ANNO DOMINI CCLX-CCLXX.
SAINT ANATOLIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, BISHOP OF LAODICEA IN SYRIA
NOTICE
(GALLAND, *Bibliotheca veterum Patrum* III, Proleg., p. xxxvii.)1. Anatolius, Alexandrian by birth, the time in which he flourished. What a man he was. Accomplished in every kind of learning. Having left his fatherland, he went to Syria. He is consecrated bishop. In the year 270 he is set over the ruling of the Church of Laodicea. II. External and sacred literature: in these he was primarily imbued, and he left behind illustrious monuments of his doctrine. Among his other works is the Paschal Canon. The truth is confirmed. The complete Rufinian version is exhibited here, with the Greek Eusebian texts interwoven. A commentary by the very learned Aegidius Bucherius has been added.
A Under the emperors Probus and Carus, according to the testimony of Jerome, Anatolius, an Alexandrian by birth, bishop of Laodicea, flourished: whose eminent praises Eusebius recounts in these words: "He held, without controversy, the leading place among the most learned men of our time, both in liberal studies and in philosophy, having carried off the first prizes of those most approved among us." For this reason he was asked by his fellow Alexandrians to establish a school of Aristotelian succession there, after the manner of the Platonic succession, whose most famous school had long since been established at Athens. Many excellent deeds are also recorded of him, so that he obtained a great reputation for his name among all, and by the consensus of all, the chief prerogative of honor among the notables of his city.
Subsequently, having left Alexandria after the lifting of the siege of the Bruchium, he migrated to Syria, where Theotecnus, says the same Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, first laid hands upon him and ordained him bishop, designating him as the successor to his own Church. But being summoned to Antioch to the synod convened on account of Paul of Samosata, while he was making his journey through the city of Laodicea, he was detained by the brethren of that place, Eusebius having died at that time: a good successor, as they say, to a good man: *a good successor, they say, to a good man is appointed.* But Eusebius, his predecessor, met his final day in the year 270, in which year the synod against Samosata was held. However, it is not clear how long Anatolius sat in the chair of Laodicea.
B II. We learn from the bishop of Caesarea that Anatolius did not compose very many books: *Not many writings by Anatolius have been studied.* Who, nevertheless, after he had mentioned his Paschal Canons and the ten books of his *Institutions of Arithmetic*, records that he also left behind for us many other signs of his diligence and learning in the sacred scriptures: *And the same man has left behind other proofs of his meditation on divine things and of his wide learning.* And indeed there exist to this day among the *Theologoumena Arithmetica* published in Greek at Paris in 1543, certain excerpts from the books of Anatolius' *Institutions of Arithmetic*, as Valesius noted in his commentary on Eusebius; and Fabricius reviews these, who also published in Greek some things *From the Miscellanies of Anatolius*, transcribed from the Peirescian codex by Holstenius.
Furthermore, Anatolius wrote, as we just indicated, a volume *On the Pasch*; from which, says Jerome, we can understand the magnitude of his genius. Eusebius preserved for us a preeminent fragment of this work; and he himself admires both the author's eloquence and his manifold erudition, *both his eloquence and his great learning.*
III. The ancient Latin version of the Paschal Canon
The first to edit the Canon of Anatolius and illustrate it with a very learned commentary at the end of Victorius of Aquitaine was Aegidius Bucherius. A The version of that Canon is generally attributed to Rufinus, perhaps to be joined to his Eusebian history, as the illustrious Fontaninus conjectures. For we know that Rufinus did indeed translate Eusebius of Caesarea’s History into Latin, but he also interpolated it. This is primarily seen in what he handed down in writing concerning Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus: where, besides his many remarkable deeds recounted by Gregory of Nyssa, he also interpolated his celebrated exposition of the Faith. James Ussher also adduces another interpolated passage, as the aforementioned Fontaninus notes. Since, therefore, Eusebius had included a long excerpt of the Anatolian Canon in his History, Rufinus rendered it into Latin in full. Finally, what the same Rufinus has in his version of the Eusebian History, pertaining to the Canon of Anatolius, does not allow us B to doubt this matter at all. For if those things are compared with what answers to the Greek text in the ancient Bucherian interpreter, everything is shown to be clearly Rufinian: so that, consequently, it might seem rightly reproached that others similarly, both those which precede and those which follow, were translated from Greek into Latin by the same hand of Rufinus. Which indeed it is surprising that Bucherius, Cave, Fontaninus primarily, and other learned men have passed over.
