Chapter 21

At this time, Nechtan, King of the Picts, living in the northern parts of Britain, convinced after assiduous study of Church writings, renounced the error hitherto maintained by his nation about the observance of Easter and adopted the Catholic time of keeping our Lord’s Resurrection with all his people. In order to do this more smoothly and with greater authority, the king asked help from the English people, whom he knew to have based their practice long previously on the pattern of the holy Roman apostolic Church. So he sent messengers to the venerable Ceolfrid, Abbot of the monastery of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, which he ruled most illustriously as successor of the above-mentioned Benedict. This monastery stands at the mouth of the river Wear, and also close to the river Tyne at a place called In-Gyrwum.¹ The king requested Ceolfrid to write him a letter of guidance that would help him to refute those who presume to keep Easter at the wrong time; and although he was relatively well informed on these matters himself, he also required information about the form and reason for the tonsure that clergy should wear. In addition, he asked that architects be sent him in order to build a stone church for his people in the Roman style, promising that he would dedicate it in honour of the blessed Prince of the Apostles and that he and his people would follow the customs of the holy apostolic Roman Church, as far as they could learn them in view of their remoteness from the Roman people and from Roman speech. The most reverend Abbot Ceolfrid complied with his devout wishes and requests, sending him the architects he asked for, together with the following letter.²

‘To the most excellent and illustrious lord, King Nechtan, from Abbot Ceolfrid – Greetings in our Lord.

‘In response to your devout enquiries as a God-fearing king, I am most willing and ready to attempt to explain the Catholic observance of Easter in accordance with the rulings of the apostolic see; for we know that whenever Holy Church sets itself to learn, teach, or maintain the truth concerning our Lord, this truth is revealed to it from heaven. As a secular writer very truly said, the world would be in the happiest possible state if kings were philosophers or philosophers were kings.³ And if a man of the world could make a true estimate of this world’s philosophy and judge rightly about the state of this world, how much more is it to be desired and sincerely prayed for by the citizens of our heavenly home, who are pilgrims in this world, that the greater any man’s position in this world, the more he should exert himself to obey the commands of the Supreme Judge, and by his example and authority induce those committed to his charge to follow him in observing them!

‘There are three rules in holy scripture that determine the time of keeping Easter, and which no human authority may change. Two of these are decreed by God in the Law of Moses, and the third is added in the Gospel as a consequence of the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord. For the Law directed that the Passover should be kept in the first month of the year, and in the third week of that month, that is, between the fifteenth and twenty-first days of the month. To this, the apostolic ordinance in the Gospels adds that we are to wait for the Lord’s Day in this third week and begin to observe Eastertide on that day. Whoever keeps this three-fold rule correctly will never make a mistake in fixing the Feast of Easter. But if you wish to hear more clear and detailed information about this, it is written in Exodus, where the people of Israel, before their deliverance from Egypt, are directed to keep the first Passover, that “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their father.” And a little later, “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” These words make it very clear that, in the paschal observance, the fourteenth day is mentioned not because it was the day on which the Passover is commanded to be kept, but because the lamb is commanded to be killed on the evening of the fourteenth day, that is, at the fifteenth rising of the moon (which marks the beginning of the third week): and because it was on the night of the fifteenth moon that the Egyptians were smitten, and Israel redeemed out of its long slavery. “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread,” it is said. In these words, all the third week of the first month is directed to be solemnly observed. But lest we should think that those seven days were to be reckoned from the fourteenth to the twentieth day, it is added: “On the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your house; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” and so on, until he says: “For in this selfsame day I will bring your army out of the land of Egypt.”

