Easter and the church year in the early church

Easter (Pascha) and its date, Pentecost, Lent, and other feasts. Part of Worship.

Epistle of the Apostles 15Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ commands the apostles to keep the memorial of his death at the Passover and foretells an apostle's imprisonment and release by an angel during the feast.
Dialogue with Trypho 40.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Passover lamb was a type of Christ; his blood marks believers, who are God's house.
Apollinaris of Hierapolis, Fr. 3 (On the Passover)Claudius Apollinaris of Hierapolis · ca. 165-180 · Apollinaris answers those who hold that Jesus ate the Passover on the fourteenth and suffered on the feast day, arguing that this conflicts with the law and sets the Gospels against each other.
Apollinaris of Hierapolis, Fr. 4 (On the Passover)Claudius Apollinaris of Hierapolis · ca. 165-180 · Apollinaris calls the fourteenth of Nisan the Lord's true Passover and lists the events of Christ's passion and burial on that day.
Fragment 16Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd–early 3rd century · Fragments ascribed to Clement from various sources: on the date of the Last Supper and the Passion (from On the Passover), on the dove at Jesus' baptism and the iota of the law, and on man as God's image.
On Baptism 19Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Easter and the fifty days to Pentecost are the most fitting times for baptism, though any day is suitable.
Didascalia 5.14Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 5.17Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 5.18Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 5.19Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 5.20Anonymous · first half of the third century
On Elkanah and Hannah, fragment 4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The yearly feasts prefigured Christ: Passover his sacrifice as the true Passover, Pentecost his ascension offering man to God.
On the Passover (Syriac fragment VI, Bar Salibi and Bar Hebraeus)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200-235 · Two Syriac writers report Hippolytus's view that Jesus did not eat the legal Passover at the Last Supper but gave the sacrament.
Apostolic Tradition 33Hippolytus of Rome · early third century · The paschal fast lasts until the offering; the pregnant and sick fast on Saturday only, and those who missed the day make up the fast after Pentecost.
Against All Heresies 8Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author ends with Blastus, who kept the Passover on the fourteenth, the two Theodoti, who held Christ to be a mere man (one ranking him below Melchizedek), and Praxeas, who identified the Son with the Father.
Against Marcion 4.40Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ chose the Passover, was betrayed and sold as the prophets foretold, and at the Last Supper called the bread his body and the cup his blood, which shows that he had a real body of flesh and blood.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 295Origen · ca. 220-254 · The three feasts cannot be kept literally by builders and weavers; the month of new things means becoming new in Christ; to appear “not empty” is to be filled with God; the “male” are deeds of the Spirit.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.5.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Contents: the Quartodecimans, who kept Easter on the fourteenth of Nisan.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.14.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Passover, chosen on the tenth day and kept on the fourteenth, is read as a number mystery of the iota.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.14.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The seven days of unleavened bread mean that creation needs no outside “leaven”; the whole world is the Lord's Passover.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.18.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Quartodecimans insist on keeping Easter on the fourteenth of Nisan, fearing the law's curse, not seeing that the true Passover is now kept by faith.
Commentary on John 10.67Origen · ca. 230–248 · Why does John add “of the Jews” to the Passover?
Commentary on John 10.68Origen · ca. 230–248 · “Of the Jews” may distinguish a merely human Passover from the true, divine Passover kept in spirit and truth.
Commentary on John 10.69Origen · ca. 230–248 · When the Passover is first instituted in Exodus, God begins with the first month.
Commentary on John 10.70Origen · ca. 230–248 · Exodus instructs each house to take a lamb and eat it in haste, dressed for travel.
Commentary on John 10.71Origen · ca. 230–248 · Exodus repeatedly calls it “the Passover of the Lord,” never “your Passover.”
Commentary on John 10.73Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Law never says “your Passover”; Isaiah shows that God rejects “your” feasts when kept by sinners.
Commentary on John 10.81Origen · ca. 230–248 · So in John the Passover is called “of the Jews,” not the Lord's.
Commentary on John 10.82Origen · ca. 230–248 · An objection: Paul calls Christ “our Passover,” not “the Lord's.”
Commentary on John 10.83Origen · ca. 230–248 · Either “our” simply means “for us,” or the true feasts of the Lord will be kept in the age to come.
Commentary on John 10.90Origen · ca. 230–248 · Israel removed leaven from their houses; Christians keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Commentary on John 10.91Origen · ca. 230–248 · Since the feasts are shadows of heavenly things, there may be a third, heavenly Passover.
Commentary on John 28.224Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Lord's Passover differs from “the Passover of the Jews.”
Commentary on John 28.226Origen · ca. 230–248 · Exodus calls the Passover “the Lord's.”
Commentary on John 28.227Origen · ca. 230–248 · Isaiah calls the feasts those of sinners, not God's.
Commentary on John 28.228Origen · ca. 230–248 · Isaiah and Amos say God hates the feasts of the sinful.
Commentary on John 28.230Origen · ca. 230–248 · Their Passover was accursed because they killed Jesus in it.
Homilies on Exodus 7.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The murmuring on the fifteenth day of the second month, the date of the second Passover, points to the Gentiles' Passover, to which the true bread from heaven came; murmuring against God is pardoned in beginners but punished in those who persist.
Homilies on Numbers 23.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The true Passover lamb is Christ, and Christians eat the flesh of the Word of God in solid, mystical teaching about the Trinity and the age to come.
