Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 45
45 Polycrates the bishop PL 23, 657
Polycrates bishop of the Ephesians with other bishops of Asia who in accordance with some ancient custom celebrated the passover with the Jews on the fourteenth of the month, wrote a synodical letter against Victor bishop of Rome in which he says that he follows the authority of the apostle John and of the ancients. From this we make the following brief quotations, “We therefore celebrate the day according to usage, inviolably, neither adding anything to nor taking anything from it, for in Asia lie the remains of the greatest saints of those who shall rise again on the day of the Lord, when he shall come in majesty from heaven and shall quicken all the saints, I mean Philip one of the twelve apostles who sleeps at Hierapolis and his two daughters who were virgins until their death and another daughter of his who died at Ephesus full of the Holy Spirit. And John too, who lay on Our Lord’s breast and was his high priest carrying the golden frontlet on his forehead, both martyr and doctor, fell asleep at Ephesus and Polycarp bishop and martyr died at Smyrna. Thraseas of Eumenia also, bishop and martyr, rests in the same Smyrna. What need is there of mentioning Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who sleeps in Laodicea and the blessed Papyrus and Melito, eunuch in the Holy Spirit, who, ever serving the Lord, was laid to rest in Sardis and there awaits his resurrection at Christ’s advent. These all observed the day of the passover on the fourteenth of the month, in nowise departing from the evangelical tradition and following the ecclesiastical canon. I also, Polycrates, the least of all your servants, according to the doctrine of my relatives which I also have followed (for there were seven of my relatives bishops indeed and I the eighth) have always celebrated the passover when the Jewish people celebrated the putting away of the leaven. And so brethren being sixty-five years old in the Lord and instructed by many brethren from all parts of the world, and having searched all the Scriptures, I will not fear those who threaten us, for my predecessors said “It is fitting to obey God rather than men.” I quote this to show through a small example the genius and authority of the man. He flourished in the reign of the emperor Severus in the same period as Narcissus of Jerusalem.
Polycrates, Ephesiorum episcopus, cum caeteris episcopis Asiae, qui juxta quamdam veterem consuetudinem cum Judaeis decima quarta luna Pascha celebrabant, scripsit adversus Victorem, episcopum Romanum, epistolam synodicam, in qua docet, se apostoli Joannis, et veterum auctoritatem sequi: de qua haec pauca excerpsimus: Nos igitur inviolabilem celebramus diem, neque addentes aliquid, neque dementes. Etenim in Asia elementa maxima dormierunt, quae resurgent in die Domini, quando venturus est de coelis in majestate sua, suscitaturus omnes sanctos: Philippum loquor de duodecim Apostolis, qui dormivit Hierapoli, et duas filias ejus, quae virgines senuerunt, et aliam ejus filiam, quae Spiritu sancto plena in Epheso occubuit. Sed et Joannes, qui super pectus Domini recubuit, et pontifex ejus auream laminam in fronte portans, martyr et doctor in Epheso dormivit: et Polycarpus, episcopus et martyr, Smyrnae cubat. 887 Thraseas quoque episcopus et martyr de Eumenia in eadem Smyrna requiescit. Quid necesse est Sagaris episcopi et martyris recordari, qui in Laodicea soporatur, et Papirii beati, et Melitonis in sancto Spiritu eunuchi, qui semper Domino serviens, positus est in Sardis, et exspectat in adventu ejus resurrectionem? Hi omnes observaverunt Paschae diem decima quarta luna, ab Evangelica traditione in nullam partem declinantes, et Ecclesiasticum sequentes canonem. Ego quoque minimus omnium vestrum Polycrates, secundum doctrinam propinquorum meorum, quos et secutus sum: septem siquidem fuerunt propinqui mei episcopi, et ego octavus: semper Pascha celebravi, quando populus Judaeorum azyma faciebat. Itaque, fratres, sexaginta quinque annos aetatis meae natus in Domino, et a multis ex toto orbe fratribus eruditus, peragrata omni Scriptura, non formidabo eos, qui nobis minantur. Dixerunt enim majores mei: Obedire Deo magis oportet, quam hominibus. Haec propterea posui, ut ingenium et auctoritatem viri ex parvo opusculo demonstrarem. Floruit temporibus Severi Principis, eadem aetate qua Narcissus Hierosolymae.
