But what most of all distinguished the Pontificate of Victor was, the famous Controversy about the Celebration of Easter, between the Eastern and Western Bishops; the former keeping that Solemnity on the 14th Day of the first Moon, on what Day soever of the Week it happened to fall; and the latter putting it off till the Sunday following. This, surely, could not be a Point of any Consequence, since the Apostles had not thought fit to settle any thing concerning it; nay, by observing the Paschal Solemnity themselves, some on the one Day, and some on the other, as it is manifest they did[[268]]; they plainly declared, that it was quite indifferent on what Day it was observed. Accordingly, from the Apostles Time to Victor’s, each Church had followed the Custom and Practice established by their respective Founders, without giving the least Disturbance to others, or being, on that Account, disturbed by them[[269]]. Pope Anicetus even suffered such of the Asiatics as happened to be at Rome, to celebrate Easter after the manner of Asia[[270]]: Soter, indeed; and his Successor Eleutherius, obliged those who lived at Rome to conform to the Custom of that Church; but that did not prevent their sending the Eucharist, or Sacrament, to the Bishops who followed the opposite Practice[[271]]; for a Custom then obtained among Bishops to send the Eucharist to each other, especially at Easter, in Token of Communion and Peace; but this Custom was suppressed by the 14th Canon of the Council held in the Fourth Century at Laodicea[[272]]. |Victor’s haughty
Conduct.| Victor, not satisfied with what his Two immediate Predecessors had done, took upon him to impose the Roman Custom on all the Churches that followed the contrary Practice. |Is opposed by the
Bishop of Ephesus,| But, in this bold Attempt, which we may call the first Essay of Papal Usurpation, he met with a vigorous and truly Christian Opposition from Polycrates, at that Time Bishop of Ephesus, and one of the most eminent Men in the Church, both for Piety and Learning. He had studied, says Eusebius[[273]], the Scriptures with great Attention, had conferred with Christians from all Parts of the World, and had ever conformed his Life to the Rules of the Gospel. Jerom speaks of him as a Man of excellent Parts, and one universally respected[[274]]. In the present Controversy, he peremptorily refused to relinquish the Practice of his own Church, which had been first introduced by the Apostles St. John and St. Philip, and had been handed down to him by Seven Bishops of his own Family[[275]]. Hereupon Victor, impatient of Contradiction, wrote a Letter, threatening to cut him off from his Communion, unless he forthwith complied with the Practice of the Church of Rome[[276]]. |and by a Council of
all the Bishops of Asia minor.| Polycrates, greatly surprised at the hasty Proceedings of his Fellow Bishop, assembled in Ephesus a Council of all the Bishops of Asia minor, when it was unanimously resolved, that the Practice, which they had received from their Predecessors, ought not to be changed[[277]]. Agreeably[Agreeably] to this Resolution, Polycrates writ to Victor, acquainting him therewith; and, at the same time, modestly insinuating, that, as to his Menaces, he had better forbear them, since they had no manner of Effect upon him, or his Brethren[[278]]. |He cuts them off
from his Communion.| Upon the Receipt of this Letter Victor, giving the Reins to an impotent and ungovernable Passion, published bitter invectives against all the Churches of Asia, declared them cut off from his Communion, sent Letters of Excommunication to their respective Bishops; and, at the same time, in order to have them cut off from the Communion of the whole Church, writ to the other Bishops, exhorting them to follow his Example, and forbear communicating with their refractory Brethren of Asia[[279]]. They all complied, to be sure, with the Desire of the Head of the Church, who had Power to command; but, out of his great Moderation, chose to exhort and advise! |No Regard had to
his Excommunication.| No; not one followed his Example, or Advice; not one paid any sort of Regard to his Letters, or shewed the least Inclination to second him in such a rash and uncharitable Attempt; but, on the contrary, they all joined, as Eusebius assures us[[280]], in sharply censuring and rebuking him, as a Disturber of the Peace of the Church. |He is censured by Irenæus.| Among the rest Irenæus, then Bishop of Lions, writ him an excellent Letter, putting him in mind of the Moderation of his Predecessors, and telling him, that though he agreed with him in the Main of the Controversy, yet he could not approve of his cutting off whole Churches, for the Observance of Customs, which they had received from their Ancestors. He writ, at the same time, to many other Bishops[[281]], no doubt, to dissuade them from joining the Bishop of Rome. However that be, it is certain, that, by this means, the Storm was laid, a Calm was restored to the Church, and the Asiatics allowed to follow undisturbed their antient Practice[[282]]. But Pope Victor, says Baronius[[283]], excommunicated the Asiatics, which he would never have ventured to do, had he not known, that he had Power and Jurisdiction over them. |Had no Power over
the Asiatics.| The Argument may be thus retorted against him: The Asiatics made no Account of his Excommunication; which they would not have ventured to do, had they not known, that he had no Power nor Jurisdiction over them. Besides, Victor did not excommunicate them, as that Word is now understood; that is, he did not cut them off from the Communion of the Catholic Church; for all the other Bishops continued to communicate with them, as they had done before; he only separated himself from their Communion; which was no more than every Bishop had Power to do. Victor being thus baffled in his Attempt, his Successors took care not to revive the Controversy; so that the Asiatics peaceably followed their antient Practice till the Council of Nice, which, out of Complaisance to Constantine the Great, ordered the Solemnity of Easter to be kept every-where on the same Day, after the Custom of Rome[[284]].
