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| He speaks of their Unanimity respecting the Feast of Easter, and against the Practice of the Jews.
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Chapter XVIII.—He speaks of their Unanimity respecting the Feast
of Easter, and against the Practice of the Jews.
“At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day
of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of
all present, that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place
on one and the same day. For what can be more becoming or honorable to
us than that this feast from which we date our hopes of immortality,
should be observed unfailingly by all alike, according to one
ascertained order and arrangement? And first of all, it appeared an
unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we
should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled
their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted
with blindness of soul. For we have it in our power, if we abandon
their custom, to prolong the due observance of this ordinance to future
ages, by a truer order, which we have preserved from the very day of
the passion until the present time. Let us then have nothing in common
with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour
a different way. A course at once legitimate and honorable lies open to
our most holy religion. Beloved brethren, let us with one consent adopt
this course, and withdraw ourselves from all participation in their
baseness.3254
| 3254 [The idea seems to be (as explained by Valesius) that if they
joined the Jews in celebrating this feast they would seem to consent to
their crime in crucifying the Lord.—Bag.] He carried out
his reprobation of the Jews in his actions in discriminating laws at
least, and perhaps in actual persecution. | For their boast is absurd indeed,
that it is not in our power without instruction from them to observe
these things. For how should they be capable of forming a sound
judgment, who, since their parricidal guilt in slaying their Lord, have
been subject to the direction, not of reason, but of ungoverned
passion, and are swayed by every impulse of the mad spirit that is in
them? Hence it is that on this point as well as others they have no
perception of the truth, so that, being altogether ignorant of the true
adjustment of this question, they sometimes celebrate Easter twice in the same
year. Why then should we follow those who are confessedly in grievous
error? Surely we shall never consent to keep this feast a second time
in the same year. But supposing these reasons were not of sufficient
weight, still it would be incumbent on your Sagacities3255
| 3255 [᾽Αγχίνοια. This word is one of a class of expressions frequently used
by Eusebius, and which, being intended as titles of honor, like
“Excellency,” &c., should, where possible, be thus
rendered. In the present instance it is applied to the heads of the
churches collectively.—Bag.] More probably in this case it
is not the title, but means “your sagacity.” | to strive and pray continually that the
purity of your souls may not seem in anything to be sullied by
fellowship with the customs of these most wicked men. We must consider,
too, that a discordant judgment in a case of such importance, and
respecting such religious festival, is wrong. For our Saviour has left
us one feast in commemoration of the day of our deliverance, I mean the
day of his most holy passion; and he has willed that his Catholic
Church should be one, the members of which, however scattered in many
and diverse places, are yet cherished by one pervading spirit, that is,
by the will of God. And let your Holinesses’ sagacity reflect how
grievous and scandalous it is that on the self-same days some should be
engaged in fasting, others in festive enjoyment; and again, that after
the days of Easter some should be present at banquets and amusements,
while others are fulfilling the appointed fasts. It is, then, plainly
the will of Divine Providence (as I suppose you all clearly see), that
this usage should receive fitting correction, and be reduced to one
uniform rule.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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