And from this also results that benefit, that the integrity of the Rufinian version is proven from the Eusebian excerpt: and from it in turn the authority C of the Anatolian Canon is confirmed; which, however, Dupin dared to disparage with no authority of manuscripts, with no testimonies of the ancients brought forward, and with no reason given, or rather, with Eusebius protesting and Rufinus resisting. To omit here that the same Canon of Anatolius is cited everywhere by Bede in those places which you may see below cited by Bucherius. We therefore exhibit this genuine offspring of our holy Father from the accurate and sole edition of Bucherius, with the Greek Eusebian texts added, along with the Latin interpretation and Valesius’ notes. To these is added a commentary by the same Bucherius, by which the Anatolian Canon is greatly illustrated.
ST. ANATOLIUS OF ALEXANDRIA: PASCHAL CANON
Published for the first time from an ancient manuscript and illustrated with a brief commentary by Aegidius Bucherius, S.J.CHAP. I. Of the different cycles of the ancients. The cycle of Hippolytus. The period of LXXXIV years. The place of Origen on the Pasch.
Concerning the rationale of the ordering of times and the vicissitudes of the world, we shall set forth the tenets of different calculators. Those who have calculated by the course of the moon alone, leaving behind the ascent and descent of the sun, have constructed different cycles contrary to one another, and never found in the calculation of true computation, with certain problems added, when it is certain that the rationale of the calculation cannot be proved without both of these concurring at the same time. D For even in ancient exemplars, that is, in Hebrew and Greek volumes, we find computed not only the course of the moon, but also the sun’s movements, and even the individual and most minute moments of the hours, which we shall bring forth in their own time when the rationale demands it. From these, Hippolytus composed a sixteen-year cycle with certain unknown courses of the moon. Others composed for twenty-five, others for thirty, some for LXXXIV years, but those calculating the cycle of years never arrived at the true method of computing the Pasch. But our forefathers, most skilled in Hebrew and Greek books (I mean Isidore, and Jerome, and Clement), although they perceived different beginnings of months due to the diversity of language; yet they agreed upon one and the same most certain rationale of the Pasch, with the day and the moon and the time agreeing, with the highest veneration of the Lord’s resurrection. But Origen, most learned of all and most perspicacious in composing calculations (inasmuch as he was also called the *chalkeutes*), published a booklet *On the Pasch* most brilliantly. In it, announcing concerning the day of the Pasch, he states that not only the course of the moon and the transit of the equinox must be observed, but also the passage of the sun—which removes the foul snares and obstacles of all darkness, and brings the coming of light and the power and inspiration of the elements of the whole world—and he says: In the day, he says, of the Pasch, I say it is not to be observed so that the Lord’s day is found, and the VII day of the moon is to be passed, but
should be believed, unless one is to believe in our arrogance, or, to speak more truly, in our madness, unless the promised aid of your prayers sustains us for a little while? For we believe that to your prayer and faith nothing is impossible. Strengthened by this confidence, we shall enter upon the deepest and most untried sea of this obscure computation, as questions and problems rise up and swell on every side, having set aside all sense of shame. A ... and with the addition of the twentieth number, twelve parts are completed in one and the same day. But even I, if I had attempted to bring some small drop, after the flooding rivers of the eloquence and knowledge of certain others, what else...
II. Of the New Moon of the First Month
Therefore, we have in the first year the beginning of the first month, which is the start of the nineteen-year cycle; according to the Egyptians, it is the twenty-sixth day of the month Phamenoth; according to the Macedonians, the twenty-second day of the month Dystrus; and according to the Romans, the twenty-third of March, that is, the eighth day before the Kalends of April. On this day, the sun is found not only to have ascended the first part, but even to be already traversing the fourth day in it, that is, in the first of the twelve parts. But this first particle of the twelve is the vernal equinox; and it is the beginning of the months, and the head of the cycle, and the release of the course of the stars which are called planets—that is, the wanderers—and the end of the twelve-part section, and the limit of the entire cycle. And therefore we say that those who think the Pascha should be celebrated before this beginning of the new year do not err slightly. C
III. The Opinion of the Ancient Jews
Nor does this reasoning take its origin from us as the first; it is shown to have been approved by the ancient Jews and observed before the coming of Christ. As is clearly taught by the interpretation of Valesius.
