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allowing the calculation of a date using the simple mathematical operation of integer division, which was known to early medieval mathematicians. |
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It also introduces the possibility of occasional error in those circumstances when the real moon departs from the behavior of its simple, uniformly moving cousin. Easter has been, historically, celebrated several times on the wrong date by this rule. |
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6.2.3.1.1.7
The Beat Goes On |
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The 532-year cycle of Victorius, however, was by no means the last word in Easter calculation. The algorithm became embroiled in the Laurentian schism when the anti-pope Laurentius followed it. The party of Pope Symmachus (A.D. 498514) promptly reintroduced the 84-year cycle. |
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In the East, meanwhile, the Anatolian cycle of 19 years had not been forgotten. Cyril of Alexandria computed a calendar for five cycles (A.D. 436531). Several years prior to its expiration, Dionysius Exiguus, a monk in Rome, constructed an extension, to A.D. 626, using the basic idea of the Anatolian cycle. Until this time, dating had been using the era of Diocletian. Dionysius, however, dated his calendar from the birth of Christ, and invented, thereby, the concept of anno Domini, which remains in use today. The calculations used by Dionysius in dating the Christian era were inaccurate, but the system itself remained in place and also eventually resulted in an end to the long-standing dispute between Rome and Alexandria. |
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Even so, the cycle of Dionysius was not adopted in Western Europe with any regularity until the eighth century. Divergent celebrations were observed in sixth-century Gaul by followers of the Victorius cycle. |
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6.2.3.1.1.8
A Final Dispute |
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The last major dispute over the dating of Easter in the West is often called the Celtic controversy. At the time of its conversion to Christianity in the fifth century, Ireland had been introduced to the 84-year cycle. As the Irish monks introduced their Celtic calendar into new regions, they came into conflict with Christians who followed other calendars. |
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Saint Columban
* (ca. A.D. 550615), for example, established several monasteries in Gaul that used this calendar and soon came into conflict with Gallic bishops, who naturally accused Columba of Quartodeciman heresy as a move in their turf battle. |
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The Celtic calendar was likewise introduced into England. Pope Gregory I (A.D. 590604) sent missionaries from Rome who, accompanied by Augustine of Canterbury, attempted to introduce the Roman calendar. Matters came to a head in A.D. 664, when King Oswy of Northumbria convened an assembly at Whitby to hear the arguments of Saint Colman (for the Celtic) and Wilfrid of York (for the Roman), before deciding in favor of the Roman usage, in deference to the authority of Saint Peter. Theodore of Tarsus (ca. A.D. 602690), Archbishop of Canterbury, subsequently undertook to extend the Roman calendar throughout England. |
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