Chapter XXII.--The Author's Views respecting the Celebration of Easter,
Baptism, Fasting, Marriage, the Eucharist, and Other Ecclesiastical
Rites.
As we have touched the subject I deem it not unreasonable to say a few
words concerning Easter. It appears to me that neither the ancients nor
moderns who have affected to follow the Jews, have had any rational
foundation for contending so obstinately about it. For they have not
taken into consideration the fact that when Judaism was changed into
Christianity, the obligation to observe the Mosaic law and the
ceremonial types ceased. And the proof of the matter is plain; for no
law of Christ permits Christians to imitate the Jews. On the contrary
the apostle expressly forbids it; not only rejecting circumcision, but
also deprecating contention about festival days. In his epistle to the
Galatians [768] he writes, Tell me ye that desire to be under the law,
do ye not hear the law?' And continuing his train of argument, he
demonstrates that the Jews were in bondage as servants, but that those
who have come to Christ are called into the liberty of sons.' [769]
Moreover he exhorts them in no way to regard days, and months, and
years.' [770] Again in his epistle to the Colossians [771] he
distinctly declares, that such observances are merely shadows:
wherefore he says, Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in
respect of any holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days;
which are a shadow of things to come.' The same truths are also
confirmed by him in the epistle to the Hebrews [772] in these words:
For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change
also of the law.' Neither the apostles, therefore, nor the Gospels,
[773] have anywhere imposed the yoke of servitude' [774] on those who
have embraced the truth; but have left Easter and every other feast to
be honored by the gratitude of the recipients of grace. Wherefore,
inasmuch as men love festivals, because they afford them cessation from
labor: each individual in every place, according to his own pleasure,
has by a prevalent custom celebrated the memory of the saving passion.
The Saviour and his apostles have enjoined us by no law to keep this
feast: nor do the Gospels and apostles threaten us with any penalty,
punishment, or curse for the neglect of it, as the Mosaic law does the
Jews. It is merely for the sake of historical accuracy, and for the
reproach of the Jews, because they polluted themselves with blood on
their very feasts, that it is recorded in the Gospels that our Saviour
suffered in the days of unleavened bread.' [775] The aim of the
apostles was not to appoint festival days, but to teach a righteous
life and piety. And it seems to me that just as many other customs have
been established in individual localities according to usage. So also
the feast of Easter came to be observed in each place according to the
individual peculiarities of the peoples inasmuch as none of the
apostles legislated on the matter. And that the observance originated
not by legislation, but as a custom the facts themselves indicate. In
Asia Minor most people kept the fourteenth day of the moon,
disregarding the sabbath: yet they never separated from those who did
otherwise, until Victor, bishop of Rome, influenced by too ardent a
zeal, fulminated a sentence of excommunication against the
Quartodecimans [776] in Asia. Wherefore also Irenæus, bishop of Lyons
in France, severely censured Victor by letter for his immoderate heat;
[777] telling him that although the ancients differed in their
celebration of Easter, they did not desist from intercommunion. Also
that Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who afterwards suffered martyrdom
under Gordian, [778] continued to communicate with Anicetus bishop of
Rome, although he himself, according to the usage of his native Smyrna,
kept Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon, as Eusebius attests in
the fifth book of his Ecclesiastical History. [779] While therefore
some in Asia Minor observed the day above-mentioned, others in the East
kept that feast on the sabbath indeed, but differed as regards the
month. The former thought the Jews should be followed, though they were
not exact: the latter kept Easter after the equinox, refusing to
celebrate with the Jews; for,' said they, it ought to be celebrated
when the sun is in Aries, in the month called Xanthicus by the
Antiochians, and April by the Romans.' In this practice, they averred,
they conformed not to the modern Jews, who are mistaken in almost
everything, but to the ancients, and to Josephus according to what he
has written in the third book of his Jewish Antiquities. [780] Thus
these people were at issue among themselves. But all other Christians
in the Western parts, and as far as the ocean itself, are found to have
celebrated Easter after the equinox, from a very ancient tradition. And
in fact these acting in this manner have never disagreed on this
subject. It is not true, as some have pretended, that the Synod under
Constantine altered this festival: [781] for Constantine himself,
writing to those who differed respecting it, recommended that as they
were few in number, they could agree with the majority of their
brethren. His letter will be found at length in the third book of the
Life of Constantine by Eusebius; but the passage in it relative to
Easter runs thus: [782]
It is a becoming order which all the churches in the Western, Southern,
and Northern parts of the world observe, and some places in the East
also. Wherefore all on the present occasion have judged it right, and I
have pledged myself that it will have the acquiescence of your
prudence, that what is unanimously observed in the city of Rome,
throughout Italy, Africa, and the whole of Egypt, in Spain, France,
Britain, Libya, and all Greece, the diocese of Asia and Pontus, and
Cilicia, your wisdom also will readily embrace; considering not only
that the number of churches in the aforesaid places is greater, but
also that while there should be a universal concurrence in what is most
reasonable, it becomes us to have nothing in common with the perfidious
Jews.'
