his own chronology which placed Creation on 25 March 5492 BC. This created the Alexandrian Era whose first day was the first day of the proleptic Alexandrian civil year in progress, 29 August 5493 BC. This year was eleven Paschal cycles of 532 years each before the Alexandrian year beginning 29 August 360, which itself was four 19-year cycles after the epoch of the Diocletian Era on 29 August 284. The former is known as the Era of Grace in the Coptic Church, whereas the latter is known as the Era of Martyrs. He was the first computist to recognize the 532-year cycle of Easters in the Julian calendar. This cycle is often attributed to Victorius of Aquitaine in 457, the first to recognize such a cycle in the West.
None of Annianus' writings has survived; he is known only from the discussion of his works by George Syncellus during the ninth century.

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Just to point out the dating system known as the era of martyrs (a.m.) was introduced shortly after Emperor Diocletian's death within the Alexandrian Church. This is the dating system St Ambrose is using in the previous post when he dates Easter using the 'era of diocletian'.

Continuing, I will also post quotes from the Fathers from writings which quote them, as many of these arent available online or havent been translated in their entirety.

St Cyril of Alexandria to Pope Leo in 434 a.d.:

“Let us carefully examine what the Synod in Nicaea decreed with regard to the calculation of the fourteen moons of each month of the nineteen-year cycle; for at every synod, it has been decreed that no Church may do anything at odds with the resolution agreed upon at the Synod of Nicaea about Pascha” (migne patrologia latin vol LIV col 604-605)

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A dispute arose in the western church of the late date of Pascha in 455a.d. making it fall on April 24th, later than the western calculations allowed for. Ten years earlier Paschasinus of Lilybaeum advises the Pope to keep the feast day for 444 a.d. according to the Alexandrian date (letter 3 of Leo).

The late date of Pascha for 455 allowed for an occasion for Pope St. Leo to seek clarification, first he asked the same bishop Paschasinus:

This also we think necessary to enjoin upon your care that you should diligently inquire in those quarters where you are sure of information concerning that point in the reckoning of Easter, which we have found in the table of Theophilus (of Alexandria), and which greatly exercises us, and that you should discuss with those who are learned in such calculations, as to the date, when the day of the Lord’s resurrection should be held four years hence. For, whereas the next Easter is to be held by God’s goodness on March 23rd, the year after on April 12th, the year after that on April 4th, Theophilus of holy memory has fixed April 24th to be observed in 455, which we find to be quite contrary to the rule of the Church; but in our Easter cycles as you know very well, Easter that year is set down to be kept on April 17th. And therefore, that all our doubts may be removed, we beg you carefully to discuss this point with the best authorities, that for the future we may avoid this kind of mistake. Dated June 24th in the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451)

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.(letter 88 of Leo) ccel.org




Finally St Proterios of Alexandria writes a letter to Pope Leo explaining that the 14th moon falls on a sunday that year and thus Pascha must be moved to the following Sunday. St Proterius also writes this to Leo:

"When our most blessed holy fathers fixed the inviolable 19 year cycle, they established this very calculation not in accordance with the present day ignorant and inane devices of the jews or according to the spurious wisdom of the gentiles, the Holy Fathers were rather guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit and carefully took into account the 14 paschal full moons in the course of the aforementioned cycle of 19 years. (Migne, Patrologia Latina, Vol. XLIV, col. 1089) ​

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A few odds and ends. Dionysius Exiguus established the paschal tables for the roman church in 525 a.d.

Dionysius Exiguus to the most blessed and very dear father, Petronius, bishop.
The reasoning of the feast of Easter, which many have frequently and urgently asked us, with the help of your prayers, we have now proceeded to set forth. Following in all things the venerable 318 pontiffs, who came together at Nicaea, a city of Bithynia, against the madness of Arius, and besides [gave] a perfect and true opinion on this matter; who having observed 14 months of Easter through 19 years always returning in a cycle to the same position, fixed it stable and immoveable, which in all ages is repeated in the same way, as a beginning, without going off into an excursion of various things. However they sanctioned this rule of the aforementioned cycle, not so much from secular knowledge as by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and as if determined to have assigned a firm and stable anchor to this reasoning of the lunar calculation. As after a while some, whether despising from arrogance or crossing over from ignorance, were influenced by Jewish fables, they handed down a different and contrary form of the only festival. And because without solidity of foundation no structure can stand, for a long time they were inclined to work out differently the Lord's Easter and the computation of the moon, ordaining unordained cycles; which not only has no stability, indeed also they prefer a notable direction in error. But at the city of Alexandria the archbishop, blessed Athanasius, who also was involved in the Nicene Council, at that time as deacon of the holy pontiff Alexander and [his] helper in all things, and then the venerable Theophilus and Cyril, departed very little from the worshipful decision of the synod. Indeed rather sollicitously retaining the same 19-year cycle, which in a Greek word is called enneacaidecaeteris, they are shown to have not interpolated the paschal cycle with any changes. Then Pope Theophilus, dedicating the 100th course of the years to the emperor Theodosius the Elder, and St. Cyril, compiling a cycle of time of 95 years, preserved through everything this tradition of the holy council of the importance of observing 14 paschal months. And because -- the students also having been seeking to know what is true -- we must hold fast to the rule of his cycle more firmly, we believe that we must give it after our preface.

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tertullian.org



The recent argument that Pascha coincided with the jewish passover certain times in the 4th century seems to be a weak argument. As there was anomalies that sprang up. In 333 ad, it seems pascha was pushed back a week so Holy Saturday wont coincide with April 21 which was a major pagan holiday and also the secular festival of the anniversary date of the founding of Rome. That year the full moon fell on the same Sunday which Pascha was celebrated. Athanasius festal epistle for that year compares the various groups simultaneously celebrating with Easter, that is the jews and the heathens(whose festivities actually culminated 6 days later which should have been Holy Saturday).

In 346 A.d. due to the roman council of Sardica, Athanasius in his festal epistle 18 agreed to move up Pascha one week because according to roman tradition it cannot fall before march 25. The council of Sardica which Athanasius attended while in exile drew up a 50 year table, but was never accepted. In 346 only Athanasius staunchest supporters would have accepted the revised date, the tables devised at Sardica fell out of memory just as fast as they were introduced.

By the time of Pope Leo the Great, Rome accepted the Alexandrian method utilizing Theophilus of Alexandria's table. The last controversy on the dating of Pascha between Rome and Alexandria occured in 501 a.d. This was purely political. Pope Symmachius was embroiled in a schism which saw Laurentius elected pope by a smaller but influential opposition party in Rome. Laurentius was the emperor's favored choice for supporting the Henotikon. The laity, clergy and, government officials were divided between the two, creating a schism within the church of Rome. Symmachius decided to celebrate Pascha in 501 AD according to the roman cycle as that year Pascha fell late. This allowed Pope Symmachius to draw a distinction between his supporters and his opponents. This caused a stir and charges were brought up against him for tampering with the date of Pascha, and a schism of 4 years ensued.