One of the oldest and longest running controversies in Christianity was (and still is - though little known today) the Quartodeciman Controversy. It is older than the initial arguments for trinitarianism older than the the notion of “church”, older even than Arianism.

And the Quartodeciman Controversy carried on for over 200 years until the very same ecumenical council which is known for having crushed the aforementioned form of Christianity aswell, also dead ended this biblical practice.

The Council of Nicaea settled a number of matters by democratic vote, the popular demand of the West against the East, and extreme ignorance of Hebraic matters and a bias toward Greco-Roman norms.

Quartodecimism believed that the Passover should be celebrated on the 14th day of the first month of the new year, as was practiced in the East, as ever it had been done since the beginning, and as the Scriptures command it must be.

Contrariwise, Western Christendom held to several different traditions but predominantly celebrating Passover on whatever Sunday followed the 14th day.

Until AD 325 it was debated which manner of behavior was proper practice, but despite what your modern Christian pastor may say on Sunday in church, it was not a settled issue until the time of Constantine, nor even a very serious issue until the Emperor brought it to the forefront demanding uniformity in Christianity.

And so as part of the purpose of bishops’ gathering at Nicaea, the official Christian position was to settle this matter aswell as many others the believers were diverging over.

Thereafter as so often happens the majority not only dictates to the minority what they should do, but in time the dominant party begins to demand of the lesser group what they must do aswell and soon after to command what they will do too…or else!

And this was no different with Christendom from Nicaea onward. The Passover was officially moved by the authority of the council to the first Sunday following the “Jewish Passover”. (Eventually the date would come to be settled as the “first Sunday following the full moon that falls on or after the vernal equinox”. But that’s much later.)

The decision was never made based on Biblical practice or original intent or the need for obedience. The bishops were not set upon behavior like the Savior or His disciples or any of the first century sect. The goal was never to try to do what is right, to be pleasing to the Heavenly Father, or to hold to the truth.

Instead the decision of the council was entirely focused upon being different from the Jews.

Under the assumption that the Passover as commanded in Scripture to be remembered on the 14th day of the first month of the year, was a Jewish practice, as opposed to simply the biblical commandment, the council opposed it. And they ruled that any who continued in obedience to the biblical commandment were Judaizing and therefore heretical.

In the begining these were deemed merely divergent and shamed by the rest of nominal Christendom that declared differently. But eventually that disapproval became disgust and disdain and demanding destruction of the “other”. Quartodecimism was outlawed on pain of death in the worst way and thus driven underground or out of the reach of the Roman Empire, which was fast becoming the Catholic Church.

So what are you doing this passover season? Are you following blindly the lies of long ago, or are you getting back to the basics long branded baleful by biased bishops and cowardly councils?

Question Everything
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