Homilies on Numbers 27.8Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Israel left Egypt the day after the Passover, a festival kept now only “in part”; God’s vengeance on the gods of Egypt is executed whenever those whom demons deceived are converted, and above all when believers study the Scriptures.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.16Origen · ca. 240 · “I sat alone” describes a life so excellent that no one imitates it, which any believer, not only clergy, may aim at; such a life is filled with bitterness, the bitter herbs eaten with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Homilies on Jeremiah 19.13Origen · ca. 240 · Pashhur threw Jeremiah down into a dungeon although there was an upper room in God's house; Scripture shows that saints receive prophets “upstairs,” and whoever keeps Christ's Passover must go up to the upper room, where Christ gives his body and blood.
On the Computation of Easter 1Anonymous · 243 · The author explains that after long study of Scripture he has found the first day of the Passover month, and begins from the command of Exod 12.
On the Computation of Easter 2Anonymous · 243 · The Passover in Egypt prefigured Christ's passion, so Christians must first establish exactly when the new month begins.
On the Computation of Easter 6Anonymous · 243 · The author explains how the Hebrews reconciled lunar and solar years by dividing the first month into eleven and nineteen days, and traces the moon's age on 28 March through an eight-year cycle.
On the Computation of Easter 7Anonymous · 243 · The author works out how the Passover date moved through a sixteen-year cycle with intercalary months and leap years, returning to the same date and weekday after 112 years.
On the Computation of Easter 9Anonymous · 243 · Using his table, the author dates the Passovers of Joshua, Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, and Christ, whose passion he places on Friday 9 April.
Against Celsus 8.22Origen · ca. 248 · Christians do keep the Lord's day, Preparation days, Easter, and Pentecost, but for the perfect every day is the Lord's day, a preparation, a passing-over to God, and a Pentecost of prayer and the Spirit.
Against Celsus 8.23Origen · ca. 248 · Set feast days are reminders for ordinary believers, a “part” of the festival that the perfect keep always; Christian feasts are far more dignified than pagan festivals of drunkenness, and the feasts of God's law involve humbling the flesh.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 75Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The day, month, and year of the passion were fixed: “the Passover takes place” means a new Passover replacing the old; the Father, Judas, Satan, and the priests all handed Christ over, but God from mercy and the others from avarice, envy, and fear.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 78Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The two apostles named Judas figure faithful and faithless confessors; Judas sold Christ for thirty staters, as those who sin for gain betray the Word, and sought a moment without the crowd, as betrayers do in persecution; the Passover is to be kept not bodily, as the Ebionites would, but spiritually, in the large upper room of a purified understanding.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 120Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The custom of releasing a prisoner was a favour of new Roman rule, with a precedent in Israel's rescue of Jonathan; Origen asks whether the Church's prayers can win release for a sinner who serves it, but urges us to be among those who ask; the Jews' feast that chose Barabbas is the one God hates, while we keep the feast by choosing Jesus.
Ep. Bas. 1Dionysius of Alexandria · ca. 247-265 · Dionysius explains that the Gospels do not fix the hour of the resurrection, harmonizes their accounts, and advises that the Easter fast should not be broken before midnight, though those who end it between midnight and dawn are not to be troubled.
Canon 43Anonymous · ca. 306 (disputed, ca. 295–314) · The council requires all to celebrate the day of Pentecost.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 20Anonymous · 4th century · All are to fast on Wednesdays, Fridays, and the forty days before Easter; blessed bread is sent to the catechumens.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 22Anonymous · 4th century · The week of the Jewish Passover is kept by all as a strict fast of bread, salt, and water in mourning for the Lord's passion; those who missed it through ignorance or sickness keep it after Pentecost.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 38Anonymous · 4th century · The Easter night is kept in vigil until dawn; baptized Christians must stay watchful and fervent rather than rest on their baptism; the collection closes with a blessing and a colophon.
Church History 4.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus reports that Polycarp visited Anicetus in Rome to discuss the date of Easter.
Church History 4.26.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Melito (quoted) dates his On the Passover to a dispute at Laodicea under the proconsul Servilius Paulus, when Sagaris was martyred.
Church History 4.26.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Clement of Alexandria wrote his own On the Passover in response to Melito's.
Church History 5.23.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Easter controversy: the Asian churches ended the paschal fast on the fourteenth of the month whatever the weekday; the rest of the church ended it only on the Sunday of the resurrection.
Church History 5.23.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Synods decreed that Easter be celebrated and the fast ended only on a Sunday.
Church History 5.24.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Asian bishops, led by Polycrates of Ephesus, defended their older custom in a letter to Victor.
Church History 5.24.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Polycrates: all these, and his seven bishop relatives, kept the fourteenth day, as he does.
Church History 5.24.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus agreed with Sunday observance but urged Victor not to cut off churches keeping an ancient custom.
Church History 5.24.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus: practice varies also in the length of the paschal fast.
Church History 5.24.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus: earlier Roman bishops did not keep the fourteenth day, yet remained at peace with those who did.
Church History 5.24.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Polycarp and Anicetus of Rome each kept his own custom, having failed to persuade one another.
Church History 5.25.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Palestinian bishops asked that their letter be circulated and noted that Alexandria kept the same day as they did.
Church History 7.20.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius wrote festal letters, one setting an eight-year Easter cycle placing Easter after the spring equinox.
Church History 7.22.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Even in persecution Christians kept the feast everywhere, and the martyrs kept the brightest feast in heaven.