II.
You have, therefore, in the first year the new moon of the first month, which is the head of the entire nineteen-year cycle: according to the Egyptians, the twenty-sixth day of the month Phamenoth; according to the Macedonians, the twenty-second day of the month Dystrus; but as the Romans would say, the eleventh day before the Kalends of April. Furthermore, on the aforesaid twenty-sixth day of the month Phamenoth, the sun is found not only to have entered the first segment, but also to be traversing the fourth day within it. This part they are wont to call the first dodecatemorion, and the equinox, and the beginning of the months, and the head of the cycle, and the starting-gate of the course of the planets. That which immediately precedes this part is called the end of the months, and the twelfth segment, and the final dodecatemorion, and the limit of the circuit of the planets. Wherefore, we affirm that those who establish the first month in that place, and deduce the fourteenth day of the paschal feast from it, err no small amount.III.
And this opinion was not first devised by us; but it was known to the ancient Jews even before the coming of Christ, and was diligently observed by them. And this may be known from the words of Philo, Josephus, and Musaeus. Nor from these alone, but also from other ancients: namely, from the two Agathobuli, who...by Philo and Josephus, but also by those who are even more ancient—both that Agathobulus 22 who was surnamed the Teacher, and Aristobulus the Great 23, who was numbered among the seventy who translated the sacred and divine Scriptures of the Hebrews for Ptolemy Philadelphus and his father, and who dedicated books of explanations of the law of Moses to those same kings. These men, in solving the questions concerning Exodus, say that all must sacrifice the Passover equally after the vernal equinox, in the middle of the first month. This is found to be when the sun is traversing the first segment of the solar, or, as some of them have named it, the zodiacal circle.
IV. What Aristobulus further adds.
Aristobulus also adds that it is necessary at the feast of the Passover that not only the sun should be traversing the equinoctial segment, but the moon as well. For as there are two equinoctial segments, the vernal and the autumnal, and they are diametrically opposite to one another, and the day of the Passover is appointed for the fourteenth of the month toward evening, the moon will stand in the position opposite and diametrically across from the sun—just as it is possible to see at the full moons. Thus, the sun will be in the vernal equinoctial segment, and the moon will of necessity be in the autumnal equinoctial segment.
V. The more certain opinion of the Christians.
I know that many other things are said by them, some of which are plausible, while others proceed according to certain proofs 24 by which they attempt to show that the feast of the Passover and of Unleavened Bread must by all means be celebrated after the equinox. I pass over the abundance of demonstrations of this kind, since these things are already known and confirmed by the testimonies of the Scriptures.
II. Valesius’ interpretation.
They are called Teachers; and regarding Aristobulus, that most distinguished man who was one of those seventy men who translated the sacred volumes of the Hebrews for the favor of Ptolemy Philadelphus and his own parent, and who dedicated books of explanations of the Mosaic law to those same kings. They, while bringing forth solutions to the questions in Exodus, say that all must equally sacrifice the Passover after the vernal equinox in the middle of the first month. And this happens when the sun traverses the first part of the solar, or, as some call it, the zodiac circle.
IV. Aristobulus adds besides, that in celebrating the paschal festival it is necessary that not only the sun, but also the moon should traverse the equinoctial segment. For since there are two equinoctial segments, the one vernal, the other autumnal, and they are mutually opposite from the diameter; and since the fourteenth day of the month is assigned to the paschal feast toward evening: the moon indeed will stand opposite the sun, just as is to be seen in full moons. And the sun will indeed hold the vernal equinoctial segment; but the moon will necessarily occupy the segment of the autumnal equinox.
we omit demanding an abundance of proofs, by which the veil of the Mosaic law has been removed: and whereby it is permitted, with unveiled face, to behold Christ henceforth, and the teachings and sufferings of Christ, as if in a mirror. That the first month among the Hebrews begins around the equinox is clearly proven, even from those precepts which are read in the book of Enoch.
