Quartodecimanism: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Quartodecimanism ("fourteenism") was the practice of fixing the date of Pascha (Easter) to the 14th day of Nisan in the Jewish Calendar. It was one of several methods of fixing the date of the Pascha holiday. Quartodecimism was popular among Christians in Asia Minor and it is generally believed that this was the method specifically preferred by the followers of the Apostle John, since it was advocated by St Polycarp, a student of the Apostle.

Quartodecimanism was not a heresy, nor was it a schism. Quartodecimans Melito of Sardis and Polycarp, for example, are both recognized as Saints by both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. It was a variant practice that was easily tolerable so long as the Church did not wish to synchronize across its entire body. In 325CE, the First Council of Nicaea came to a critical decision that, whatever date system was adopted, the Church as a whole should use a unified system. As the Quartodecimans were in the minority, their method ended up not being used.