Church History 7.32.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Eusebius introduces Anatolius's work on the date of Easter.
Church History 7.32.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Anatolius: the nineteen-year cycle begins with a new moon on 22 March.
Church History 7.32.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Anatolius: by that date the sun has passed the equinox; placing the first month before it is a serious error.
Church History 7.32.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Anatolius: Jewish writers before Christ — Philo, Josephus, Aristobulus and others — held the same rule.
Church History 7.32.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · They held that the Passover must follow the spring equinox; Aristobulus adds a rule about the moon.
Church History 7.32.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · At the paschal full moon the sun is in the spring equinox and the moon opposite it.
Church History 7.32.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christians, with the veil removed, need no such proofs; the Book of Enoch also places the first month at the equinox.
Fragment 5Peter of Alexandria · ca. 300–311 · From the work on the Passover: the Hebrews kept the fourteenth of the first month after the spring equinox until the fall of Jerusalem, and Christ, the true lamb, did not eat the Passover in the year of his death but was sacrificed on the day of preparation.
Testament of Our Lord 2.12Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 2.18Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Divine Institutes 4.26.37Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Passover blood on the doorposts was a figure of the cross.
Divine Institutes 4.26.40Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Pascha is derived from 'to suffer', as a figure of the passion.
Divine Institutes 7.19.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Easter vigil anticipates Christ's return.
Appendix of Ten Documents on the Donatist Controversy 4Anonymous · documents of 303–330 · The bishops of the council of Arles (314) report to Silvester of Rome the condemnation of Caecilian's accusers and summarize their canons: one date for Easter, clergy to stay where ordained, the excommunication of soldiers who desert in peacetime, of charioteers and actors, rules for Christian officials, and the reception of those baptized by heretics in the Trinity by laying on of hands alone.
Preparation for the Gospel 9.29.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Ezekiel: further directions for the Passover.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 43.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · A saying ascribed to Ezra calls the Passover the Saviour.
Canon 1Anonymous · 1 August 314 · Easter is to be kept on one day everywhere, and the bishop of Rome is to announce the date by letter.
Section 2Anonymous · 325 · Clergy ordained by Melitius are received after a further laying on of hands but rank below Alexander's clergy; the East is to keep Easter with Rome and Alexandria.
On the Paschal Feast 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius recalls the Hebrew Passover, with its lamb, blood on the doorposts and unleavened bread, as a type fulfilled in Christ, the paschal Lamb who takes away the world's sin.
On the Paschal Feast 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius explains that Christians, fed by Christ's teaching and marked by faith in his blood, keep a spiritual Passover, and that the feast fittingly falls in spring, the head of the year, when nature renews itself.
On the Paschal Feast 3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius argues that the spring season of the Passover, the season of creation itself, was also the season of Christ's saving Pascha, the sun of righteousness who brought the spring of the Spirit's gifts to all nations.
On the Paschal Feast 4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius describes the forty-day fast before Easter, after the example of Moses and Elijah, as preparation for the spiritual crossing to heaven, and Pentecost as the image of the kingdom, its first-fruit loaves foreshadowing the nations offered to God.
On the Paschal Feast 5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius explains that during the fifty days of Pentecost Christians neither kneel nor fast, as an image of the rest of the resurrection ending with the Ascension, and that Christ suffered at Passover because the Jewish lamb was a type of him.
On the Paschal Feast 9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius argues from John and Luke that Jesus ate his Passover with the disciples on Thursday, a day before the Jews ate theirs on the day of his death, so that the Christian Pascha is new and distinct from the Jewish one.
On the Paschal Feast 11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius urges Christians to keep the Pascha with Christ every week in a spiritual way, with Friday as a fast in memory of the passion.
On the Paschal Feast 12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius argues that the Gospels show the Jews ate their Passover a day after Jesus ate his, and that Christians keep the mysteries all year, fasting on Fridays and receiving Christ's body and blood every Sunday.
Demonstration 12.1Aphrahat · 337-345 · Aphrahat recounts God's instructions to Moses for the first Passover.
Demonstration 12.2Aphrahat · 337-345 · The Passover could be kept only at Jerusalem; scattered Israel cannot lawfully keep it, as the prophets foretold, and God has provoked them through the believing nations.
Demonstration 12.5Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ is the true Passover lamb, without blemish and sinless like a child.
Demonstration 12.6Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ ate the Passover with his disciples and gave his Body and Blood; Aphrahat counts his three days and nights among the dead from the Supper and sets out the Christian Pascha as the fulfilment of Israel's.
Demonstration 12.9Aphrahat · 337-345 · Each Passover rule is a mystery fulfilled in the church: one house is the church, outsiders are heretics, the unbroken bone is Christ's, and the circumcised slave is the baptized penitent who receives the Eucharist.
Demonstration 12.11Aphrahat · 337-345 · Aphrahat argues against the Jews' keeping of the Passover and restoration of the ark, citing Jeremiah's new covenant and God's promise to Abraham of many nations.
Demonstration 12.12Aphrahat · 337-345 · Aphrahat explains how to date the Christian Pascha and counts the days of the Passion: Supper and trial on the fourteenth, burial on the fifteenth, resurrection on the sixteenth.
Demonstration 12.13Aphrahat · 337-345 · The yearly feast requires fasting, prayer, praise, psalms, baptism, and blessings, but more important is a clean heart and right living every day.
Life of Constantine 3.5.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · A long-standing dispute divided the churches over the date of Easter.