‘So the day on which God was to bring out their army from Egypt is called the first day of unleavened bread. It is clear, however, that they were not brought up out of Egypt on the fourteenth day, on the evening of which the lamb was killed and which is properly known as the Pascha or Phase, that is, the Passover, but on the fifteenth day, as is quite plainly recorded in the Book of Numbers; “So they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand.” So the seven days of unleavened bread, on the first of which the Lord’s people were led up out of Egypt, are to be reckoned from the beginning of the third week, as I have said: that is, from the fifteenth day of the month to the twenty-first day of the same month inclusive. But the fourteenth day is noted down separately from this number under the title of the Passover, as is clearly defined in the ensuing passage of Exodus, where it is said: “For in this selfsame day I will bring your army out of the land of Egypt,” and immediately adds: “Therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses.” Who can fail to see that, if the fourteenth day is included, there are not seven but eight days from the fourteenth to the twenty-first days? But if, as careful study of the scriptures reveals the truth, we reckon from the evening of the fourteenth day to the evening of the twenty-first, we shall at once see that this fourteenth day gives its evening to the beginning of the Paschal feast, so that the entire sacred solemnity comprises no more than seven days and nights. Accordingly our definition is shown to be correct, in which we stated that the Paschal period should be celebrated during the first month of the year and in its third week. For it is in fact the third week, because it begins on the evening of the fourteenth day, and closes on the evening of the twenty-first.

‘After the sacrifice of Christ our Passover, the Lord’s Day (which the ancients called the first day after the Sabbath) was made holy for us by the joy of his resurrection: and the tradition of the Apostles established this day for the Easter feast, in such a way that the lawful Paschal period should be neither forestalled nor cut short. Rather it is laid down that, according to the Law, the first month of the year and its fourteenth day and the evening of that day should be awaited. And if by chance this day fell on the Sabbath, They shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers and sacrifice it in the evening – that is to say, all churches throughout the world, who constitute the one Catholic church, should prepare bread and wine as a sacrament of the Body and Blood of the spotless Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world. And after suitable prayers, in the solemn celebration of Easter, they should offer these to the Lord in the hope of their future redemption. For that is the very night on which the people of Israel were snatched out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb, and the very night on which all God’s people was freed from eternal death by Christ’s resurrection. And when the Lord’s Day dawns on the morrow, they should celebrate the first day of the Easter feast. For that is the very day on which the glory of the Lord’s resurrection was joyfully revealed to his disciples, and is also the first day of unleavened bread, of which it is clearly written in Leviticus: “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Passover; and on the fifteenth day is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. The first day shall be the most renowned and holy.”

‘Therefore if it could be brought about that a Sunday should always fall on the fifteenth day of the first month, that is, on the fifteenth appearance of the moon, we should be able always to celebrate our Easter at the very same time as the ancient people of God, as we do by the very same faith, although by a different kind of sacrament. But because the days of the week do not keep pace with the phases of the moon, the apostolic tradition (preached by the blessed Peter at Rome and confirmed by the evangelist Mark, his interpreter, at Alexandria) decreed that, when the first month came round and the evening of its fourteenth day, they should wait further for a Sunday, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of that month. And on whatever of those days Sunday should occur, Easter should be celebrated on that day, because this falls within the seven days of unleavened bread. So it comes about that our Easter never diverges in either direction from the third week of the first month, but either occupies the whole of it, that is, all the Law’s seven days of unleavened bread, or at any rate occupies some of these days. For even if only one of them is included, that is, the seventh day (which scripture commends so highly, saying “the seventh day shall be more renowned and holy; ye shall do no servile work therein”), no one can accuse us of not keeping correctly the Easter Day, which we have received from the Gospel, in the third week of the first month as the Law decrees.

‘The reasons for the Catholic practice are therefore evident: equally evident is the irrational error of those who presume without real necessity to anticipate or to overrun the periods prescribed in the Law. Those who consider that the day of our Lord’s Resurrection should be kept between the fourteenth day of the month and the twentieth day of the moon anticipate without any reasonable necessity the time prescribed in the Law; for when they begin to keep the vigil of the holy night from the evening of the thirteenth day, it is evident that they regard that day as the beginning of their Easter, and they cannot show any authority for this in the decrees of the Law. And when they refuse to keep the Lord’s Easter on the twenty-first day of the month, they clearly exclude from their observance a day which the Law often recommends as suitable for greater festivity than the other days. Consequently, they disarrange the proper order, sometimes even placing Easter entirely in the second week and never keeping it on the seventh day of the third week.