Such is the tenor of the emperor's letter. Moreover the Quartodecimans
affirm that the observance of the fourteenth day was delivered to them
by the apostle John: while the Romans and those in the Western parts
assure us that their usage originated with the apostles Peter and Paul.
Neither of these parties however can produce any written testimony in
confirmation of what they assert. But that the time of keeping Easter
in various places is dependent on usage, I infer from this, that those
who agree in faith, differ among themselves on questions of usage. And
it will not perhaps be unseasonable to notice here the diversity of
customs in the churches. [783] The fasts before Easter will be found to
be differently observed among different people. Those at Rome fast
three successive weeks before Easter, excepting Saturdays and Sundays.
[784] Those in Illyrica and all over Greece and Alexandria observe a
fast of six weeks, which they term The forty days' fast.' [785] Others
commencing their fast from the seventh week before Easter, and fasting
three five days only, and that at intervals, yet call that time The
forty days' fast.' It is indeed surprising to me that thus differing in
the number of days, they should both give it one common appellation;
but some assign one reason for it, and others another, according to
their several fancies. One can see also a disagreement about the manner
of abstinence from food, as well as about the number of days. Some
wholly abstain from things that have life: others feed on fish only of
all living creatures: many together with fish, eat fowl also, saying
that according to Moses, [786] these were likewise made out of the
waters. Some abstain from eggs, and all kinds of fruits: others partake
of dry bread only; still others eat not even this: while others having
fasted till the ninth hour, [787] afterwards take any sort of food
without distinction. And among various nations there are other usages,
for which innumerable reasons are assigned. Since however no one can
produce a written command as an authority, it is evident that the
apostles left each one to his own free will in the matter, to the end
that each might perform what is good not by constraint or necessity.
Such is the difference in the churches on the subject of fasts. Nor is
there less variation in regard to religious assemblies. [788] For
although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred
mysteries on the sabbath [789] of every week, yet the Christians of
Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have
ceased to do this. The Egyptians in the neighborhood of Alexandria, and
the inhabitants of Thebaïs, hold their religious assemblies on the
sabbath, but do not participate of the mysteries in the manner usual
among Christians in general: for after having eaten and satisfied
themselves with food of all kinds, in the evening making their
offerings [790] they partake of the mysteries. At Alexandria again, on
the Wednesday [791] in Passion week and on Good Friday, the scriptures
are read, and the doctors expound them; and all the usual services are
performed in their assemblies, except the celebration of the mysteries.
This practice in Alexandria is of great antiquity, for it appears that
Origen most commonly taught in the church on those days. He being a
very learned teacher in the Sacred Books, and perceiving that the
impotence of the law' [792] of Moses was weakened by literal
explanation, gave it a spiritual interpretation; declaring that there
has never been but one true Passover, which the Saviour celebrated when
he hung upon the cross: for that he then vanquished the adverse powers,
and erected this as a trophy against the devil. In the same city of
Alexandria, readers and chanters [793] are chosen indifferently from
the catechumens and the faithful; whereas in all other churches the
faithful only are promoted to these offices. I myself, also, learned of
another custom in Thessaly. If a clergyman in that country, after
taking orders, should sleep with his wife, whom he had legally married
before his ordination, he would be degraded. [794] In the East, indeed,
all clergymen, and even the bishops themselves, abstain from their
wives: but this they do of their own accord, and not by the necessity
of any law; for there have been among them many bishops, who have had
children by their lawful wives, during their episcopate. It is said
that the author of the usage which obtains in Thessaly was Heliodorus
bishop of Tricca in that country; under whose name there are love books
extant, entitled Ethiopica, [795] which he composed in his youth. The
same custom prevails at Thessalonica, and in Macedonia, and in Greece.