Life of Constantine 3.5.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Some fasted while others feasted; seeing his letter had failed, Constantine resolved to end the discord.
Life of Constantine 3.18.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The council decided that all should celebrate Easter on the same day.
Life of Constantine 3.18.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The letter rejects dating Easter by the Jewish calendar, in harshly anti-Jewish language.
Life of Constantine 3.18.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christians have their own way and need not depend on Jewish teaching for the date.
Life of Constantine 3.18.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine accuses the Jews of error in their calendar, which could place Passover twice in one year.
Life of Constantine 3.18.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ gave one day of redemption and willed one church, so there must be no disagreement.
Life of Constantine 3.18.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · It is unseemly for some to fast while others feast; providence wills one observance.
Life of Constantine 3.19.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The eastern churches are to follow the date observed by Rome, the West, Egypt, and most of the world.
Life of Constantine 3.19.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · All agreed that Easter be kept on one day.
Life of Constantine 3.20.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine asks the churches to adopt the common date, hoping to celebrate Easter with them.
Life of Constantine 4.22.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine prayed daily in private and kept Easter with special devotion.
Life of Constantine 4.22.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · At Easter the city was lit all night, and at dawn Constantine gave gifts to all.
Life of Constantine 4.34.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine wrote to Eusebius about copying the Scriptures and about his work on Easter.
Life of Constantine 4.35.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Constantine's reply praises Eusebius for undertaking a work on the mystery of Easter.
Life of Constantine 4.57.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Persians sought peace; Constantine kept the Easter vigil.
Life of Constantine 4.64.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · These events fell during the season of Pentecost.
Canon 1Anonymous · 341 · Those who reject the Nicene decision on the date of Easter are excommunicated, and clergy who keep Easter with the Jews are deposed together with all who communicate with them.
Canon 50Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · The fast is not to be broken on Thursday of Holy Week; all Lent is to be kept with dry food.
Catechetical Lecture 14.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The resurrection took place in spring, at Passover and near the equinox, the season of creation, so that humanity was restored at the season in which it fell.
Long recension, Philippians 14Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius greets the churches and clergy, forbids keeping the Passover with the Jews, and closes the letter.
Defence before Constantius 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 353–357 · Athanasius answers the charge of using the great church before its dedication: the Easter crowds were too large for the small churches, and his predecessors and others had done the same.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 5Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Nicaea met for real reasons and confessed the apostolic faith without a date; at Ariminum the Arian party produced the Dated Creed of Sirmium.
Letter 281Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory thanks Helladius for his Easter letter and gifts, and asks him to pray that he may either keep the feast again or pass to the true feast in heaven.
Tractates on the Psalms 0.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Fifty is seven sevens completed by the eighth day; during the fifty days after Easter, and on Sundays, the apostles forbade kneeling and fasting.
Oration 1.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Easter is described as the Passover and exodus: delivered from Egypt and Pharaoh, believers keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Oration 38.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The feast is called both Theophany and Birthday, since the eternal God appeared by being born for our sake; it is to be kept divinely, as a feast of our re-creation in Christ.
Oration 39.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The feast of the Lights, which celebrates Christ's baptism, is a lofty mystery, unlike pagan rites, that purifies us and restores the light darkened by sin.
Oration 40.21Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges his hearers not to wait for Epiphany, Easter or Pentecost to be baptized, since death may come unexpectedly, and to hasten lest sinners seize the kingdom first.
Oration 40.32Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Our observances of fasting, the Passover and baptism follow Christ's but at different times; the baptized should show gratitude by prayer, tears and generosity to the poor, strangers, the sick, the naked and debtors.
Oration 41.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Oration 41, on Pentecost, contrasts Christian with Jewish and pagan feasts, then explains the honour of the number seven in the Law (Sabbath, seventh year, Pentecost, Jubilee) and the fiftieth day as a figure of the age to come.
Oration 41.4Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory gathers further instances of seven in Scripture, from Enoch and Abraham to Jericho, Elijah, Elisha, the return from exile and the feeding of the four thousand, and explains that Christians, like the Hebrews, honour Pentecost.
Oration 41.5Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Pentecost marks the end of the events of Christ's bodily life and the beginning of the work of the Spirit, who comes as Master, blowing where he wills.
Oration 44.5Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Through the devil's envy death entered, and God became man to restore us; the Sunday after Easter is the birthday of the new creation, the eighth day pointing to the life to come.
Oration 45.2Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Easter is the feast of feasts; after the Easter vigil of lights, Gregory offers a discourse on the Word, beginning from God himself.
Oration 45.12Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory turns to the feast itself and explains the name: the Hebrew Phaska means “passing over”, and Greek speakers changed it to Pascha, thinking it referred to the Passion (paschein, “to suffer”).
Oration 45.16Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The sandals and staff of the Passover are interpreted: shoes protect those fleeing Egypt from the serpent, and the staff is the support of faith that lets one eat Christ's body and drink his blood without doubt.
Oration 45.20Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Leaving Egypt, the Christian is to take the Egyptians' gold for good use and destroy the idols; God will then guide him as he guided Israel in the desert. The law sketched the mystery of the Pascha; Christ fulfilled it.
Tractates 2.38.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno invites the newly baptized after the Easter fast and vigil to a spiritual banquet in which the figures of Scripture serve the dishes.
Tractates 2.45.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets the Easter day and the four seasons: winter is idolatry, spring the font, summer the faithful people, autumn martyrdom, and the day Christ's resurrection.
