Edward Siecienski on The Church of Rome and the Quartodeciman Controversy

The orthodoxy of the Roman See might be praiseworthy, but praise of Rome did not always translate into obedience to its bishop. This was certainly true during the debate over the dating of Pascha (i.e., the Quartodeciman Controversy)—that is, whether Pascha should be celebrated on the fourteenth of Nissan (the Jewish Passover) or on the following Sunday, which was the Roman custom. The first signs of trouble occurred during a visit of Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 156) to Anicetus of Rome (c. 153-68), but according to the sources, after arguing back and forth they simply “agreed to disagree” and maintained communion despite their differences. However, forty years later, Victor of Rome (c. 189-99) requested that synods be held to settle the issue, and attempted to excommunicate Polycrates of Ephesus and the bishops of Asia when they refused to adopt the Roman custom. While most synods did follow the Roman dating, Polycrates, “unafraid of threats,” vehemently defended his church’s ancient practice and refused to conform. In the end it appears that Victor, rebuked by Irenaeus and others for overreacting, never carried through with this threat and that communion was preserved. Rome emerged from the date with its prestige unscathed—after all, “convoking a series of regional councils to try and pressure the Asians into conformity is a tribute to Roman prestige” (Eno, The Rise of the Papacy, 42)—but it is clear that respect did not equal obedience. (A. Edward Siecienski, The Papacy and the Orthodox: Sources and History of a Debate [Oxford Studies in Historical Theology; New York: Oxford University Press, 2017], 148-49)