Message for the 7/1/39/120b

Dear Friends,

We should all be aware of the Quartodeciman Disputes that caused the division between the Churches of God and the Church at Rome in 192 of the Current Era. The details are in two papers; one is the Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277) and the other is the Origin of the Christian Church in Britain (No. 266).

Irenaeus wrote to a former friend, Florinus, who had lapsed into Valentinianism.  He reminded Florinus of the fact that he and Florinus had been with Polycarp and the apostle John and those still alive that had known the Lord.  He wrote regarding the fast of 7 Abib being kept before the Passover from 14 Abib. He had also written to Victor re the ancient custom of the observance of the Pascha (Lord’s Supper or Passover) on 14 Abib and the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread from 15 Abib.  In that early writing, since lost, we see it preserved by Eusebius. It is there witnessed by Irenaeus in observing Polycarp with John and those who knew the Lord and that they kept the Passover and the Fast preceding it (cf ANF vol. 1 p. 568 ff).

The fragment to Florinus regarding the Fast of 7 Abib and the Passover on 14 Abib and the Feast of Unleavened Bread 15-21 Abib is as follows.

ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus

I.

I  adjure thee, who shalt transcribe this book,4797 by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His glorious appearing, when He comes to judge the living and the dead, that thou compare what thou hast transcribed, and be careful to set it right according to this copy from which thou hast transcribed; also, that thou in like manner copy down this adjuration, and insert it in the transcript.

Notes:
4797    This fragment is quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 20. It occurred at the close of the lost treatise of Irenæus entitled De Ogdoade.

II.

These 4798 opinions, Florinus, that I may speak in mild terms, are not of sound doctrine; these opinions are not consonant to the Church, and involve their votaries in the utmost impiety; these opinions, even the heretics beyond the Church’s pale have never ventured to broach; these opinions, those presbyters who preceded us, and who were conversant with the apostles, did not hand down to thee. For, while I was yet a boy, I saw thee in Lower Asia with Polycarp, distinguishing thyself in the royal court, 4799 and endeavouring to gain his approbation. For I have a more vivid recollection of what occurred at that time than of recent events (inasmuch as the experiences of childhood, keeping pace with the growth of the soul, become incorporated with it); so that I can even describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse— his going out, too, and his coming in—his general mode of life and personal appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also how he would speak of his familiar intercourse with John, and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord; and how he would call their words to remembrance. Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the Lord, both with regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp having thus received [information] from the eye-witnesses of the Word of life, would recount them all in harmony with the Scriptures. These things, through, God’s mercy which was upon me, I then listened to attentively, and treasured them up not on paper, but in my heart; and I am continually, by God’s grace, revolving these things accurately in my mind. And I can bear witness before God, that if that blessed and apostolical presbyter had heard any such thing, he would have cried out, and stopped his ears, exclaiming as he was wont to do: “O good God, for what times hast Thou reserved me, that I should endure these things?” And he would have fled from the very spot where, sitting or standing, he had heard such words. This fact, too, can be made clear, from his Epistles which he despatched, whether to the neighbouring Churches to confirm them, or to certain of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them.

Notes:
4798    This interesting extract we also owe to Eusebius, who (ut sup.) took it from the work De Ogdoade, written after this former friend of Irenæus had lapsed to Valentinianism. Florinus had previously held that God was the author of evil, which sentiment Irenæus opposed in a treatise, now lost, called περὶ μοναρχίας.
4799    Comp. p. 32, this volume, and Phil. iv. 22.
(To Victor On the Quartodeciman Disputes and the Fast).
III.
For4800 the controversy is not merely as regards the day, but also as regards the form itself of the fast.4801 For some consider themselves bound to fast one day, others two days, others still more, while others [do so during] forty: the diurnal and the nocturnal hours they measure out together as their [fasting] day.4802 And this variety among the observers [of the fasts] had not its origin in our time, but long before in that of our predecessors, some of whom probably, being not very accurate in their observance of it, 569 handed down to posterity the custom as it had, through simplicity or private fancy, been [introduced among them]. And yet nevertheless all these lived in peace one with another, and we also keep peace together. Thus, in fact, the difference [in observing] the fast establishes the harmony of [our common] faith.4803 And the presbyters preceding Soter in the government of the Church which thou dost now rule—I mean, Anicetus and Pius, Hyginus and Telesphorus, and Sixtus—did neither themselves observe it [after that fashion], nor permit those with them4804 to do so. Notwithstanding this, those who did not keep [the feast in this way] were peacefully disposed towards those who came to them from other dioceses in which it was [so] observed although such observance was [felt] in more decided contrariety [as presented] to those who did not fall in with it; and none were ever cast out [of the Church] for this matter. On the contrary, those presbyters who preceded thee, and who did not observe [this custom], sent the Eucharist to those of other dioceses who did observe it.4805And when the blessed Polycarp was sojourning in Rome in the time of Anicetus, although a slight controversy had arisen among them as to certain other points, they were at once well inclined towards each other [with regard to the matter in hand], not willing that any quarrel should arise between them upon this head. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp to forego the observance [in his own way], inasmuch as these things had been always [so] observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant; nor, on the other hand, could Polycarp succeed in persuading Anicetus to keep [the observance in his way], for he maintained that he was bound to adhere to the usage of the presbyters who preceded him. And in this state of affairs they held fellowship with each other; and Anicetus conceded to Polycarp in the Church the celebration of the Eucharist, by way of showing him respect; so that they parted in peace one from the other, maintaining peace with the whole Church, both those who did observe [this custom] and those who did not.4806

