51. How certain people err concerning the beginning of the first month
THE RECKONING OF TIME
inception of the Paschal lunation should be sought starting from the 3rd nones of March [5 March], because in fact the Moon which appears then will show a full Moon before the equinox.38 Hence it is not ¢t for the Paschal solemnity, in that, as we said, /437/ it is necessary that ¢rst the Sun and then the Moon rise in the position in which they were originally created, so that [the Sun] wins victory over the length of night by crossing the equinox, and [the Moon], though she may be smaller, illuminates the whole length [of night] by her fullness. Virtually no one doubts that this refers to the sacrament of Christ and his Church. We referred to some of these matters at the beginning of this work:39 let us go back over a few of them now. Because (as they say) the Moon and stars do not shine with their own light, but take their light from the Sun, so also the Church and all the saints possess the good by which they live not by the merit of their own virtue but by the grace of the liberal Giver. And just as we maintain our fortitude not by the strength of our own willpower, but by His acceptance of us, whose mercy goes before us, nor are we capable of thinking anything on our own, as if from our own selves, but our capability comes from God, even so in the season wherein we celebrate the great events of our redemption, the perfection of solar splendour which illuminates ought to go before the lunar [splendour] which is illuminated.
51. HOW CERTAIN PEOPLE ERR CONCERNING
THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST MONTH40
But see whether the error of those who think otherwise seems to be con¢rmed and supported by the truth, at least in the eyes of those who make wicked laws of this sort, and who in writing, write what is not just.
Victorius, who composed their cycles, writes in the prologue of this same work, amongst other things, as follows: But the Latins, on the other hand, considered that [the period from] the 3rd nones of March [5 March] to the 4th nones of April [2 April] ^ that is, 28 days ^ ought to be observed
[as the limits of the beginning of the Paschal lunation], /438/ so that the 38 The major culprit here is Victorius of Aquitaine, Prologus ad Hilarium archidiaconum 4 (ed. Krusch, Studien II, 19.12^14).
39 Cf. ch. 6.
40 On the possible sources for this chapter, and particularly the text beginning
Constans igitur . . . incorporated into the Byrhtferth glosses to The Reckoning of Time (PL
90.499C^500C and 713^714), see Jones, BOT 386.
TRANSLATION
beginning of the Paschal month falls on whatever day [within this period] there is a ¢rst Moon. If the 14th Moon of this [lunation] comes on a Friday, the following Sunday ^ that is, the 16th Moon ^ is assigned without any ambiguity to the Paschal celebration. But if it happens that the full Moon is on Saturday and the 15th Moon is found on the following
Sunday, they said that Easter ought to be transferred to the next Sunday, that is, the 22nd Moon, with a week having been passed over, lest they ¢x a Moon which is less than 16 days old for the celebration of the mystery of that Sunday. Nor will they at any time accept a Moon that is more than 22 daysold,buttheywouldratherthatthedayofthePaschalfeastbeextended to the 22nd day than ever to begin it on a Sunday before the 14th Moon.
Furthermore, they assert that the 14th Moon of this month should be counted from the 15th kalends of April [18 March] until the 16th kalends of May [16 April].41 And again at the end of the same prologue he says:
But when it happens that the 27th Moon falls on a Saturday, and in particular, on the kalends of January without a leap-year day, Your Holiness should know that Easter is not to be found save either on the 13th kalends ofApril[20March]accordingtotheLatins,whichisnevertobecelebrated even if the Moon agrees, or on the 8th kalends of May [24 April] /439/ accordingtothe Egyptians,which is sometimes observed.42
Let us see, therefore, in what manner Victorius commends his ''Latins''. He says that they prefer to think that a new Moon which begins on the 3rd nones of March [5 March] is the start of the ¢rst month, and that Easter Sunday ought to be celebrated on the 16th Moon. And again he says that Easter is never to be celebrated on the 13th kalends of April [20 March], as the Latins do, even if the Moon agrees, but rather on the 8th kalends of May [24 April] as the Egyptians do. But he agrees that a Moon which was new on the 3rd nones of March [5 March] will be
16 days old on the 13th kalends of April [20 March]. Now I ask you, holy brother Victorius, if a new Moon on the 3rd nones of March [5 March] marks the beginning of the ¢rst month, why do we not celebrate Easter in this month, but instead put it o¡ to the next month ^ when the Law commands all who are capable of doing so to celebrate the Pasch in the ¢rst month, and that only those on a journey, or who are unclean, should
41 Victorius of Aquitaine, Prologus 4 (19.12^20.4). Most MSS of Victorius read XVII kal. mai. in the last sentence, but all MSS of Bede used in Jones' ed. save Melk Stiftsbibliothek 370 read XVI.
42 Ibid. 12 (26.15^19).
THE RECKONING OF TIME
celebrate in the second month?43 Why do you add, ''without a leap-year day''? Perhaps because when the kalends of January [1 January] is a Saturday, the 13th kalends of April [20 March] will fall on a Sunday if it is not a leap year, but the same date will fall on a Monday if the leap-year day intervenes, and you wish to teach that when Monday the 13th kalends of April [20 March] is the 16th Moon, then Easter ought rightly to be celebrated on the following Sunday, 7th kalends of April [26
March] at the 22nd Moon? Indeed, even though on that same day ^ the 13th kalends /440/ of April [20 March] ^ the Moon is 16 days old, one cannot celebrate Easter then because the equinox has not yet passed. But neither [can one do so] on the following Sunday, because a Moon which is too old (that is, 23 days) falls on that day, and this necessity compels us to defer the solemnities of Easter until the second month. A wonderful instructor in computation you are! Your chief doctrine is that a new
Moon on the 3rd nones of March [5 March] begins the ¢rst month; then, on the other hand, vanquished by reason itself, you are forced to admit that unless the leap-year day intervenes, it is not at all the new Moon on that day, but rather the one which will be kindled 29 days later which ¢ts the Paschal feast. But if there is a leap-year day, then it becomes the ¢rst month of the following year, which without [the leap-year day] would be the last [month] of the preceding [year]. And what is this that you say:
''Even if the Moon agrees, Easter is absolutely never to be celebrated on the 13th kalends of April [20 March]''? But how can the Moon agree with the Paschal solemnities at a time when the Paschal solemnities are never to be celebrated? And if Easter is never to be celebrated on the 13th kalends of April [20 March] even if the 16th Moon arrives, then patently the Latins are wrong when they claim that the Paschal lunation begins on the 3rd nones of March [5 March], since it is not permitted to celebrate
Easter on the 16th or 17th day of this [lunation] because the equinox has not passed. Having spurned their observance, you rightly urge, along with the Egyptians, that Easter in that year ought to be postponed to the 8th kalends of May [24 April]. If you think that what the Egyptians teach ought to be observed instead, why do you not opt for their science on all points? In fact, you choose not to do this, but to take a middle course between the two, and to dispense the calculation of the Latins, which you despise, to your own people to be taught and followed, rather than that oftheEgyptianswhichyouprefer.WehavelearnedtofollowtheEgyptian
43 Numbers 9.10^11.