VI. The Pasch is not to be celebrated until after the equinox.
And therefore, in this harmony of the sun and moon, the Pasch is not to be sacrificed, because as long as they are found in this [type of] course, the power of darkness is not conquered; and as long as an equality between light and darkness persists, and it is not diminished by the light, it is shown that the Pasch is not to be sacrificed. For this reason, then, it is commanded that the Pasch be sacrificed after the equinox, because the fourteenth moon before the equinox, and at the equinox, does not fill the entire night. But after the equinox, the fourteenth moon, with one day added—which is the transgression of the equinox—although it may not have reached the true light, that is, the rising of the sun and the beginning of the day, yet it does not leave darkness behind it. Therefore, seven days of unleavened bread are ordered by the Lord to be kept by Moses for the sacrificing of the Pasch, so that in them no power of darkness may be found to exceed the light. And although the beginning of the four nights grows dark, that is, the 16th and 17th, 17th and 18th, 18th and 19th, and 19th and 20th, yet the twentieth moon does not permit darkness to extend until the middle of the night before it has risen.
VII. Anatolius does not wish the Pasch to be sacrificed on the 22nd moon.
But to us, for whom it is impossible that all these things should aptly coincide at one and the same time, that is, the fourteenth moon and the Lord's day, once the equinox has passed; and whom the necessity of the Lord's resurrection constrains that we should sacrifice the Pasch on the Lord's day; it is permitted that we extend the beginning of our solemnity up to the twentieth moon. Because the twentieth moon, although it may not fill the entire night, nevertheless, rising in the second watch, it illuminates the greater part of the night. Certainly, if the rising of the moon has delayed until the end of the two watches, which is the middle of the night, not the light overcomes the darkness, but the darkness overcomes the light. Which it is certain cannot be the case for the Pasch, that any part of darkness should possess rule over the light: because the solemnity of the Lord's resurrection is light, and there is no communion of light with darkness. And if the moon should rise in the third watch, there is no doubt that it is the 22nd or 21st moon that has risen, on which the true Pasch cannot possibly be sacrificed. For those who define that the Pasch can be celebrated at this age of the moon, not only cannot affirm it by the authority of divine Scripture, but also incur the crime of sacrilege and stubbornness, and peril to their souls; while they affirm that the true light can be sacrificed with some dominion of darkness, which dominates all things.
VIII. Against certain computists of Gaul, who established the Pasch on the 21st and 22nd moon.
Therefore, that which is read in Exodus is not contrary to this assertion, as certain computists of the part of Gaul affirm: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days leaven shall not be found in your houses. Whence they affirm that the Pasch can be sacrificed on the twenty-first moon; understanding that if the 22nd moon is added, eight days of unleavened bread are found. Which indeed cannot be reasonably found in the Old Testament, with the Lord commanding through Moses: You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. Unless, perhaps, the fourteenth day is not counted by them among the days of unleavened bread with the sacrifice of the Pasch; contrary to the saying of the Gospel, which says: On the first day of the unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus. Nor is there any doubt that it is the fourteenth day on which the disciples asked the Lord according to the custom established for them long ago: Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Pasch? But they affirm this addition for this reason, being deceived in this error, because they do not know that the 13th and 14th, the 14th and 15th, the 15th and 16th, the 16th and 17th, the 17th and 18th, the 18th and 19th, the 19th and 20th, and the 20th and 21st, are most certainly found to be the moon on one day. For every day in the computation of the moon is not finished in the evening by the same number as it is initiated in the morning: because the day which
is my soul even unto death; it is another thing, when the ancient enemy is conquered by the conqueror and the adversary has been defeated by the highest triumph, to rejoice with him who rejoices, he himself commanding: "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which I had lost."
in the moon, that is, up to the sixth hour and a half, it is counted as the thirteenth, and it is found to be the fourteenth at evening. Whence it is also enjoined that the Pasch be extended up to the twenty-first at evening; which in the morning, beyond doubt—that is, up to the term of the hours we have mentioned—was held to be the twentieth. Calculate, therefore, from the end of the twelfth moon, which is the beginning of the fourteenth, to the end of the twentieth, from which the beginning of the twenty-first starts; and you will find only seven days of unleavened bread, in which the most true Pasch of the Lord is directed by rule to be immolated.
