QUARTODECIMANI. — This name designates the followers of the ancient Jewish reckoning, which placed the feast of Easter on 14 Nīsān (the lunar month of March), regardless of the day of the week on which it fell. This practice, restricted almost exclusively to the proconsular province of Asia, was contrary to the practice of Rome, which from the time of Pope Sixtus had assigned it to the Sunday following the aforementioned celebration.
Hence arose the so-called “Easter controversy,” which concerned not only the date of Easter, but also the duration of the fast and the principal significance of the solemnity: while the faithful of Asia intended above all to commemorate the death of the Lord, elsewhere, especially in Rome, greater emphasis was placed on the resurrection. Pope Victor (180–99) decided to bring the matter to an end, and at his request councils were convened throughout the Church. Eusebius had before him the replies sent by the Councils of the provinces of Palestine, Pontus, and distant Osroene (Edessa), as well as the letters written on this occasion by Bacchyllus of Corinth and Irenaeus of Lyons. All these replies favored the Roman date, except those of the Councils of Asia, where Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, urged resistance, writing to the Pope: “It is we who celebrate the true and genuine day (of Easter), without adding or taking anything away… in accordance with the Gospel, without altering anything, faithful to the rule of faith… I have lived sixty-five years in the Lord; I have been in contact with the brethren throughout the world, I have read all of Scripture, and I am not intimidated by bogeymen, because men greater than I have said: one must obey God before men” (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V, chap. 24). Victor then made the grave decision to separate the Churches of Asia from ecclesiastical communion, as heretical ὡς ἐτεροδοξοῦντας. But Irenaeus, judging this measure excessive, wrote the Pontiff a letter in which he respectfully exhorted him to the moderation shown by his predecessors: “Among the presbyters (the bishops of Rome) who, before Soter, were at the head of the Church now governed by you—namely Anicetus, Pius, Hyginus, Telesphorus, and Sixtus—none practiced the observances of Asia or permitted their subjects to carry them out; nevertheless, they remained on peaceful terms with those who came from the Churches of Asia” (Eusebius, loc. cit.). It is unknown what decision the Pontiff made, but it is certain that the Churches of Asia adopted Roman practice, observing it from the beginning of the fourth century.
These events provide striking evidence of the primacy of the bishop of Rome.