But of the bishops in Asia, who strongly maintained that they ought to preserve the custom anciently delivered to them, the leader was Polycrates; and he himself, in the writing which he addressed to Victor and the church of the Romans, set forth the tradition that had come down to him, in these words:
「We, therefore, keep the day without tampering, neither adding nor taking away. For indeed in Asia great luminaries have fallen asleep, who shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, in which he comes with glory from the heavens and shall raise up all the saints—Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who has fallen asleep at Hierapolis, and his two daughters who grew old as virgins, and his other daughter, who, having lived her life in the Holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus.」
「And moreover there is also John, who leaned upon the breast of the Lord, who became a priest wearing the petalon (the priestly plate), both a martyr and a teacher; he has fallen asleep at Ephesus.」
「Moreover there is also Polycarp at Smyrna, both bishop and martyr; and Thraseas, both bishop and martyr from Eumenea, who has fallen asleep at Smyrna.」
「And what need is there to speak of Sagaris, both bishop and martyr, who has fallen asleep at Laodicea; and moreover the blessed Papirius; and Melito the eunuch, who in all things lived his life in the Holy Spirit, who lies at Sardis, awaiting the visitation from the heavens, in which he shall rise again from the dead?」
「All these kept the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, in no way deviating, but following according to the rule of the faith. And moreover I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, according to the tradition of my kinsmen, some of whom also I have followed. Seven of my kinsmen were bishops, and I am the eighth; and always my kinsmen kept the day when the people put away the leaven.」
「I, therefore, brethren, being sixty-five years old in the Lord, and having conferred with the brethren from throughout the world, and having gone through all Holy Scripture, am not frightened at the things with which they threaten us. For those greater than I have said, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’」
To these things he adds, writing concerning all the bishops who were present with him and held the same opinion, saying thus: 「I could have mentioned the bishops who are present with me, whom you requested to be summoned by me, and whom I summoned; whose names, if I should write them, are very many in number. But they, having seen my littleness as a man, gave their consent to the letter, knowing that I have not borne my grey hairs in vain, but have always lived my life in the Lord Jesus.」
Upon this, Victor, the president of the Romans, attempted to cut off all at once the parishes of all Asia, together with the neighbouring churches, from the common unity, as being heterodox; and he denounced them by letters, proclaiming all the brethren there to be utterly excommunicate.
But this did not please all the bishops. They, on the contrary, exhorted him to take thought for the things of peace and of unity and love toward his neighbours. The utterances of these men are also extant, sharply rebuking Victor.
Among these, Irenaeus also, writing in the name of the brethren over whom he presided in Gaul, while maintaining indeed that the mystery of the Lord's resurrection ought to be celebrated only on the Lord's Day, nevertheless fittingly exhorts Victor with much else not to cut off whole churches of God which were observing the tradition of an ancient custom; and in these very words he adds the following:
「For the dispute is not only about the day, but also about the very manner of the fast. For some think they ought to fast one day, others two, others yet more; and others reckon their day as forty hours, both of the day and of the night.」
「And such variety among those who observe it has not arisen now in our own time, but much earlier, in the days of those before us, who, as is likely, not holding to strictness, kept up for later times the practice in its simplicity and homely fashion. And none the less all these were at peace, and we are at peace with one another, and the disagreement in the fast confirms the concord of the faith.」
To these things he adds also a narrative, which I will fittingly set down, running in this manner: 「Among whom also the presbyters before Soter, who presided over the church which you now govern—I mean Anicetus and Pius, and Hyginus and Telesphorus and Xystus—neither did they themselves observe it, nor did they permit those after them to do so; and none the less, though not observing it, they were at peace with those from the parishes in which it was observed, when they came to them—although to observe it was the more contrary thing to those who did not.」
「And never were any cast out on account of this; but the presbyters before you, even though they did not observe it, sent the Eucharist to those from the parishes who did observe it.」
「And when the blessed Polycarp sojourned at Rome in the time of Anicetus, and they had some small differences with one another about certain other matters, they straightway made peace, not being contentious with one another over this head. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it, inasmuch as he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord and the rest of the apostles with whom he had associated; nor again did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it, who said that he ought to hold fast the custom of the presbyters before him.」
「And things being thus, they communicated with each other; and in the church Anicetus yielded the Eucharist to Polycarp, manifestly out of respect; and they parted from one another in peace, the whole church being at peace, both those who observed and those who did not observe.」
And Irenaeus, who was rightly named by his appellation, being by his very manner a peacemaker, in such a way exhorted and acted as ambassador on behalf of the peace of the churches. And he himself conferred by letters, not only with Victor, but also with very many different rulers of the churches, on suitable terms concerning the question that had been raised.