Those who consider that Easter should be celebrated between the sixteenth day of the said month and the twenty-second, no less incorrectly, deviate from the correct course on the other side and, as though avoiding shipwreck on Scylla, are sucked down and drowned in the whirlpool of Charybdis. For when they teach that Easter is to begin at moonrise on the sixteenth day of the first month, that is, from the evening of the fifteenth day, it follows that they entirely exclude from their solemnity the fourteenth day of the month, which the Law particularly recommends. Consequently, they barely include the evening of the fifteenth day – the day on which God’s people were redeemed from slavery in Egypt, on which our Lord redeemed the world from the darkness of sin by His own Blood, and on which He was buried, bestowing on us the hope of blessedness and peace after death. When they place the Lord’s day of Easter on the twenty-second day of the month, these people receive in themselves the recompense of their error and openly violate the legitimate limits of Easter, beginning it on the evening of the day on which the Law had directed that it should be finished and completed. They also appoint as the first day of Easter a day of which no mention is made in the Law, that is, the first day of the fourth week.

‘Both these factions are sometimes mistaken not only in defining and calculating the age of the moon, but even in discovering the first month. However, this controversy is too lengthy to be dealt with fully in this letter. I will say only that the first and last months of the lunar year can always be accurately determined by reference to the vernal equinox. According to the views of all the eastern nations, and in particular of the Egyptians, who are especially skilled in such calculation, the vernal equinox occurs on the twenty-first of March, as we can prove by horological observation. Therefore, whatever moon is at the full (that is, in its fourteenth or fifteenth day) before the equinox, this rightly belongs to the last month of the preceding year and consequently is not suitable for keeping Easter. But the full moon falling either on or after the equinox itself certainly belongs to the first month; on it the ancients used to keep the Passover, and on it, when the Lord’s day comes, we should keep Easter. There is a very convincing reason why this should be so, because it is written in Genesis: “God made two lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night;” or, as it appears in another version: “the greater light to usher in the day, and the lesser light to usher in the night.” Therefore, as the vernal equinox was first determined by the rising of the sun on its emergence from the midpoint of the east and later, while the sun was setting at evening, the moon, being then full, followed from the midpoint of the east, so every year the same first month of the moon must be observed in the same order, so that the full moon must not fall before the equinox, but either on the day of the equinox itself, as it was in the beginning, or else after it. And if the full moon falls so much as one day before the time of the equinox, the above reason shows that it may not be assigned to the first month of the new year, but to the last of the preceding year, and is therefore not eligible for the observance of the Easter Festival.

‘If it pleases you to know also the symbolic reason in this matter, we are directed to keep Easter in the first month of the year, which is also known as the month of New Fruit, because we should celebrate the mysteries of our Lord’s Resurrection and our own deliverance with our minds refreshed to love of heavenly things. We are bidden to keep it in the third week of the month, because Christ, who had been promised before the Law and under the Law, came with Grace in the third age of the world to be sacrificed as our Passover; because he also rose from the dead on the third day after the offering of His Passion, and wished this to be known as the Lord’s Day and kept annually as the Easter feast; and because we only observe this rite truly, that is, His passing out of this world to the Father, if we are careful to do so with Him in faith, hope, and love. We are commanded to keep the full moon of the Paschal month after the equinox, so that first the sun may make day longer than night and then the moon may show the whole of her light face to the world, because first “the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings”, that is the Lord Jesus, overcame all the darkness of death by the triumph of His Resurrection and then, having ascended into heaven, sent down the Spirit from on high and so filled His Church, which is often symbolically described as the moon, with the light of inward grace. This was the plan of our salvation which the prophet had in mind when he said: “The sun was exalted, and the moon stood still in her habitation.”

‘Whoever argues, therefore, that the Paschal full moon can occur before the equinox, disagrees in the observance of our highest mysteries with the teaching of the scriptures, and allies himself with those who believe that they can be saved without the assistance of Christ’s grace. Such people presume to assert that they could have attained to perfect goodness even if the true Light had not overcome this world’s darkness by His Death and Resurrection. So after the rising of the equinoctial sun, and after the ensuing full moon of the first month, that is, after the close of the fourteenth day of that month – all of which we have received as necessary observances under the Law – we still wait until the Lord’s Day in the third week as the Gospel directs. Then at length we keep our proper feast of Easter, to show that we do not, like the ancients, celebrate the breaking of the Egyptian yoke of slavery, but that we venerate with faith and devotion the Redemption of the whole world, which was foreshadowed in the liberation of God’s ancient people and completed at Christ’s Resurrection. In this way we show that we rejoice in the most certain hope of our own resurrection, which we believe will take place on the Lord’s Day.

