The Passover versus Easter Continues into the Early Middle Ages
A Tale of Two Columbas and the Council of Whitby
Middle Ages…so-called Dark Ages of Europe…these same years are called the Golden Age in Ireland, when knowledge, especially of the Truth, was expanding.
The Golden Age of Ireland
Patrick, Druids, monastaries, Columba, Columbanus “Father of Europe”, date of Easter.
Middle ages…Ireland, never conquored by Rome, Golden age…Patrick, Columba, Columbanus, the “Father of Irish Monasticism”b. circa 543 C.E. in Leinser, Ireland …died 597 C.E. at Iona, Scotland.
“Saint” Patrick of Ireland…captured, released after 6 years, (OT instructions) came back to Ireland to preach…Columba (d. 597 C.E)….1200 monks (possibly Levites, killed in Wales, Bangor);…Columbanus, considered today as “the father of Europe” (d. 615 C.E.), who kept an “Easter” (Passover) date different than the majority believed.,
Passover referenced in 664 C.E. by Bede in his …
The Synod of Whitby
According to Wikipedia, “The Synod of Whitby was a Christian administrative gathering held in Northumbria in 664, wherein King Oswiu ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure (haircut) according to the customs of Rome rather than to the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite institutions. The synod was summoned at Hilda’s double monastery of Streonshalh, later called Whitby Abbey.
The principle source for the historicity of the synod comes from Historia Ecclesiasticagentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) by the Venerable Bede, written between 725 and 731. He had access to people who knew participants in the synod, and it’s also probable that he was born in the area and, as a child, was aware of this famous meeting. Bede was also a Catholic, so this Easter calculation meeting was of special interest to him.
Background: From the time of the Middle (Dark) Ages, Ireland and Scotland, the Celts, Scots and Picts, had maintained a completely separate version of Christianity than that of Rome. In Ireland, they were later called the “Celtic” (Kel-tick) Church. They were ruled by tribal chieftans, spoke Gaelic, and were fiercely independent. The Roman empire had invaded Britannia in the centuries before Christ, and by the time of the early 400’s, had about given up ruling there. By 410, they had left. The western Roman empire “fell” in 476. Ireland, on the other hand, had become the center of learning for all of Europe, developing monasteries where Latin was used to transmit knowledge that had been, and was being, suppressed by the Catholic Church. This “Golden Age of Ireland” allowed the Irish, Scots and Picts to withstand Roman influence in their religious belief systems. In c. 540’s?, Columba left Ireland with 12 disciples, crossed the Irish Sea to northwest Scotland and established a monastery on the tiny island of Iona. From there, he set out to convert the Scots and Picts. He died 597…into the 600’’s, his disciples had made a major impact in Scotland and northern England. Aidan, a prominent disciple of Columba, was able to establish a church at Lindesfarne, just south of the present day border with Scotland, in Northumbria, on the northeast coast of what later became England. King Oswiu had been exiled to Iona as a youth, so he had been taught the Celtic Church practices, including the 14th Passover. But he had married Queen Eanfled from Bernicia, a Roman province in central England that was Catholic. When one faction was celebrating Passover, the other would still be fasting during Lent. The disunity did not result in problems as long as the well-respected Aidan was still alive. Also, (lady Abbess) was a steadying influence on both the royals. After Aidan’s death, his successor Finian found himself challenged by a monk named Ronan, an Irishman who had been trained in Rome and who wished to see the Roman Easter established. It was in the time of Colman, the third Ionian monk elected Bishop of Northumbria, that the conflict required royal attention and resolution.
The description of the proceedings are explained by Bede: The King Oswiu of Northumbria (northern England) presided over and ruled, but did not engage in the ecclesiastical debate himself. [I will jump to the part that concerns this study: Colman used Anatolius’ work, described above, as his main reference to counter the Roman Catholic representative, Wilfrid. Ronan had gotten too old and wasn’t the debater that Wilfrid was. What follows is the pertinent parts of the debate. From Bede, the Ecclesiastical ….]
From yahoranger.com…though I don’t recognize several of the views expressing at this website, the info re: the Sadducees rings true…14. Passover-Aristocratic Practice 1
Astounding historic facts revealed: Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon describes the Aristocratic interpretation of when the day (and night) began: “between the two evenings” Ex 16.12, 30.8, Ex 12.6, Lv 23.5, Nu 9.3, and evening sacrifice was offered. Ex 29.39, 41, Nu 28.4, according to the opinion of the Sadducees (modern Karaites) and Samaritans (modern …? In Israel)…looking to Dt 16.6, the time between sunset and dark…”at the going down of the sun”. The Pharisees and Talmudists took this to mean from the hour of the sun’s decline (after Noon) until its setting; and this was the later temple practice (Pesach. V 1; Jubilees, 49; Jos.,BJ vi.ix.3)