COMPUTUS DE PASCHA. - An anonymous pamphlet attributed by a manuscript to St. Cyprian of Carthage, but certainly apocryphal, since it was written, as the unknown author himself declares, in the fifth year of Gordian (243), when Cyprian must still have been a pagan, whereas the treatment bears the mark of a highly educated Christian. It aims to fix the date of Easter, correcting the three-day error of underestimation made by Hippolytus in his 16-year paschal cycle; rather than relying on astronomical calculations, the writer—who attributes his predecessor’s mistake to a misinterpretation of Scripture—employs biblical citations and appeals to divine inspiration. From the biblical text used, the author appears to be African.
BIBL.: Edizioni: PL 4, 939–74; Hartel, in CSEL, III, part 3, Vienna 1871, pp. 284–71. Studi: P. Hufnagy, Die pseudocyprianische Schrift De pascha computus, Augsburg 1896; P. Monceaux, Hist. litt. de l'Afrique chrét., II, Paris 1902, pp. 79–102; Schanz – Krüger, pp. 379–81; Moricca, I, pp. 512–16.