The paschal theology of Abbot Ceolfrith of Wearmouth-Jarrow

Abstract

Failure to achieve a consensus on a regular Easter cycle divided Christians in the second century and again in the fourth. In the seventh century and early eighth, the matter was contested among the churches of Britain and Ireland. In this period, Ceolfrith, abbot of Wearmouth-Jarrow, sent a letter to the king of the Picts, outlining the reasons for following a nineteen-year paschal cycle. Bede, in his Historia ecclesiastica, reproduced Ceolfrith's letter, preserving a unique study on the logistical and theological complexities in the debate on how to derive the correct date to celebrate Easter. Concentration on Ceolfrith's computistical argument, however, can miss his interpretation of paschal theology that emphasises the Resurrection rather than the Passion; his Christological emphasis on the biblical Exodus story; and his mystical interpretation of Easter as a spiritual journey where light triumphs over darkness. This article therefore discusses Ceolfrith's paschal theology and considers the way in which it may have affected liturgical rites.