Tractates 2.46.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno compares the returning Easter day, which sets and rises again, to Christ's passion and resurrection and to the baptism of the candidates.
Tractates 2.50.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A fifth form of the Easter address, listing the Easter gifts to priests, ministers, faithful, penitents, catechumens and candidates.
Tractates 2.53.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno tells the candidates that on Easter day they will pass through the four seasons: the end of sin, anointing, baptism, the Eucharist and the Spirit.
Tractates 2.55.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains the Passover lamb, from sheep or goats (Exod 12:5), as Christ, uniting human flesh and divine majesty, and lists its qualities.
Tractates 2.62.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · In a third short form Zeno argues that the Jews have lost temple, priesthood and sacrifice, and that the true Passover lamb, both human and divine, is Christ.
Homilies 13.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Basil reverses Solomon's “time to be born and time to die” for baptism, which brings death to sin and new birth, and urges the delaying catechumens to be baptized at Pascha.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 5:7Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The old leaven is both sin and false teaching; Christ the sacrificed Passover calls for a new life, and 'Passover' means sacrifice, not passing over.
Letter to the Africans 2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 369 · The bishops argue that the ecumenical council of Nicaea, called for good cause about Arius and Easter, outweighs the many partial councils of the Arians.
Question 84, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christians keep the lunar reckoning for Easter without worshipping the moon, celebrating within the fourteenth to twenty-first day of the moon so that the resurrection falls on the first day of the week.
Question 84, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The devil set up pagan spring rites with expiation by blood at the time of Easter so that the Christian mysteries would look like an imitation, but Christian miracles show where the truth is.
Question 95, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The events of the old law prefigure the Christian faith, and the origin of Pentecost is to be sought in them.
Question 95, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Pentecost always falls on the Lord’s day, the first day, on which the world was made and renewed, and the law given at Sinai fifty days after the Passover prefigured the gift of the Spirit fifty days after Easter.
Question 95, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Ambrosiaster calculates from the quails, the manna, and the Sabbath in Exodus 16 that both the first Passover and the giving of the law fell on the fourth day of the week.
Question 95, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · A short version of the calculation: fifty days separate the Passover from the giving of the law, both on the fourth day of the week, so Pentecost is the feast of the law’s dedication.
Question 106, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Ambrosiaster dates creation to the spring equinox, 22 March, and ties the reckoning of the Passover moon to the days of creation.
Question 116, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · In a homily on Easter, Ambrosiaster explains that Pascha is named from Christ’s passion and that God justly destroyed death through death’s own act in killing the Savior.
Question 121, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · A hymn of praise to Easter day, recounting the victory over death and the devil and all the blessings won by Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
Letter 96.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus closes by urging repentance, prayer, almsgiving, and care for the sick and imprisoned, confesses the Trinity, and announces the dates of Lent and Easter for 401.
Letter 98.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus says heretics have no share in the feast, and describes how humanity, before Christ, fell into worshipping rulers as gods.
Letter 98.25Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus closes with an exhortation to repentance and virtue and announces the dates of Lent and Easter for 402.
Letter 100.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus's paschal letter opens by calling the faithful to prepare for Easter by fasting, confession, and repentance, which cut off vices before they grow.
Letter 100.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus urges those keeping the Pascha to prepare by fasting and knowledge of the Scriptures for the heavenly feast with the angels, where only the fully mature and properly clothed enter.
Letter 100.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus calls the church, the true 'house of Judah', to keep the feast with the cross, sobriety, and watchfulness, like Daniel, anticipating victory over pleasure.
Letter 100.17Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus announces the dates of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter for the year and urges charity, prayer for enemies, and firm church discipline through Pentecost.
Letter 149.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · The writer explains how Christ fulfilled and changed the Passover, and interprets the paschal lamb spiritually.
Letter 149.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · The writer interprets the sabbath as rest from sin and Pentecost as the offering of our works, made acceptable through Christ the high priest.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.22.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ ate the Passover lamb.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.22.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The preparation of the Passover.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.22.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ desired to eat “this Passover.”
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 33.5.15Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul shows that Passover and unleavened bread were images.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.1.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Quartodecimans are introduced.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.1.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They keep Easter on one fixed day but are otherwise orthodox.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.1.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some Quartodecimans date the passion from the Acts of Pilate to 25 March.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.1.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some keep the 14th of the moon, the Cappadocians 25 March.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.1.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius dates the passion to 20 March against other dates.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.2.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Law requires the lamb from the tenth day, so their one-day fast fails.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Their reckoning of a one-day fast is inconsistent.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.2.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's sacrifice on the fourteenth fulfilled the Law's type.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.3.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church keeps the true reckoning of Easter.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.3.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church also follows the weekly cycle so Easter falls on the day of resurrection.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.3.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church also follows the solar year.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church observes the fourteenth, the equinox, and Sunday, and sees Jesus in the tenth day.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.22.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The birth fell on 6 January, thirteen days after the solstice.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.22.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Epiphany is the feast of Christ's birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.26.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius holds that the Jews ate the Passover two days early.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.26.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius gives a day-by-day scheme of Passion week.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.26.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The resurrection fell on the equinox, 22 March.
