A Revision of Two Letters from George Morley, Bishop of Winchester, to Jan van Vliet

Response: Do not, do not boast too much of arguments borrowed from the Centuriators Lutheran historians; do not trust too much in weapons already disarmed and broken. Do not call futile arguments, in which the premises are false and the inference poor, demonstrations; whence it happens that we do not think better of your argument, but far worse of you, who stumble so foully at the very threshold, that you seem to be ignorant not only of what the ancient customs of the Britons were, or the errors of the Quartodecimans those who celebrated Easter on the 14th of Nisan, regardless of the day of the week, but also seem not to know what a Demonstration or Apodeixis logical proof is. Augustine, arriving to imbue the English with the sacred Fide, found the Britons had given their name to Christ. Whence the name of Christ was brought is the question.

We say from Rome, with all antiquity; you and the Magdeburgers say from the East. Whence do you prove that? Because they were most observant of the Oriental custom in celebrating Easter. But this is most false; for the Orientals celebrated Easter on the 14th day of the moon, on whatever day of the week it fell, as the very name of Quartodecimans imposed on them indicates, and Eusebius clearly relates in book 5 of his History, ch. 23. But the Britons and Scots always celebrated that feast on a Sunday, namely, that which falls between the thirteenth and twentieth day of the moon. The Romans, that is, the Catholics, similarly ended the fast on a Sunday, namely, that which is between the fourteenth and twenty-first day of the moon. Between these customs there is such a difference that the Orientals judaized every year, celebrating Easter on the same day as the Jews. The Britons and Scots agreed with those faithless Jews as often as the fourteenth day of the moon fell on a Sunday.

The Romans, however, or Catholics, never coincided with them. Regarding which, see the Epitome of Baronius to the year of the Lord 159 and to the year of the Lord 633, Alford, Natalis Alexander, and others.

Whence it follows that the Britons and Scots agreed more with the Roman Church than with the Orientals; if indeed they celebrated Easter only on a Sunday, as the Romans did, so did the Britons; the Orientals, however, indiscriminately, on any day of the week. Next, the Orientals [agreed with the Jews] every year; the Britons rarely coincided with the Jews; and the Romans never.