Early Paschal witnesses: chronology, custom, and peace
A fragment attributed to Claudius Apollinaris engages a disagreement about the Passion date. Eusebius preserves a different but related dispute about when Christians should end the Paschal fast and celebrate. Polycrates defends the fourteenth-day custom; Irenaeus favors Sunday yet urges peace. Those are not interchangeable kinds of evidence.
Key points
- Claudius Apollinaris of Hierapolis is a second-century author, not the fourth-century Apollinaris of Laodicea.
- Apollinaris' surviving excerpts criticize an opposing chronology; they cannot establish unanimous early Christian agreement.
- Eusebius, Church History 5.23.1-2 and 5.24.2-7, reports disputes about Paschal observance and competing appeals to inherited tradition.
- In 5.24.11-17, Irenaeus supports Sunday observance while opposing a breach of communion over the inherited custom.
- A later Christian observance date does not automatically identify the historical date of Jesus' Last Supper. Later Nicene coordination is another historical question, not a preserved ruling on the supper's Nisan number.
Scripture
- Matthew 26:17-20 — Compare Matthew's Passover preparation with the appeal to Matthew reported in Apollinaris' fragment. The fragment names Matthew but supplies no chapter or verse locator.
Primary sources
The second surviving Passover excerpt begins:
The attributed fragment associates the fourteenth with the Lord's Passover and sacrifice; the preceding excerpt criticizes an opposing appeal to Matthew.
The fourteenth day, the true Passover of the Lord
Passage context and translation
The preceding excerpt criticizes unnamed readers who appeal to Matthew for a lamb meal on the fourteenth and suffering on the great feast day. This excerpt continues by speaking of the sacrifice and burial. It is not a complete surviving treatise or an eyewitness calendar.
Eusebius quotes Polycrates:
Polycrates claims an inherited fourteenth-day observance; this is testimony about Christian custom and its claimed pedigree.
All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel
Passage context and translation
Polycrates' letter to Victor appeals to predecessors including John and Polycarp for the Asian observance. Eusebius 5.23.1-2 frames the dispute as the date for ending the fast and observing Pascha. The pedigree remains Polycrates' attributed claim.
The letter's account of their parting:
Irenaeus recalls Polycarp and Anicetus preserving communion despite differing customs.
And they parted from each other in peace
Passage context and translation
In 5.24.11-17, Irenaeus supports Sunday observance yet urges Victor not to cut off churches over the inherited custom. He recalls Polycarp and Anicetus maintaining communion despite disagreement.
Sources and further reading
- Claudius Apollinaris: Concerning the Passover, surviving excerpts
Read both Passover excerpts, including the opponents' appeal to Matthew. - Eusebius, Church History, Book 5, chapters 23-24
McGiffert translation; distinguish Eusebius' framing from the letters he quotes. - Matthew 26 (WEB Updated)