Quartodeciman / Easter-date controversy
c. 155–325 (echoes later: Celtic Easter, Whitby 664)
attested. The core events are in Eusebius V.23–25, which quotes Polycrates and Irenaeus. Exactly what Nicaea decreed is known from later letters, since there is no canon on it.
This was a dispute over whether Christians should keep Pascha on 14 Nisan (the Jewish Passover date, whatever weekday it fell on), following the custom of Asia, or always on the following Sunday, as Rome and most churches did. Polycarp and Anicetus agreed to differ in about 155, but Victor of Rome tried to excommunicate the Asians in about 190.
Sides
Quartodeciman (14 Nisan)
Leaders: Polycarp of Smyrna, Melito of Sardis, Polycrates of Ephesus
Keep Pascha with the Passover date, claiming the custom of the apostles John and Philip.
Sunday observance
Leaders: Anicetus, Victor I, Irenaeus (mediator), Narcissus of Jerusalem
Celebrate the resurrection always on Sunday.
Councils and places
- Synods on the Easter date (Rome and elsewhere, c. 190–195) 2nd
- Ephesus (Polycrates and the Asian Easter tradition) 2nd
- Sardis (Melito and the Peri Pascha) 2nd
- First Council of Nicaea (325) · Nicaea 4th
- Council of Arles (314) · Arles 4th
Outcome
Nicaea (325) set a common Sunday Easter, independent of the Jewish calendar. Computation differences (Alexandrian vs Roman tables) lasted into the early Middle Ages.
What happened to the losers
Quartodecimans became a separate sect, attested into the 5th century and listed in Theodosian laws against heretics. They then disappear.