Apostolic Canon 69Anonymous · ca. 380 · Clergy and laity must keep the Lenten fast and the Wednesday and Friday fasts.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.13.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Nativity is to be kept on the twenty-fifth of the ninth month.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.13.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ's divinity, is kept on the sixth of the tenth month.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.13.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The forty-day fast is kept before the paschal fast, from a Monday to a Friday.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.13.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Holy Week follows, kept by all with fasting and prayer for the perishing.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.14.14Anonymous · ca. 380 · The passion, burial, and resurrection are told, with the command to fast during Holy Week and on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.17.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christians must keep Easter once a year after the equinox and no longer with the Jews.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.17.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Easter is to be reckoned from the spring equinox and kept only on a Sunday.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.19.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Easter vigil is kept with readings, baptism, and prayer for the conversion of Israel.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The eighth day after Easter is a feast recalling Christ's appearance to Thomas.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Pentecost is a great feast recalling the gift of the Spirit and the first preaching.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.33.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Slaves rest during Holy Week and Easter week.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.33.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Slaves rest on Pentecost.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.33.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Slaves rest on Christmas.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.33.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Slaves rest on the Epiphany and the apostles' days.
Canonical Letter, Migne PG 45:221Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390 · Gregory opens his letter on penance by tying the Easter feast, a feast of rising from the fall of sin, to the restoration of penitents.
Book of Heresies 58.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Quartodecimans keep Pascha on the fourteenth of the moon.
Book of Heresies 87.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some keep Pascha with the Jews.
Book of Heresies 87.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Keeping Pascha with the Jews strengthens their error.
Book of Heresies 140.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some refuse to keep Epiphany as well as Christmas.
Book of Heresies 140.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The four great feasts are Christmas, Epiphany, Pascha and the Ascension.
Book of Heresies 140.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Whoever rejects one feast may doubt the others.
Book of Heresies 149.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The church keeps four fasts: Nativity, Pascha, Ascension and Pentecost.
Eleven Tractates 4.75Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · A homily for the start of Lent: because people neglect daily devotion, God appointed the yearly Pasch to recall them.
Eleven Tractates 4.76Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Lent is a time when the faithful should strive for better things and the careless be recalled at least by keeping the solemn days.
Eleven Tractates 4.77Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · At Easter the faithful, penitents, and catechumens all have hope; the Lenten fast must be accompanied by justice and love, not quarrels and greed.
Eleven Tractates 4.79Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ endured every human indignity and the cross; the baptized and catechumens alike should keep the Lord's forty-day fast before Easter.
Eleven Tractates 4.80Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The forty days recall Moses' fast before receiving the law, Joshua's crossing of the Jordan, and Christ's fast and temptation after his baptism.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 25.11Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The feast lasts eight days, with stations at the holy places.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 26.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The fortieth day after Epiphany celebrates the Presentation in the temple.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 27.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Jerusalem keeps eight weeks of Lent, forty-one fast days.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 29.5Egeria · ca. 381-395 · At Bethany Pascha is announced with John 12:1.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 29.6Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The reckoning of the six days explains the date.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 30.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Holy Week begins with the service in the Martyrium.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 31.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · With palms the people escort the bishop down the Mount of Olives.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 38.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · At the Paschal vigil the newly baptized are first led to the Anastasis.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 38.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The Paschal Eucharist is celebrated at the Martyrium and again at the Anastasis.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 39.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The eight days of Pascha are kept like Epiphany.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 41.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · No one fasts from Pascha to Pentecost.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 42.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The fortieth day after Pascha is kept with a vigil at Bethlehem.
Letter 1 to Himerius of Tarragona, chapter 2Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Solemn baptism is to be given only at Easter and Pentecost to prepared candidates, but infants and those in danger are to be baptized at once.
Letter 36.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers the tract's appeal to Tobit and to the 'sacrifice of praise' by noting that praise is offered every day, especially in the fifty days after Easter when no one fasts.
Letter 36.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Saturday, the day Christ rested in the tomb, is kept by some with fasting and by others with relaxation, but all fast on Holy Saturday.
Letter 54.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine illustrates the folly of insisting on one's home custom with examples about the Lenten fast and the Maundy Thursday Eucharist.
Letter 54.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine accepts an evening Eucharist after a meal on Maundy Thursday and explains the double celebration by the custom of bathing that day.
Letter 55.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Christmas is a simple commemoration, whereas Easter is a sacrament signifying the passage from death to life, as the Hebrew word pascha means.
Letter 55.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Easter falls in the first month, the month of new things, and in the third week of the moon, signifying the third age, that of grace.
Letter 55.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers the Manichaean taunt about the Easter reckoning: using natural things as figures is not superstition.
Letter 55.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Christians, unlike Jews, require a sabbath within the Easter celebration, because a sabbath lay between Christ's death and resurrection.
Letter 55.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine interprets the three days of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection: the cross is the present life of mortifying sin, the burial and resurrection are held in faith and hope.
Letter 55.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains the scriptural basis and number symbolism of the forty days of Lent and the fifty days of Easter, when fasting is relaxed and prayer is made standing.
Letter 55.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine sets the fifty days from Passover to the giving of the law beside the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost, the law written by God's finger and the Spirit who is God's finger.
Letter 55.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine counts the fifty days from Passover to the giving of the law and interprets the law in the ark as sanctification in Christ's body.
Letter 55.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine distinguishes what rests on Scripture (Easter, Pentecost) from what rests on church agreement (Lent, the octave of the newly baptized) and from local variation (Alleluia, standing at prayer).
Letter 55.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains the varying practice of foot-washing in the Easter season and the wish to keep it distinct from baptism.