IX. Against those who add three days before the Caesar’s equinox, in which they define that the Pasch can be immolated.
But what is wonderful if they have erred in the twenty-first moon, who add three days before the equinox, in which they define that the Pasch can be immolated? This is by all means to be considered absurd, since it is evidently defined by the most open historians of the Jews and by the Seventy Elders that the Pasch cannot be celebrated at the equinox.X. The Asian custom of celebrating the Pasch on any day of the week, against the authority of Peter and Paul. Victor and Irenaeus.
But to them, nothing was difficult, for whom it was lawful to celebrate the Pasch on any day of the week when the fourteenth moon had arrived after the equinox. Following whose example, all the bishops of Asia even until today (since they themselves received the rule from an irreproachable author, namely John the Evangelist, the one who leaned upon the Lord's breast and was undoubtedly a drinker of spiritual doctrines), without doubt in every year, when the fourteenth moon had arrived and the lamb was being immolated among the Jews, after the equinox had been passed, they celebrated the Pasch: not acquiescing to the authority of some, that is, of the successors of Peter and Paul; who taught that all the Churches in which they sowed the spiritual seeds of the Gospel could celebrate the solemnity of the Lord's resurrection only on the Lord's Day. Whence also a certain contention arose between their successors, namely Victor, bishop of the Roman city at that time, and Polycrates, who then seemed to hold the primacy among the bishops of Asia. Which was most rightly settled by Irenaeus, at that time a prelate of a part of Gaul; with both parties persevering in their own rule, and not declining from the custom of antiquity. They indeed observed the day of the Pasch on the fourteenth of the first month, according to the Gospel, as they thought, adding nothing at all from outside, but keeping the rule of faith in all things. But these others, passing over the day of the Lord’s passion as one filled with sadness and mourning, confirm that it is not lawful at any time to celebrate the Lord’s Paschal mystery unless on the Lord’s Day, on which the resurrection of the Lord from the dead took place, and on which the cause of eternal joy arose for us. For it is one thing, according to what has been commanded by the Apostle, or rather by the Lord, to grieve with the grieving, and to suffer with him who suffered the cross, he himself saying: "My soul is sad even unto death"; it is another, when the ancient enemy is conquered by the conqueror and the adversary has been defeated by the highest triumph, to rejoice with him who rejoices, he himself commanding: "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which I had lost."XI. The double moon of the sixteenth and seventeenth at the resurrection of Christ.
However, that which they now suggest to us, that we cannot celebrate the Pasch passing over the fourteenth moon, which is the beginning of the clear Pasch, does not move or disturb us. For although they define that it is illicit to extend the beginning of the Pasch up to the twentieth moon, they cannot deny that it must be prolonged up to the sixteenth and seventeenth, which happen on the same day on which the Lord rose from the dead. But we decree that it is better to extend the Pasch up to the twentieth moon for the sake of the Lord’s Day, than to anticipate the Lord’s Day for the sake of the fourteenth moon; in which for us was light in the beginning, and now in the end of all present goods, the conveniences and auspices of future things have been shown. For the Lord pursues the twentieth day with no less praise than the fourteenth. For in Leviticus it is thus commanded: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, is the Lord’s phase. And on the fifteenth day of this month is the solemnity of the unleavened bread of the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. The first day shall be most solemn and holy to you. You shall do no servile work in it. The seventh day shall be more solemn and holy. You shall do no servile work in it." And therefore we confirm that they have contracted no guilt before the tribunal of Christ who have judged that the beginning of the Paschal solemnity ought to be extended to this day. Especially since we are pressed by three straits; that is, that celebrating the solemnity of the Pasch on the Lord’s Day, the equinox having been passed, we do not exceed the twentieth moon.XII. The objection of some, that the Pasch cannot always be found on a Sunday in the space of XIX years. The response of Anatolius.