I have also known of another peculiarity in Thessaly, which is, that
they baptize there on the days of Easter only; in consequence of which
a very great number of them die without having received baptism. At
Antioch in Syria the site of the church is inverted; so that the altar
does not face toward the east, but toward the west. [796] In Greece,
however, and at Jerusalem and in Thessaly they go to prayers as soon as
the candles are lighted, in the same manner as the Novatians do at
Constantinople. At Cæsarea likewise, and in Cappadocia, and in Cyprus,
the presbyters and bishops expound the Scriptures in the evening, after
the candles are lighted. The Novatians of the Hellespont do not perform
their prayers altogether in the same manner as those of Constantinople;
in most things, however, their usage is similar to that of the
prevailing [797] church. In short, it is impossible to find anywhere,
among all the sects, two churches which agree exactly in their ritual
respecting prayers. At Alexandria no presbyter is allowed to address
the public: a regulation which was made after Arius had raised a
disturbance in that church. At Rome they fast every Saturday. [798] At
Cæsarea of Cappadocia they exclude from communion those who have sinned
after baptism as the Novatians do. The same discipline was practiced by
the Macedonians in the Hellespont, and by the Quartodecimans in Asia.
The Novatians in Phrygia do not admit such as have twice married; [799]
but those of Constantinople neither admit nor reject them openly, while
in the Western parts they are openly received. This diversity was
occasioned, as I imagine, by the bishops who in their respective eras
governed the churches; and those who received these several rites and
usages, transmitted them as laws to their posterity. However, to give a
complete catalogue of all the various customs and ceremonial
observances in use throughout every city and country would be
difficult--rather impossible; but the instances we have adduced are
sufficient to show that the Easter Festival was from some remote
precedent differently celebrated in every particular province. They
talk at random therefore who assert that the time of keeping Easter was
altered in the Nicene Synod; for the bishops there convened earnestly
labored to reduce the first dissenting minority to uniformity of
practice with the rest of the people. Now that many differences existed
even in the apostolic age of the church occasioned by such subjects,
was not unknown even to the apostles themselves, as the book of The
Acts testifies. For when they understood that a disturbance occurred
among believers on account of a dissension of the Gentiles, having all
met together, they promulgated a Divine law, giving it the form of a
letter. By this sanction they liberated Christians from the bondage of
formal observances, and all vain contention about these things; and
they taught them the path of true piety, prescribing such things only
as were conducive to its attainment. The epistle itself, which I shall
here transcribe, is recorded in The Acts of the Apostles. [800]
The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren
which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Forasmuch
as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you
with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and
keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment: it seemed good unto
us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you, with
our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and
Silas, who shall also tell you the same thing by mouth. For it seemed
good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden
than these necessary things: that ye abstain from meats offered to
idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication;
from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.'
These things indeed pleased God: for the letter expressly says, It
seemed good to the Holy Ghost to lay upon you no greater burden than
these necessary things.' There are nevertheless some persons who,
disregarding these precepts, suppose all fornication to be an
indifferent matter; but contend about holy-days as if their lives were
at stake, thus contravening the commands of God, and legislating for
themselves, and making of none effect the decree of the apostles:
neither do they perceive that they are themselves practicing the
contrary to those things which God approved. It is possible easily to
extend our discourse respecting Easter, and demonstrate that the Jews
observe no exact rule either in the time or manner of celebrating the
paschal solemnity: and that the Samaritans, who are an offshoot from
the Jews, always celebrate this festival after the equinox. But this
subject would require a distinct and copious treatise: I shall
therefore merely add, that those who affect so much to imitate the
Jews, and are so very anxious about an accurate observance of types,
ought to depart from them in no particular. For if they have chosen to
be so correct, they must not only observe days and months, but all
other things also, which Christ (who was made under the law') [801] did
in the manner of the Jews; or which he unjustly suffered from them; or
wrought typically for the good of all men. He entered into a ship and
taught. He ordered the Passover to be made ready in an upper room. He
commanded an ass that was tied to be loosed. He proposed a man bearing
a pitcher of water as a sign to them for hastening their preparations
for the Passover. [He did] an infinite number of other things of this
nature which are recorded in the gospels. And yet those who suppose
themselves to be justified by keeping this feast, would think it absurd
to observe any of these things in a bodily manner. For no doctor ever
dreams of going to preach from a ship--no person imagines it necessary
to go up into an upper room to celebrate the Passover there--they never
tie, and then loose an ass again--and finally no one enjoins another to
carry a pitcher of water, in order that the symbols might be fulfilled.