Letter 98.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Sacraments take the names of what they signify, as Easter is called the day of the passion and the sacrament of Christ's body is called his body; so the sacrament of faith is called faith.
Homilies on Matthew 81.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ kept the Passover to show that he did not oppose the law, sent the disciples to an unknown host as a sign of his power, and at the table disclosed the betrayal, first indefinitely to give Judas room for repentance, then by the sign of the dish.
Homilies on Matthew 84.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ reminds his captors that he taught openly and could not have been taken unwilling; the Sanhedrin, forgoing even the Passover, stages a sham trial, and the high priest forces a verdict of blasphemy, while their public condemnation of him only made the truth of his death plainer; so too defeat borne nobly is the true victory.
Homilies on Matthew 87.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The soldiers’ mockery shows the devil at work in them all; Christ was outraged in every part of his body, and the Jewish leaders took every part of his death on themselves; yet the church reads this account aloud to everyone at the Paschal vigil, and Christ is worshiped for stooping so low.
On Elijah and Fasting 34Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Lent ends in Easter baptism and the eucharist; but true fasting, as Isaiah says, means justice, release of debts, and care for the poor, not mere hunger.
Hexameron (Exameron) 1.14Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Spring is also the season of the Exodus and of Easter baptism, the passage to rebirth in which the devil is renounced.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.14.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · “At daybreak” points to the morning resurrection; Christ suffered at evening, like the Passover lamb, and rose at dawn.
Sermon 103.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In the homeland there will be no one to serve, only the feast Mary chose, where Christ, having passed over through his Passion, will make his servants recline and will serve them.
Sermon 120.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A human word reaches every hearer whole without leaving the speaker, a small likeness of the Word of God; Augustine prays for the newly baptized in white, that they may not fall back into darkness after the Easter days.
Sermon 125.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Forty signifies the fulfillment of the law, the ten commandments spread to the four corners of the world, which is restraint from love of the world, taught alike by Moses, Elijah, and Christ in their forty-day fasts; Lent figures this life of labor, and the fifty days after Easter, forty plus the denarius of reward, figure the eternal praise of the resurrection.
Sermon 155.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As the Law came fifty days after the first Passover, so the Holy Spirit, God's finger, came fifty days after Christ's Passover.
Sermon 199.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christmas and Epiphany mark the coming of the shepherds from Judea and the Magi from the East, the two walls joined in Christ the cornerstone.
Sermon 200.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Epiphany means manifestation: the infant hidden in a stable was made known from heaven by a star, as the apostles later told his glory to the Gentiles.
Sermon 202.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Epiphany commemorates the Magi's worship of Christ as firstfruits of the Gentiles, joined with the Jewish shepherds in the one cornerstone.
Sermon 203.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Gentiles rightly keep Epiphany as the day of their firstfruits, the Magi, as the shepherds were the firstfruits of the Jews.
Sermon 204.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christmas and Epiphany both celebrate Christ's manifestation in the flesh, to the Jewish shepherds and to the Gentile Magi.
Sermon 205.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Lent's forty days signify the whole of this life, during which the Christian must hang on the cross of self-restraint, as Moses, Elijah, and Christ fasted forty days.
Sermon 206.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Lent signifies the present life as the time of humility, to be followed by the joy of Easter; Christians should be more fervent in prayer, fasting, and alms.
Sermon 210.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ fasted after his baptism, while the Church fasts with candidates before Easter baptism; but baptism may be given on any day, and Easter is only its most festive occasion.
Sermon 217.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ has prepared the good place; Lent signifies the toil of this passing world and the Easter season the one eternal day to come.
Sermon 219.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Easter Vigil, mother of all vigils, keeps the whole world awake, believers in joy and unbelievers in envy or shame; Christians should watch and pray.
Sermon 220.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ died and rose once, as truth declares; the yearly feast does not repeat but commemorates the event, as the “remnants of thought” in Psalm 76 keep festival.
Sermon 221.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Days are now reckoned from the night, since we pass from the darkness of sin to light; the Vigil keeps the night of the resurrection, which ended at the dawn when the women found the tomb empty.
Sermon 230.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The day the Lord has made is the light of his word in believers' hearts; those who spend Easter in drunkenness and quarrels are darkness, not that day.
Sermon 243.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The fifty days after Easter signify the life to come, in which the saints will stand, see, love, and praise God with Alleluia without weariness.
Sermon 252.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The fifty days of Alleluia after Easter signify the eternal rest, whose whole activity will be the praise of God without weariness.
Sermon 252.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Forty, the days of the risen Lord on earth and of the great fasts, signifies wisdom dispensed in time; ten, the fullness of wisdom (seven for creature, three for the Trinity), times four, the number of temporal things, makes forty.
Sermon 252.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The forty days of Lent are kept in labor and fasting, the fifty of Easter in gladness that signifies eternal rest; but Easter must not be kept with drunkenness, for living well is better than understanding much.
Sermon 254.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Lent signifies the present time of mourning, the Easter season the praise to come; the passion’s foulness, like dung in a field, gave birth to the beauty of the resurrection.
Sermon 270.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Pentecost, seven weeks of seven days plus one, joins the seven of the Spirit, who gathers the humble into one body from all tongues, with the one that commends unity.
On Illustrious Men 17Jerome · 392–393 · Polycarp of Smyrna, disciple of John, visited Rome over the Easter question, rebuked Marcion, was martyred by fire, and wrote to the Philippians.
On Illustrious Men 34Jerome · 392–393 · Victor of Rome wrote on the Easter question.