Πολυκράτης, Ἐφέσου ἐπίσκοπος, μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν Ἀσίας ἐπισκόπων, τῶν ἐπιτελούντων τὴν ἑορτὴν τοῦ πάσχα μετὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τῆς σελήνης, κατὰ Βίκτωρος ἐπισκόπου Ῥώμης ἐπιστολὴν συνοδικὴν ἐξέδωκε, διδάσκων ὀφείλειν Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἀποστόλου, καὶ τῇ παλαιᾷ ἐξακολουθεῖν αὐθεντίᾳ, ἁφ' ἧς ὀλίγα διηγήσομαι· Ἡμεῖς τοίνυν ἀμίαντον ἐπιτελοῦμεν τὴν ἑορτὴν, μηδὲ προστιθέντες, μηδὲ ὑπεξαιροῦντες. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ μεγάλα στοιχεῖα ἐκοιμήθη, ἅπερ ἀναστήσεται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου, ὅτ' ἂν ἔλθῃ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ δόξῃ, ἐγείρων πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους· Φίλιππον λέγω ἐκ τῶν δώδεκα Ἀποστόλων, ὃς ἐκοιμήθη ἐν Ἱεραπόλει, καὶ τὰς δύο θυγατέρας, αἵτινες παρθένοι ἐγήρασαν, καὶ ἑτέραν αὐτοῦ θυγατέρα, ἥτις ἐν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι πεπληρωμένη, ἐν Ἐφέσῳ ἐτελειώθη. Καὶ Ἰωάννης, ὃς ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος τοῦ Κυρίου ἀνεκλίθη, καὶ ἱερεὺς αὐτοῦ γέγονε χρυσοῦν πέταλον ἐν τῷ μετώπῳ βαστάζων, μάρτυς καὶ διδάσκαλος ἐν τῇ Ἐφέσῳ ἐκοιμήθη, καὶ Πολύκαρπος ἐπίσκοπος καὶ μάρτυς ἐν τῇ Σμύρνῃ κατάκειται, καὶ Θρασέας ἐπίσκοπος καὶ μάρτυς ἀπὸ Εὐμενείας ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ Σμύρνῃ ἀνεπαύη. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνάγκη Σαγάρεως ἐπισκόπου καὶ μάρτυρος μεμνῆσθαι, τοῦ ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ ἀναπαυσαμένου, καὶ Παπυρίου τοῦ μακαριωτάτου, καὶ Μελίτωνος ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι εὐνούχου, ὅστις ἀεὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ λατρεύων, ἐν Σάρδεσι κατετέθη, καὶ περιμένει ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐλεύσει τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Οὗτοι πάντες παρεφύλαξαν τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πάσχα, τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τῆς σελήνης, ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐαγγελικῆς παραδόσεως εἰς οὐδὲν μέρος ἀπονεύοντες, καὶ Ἐκκλησιαστικῷ κανόνι ἑπόμενοι. Κᾀγὼ δὲ ἐλάχιστος πάντων ὑμῶν Πολυκράτης, κατὰ τὴν διδαχὴν τῶν πλησίον μου, οἷς καὶ ἐξηκολούθησα· καὶ γὰρ ἑπτὰ ἐγένοντο συγγενεῖς μου 888 ἐπίσκοποι, κᾀγὼ ὄγδοος· ἀεὶ τὸ πάσχα ἐτέλεσα, ὅτε ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαὸς τὰ ἄζυμα ἐποιεῖτο. Τοιγαροῦν, ἀδελφοὶ, ἑξήκοντα πέντε ἄγων ἔτη ἐν Κυρίῳ, καὶ παρὰ πολλῶν ἐκ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀδελφῶν παιδευθεὶς, ἐντυχὼν πάσῃ γραφῇ οὐ δειλιάσω τοὺς ἀπειλουμένους ἡμῖν. Ἔφησαν γὰρ οἱ προηγησάμενοί μου, Πειθαρχεῖν μᾶλλον θεῷ δεῖ ἢ ἀνθρώποις. Ταῦτα διὰ τοῦτο τέθεικα, ἵνα τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐθεντίαν ἐξ ἐλαχίστου συντάγματος ὑποδείξω. Ἤνθησεν ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις Σεβήρου τοῦ βασιλέως, ὁπηνίκα καὶ Νάρκισσος ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις.