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But nothing was difficult to them with whom it was
lawful to celebrate the Passover on any day when the fourteenth of the
moon happened after the equinox. Following their example up to
the present time all the bishops of Asia—as themselves also
receiving the rule from an unimpeachable authority, to wit, the
evangelist John, who leant on the Lord’s breast, and drank in
instructions spiritual without doubt—were in the way of celebrating the Paschal feast,
without question, every year, whenever the fourteenth day of the moon
had come, and the lamb was sacrificed by the Jews after the equinox was
past; not acquiescing, so far as regards this matter, with the
authority of some, namely, the successors of Peter and Paul, who have
taught all the churches in which they sowed the spiritual seeds of the
Gospel, that the solemn festival of the resurrection of the Lord can be
celebrated only on the Lord’s day. Whence, also, a certain
contention broke out between the successors of these, namely, Victor,
at that time bishop of the city of Rome, and Polycrates, who then
appeared to hold the primacy among the bishops of Asia. And this
contention was adjusted most rightfully by Irenæus,1178
| 1178
[Vol. iii. p. 630. The convenire ad of Irenæus is
thus shown to be geographical, not ecclesiastical. Vol. i. pp.
415, 569.] | at that time
president of a part of Gaul, so that both parties kept by their own
order, and did not decline from the original custom of antiquity.
The one party, indeed, kept the Paschal day on the fourteenth day of
the first month, according to the Gospel, as they thought, adding
nothing of an extraneous kind, but keeping through all things the rule
of faith. And the other party, passing the day of the
Lord’s Passion as one replete with sadness and grief, hold that
it should not be lawful to celebrate the Lord’s mystery of the
Passover at any other time but on the Lord’s day, on which the
resurrection of the Lord from death took place, and on which rose also
for us the cause of everlasting joy. For it is one thing to act
in accordance with the precept given by the apostle, yea, by the Lord
Himself, and be sad with the sad, and suffer with him that suffers by
the cross, His own word being: “My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death;”1179
and it is another thing to rejoice with
the victor as he triumphs over an ancient enemy, and exults with the
highest triumph over a conquered adversary, as He Himself also
says: “Rejoice with Me; for I have found the sheep which I
had lost.”1180
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