‘This calculation of Easter which I have explained to you depends on a cycle of nineteen years, which began to be observed by the Church long ago in the time of the Apostles, especially in Rome and Egypt, as I mentioned earlier. But through the industry of Eusebius, who took his surname from the blessed martyr Pamphylus, it was reduced to a clearer system, so that whereas notification was formerly sent each year to all the churches by the Patriarch of Alexandria, thenceforward it could be easily understood by everyone, because the fourteenth day of the moon fell in a regular sequence. Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, drew up an Easter table for the ensuing hundred years for the benefit of the Emperor Theodosius; similarly, his successor Cyril drew up a table for ninety-five years in five cycles of nineteen years. After him, Dionysius Exiguus added others in the same way, which extend down to our own day. This table will soon expire; but today there are so many people able to calculate that even in our own Church in Britain there are many who understand the ancient rules of the Egyptians, and can readily compute the cycles of these paschal times for an indefinite number of years, even for five hundred and thirty-two years ahead if they so desire. After this period, all that concerns the sequences of sun and moon, month and week, recurs in the same order as before. But I do not propose to send you these cycles of times to come, because you only asked to be informed about the reasons for the time of Easter and said that you were provided with Catholic Easter tables.

‘Having written about Easter as you requested, albeit cursorily and briefly, I also urge you to make sure that the tonsure, about which you also asked me to write, is worn in accordance with Christian ecclesiastical practice. We know that the Apostles were not all tonsured in the same manner and, although the Catholic Church is united in one faith, hope, and love in God, it has not adopted one unvarying form of tonsure throughout the whole world. On a wider view, looking back to the earlier days of the patriarchs, we find that Job, the pattern of patience, shaved his head in time of trouble, which shows that in times of prosperity he allowed his hair to grow. But Joseph, remarkable for his practice and teaching of chastity, humility, piety, and other virtues, shaved his head when about to be freed from slavery, which shows that, while he was living in prison as a slave, he did not cut his hair. But notice how each of these men of God, while differing in their outward appearance, are alike in cherishing grace and virtue in their inmost hearts. So we may frankly admit that a variety in tonsure does no harm to those who have a pure faith in God and sincere charity towards their neighbour, especially since we do not read that there was ever any controversy among the catholic fathers about differences of tonsure such as there has been about diversity in Easter observance or in matters of doctrine. Nevertheless, of all the tonsures to be found either in the Church or among the races of mankind, I consider none more worthy of being imitated and adopted than that worn on the head of the disciple to whose confession our Lord replied: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it: and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Nor do I consider any to be more abhorrent and detestable to all the faithful than that worn by the man to whom, when he wished to purchase the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter said: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter.”⁴ But we are not shaven in the form of a crown solely because Peter was shorn in this way, but because Peter was shorn in this way in memory of our Lord’s Passion. Therefore we who desire to be saved by Christ’s Passion like Peter wear this sign of the Passion on the crown of the head, which is the highest part of the body. For, as the whole Church came into being through the Death of Him who gave it life, so each member of it bears the sign of the Holy Cross on his forehead, so that this emblem may afford constant protection against the assaults of wicked spirits and serve as a continual reminder that he must crucify the flesh with all its vices and evil desires. Similarly, those who have taken monastic vows or are in Holy Orders should bind themselves to stricter self-discipline for our Lord’s sake, and wear their heads tonsured in the form of the crown of thorns which Christ wore on His head in His Passion, so that He might bear the thorns and briars of our sins and thus bear them away from us. In this way their own appearance will be a reminder to them to be willing and ready to suffer ridicule and disgrace for His sake, and a sign that they are always hoping to receive “the crown of everlasting life which the Lord hath promised to those that love Him”, and in order to win this crown regard both adversity and prosperity as of equal insignificance. As for the tonsure that Simon the magician is said to have worn, I ask what faithful Christian will not instantly detest it, like magic itself, with the scorn it deserves. On the forehead it has indeed a superficial resemblance to a crown; but when you look at the neck, you will find the apparent crown cut short, so that you may fairly regard this fashion as characteristic of simoniacs and not of Christians. For in this life deluded people thought such men worthy of a lasting crown of glory; but in the life to come they are not only deprived of all hope of a crown but condemned to eternal punishment.

