Letter to Victor of Rome · §1 · Irenaeus of Lyons

The Paschal fast dispute is old and does not break unity

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Irenaeus is writing to Victor of Rome, arguing that disagreement over the day and manner of the Paschal fast has existed long before them and has never broken the peace between churches.

For the dispute is not only about the day, but also about the very manner of the fast. Some think they should fast one day, some two, some even more; others measure their day as forty hours of daytime and nighttime together. And this variety among those who observe the fast did not arise in our time, but long before us, among those who came before us—those who, as is likely, held to what was not exact and passed on the custom in its plainness and simplicity to those after them. And none the less, all of these kept peace, and we keep peace with one another; and the disagreement over the fast confirms the unity of faith.

Among these were the bishops before Soter who presided over the church which you now lead—I mean Anicetus, Pius, Hyginus, Telesphorus, and Xystus. They neither observed the fast themselves nor permitted those with them to observe it, and none the less, though they did not observe it, they kept peace with those who came to them from the local churches where it was observed. And yet observing the fast was all the more opposed to those who did not observe it. And no one was ever cast out because of this manner of the fast; rather, the bishops before you, though they did not observe it, sent the Eucharist to those from the local churches who did observe it.

And when the blessed Polycarp visited Rome in the time of Anicetus, though they had some small disagreements with one another about other matters, they immediately made peace, not being eager to quarrel with one another over this point. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe the fast, since Polycarp had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord and the rest of the apostles with whom he had associated; nor could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it, since Anicetus said he was bound to hold to the custom of the bishops before him. And since matters stood thus, they shared communion with one another; and in the church Anicetus yielded the Eucharist to Polycarp, clearly out of respect, and they parted from one another in peace, with the whole church—both those who observed the fast and those who did not—holding peace.

Greek

Οὐδὲ γὰρ μόνον περὶ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐστὶν ἡ ἀμφισβήτησις, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ εἴδους αὐτοῦ τῆς νηστείας. οἱ μὲν γὰρ οἴονται μίαν ἡμέραν δεῖν αὐτοὺς νηστεύειν· οἱ δὲ δύο, οἱ δὲ καὶ πλείονας. οἱ δὲ τεσσαράκοντα ὥρας ἡμερινάς τε καὶ νυκτερινὰς συμμετροῦσι τὴν ἡμέραν αὐτῶν. (for. ut Vet. Interp. συμμετροῦντες, ὁρίζουσι τὴν ἡ. αὐ.) καὶ τοιαύτη μὲν ποικιλία τῶν ἐπιτηρούντων· οὐ νῦν ἐφ’ ἡμῶν γεγονυῖα, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολὺ πρότερον ἐπὶ τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν· τῶν παρὰ τὸ ἀκριβὲς ὡς εἰκὸς κρατούντων, τὴν καθ’ ἁπλότητα καὶ ἰδιωτισμὸν συνήθειαν εἰς τὸ μετέπειτα πεποιηκότων· καὶ οὐδὲν ἔλαττον πάντες οὗτοι εἰρήνευσάν τε, καὶ εἰρηνεύομεν πρὸς ἀλλήλους· καὶ ἡ διαφωνία τῆς νηστείας, τὴν ὁμόνοιαν τῆς πίστεως συνίστησι. Attulit hæc et proxime post ait: Τούτοις καὶ ἱστορίαν προστίθησιν (Irenæus) ἣν οἰκείως παραθήσομαι τοῦτον ἔχουσαν τὸν τρόπον.

