In our country, we have become so used to fighting among ourselves that many of us fail to remember those who died fighting for us. Let’s all take a day to honor them by not fighting amongst ourselves. Then let’s try it for longer~RabbiEricT
In the second century AD, many of the Christian communities in Asia and Asia Minor observed Passover on the fourteenth of Nissan—the same date that Jews celebrated it—in accordance with the biblical calendar. Meanwhile, Christians in the West also celebrated Passover but did so on the Sunday following the fourteenth of Nissan (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 5.23.1; 5.24.1). During this time, growing conflict between Jews and the Roman empire placed pressure on Gentile Christians to distance themselves from practices associated with Jews and Judaism. These tensions may partly account for the alternative date for Passover that emerged in the West. Even so, both the East and West agreed that Christians *should* observe Passover; they simply disagreed over *when* to do it.
A second-century bishop in Ephesus named Polycrates talks about how important Passover was to the early Christians. In a letter he wrote to Victor, who was the bishop of Rome who supported observing Passover on the Sunday following the fourteenth of of Nissan, Polycrates defends observing it according to the biblical calendar and appeals to Acts 5:29 as part of his argument: “It is better to obey God rather than man” (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 5.24.7; cf. Acts 5:29). This is significant because it shows that the early Christians considered observing Passover to be a matter of obedience to God. Polycrates also mentions that he was continuing in the tradition of figures such as John, Phillip, and Polycarp, noting that they observed “the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith...And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven” (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 5.24.2–6).