‘Do not think that I have spoken in this way about those who wear this tonsure as though they are damned even if they maintain Catholic unity in belief and practice. On the contrary, I am sure that many of them were holy men and pleasing to God. Among them is Adamnan, a renowned priest and abbot of the Columbans, who when he was sent on an embassy from his nation to King Aldfrid and chose to visit our monastery, displayed remarkable wisdom, humility, and devotion in his ways and conversation. I said to him in the course of discussion: “Holy brother, you believe that you are on the right road to receive the crown of life that knows no term. Why then, I beseech you, do you wear on your head the image of a crown which, in a fashion that belies your faith, is terminated? And if you seek the society of blessed Peter, why do you imitate the tonsure of the man whom Peter cursed? Why do you not do everything in this life to show that you love to imitate him with whom you desire to live in blessedness for ever?” He replied: “My dear brother, rest assured that, although I wear Simon’s tonsure after the custom of my country, I wholeheartedly abominate and reject all simoniacal wickedness. So far as my frailty permits, I wish to follow in the footsteps of the most blessed Prince of the Apostles.” I then said: “I am sure that this is so. Nevertheless, you should give some indication of your inward esteem for whatever derives from the Apostle Peter by displaying openly whatever you know to be his. For I think that your wisdom clearly appreciates that it would be better for you, who are vowed to God, to alter your outward appearance from any resemblance to a man whom you wholeheartedly detest, and whose hideous face you would loathe to see. On the other hand, since you wish to follow the example and teachings of Peter, it would be fitting for you to conform to the outward appearance of him whom you desire to have as your advocate in the presence of God.”

‘Such, then, were my words to Adamnan, who showed how greatly he had profited by seeing the observances of our Church; for after he had returned to Scotland, he won over large numbers to the Catholic observance of Easter by his preaching. But although he was their lawfully constituted head, he was unable to persuade the monks of Iona to adopt a better rule of life. Had his authority been sufficiently great, he would surely have taken care to correct the tonsure also.

‘I now beg Your Majesty in your wisdom, together with the nation over which the King of kings and Lord of lords has placed you, to set yourself to follow all that fosters the unity of the Catholic and Apostolic Church. In so doing, when the might of your earthly kingdom has passed away, the most blessed Prince of the Apostles will gladly open the gate of the heavenly kingdom to you and yours and admit you to the company of God’s elect.

‘Most dearly beloved son in Christ, may the grace of God the everlasting King keep you in safety to reign many years, and preserve us all in peace.’

When this letter had been read in the presence of King Nechtan and many of his more learned men, and carefully translated into their own tongue by those who could understand it, he is said to have been so grateful for its guidance that he rose among his assembled chieftains and fell on his knees, thanking God that he had been accounted worthy to receive such a gift from England. ‘I already knew that this was the true observance of Easter; but I now understand the reasons for it so clearly that my previous knowledge of it now seems to me to have been very slight. I therefore publicly proclaim in the presence of you all that I intend to observe this time of Easter with all my people for ever. And I decree that all the clergy of my kingdom shall adopt the tonsure of which we have now heard the full explanation.’ The king at once enforced his statement with his royal authority. The nineteen-year cycles were immediately sent out under a public order to all the provinces of the Picts to be copied, learned, and adopted, and the erroneous eighty-four year cycles were universally abolished. All the ministers of the altar and monks adopted the circular tonsure, and the reformed nation was glad to be placed under the direction of Peter, the most blessed Prince of the Apostles, and secure under his protection.