This Dispute happened, not in the Reign of Commodus, as we read in the Synodicon[[285]], but in the Fourth Year of the Reign of Severus, as St. Jerom informs us[[286]], of Christ 196. |Victor dies.| Victor, of whom we find nothing else in the Antients worthy of Notice, died Five Years after[[287]], that is, in the Ninth of the Emperor Severus, and in the End of 201. or the Beginning of 202. of Christ, having governed the Church Ten Years. He is named, by St. Jerom, the first among the Ecclesiastical Authors that wrote in Latin[[288]]. |His Works.| He published a Piece, on the Controversy about the Celebration of Easter, and some other Books on religious Subjects, which were still extant in St. Jerom’s Time[[289]]. |Pieces falsly
ascribed to him.| As for the Two Decretals that are ascribed to him, and the Two Letters to Desiderius and Paracoda, both Bishops of Vienne, they are universally rejected[[290]]. |He is sainted.| The Church of Rome has placed Victor among her Saints; and truly, his Attempt, however unsuccessful, to promote the Power and extend the Jurisdiction of that See, deserved no less a Reward.
| Severus, Caracalla, Geta, | ZEPHYRINUS, Fourteenth Bishop of Rome. | Macrinus, Diadumenus, Heliogabalus. |
Year of Christ 201.
A dreadful Per-
secution against
the Christians.
In the first Year of the Pontificate of Zephyrinus, who succeeded Victor, a dreadful Persecution was raised against the Christians by the Emperor Severus, and carried on with great Cruelty in all Parts of the Empire. Zephyrinus, however, had the good Luck to escape it, and to see the Church, by the Death of that Prince, happily delivered from the Evils, which the Rage of her foreign Enemies had brought upon her. |Zephyrinus opposes
the Theodotian
Heretics.| But her domestic Enemies gave her no Respite; the Theodotian Heretics continued sowing, and not without Success, their pestilential Errors at Rome. Zephyrinus, it seems, opposed them with great Vigour and Zeal; for they reproached him, as we read in Eusebius[[291]], as the first who had betrayed the Truth, by maintaining against them the Divinity of Christ: hence he is ranked, by Optatus, with Tertullian, Victorinus, &c. among those who have successfully defended the Catholic Church[[292]]. Baronius, to extol Zephyrinus, ascribes to him the first Condemnation of Praxeas[[293]], which was followed by a solemn Retractation under his own Hand. But it was in Africa, and not at Rome, that Praxeas was condemned, as appeared plain to me, from the Words of Tertullian[[294]], before I had seen either Pamelius or Moreau, who understood them in that Sense. Praxeas, as we have observed above, had done an eminent Piece of Service to the Church of Rome, by reclaiming Pope Victor from the Heresy of Montanus: but the Good he had done on that Occasion was over-balanced by the Mischief his new Heresy occasioned both at Rome and in Africa; for in both Places he gained many Proselytes. |The Heresy of
Praxeas.| He denied all Distinction of Persons in the Godhead, so that the Father being, according to his Doctrine, the same Person with the Son, it was he who took upon him human Nature, and suffered on the Cross; whence his Followers were called Patropassians[[295]].
Origen at Rome.
In the Pontificate of Zephyrinus, and, as Eusebius seems to insinuate, in the Beginning of the Reign of Caracalla, that is, towards the Year 211 or 212. came to Rome the celebrated Origen, being desirous, as he himself declared, to see that Church, so venerable for its Antiquity and Renown; but, after a very short Stay there, he returned to Alexandria[[296]]. |Famous Dispute, at
Rome, between Caius
and Proclus.| About the same time happened, at Rome, the famous Dispute between Caius, a Presbyter of that Church and Proclus, a leading Man among the Montanists[[297]]. Caius committed to Writing the Reasons and Arguments on both Sides[[298]]: but that Piece has not reached our Times, though it was well known to Eusebius, who styles it a Dialogue[[299]] and likewise to Theodoret[[300]].