They have justly regarded such things as savoring rather of Judaism:
for the Jews are more solicitous about outward solemnities than the
obedience of the heart; and therefore are they under the curse, because
they do not discern the spiritual bearing of the Mosaic law, but rest
in its types and shadows. Those who favor the Jews admit the
allegorical meaning of these things; and yet they wage a deadly warfare
against the observance of days and months, without applying to them a
similar sense: thus do they necessarily involve themselves in a common
condemnation with the Jews.
But enough I think has been said concerning these things. Let us now
return to the subject we were previously treating of, the fact that the
Church once divided did not stay with that division, but that those
separated were again divided among themselves, taking occasion from the
most trivial grounds. The Novatians, as I have stated, were divided
among themselves on account of the feast of Easter, the controversy not
being restricted to one point only. For in the different provinces some
took one view of the question, and some another, disagreeing not only
about the month, but the days of the week also, and other unimportant
matters; in some places they hold separate assemblies because of it, in
others they unite in mutual communion.
[768] Gal. iv. 21.
[769] Gal. v. 13.
[770] Gal. iv. 10.
[771] Col. ii. 16, 17.
[772] Heb. vii. 12.
[773] ho apostolos...ta euangelia, the two parts of the New Testament,
speaking generally. See Sophocles' Greek Lex. of the Rom. and Byzant.
Periods under apostolos and euangelion .
[774] Gal. v. 1.
[775] Matt. xxvi. 2; Mark xiv. 1; Luke xxii. 1.
[776] tessareskaidekatitai , those who observed Easter on the
fourteenth day of the lunar month (Nisan of the Jewish calendar). On
the Quartodeciman controversy, see Schürer, de Centroversiis
Paschalibus secundo post Christum natum Sæculo exortis; also, Salmon,
Introduction to the New Testament, 3 ed. p. 252-267.
[777] Irenæus, Hær. III. 3, 4.
[778] Polycarp suffered martyrdom in 156 a.d. (see Lightfoot, Apostolic
Fathers, Part II. Vol. I. p. 629-702, containing conclusive proof of
this, as well as a history of the question); whence it appears that it
was under Antoninus Pius that he died. Valesius therefore infers that
Socrates meant to speak of Irenæus as suffering martyrdom under
Gordian, and not of Polycarp. If this be the case, we must assume a
serious corruption of the text, or an unparalleled confusion in
Socrates.
[779] Euseb. V. 24.
[780] Josephus, Antiq. III. 10. The passage is worth quoting entire,
running as follows: In the month Xanthicus, which is called Nisan by
us, and is the beginning of the year, on the fourteenth day of the
moon, while the sun is in the sign of Aries (the Ram), for during this
month we were freed from bondage under the Egyptians, he has also
appointed that we should sacrifice each year the sacrifice which, as we
went out of Egypt, they commanded us to offer, it being called the
Passover.'
[781] The Audiani, who averred that the Synod of Nicæa first fixed the
time of Easter.
[782] Euseb. Life of Constant. III. 19.
[783] Cf. Bingham, Christ. Antiq. XX. v.
[784] Baronius (Ann. 57 and 391 a.d.) finds two mistakes here: first,
in the assertion that the Romans fasted three weeks only before Easter,
and second, in the assertion that during those three weeks Saturdays
were excepted. Cf. also Ceillier, Hist. des Auteurs Sacrés et
Ecclesiast. Vol. VIII. p. 523, 524. Valesius, however, quotes Pope Leo
(fourth sermon on the Lent Fast) and Venerable Beda to prove that
Socrates' assertion concerning the exception of Saturday may be
defended. See Quesnell, de Jejunio Sabbati; Bingham, Origin. Eccl. XXI.
