The Easter Controversy

[Cody]

I was curious about the Easter Controversy in the early years of the Church.
Pope St. Anicetus (r. 157-168) was tolerate of the Eastern Churches celebrating Easter on a different date than the Roman Church, but then Pope St. Victor (r. 189-199) threatened to excommunicate those who did not celebrate Easter when he stated it should be celebrated.
How do these events relate to Papal Infalliability?

 

[missal_user]

Cody:

I was curious about the Easter Controversy in the early years of the Church.
Pope St. Anicetus (r. 157-168) was tolerate of the Eastern Churches celebrating Easter on a different date than the Roman Church, but then Pope St. Victor (r. 189-199) threatened to excommunicate those who did not celebrate Easter when he stated it should be celebrated.
How do these events relate to Papal Infalliability?

they don’t.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Cody:

I was curious about the Easter Controversy in the early years of the Church.
Pope St. Anicetus (r. 157-168) was tolerate of the Eastern Churches celebrating Easter on a different date than the Roman Church, but then Pope St. Victor (r. 189-199) threatened to excommunicate those who did not celebrate Easter when he stated it should be celebrated.
How do these events relate to Papal Infalliability?

I think this would fall under the category of church discipline (practices) rather than a matter of church dogma (what we believe) so I don’t think papal infallibility is an issue here. However, papal authority does appear to be an issue here and it seems clear that Pope St. Victor believed he had the authority to excommunicate the Eastern Churches, if they didn’t submit to his decision.

 

[Pani_Rose]

The problem is the calander.

When Rome changed the calander, it caused the days to fall differently. So the Eastern Churches continued to celebrate Easter on the same day they always did.

 

[Apologia100]

The Orthodox Churches continue to use the Jewish lunar calendar to place the celebration of Easter. The Roman Church always places Easter immediately after the Jewish Passover. Considering Holy Thursday is the celebration of the Passover supper that Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, then was taken in the Garden of Gethsemane, it would logically follow that the Christian Easter should follow the weekend immediate after the Passover. That is the way the early church celebrated it.

 

[John_Higgins]

The Eastern churches weren’t the only ones. The Celtic churches celebrated Easter when the Eastern churches did as well. As I recall, this wasn’t settled until the 600s. In the process, the Church in Ireland lost much of its distinction, more’s the pity.

John