But this is defined by other wise and most acute men as impossible, that in that narrow and very short space of a nineteen-year cycle, the most true Pasch, that is, on the Lord’s Day, should be found crossing the equinox. But that we may make this more manifest, which induces incredulity in them, we shall set forth that cycle of years which we have mentioned, with the courses of the moon; having computed before the days in which the year is involved in reciprocal courses, in the Kalends, and Ides, and Nones, and in the rising and setting of the sun.XIII. The age of the moon expanded in the Julian Calendar.
January in the Kalends, one day, first moon. In the Nones the fifth day, moon 5. In the Ides, 13 days, moon 13. [In the] Kalends of February, 32 days, moon 2. In the Nones, 36 days, moon 6. In the Ides, 44 days, moon 14. In...[on the] day of the Kalends of March, day 59, moon 29. On the Kalends of March, day 60, moon 1. On the Nones, day 66, moon 7. On the Ides, day 74, moon 15. On the day before the Kalends of April, day 90, moon 2. On the Kalends of April, day 91, moon 3. On the Nones, day 95, moon 7. On the Ides, day 103, moon 15. On the day before the Kalends of May, day 120, moon 5. On the Kalends of May, day 121, moon 4. On the Nones, day 127, moon 10. On the Ides, day 135, moon 18. On the day before the Kalends of June, day 151, moon 3. On the Kalends of June, day 152, moon 5. On the Nones, day 153, moon 9. On the Ides, day 164, moon 17. On the day before the Kalends of July, day 181, moon 5. On the Kalends of July, day 182, moon 6. On the Nones, day 188, moon 12. On the Ides, day 196, moon 20. On the day before the Kalends of August, day 212, moon 5. On the Kalends of August, day 213, moon 7. On the Nones, day 217, moon 12. On the Ides, day 225, moon 19. On the day before the Kalends of September, day 243, moon 7. On the Kalends of September, day 244, moon 8. On the Nones, day 248, moon 12. On the Ides, day 256, moon 20. On the day before the Kalends of October, day 273, moon 8. On the Kalends of October, day 274, moon 9. On the Nones, day 280, moon 15. On the Ides, day 288, moon 23. On the day before the Kalends of November, day 304, moon 9. On the Kalends of November, day 305, moon 10. On the Nones, day 309, moon 14. On the Ides, day 317, moon 22. On the day before the Kalends of December, day 334, moon 10. On the Kalends of December, day 335, moon 11. On the Nones, day 339, moon 15. On the Ides, day 347, moon 23. On the day before the Kalends of January, day 365, moon 11. On the Kalends of January, day 366, moon 12.
XIV. The Paschal Table of Anatolius.
Now, however, after the computation of the days and the course of the moon having been shown, through which the whole cycle of the years revolves to its end, the beginning must be established. This Passover is from the 6th day before the Kalends of April until the 11th day before the Kalends of May.EQUINOX. MOON. 1. Saturday. XXVI. 2. Sunday. VII. 3. Monday. XVIII. 4. Tuesday. XXIX. 5. Wednesday. X. 6. Thursday. XXI. 7. Saturday (27). II. 8. Sunday. XIII. 9. Monday. XXIV. 10. Tuesday. V. 11. Wednesday. XVI. 12. Thursday. XXVII. 13. Friday. VIII. 14. Saturday. XX. 15. Sunday. I. 16. Monday. XII. 17. Wednesday (28). XXIII. 18. Thursday. IV. 19. Friday. XV.
PASSOVER. MOON. XV. Kalends of May. XVIII. Kalends of April. XIV. XI. Kalends of May. XVI. Ides of April. XIX. IV. Kalends of April. XIV. XIV. Kalends of May. XVI. VI. Kalends of April. XVII. Kalends of April. XX. XVIII. Kalends of May. XV. VIII. Ides of April. XV. IV. Kalends of April. XX. III. Ides of April. XV. III. Nones of April. XVII. IX. Kalends of May. XX. VI. Ides of April. XV. II. Kalends of April. XVIII. XIV. Kalends of May. XIX. II. Nones of April. XIV. VI. Kalends of April. XVII.