On Illustrious Men 35Jerome · 392–393 · Irenaeus of Lyons, disciple of Polycarp: his works, his adjuration to copyists, and his letter urging Victor not to break unity over Easter.
On Illustrious Men 43Jerome · 392–393 · Theophilus of Caesarea wrote a synodal letter against the Quartodecimans.
On Illustrious Men 44Jerome · 392–393 · Bacchylus of Corinth wrote on Easter for the bishops of Achaia.
On Illustrious Men 45Jerome · 392–393 · Polycrates of Ephesus defended the Asian custom of keeping Easter on the fourteenth day against Victor of Rome.
On Illustrious Men 73Jerome · 392–393 · Anatolius of Laodicea, learned in the sciences, wrote on Easter and arithmetic.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine shows how Christ fulfilled the food laws, sacrifices, unleavened bread, Passover, new moons, ritual washings, and the feast of tabernacles.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 30.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus points to Catholic ascetics who abstain from meat and to the Lenten fast as practices that 1 Timothy 4, read as Catholics read it, would also condemn.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 32.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that Christians commemorate Christ’s Passover on the Lord’s day and keep the unleavened bread of sincerity every day, the bitter herbs signifying the labour of the narrow way.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 32.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains Pentecost as fulfilling the giving of the law fifty days after the first Passover, and why Christians commemorate the Passover differently from the Jews.
Tractates 1Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · Easter vigil sermon: Christ rose in spring, the season of creation, and Easter may fall in April by the lunar reckoning; the Exodus month as the 'beginning of months' signifies baptism, the return of penitents, and the final light of the resurrection.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 114–116Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Three questions: God's being creator in potentiality before creating implies no lack, since his power acts by will, not natural necessity; Christians do not kneel on Sundays and from Easter to Pentecost, as a sign of the resurrection, a custom Irenaeus traces to the apostles; and the risen Christ either created his clothing or took it from elsewhere.
Canon 73 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · The date of Easter is to be announced by letters, and the annual council is to meet on 23 August, as fixed at Hippo.
Letter 14Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent proposes 22 March as the date of Easter for the coming year, since on 29 March the moon would be in its twenty-third day, and asks the bishop to confirm it in synod.
Letter 29Firmus of Caesarea · early fifth century · Firmus sends an official Easter gifts in honor of the feast.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 10.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ spoke of the temple of his body, destroyed and raised in three days, which the Church celebrates at Easter, when catechumens receive grace.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 17.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The number forty, hallowed by the fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Christ, signifies the perfection of good works in abstaining from worldly desires; with the reward of the denarius (ten) it becomes fifty, the joy of Eastertide.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 50.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jewish Passover was a shadow of Christ the true Lamb, whose sign protects only those whose hearts receive him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 55.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Pascha means "passing over": Christ passed from the world to the Father, and his members pass with him from the devil to his kingdom.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.20.3Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The day of Augustus's triumph is the Epiphany.
Canon 12Anonymous · 419 · Cyril of Alexandria and Atticus of Constantinople reply to the African council, sending authentic copies of the Nicene canons; Cyril also announces the date of Easter.
The Conferences 10.2John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Theophilus of Alexandria’s Easter letter condemned the Anthropomorphites, who pictured God in human form; most Egyptian monks rejected it, and in Scetis only Paphnutius let it be read.
The Conferences 21.11John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Cassian and Germanus ask Theonas why Egyptian monks do not kneel or fast until the ninth hour during the fifty days after Easter.
The Conferences 21.18John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ’s answer that the bridegroom’s friends cannot fast while he is with them shows that fasting is not always fitting, and applies especially to the forty days after the resurrection.
The Conferences 21.20John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Theonas explains that the ten days between Ascension and Pentecost complete the fifty days foreshadowed by the Feast of Weeks, and that like Sundays they exclude fasting and kneeling as signs of mourning.
The Conferences 21.23John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · During the fifty days the only relaxation should be taking the meal at the sixth hour instead of the ninth, with no change in the amount or kind of food, so that chastity won in Lent is not lost.
The Conferences 21.24John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Germanus asks why Lent lasts six weeks when, without Saturdays and Sundays, that makes thirty-six fast days, not forty.
The Conferences 21.25John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Theonas explains that Lent is a tithe of the year: thirty-six and a half fast days, reckoned from seven weeks without Saturdays and Sundays, plus the Easter vigil and its night.
The Conferences 21.27John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Six-week and seven-week Lents give the same thirty-six fast days, since those who keep six weeks also fast on Saturdays.
The Conferences 21.28John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Theonas suggests Lent is called Quadragesima from the forty-day fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Christ, or from the name of a tax, and notes that demons attack monks especially then, like Pharaoh oppressing Israel.
The Conferences 21.29John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The Lenten fast was set by church leaders for those absorbed in worldly life; the perfect, who give God all their time, are not bound by it and may relax it for a holy reason.
The Conferences 21.30John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Lent did not exist in the first church, which fasted all year; it was imposed later on lax believers as a kind of tithe, while the perfect live beyond it under grace.
Instructions 2.8Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · The meanings of the feasts and holy days: jubilee, Pascha, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Dedication, Epiphany, new moon, Preparation, Sabbath.
Part 1, chapter 37Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Passover lamb, eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, figures Christ eaten in sincerity until the resurrection; the spoiling of Egypt figures worldly learning passing to Christ, and the flight to the Red Sea, the flight to baptism.