Quartodecimans
With quartodecimans or quartodecimans (from Latin quartodecimani , to quarta decima "the fourteenth", from Greek tessareskaidekatitai with the same meaning) Christians were referred to in the old church who celebrated Easter to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ while observing the tradition of the Jewish Passover always celebrated on Nisan 14th .
The Quartodecimans (mainly living in Asia Minor and Syria) stood in contrast to the proto-fascists (in Rome and Alexandria), where Easter was always celebrated on a Sunday because, according to the New Testament testimony, Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week. The controversy was not about the historical date of Jesus' death, which both parties agreed on in principle, but rather the question of whether the Christian Easter festival should have a permanent calendar-based relationship with the Jewish Passover, which was justified by the Lord's Supper .
In practice, the controversy culminated in the fact that Christians from one party were still in pre-Easter Lent, while the other was already celebrating Easter.
The First Council of Nicaea decided the conflict against the Quartodecimans in 325 and stipulated that Easter should be celebrated on a Sunday after Passover, and also after the beginning of spring .
distribution
The quartodecimans were not a closed group. It was a name given to anyone celebrating Good Friday and Easter after this dating.
Quartodecimans were particularly common in Palestine , Syria, and Asia Minor in the first few centuries , while Sunday dating was practiced in Rome and Alexandria . No other consistent doctrinal differences between the two groups are known, and for the first few centuries both groups usually lived in full church fellowship .
In Asia Minor there was a special liturgy for the anniversary of Christ's death and the commemoration of redemption with an agape and Eucharistic celebration , which was preceded by the reading and declaration of the Exodus ( Ex 12 EU ). The Christian Passover celebration of the early Jerusalem community probably lived on in this temporal definition and liturgical form .
Representatives of the quartodecimans
One of the first known representatives of the Quartodecimans was Polycarp of Smyrna in the middle of the second century , who, after Irenaeus of Lyons, had been a direct disciple of the Apostle John .
Polycrates , Bishop of Ephesus, was seen as the leader of the Quartodecimans at the end of the second century. In a letter to Bishop Viktor of Rome, Polycrates wrote:
“We celebrate the day unadulterated; we do not add anything or take it away. Because in Asia, too, great stars have found their resting place, which will rise on the day of the return of the Lord ... According to the Gospel, all of these have celebrated the feast of Passover from the 14th day; they did not go their own way, but followed the direction indicated by faith. "
In his letter, Polycrates referred, among other things, to Melito of Sardis , one of the most influential bishops in the middle of the second century.
In the beginning of the 3rd century, the Didaskalia Apostolorum handed down the actual date: "So as the 14th of the Passover falls, you must observe it."
There are writings from Tertullian that state that Irenaeus of Lyon was a Quartodeciman.
Eusebius mentions a letter from Irenaeus to a Blastus who was the leader of the Quartodecimans in Rome, as well as a Florinus in Rome who was a Quartodeciman.
The Montanists and Novatians were accused of being Quartodecimans.
Due to an Easter calendar that Patrick is said to have brought from Ireland to Ireland, Patrick and with him the Iroschottische Kirche is also seen by some authors as quartodecimans.
In the 6th century the quartodecimans had disappeared.
Conflicts
In the middle of the second century Polycarp came from Smyrna († approx. 155) to Rome to seek an agreement with Anicetus , the bishop of Rome (154–166). They could not agree, but both accepted each other's point of view and shared the sacrament . This is reported in a letter from Irenaeus of Lyon, which Eusebius quotes in his Church History .
Around 170 there was another conflict with the center of Laodicea, in which Melito of Sardis played a role. This is reported in two fragments by Apollinaris of Hierapolis, which are preserved in the Chronicon Paschale . Apollinaris portrays quartodecimal practice as a chronological and exegetical error, but not as heresy .
Viktor I of Rome (189–199) excommunicated Polycrates of Ephesus because of the difference in the Easter dating. Polycrates of Ephesus protested on behalf of an Asian synod and headed a list of authorities for his point of view. Irenaeus of Lyons and many bishops of Asia (Quartodecimans or not) vigorously opposed this excommunication , whereupon Viktor withdrew it.
The first council of Nicaea in 325 set the date of Easter according to the Sunday rule, thus rejecting the practice of the Quartodecimans. In the councils of Antioch (341), Laodicea (364) and Constantinople (381) they were accordingly designated as heretics and banned.
Historical background
In addition to Sunday as the first and weekly day of remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus , there was also an annual commemoration of the death of Jesus very early on. Paul leaves in 1 Cor 5,7f. NIV there is no doubt that the Christian consciousness of that time gave the Jewish Passover a new meaning. His explanations show that the apostolic congregations already celebrated it with a new purpose. In addition to several literary evidence from the 2nd century, the Easter Festival dispute in the second half of the 2nd century confirms this assumption .
As for the festival content, Easter meant a new meaning in the early Christian Passover. While for the Quartodecimans, vicarious fasting for the Jews and the expectation of the Parousia were the focus of their feast, the Easter of the Roman Church was dedicated to the memory of the resurrection.
See also
literature
- Stefan Heid : Was there a Quartodeciman congregation in Rome? In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history 114 (2019), pp. 5–26.
- András Handl: Viktor I (189? -199?) Of Rome and the emergence of the "monarchical" episcopate in Rome. In: Sacris Erudiri 55 (2016), pp. 7–56.
- Eusebius of Caesarea : Church history (Historia ecclesiastica) , ed. by Heinrich Kraft; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1997. Reprint of the 3rd edition (especially Book V, chapters 14–24)
- Matthias Wishes: The outcome of early Christian prophecy in the early Catholic Church ; Calwer theological monographs B / 14; Diss. Kiel 1992; Stuttgart: Calwer, 1997.
- Article The Quartodecimans ; in: RGG 4 6, Sp. 1862.
- Bernhard Lohse : The Passover festival of the Quartadecimaner ; Contributions to the Advancement of Christian Theology, 54; Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1953.
- Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church , Volume 2, §62. The Paschal Controversies
References
- ↑ Eusebius, Church History , Book 5, Chap. 24
- ↑ Hans Achelis , Johannes Paul Gotthilf Flemming : The Syrian Didaskalia. Translated and explained (= The oldest sources of oriental canon law, Volume 2). Hinrichs, Leipzig 1904 ( online )
- ↑ Eusebius, Church History , Book 5, Chap. 20th
- ↑ Eusebius, Church History , Book 5, Chap. 24
- ↑ Eusebius, Church History , Book 5, Chap. 24