Ἐν οἷς καὶ οἱ πρὸ Σωτῆρος πρεσβύτεροι οἱ προστάντες τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἧς σὺ νῦν ἀφηγῇ, Ἀνίκητον λέγομεν καὶ Πίον, Ὑγῖνόν τε καὶ Τελεσφόρον καὶ Ξύστον, οὔτε αὐτοὶ ἐτήρησαν, οὔτε τοῖς μετ’ αὐτῶν ἐπέτρεπον· καὶ οὐδὲν 10 ἔλαττον αὐτοὶ μὴ τηροῦντες, εἰρήνευον τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν παροικιῶν ἐν αἷς ἐτηρεῖτο ἐρχομένοις πρὸς αὐτούς. καί τοι μᾶλλον ἐναντίον ἦν τὸ τηρεῖν, τοῖς μὴ τηροῦσι. καὶ οὐδέ ποτε διὰ τὸ εἶδος τοῦτο ἀπεβλήθησαν τινές· ἀλλ’ αὐτοὶ μὴ τηροῦντες οἱ πρὸ σοῦ πρεσβύτεροι, τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν παροικιῶν τηροῦσιν ἔπεμπον εὐχαριστίαν. καὶ τοῦ μακαρίου Πολυκάρπου ἐπιδημήσαντος τῇ Ῥώμῃ ἐπὶ Ἀνικήτου· καὶ περὶ ἄλλων τινῶν μικρὰ σχόντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους, εὐθὺς εἰρήνευσαν· περὶ τούτου τοῦ κεφαλαίου μὴ φιλεριστήσαντες εἰς ἑαυτούς. οὔτε γὰρ ὁ Ἀνίκητος τὸν Πολύκαρπον πεῖσαι ἐδύνατο μὴ τηρεῖν, ἅτε μετὰ Ἰωάννου τοῦ μαθητοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀποστόλων οἷς συνδιέτριψεν, ἀεὶ τετηρηκότα· οὔτε μὴν ὁ Πολύκαρπος τὸν Ἀνίκητον ἔπεισε τηρεῖν, λέγοντα τὴν συνήθειαν τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ πρεσβυτέρων ὀφείλειν κατέχειν. καὶ τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων, ἐκοινώνησαν ἑαυτοῖς· καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ παρεχώρησεν ὁ Ἀνίκητος τὴν εὐχαριστίαν τῷ Πολυκάρπῳ κατ’ ἐντροπὴν δηλονότι, καὶ μετ’ εἰρήνης ἀπ’ ἀλλήλων ἀπηλλάγησαν, πάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰρήνην ἐχόντων καὶ τῶν τηρούντων καὶ τῶν μὴ τηρούντων. Apud Eusebium ibidem.

About this text

Surviving fragments of Irenaeus' letter urging Victor of Rome to keep peace with churches that kept a different Easter custom.

Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130–c. 202) wrote this letter to Victor, bishop of Rome. Irenaeus was bishop of Lyons in Gaul, but he had grown up in Asia Minor and had known Polycarp of Smyrna, giving him a direct connection to the apostolic generation. He wrote during a dispute over the day and manner of the Paschal fast, urging Victor not to break communion with churches that observed a different custom.

The occasion was Victor's decision to excommunicate the Asian churches, often called Quartodecimans, over the date of Easter. Irenaeus protested this decision. He argued that differences over the fast were long-standing and did not break the unity of faith. He reminded Victor that earlier Roman bishops, though they did not observe the Asian custom themselves, had lived in peace with those who did and had even sent the Eucharist to them.

A reader will meet Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of John the apostle, who observed the Asian custom. Irenaeus recounts Polycarp's meeting in Rome with Anicetus, an earlier bishop of Rome. The two men disagreed on the fast but remained in communion, and Anicetus yielded the Eucharist to Polycarp as a sign of respect. Irenaeus also lists earlier Roman bishops who did not observe the Asian fast: Xystus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, and those before Soter, who was Victor's immediate predecessor. The letter closes with a warning that anyone who can do good to a neighbor and fails to do so will be considered a stranger to the love of the Lord.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Reliquiae Sacrae: Sive, Auctorum Fere Jam Perditorum Secundi Tertiique Saeculi Post Christum Natum Quae Supersunt. Martin Joseph Routh Oxford Oxford University Press 1846 2 (Greek)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.