Notes
4800    See pp. 31 and 312, of this volume. We are indebted again to Eusebius for this valuable fragment from the Epistle of Irenæus to Victor Bishop of Rome (Hist. Eccl., v. 24; copied also by Nicephorus, iv. 39). It appears to have been a synodical epistle to the head of the Roman Church, the historian saying that it was written by Irenæus, “in the name of (ἐκ προσώπου) those brethren over whom he ruled throughout Gaul.” Neither are these expressions to be limited to the Church at Lyons, for the same authority records (v. 23) that it was the testimony “of the dioceses throughout Gaul, which Irenæus superintended” (Harvey).
4801    According to Harvey, the early paschal controversy resolved itself into two particulars: (a) as regards the precise day on which our Lord’s resurrection should be celebrated; (b) as regards the custom of the fast preceding it.
4802    Both reading and punctuation are here subjects of controversy. We have followed Massuet and Harvey.
4803    “The observance of a day, though not everywhere the same, showed unity, so far as faith in the Lord’s resurrection was concerned.”—Harvey.
4804    Following the reading of Rufinus, the ordinary text has μετ’ αὐτούς, i.e., after them.
4805    This practice was afterwards forbidden by the Council of Laodicea [held about a.d. 360].
4806    It was perhaps in reference to this pleasing episode in the annals of the Church, that the Council of Arles, a.d. 314, decreed that the holy Eucharist should be consecrated by any foreign bishop present at its celebration.

It is a lamentable fact that the Easter heresy came in from Rome under Anicetus and forcibly under Victor that caused the schism of 192 CE.  See the paper Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).  It is for this reason that Irenaeus was trying desperately to stop Victor from tearing the Christian Church apart with this pagan Easter doctrine.

We see from this fragment that the entire Church in Gaul fasted and we know for a fact that the Church in Britain kept the Quartodeciman Passover until the synod of Whitby in 664 and they also kept the Food Laws and the Sabbath as did the Church led from Iona and also in Scotland as established from Iona and by Aiden of Lindisfarne who carried the traditions of Colume Cille (or St Columba). It is thus safe to assume also that the Fast of the Seventh Abib was kept in Britain as well as Gaul.  It is beyond dispute that a 24 hour fast prior to 14 Abib and which can only be the fast commanded for the Sanctification of the Congregation of 7 Abib that is concerned as commanded in Ezekiel 45:20.  A congregation is sanctified by a fast.

Here he is saying that sometimes some members kept the Fast on two days and others over the fast period of the Lenten fasts of Forty Days which seems to be derived from the pagans who did not fast for the full 24 hours in each day.

This record shows clearly that the fast of the Sanctification was kept by the apostles and the people who were alive in the Church at the time of Christ, and who were over eighty when Irenaeus was a boy at the feet of Polycarp and John while he still lived.

We voted with our feet when Victor forced the schism on us and we kept the fast of the Sanctification and the Quartodeciman Passover for eight days from the time of Christ until the heretic Armstrong abandoned it in 1965-67 and it was fully restored by CCG in 1994 according to the Temple Calendar.

Let this record quell any discussion as to what the history of the matter was.  The pagan Easter worshippers have tried to stop the true Passover and the Sanctification process from being correctly observed.  Let them be anathema to us.  This text is being issued as an appendix to The Sanctification of the Simple and Erroneous (No. 291).

The period of repentance of 40 years of the 120th or final jubilee at the end of the 119th Jubilee in 1977 ends in the sacred year 2016/17.  The Measuring of the Temple declared in 1987 comes to an end in 2027 at the Jubilee.   The last ten years of the measuring commences in 2016/2017 at Atonement to Passover 2027.  Thus the churches begin to be dealt with and error eradicated from this year onwards.  If you wish to be in the First Resurrection then repent and commence to restore the true faith.  First get rid of Hillel and restore the Temple Calendar in the Churches of God (see the papers God’s Calendar (No. 156);  The Sabbath and the Lunar Cycle (No. 156B) and The Origin and Basis of the Karaite Divisions (No. 156C); The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals (No. 195); Distortion of God’ Calendar in Judah (No. 195B); Hillel, Babylonian Intercalations and the Temple Calendar (No. 195C).

Wade Cox
Coordinator General