I. 14; also Beveridge, de Jejunio Quadragesimali.
[785] Tessarakoste = Lent; the Latin equivalent is, of course,
Quadragesima.
[786] Gen. i. 20.
[787] Valesius rightly conjectures that very few observed this mode of
fasting during Lent, basing his opinion on the order of worship and
various deprecatory expressions in ancient authors with respect to it.
It may be noted that the Mohammedan Fast of Ramadan is observed on the
same principle and in a similar manner. The fast begins with the dawn
of the sun and continues until sunset, being complete for that space of
time. With the setting of the sun, however, every person is at liberty
to eat as he may please.
[788] ounaxeon. Sophocles (Greek Lex. of the Rom. and Byzant. Period)
gives the following senses to the word: 1. Religious meeting'; 2.
Religious service'; 3. Place of meeting'; 4. Congregation.' To these we
may add on the authority of Casaubon (Exercit. XVI. ad Annal. Baronii,
No. 42) 5. The celebration of the Eucharist.' It is in the second sense
given by Sophocles that it is used here.
[789] i.e. Saturday. Sunday is never called the Sabbath' by the ancient
Fathers and historians, but the Lord's day' (kuriake). Sophocles (Greek
Lex. of the Rom. and Byzant. Period) gives three senses to the word;
viz., 1. The Sabbath' [of the Jews] (so in the LXX and Jewish writers).
2. The week.' 3. Saturday.' Many early Christians, however, continued
to observe the Jewish Sabbath along with the first day of the week. Cf.
Bingham, Christ. Antiq. XX. 3.
[790] prospherontes , freely = celebrating the Eucharist.' Irenæus,
Contra Hæres. XVIII. 3; Euseb. Demonstr. Evan. X. 1; Athan. Apol.
Contr. Arian, 28.
[791] If any bishop...does not fast on Wednesday or Friday let him be
deposed.' So Apost. Can. 69. These two days are universally joined
together by the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches.
[792] Cf. Rom. viii. 3.
[793] hupoboleis, lit. = prompters,' whose duty it was to read the
Psalms which the people chanted.
[794] On the celibacy of the clergy and its gradual growth, see
Bingham, Christ. Antiq. IV. 5; Apost. Can. 51, and Council of Gangra,
Can. 1 (Hefele, Hist. Ch. Councils, Vol. II. p. 325 seq.).
[795] A novel on the adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea. The
Heliodorus who wrote the Ethiopica was, according to Photius, Biblioth.
chap. 94, a native of Phoenicia, hence not the same as the bishop of
Tricca. Others ascribe the Ethiopica to Heliodorus the Sophist, who
flourished under the Emperor Hadrian.
[796] According to the Apost. Constit. (II. 57) a church should be
built so as to face the east. This regulation was generally followed,
but there were exceptions. Cf. Bingham, Christ. Antiq. VIII. 3. 2.
[797] i.e. the catholic or orthodox church; used perhaps in the same
way as the expression established church' in modern times.
[798] Apost. Can. 64, provides that no cleric or layman shall fast on
the Sabbath day (Saturday, see note 22, above), the former on pain of
being deposed, the latter, of being excommunicated. It appears,
however, that the Roman church observed the day as a fast, while the
Greek church held it to be a feast. Socrates, however, seems to
contradict the statement he had made above (see note 17) that at Rome
Saturdays and Sundays were excepted from the list of fasting days in
Lent. From Augustine's Epistles, 36. 31 et al., it appears that he
fasted on Saturday and regarded this the regular and proper course to
be pursued, and actually pursued by members of the church. Hence the
present statement of Socrates must be taken as correct to the exclusion
of the former.
[799] Apost. Can.17. He who has been twice married after
baptism...cannot become bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any other
[cleric] included in the sacerdotal list.'
[800] Acts xv. 23-39. The quotation is here from the Authorized
Version. The Revised has it slightly altered. We subjoin it for
comparison. The apostles and the elder brethren unto the brethren which
are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting:
Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have
troubled you with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no
commandment; it seemed good unto us, having come to one accord, to
choose out men and send them unto you with our beloved Barnabas and
Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves also
shall tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to
the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things; that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and
from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which
if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well.'
[801] Gal. iv. 4.
