LETTER XXIII.
A.D. 386.
THIS letter is addressed to the Bishops of the province of Æmilia, which, as forming part of the political diocese of Italy, was under the ecclesiastical superintendence of the Bishop of Milan, who exercised the powers, if he had not the title, of Exarch. (See Bingham Antiq. ix. 1, § 6, 8.) The Bishops apply to him for his decision as to the proper day for observing Easter in the following year, A.D. 387, in which the first day of the week fell on the fourteenth day of the moon, or, as it is called here, the ‘fourteenth moon.’ This was a question which for long troubled the Church, and divided the East and West, and much importance was attached to it. The whole question is fully discussed in Dict. of Christ. Antiq. under ‘Easter,’ ina learned article by the Rev. L. Hensley. Some interesting remarks on it, in connection with disputes in England, may be seen in Prof. Bright’s Early English Ch. Hist. pp. 76–79, and 193–200.
Mr. Hensley has kindly drawn up the following table, which exhibits at a glance the points on which S. Ambrose enters in this letter.
| A.D. | GOLDEN NUMBER. | SUNDAY LETTER. | EASTER TERM. | EASTER DAY. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *373 | 13 | F | March 24 | F | March | 31 |
| 374 | 14 | E | April 12 | D | April | 13 |
| 375 | 15 | D | April 1 | G | April | 5 |
| 376 | 16 | CB | April 21 | C | April | 27 |
| *377 | 17 | A | April 9 | A | April | 16 |
| 378 | 18 | G | March 29 | D | April | 1 |
| 379 | 19 | F | April 17 | B | April | 21 |
| *380 | 1 | ED | April 5 | D | April | 12 |
| 381 | 2 | C | March 25 | G | March | 28 |
| 382 | 3 | B | April 13 | E | April | 17 |
| *383 | 4 | A | April 2 | A | April | 9 |
| 384 | 5 | GF | March 22 | D | March | 24 |
| 385 | 6 | E | April 10 | B | April | 13 |
| 386 | 7 | D | March 30 | E | April | 5 |
| *387 | 8 | C | April 18 | G | April | 25 |
| * The asterisks mark the year in which the full moon falls on the Sunday, and which are referred to in the Letter. | ||||||
TO THE LORDS, HIS BRETHREN MOST BELOVED, THE BISHOPS ESTABLISHED THROUGHOUT THE PROVINCE OF ÆMILIA, AMBROSE, BISHOP.
1. THAT to settle the day of the celebration of the Passover requires more than ordinary wisdom, we are taught both by the Holy Scripture and by the tradition of the Fathers, who, when assembled at the Nicene Synod, in addition to their true and admirable decrees concerning the Faith, formed also for the above-mentioned celebration a plan for nineteen years with the aid of the most skilful calculators, and constituted a sort of cycle to serve as a pattern for subsequent years.This cycle they called the nineteen years’ cycle[127], their aim being that we should not waver in uncertain and ungrounded opinions on such acelebration, but ascertain the true method and so ensure such concurrence of the affections of all, that the sacrifice for the Lord’s Resurrection should be offered every where on the same night.
2. My Lords and brethren most beloved, we ought not so far to deviate from truth, or to be of such varying and wandering minds, as to the obligation of this celebration having been imposed upon all Christians: since our Lord Himself selected the day to celebrate it upon, which agreed with the method of the true observance. For it is written: S. Luke xxii. 7–12. Then came the day when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare? And He said unto them, Behold when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water: follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, the Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples? And he shall shew you a large upper room, there make ready.
3. We observe then that we ought not to go down to places in the earth, but to seek a large upper room furnished, for us to celebrate the Lord’s Passover. For we ought to wash our senses, so to speak, with the spiritual water of the everlasting fountain, and maintain the rule of the devout celebration, and not follow common notions and go in quest of days according to the moon, whereas the Apostle says, Gal. iv. 10, 11. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.For it is sure to be injurious[128].
4. But it is one thing to observe them after the heathen fashion, so as to decide on what day of the moon you are to attempt anything, for instance,that you should avoid the fifth[129] and begin no work upon it, and to recommend different points in the moon’s course for commencing employments,or to avoid certain days,as many are in the habit of avoiding days called ‘following’[130] or the Egyptian days: it is another thing to turn the observance of a religious mind to the day of which it is written, Ps. cxviii. 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made. For although it is written that the Lord’s Passover ought to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month,and we ought to look for what is truly the fourteenth moon[131] for celebrating the course of our Lord’s Passion, still we can understand from this that to fix such a solemnity there is required either the perfection of the Church, or the fulness of clear faith, as the Prophet said when he spoke of the Son of God, that Ib. lxxxix. 36, 37. his throne is as the sun before me, and as the perfect moon, it shall remain for ever.