¹ In the name of the Most High God, I trust.

² To the holy and Christ-revering lords, Segienus, abbot of the holy Columba and his fellow successors of the saints, and to Beccan the hermit, my beloved brother in flesh and spirit, along with your wise men: Cummian, a humble sinner, the least of the great, offers a defense and a greeting in Christ.

³ I do not dare to presumptuously put forth words of my defense before your holiness, but I desire that you, as fathers, may hold me excused. I call God as my witness upon my soul that I did not refuse to adopt the observance of the Paschal feast along with the other wise men out of contempt for you, nor out of arrogance in moral wisdom, looking down on others.

⁴ Indeed, in the first year that the 532-year cycle began to be observed by our people, I did not accept it, but remained silent—neither daring to praise nor to condemn it. I did not presume to surpass the Hebrews, Greeks, or Latins in knowledge—those three languages that, as Jerome says, Christ consecrated in the inscription of His cross. Then, questioning the Apostle’s words, “Test everything; hold fast to what is good”, I did not reject it before I had examined it.

⁵ Thus, for a year, I withdrew in solitude and entered the sanctuary of God—that is, I immersed myself, as best I could, in the Holy Scriptures. Afterward, I studied the histories, and finally, I examined all the cycles I was able to find.

⁶ I found, first, in Exodus, that the inquiry must be made regarding the first month according to the Hebrews. For it is written: “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.” And further on: “On the tenth day of this month, each one shall take a lamb according to their families and households, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month,” that is, of the first month, “and the whole assembly of the children of Israel shall slaughter it at evening.”

⁷ And I found that the Apostle, when speaking of the sacrifice of Christ, not of His resurrection, recalled this, saying: “For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.” Likewise, in Exodus: “And you shall keep this day as an everlasting ordinance throughout your generations,"—in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month.

⁸ Also, in Leviticus: “If anyone is clean and is not on a journey, yet fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from their people, because they did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time,"—that is, in the first month.

⁹ Fearing this, I diligently inquired what the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Latins, and the Egyptians observed and believed regarding this time, as I will demonstrate in what follows.

¹⁰ Likewise, in Exodus: “For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day.” I carefully examined the commentaries of the most learned men to understand their interpretation of the twenty-first day. Jerome explains this beautifully, saying:

¹¹ “The people sacrifice the Passover and celebrate other feasts; all its solemnity concludes on the eighth day: the first day of unleavened bread is the fourteenth; the eighth day is the twenty-first.”

¹² Similarly, in the Book of Questions:

¹³ “From the fourteenth moon, which according to the Law is our first, we observe the reckoning of Passover. For God has ordained all things in their fullness; therefore, from the fourteenth moon to the twenty-first, we are permitted to celebrate the Passover over these seven days, so that some of these days fall between the Parasceve (Preparation Day) and the Resurrection. Thus, neither should the Passion occur on the thirteenth, nor the Resurrection on the twelfth or fourteenth, so that Christ’s Passion does not fall before what we consider the first moon, nor His Resurrection on the first day in which the world was created.”

¹⁴ Again, in Question 91:

¹⁵ “The Apostle, who cannot be mistaken, says, ‘Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed’. This is not his own statement but that of the Law, as Moses says: ‘And when your children ask you, “What is this service?” you shall say: “It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover”’. What more is needed as proof? The Law speaks, the Apostle confirms—only the obstinate would contradict. It is clear that the passing over (transitus) occurred after the Passover. Therefore, it was the blood that brought salvation, not the passing over itself, for it was the blood that prevented destruction.”

¹⁶ This struck fear into me and shook me.

¹⁷ Upon further investigation, I also found Origen, that chalcenterus (brazen-bowelled) and truly adamantine one, saying:

¹⁸ “There is indeed a solemn day in the first month: one solemnity is the Passover, another is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, though the two seem connected. The beginning of the Unleavened Bread is joined to the faith of the Passover. But the Passover itself is called only the day on which the lamb is slain; the remaining seven days are called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For thus it is said: ‘You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for seven days.’”

¹⁹ Then, turning to the Gospel, I found my Lord Jesus Christ saying:

²⁰ “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

²¹ Jerome explains this, saying:

²² “Wishing to bring an end to the carnal festivity, and, with the passing of the shadow, to restore the truth of the Passover—fulfilling the Law, as He said: ‘I have not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it’—that is, to complete it.”

²³ Thus, as He approached His Passion, bringing the Old Testament to completion and inaugurating the New, on Thursday, the fourteenth day of the first month (which is called Nisan by the Hebrews, Xanthicus by the Macedonians, and Pharmuthi by the Egyptians; among the Latins, it falls partly in March and partly in April), as evening drew on, He took bread, gave thanks, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying:

²⁴ “This is my body,” and the rest. Likewise, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”

²⁵ When morning came, that is, on Friday, the sixth day of the week, all the chief priests took counsel together. The next day, that is, on the Sabbath, the fifteenth day of the moon, the chief priests gathered and secured the tomb. Then, on the first day of the week, the sixteenth day of the moon, He broke the bonds of hell and rose from the dead.

²⁶ Eight days later, on the twenty-third day of the moon, He came and stood among His disciples, showing them His hands, feet, and side, saying: “Peace be with you.”

²⁷ On the fortieth day after His resurrection—counting from the sixteenth day of the moon, not from the fourteenth—He led His disciples out to Bethany, and lifting up His hands, He blessed them and was taken up into heaven.

²⁸ Then, when the fiftieth day was completed—counting from the resurrection on the sixteenth day of the moon, not from the Passion on the fourteenth—Pentecost was fulfilled.

²⁹ The Holy Spirit descended upon each of the Apostles like fire. Because of this, the entire Eastern Church has reverently dedicated three weeks to the three holiest solemnities of our Lord Jesus Christ: His Passion, Burial, and Resurrection.

³⁰ The Passion is observed from the 14th to the 20th day of the moon. The Burial from the 15th to the 21st. The Resurrection from the 16th to the 25th, consecrating the full week out of reverence for the Lord’s Day.For if the 14th day of the moon were assigned to the Resurrection, as you do, then the 13th would fall to the Burial, and the 12th to the Passion—an order that is entirely out of place.

³¹ Because of this, councils were gathered to address the diversity among the successors of the Apostles—since the Apostles, as we read, were afflicted on all sides and dispersed to different regions, making it impossible for them to establish a uniform Paschal cycle. This diversity was particularly seen between Saint Peter, the keeper of the keys, and Saint John, the spiritual visionary—one preaching to the circumcised, the other to the uncircumcised.

³² I found it written that those who oppose the canonical decrees of the four Apostolic Sees—Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria—which have agreed in unity on the celebration of Easter, are to be excommunicated, expelled from the Church, and anathematized.

³³ Furthermore, the Council of Nicaea, consisting of 318 bishops, ruled that the ancient canon concerning the observance of Easter must be upheld. This ensured that there would be no further division among the Churches, so that everything would be properly ordered and the peace and faith of the Churches would be maintained, both in the East and the West.

³⁴ Similarly, the Council of Arles, with 600 bishops, reaffirmed that Easter must be observed on the same day and at the same time throughout the whole world, so that the universal Church, with one voice, as the Apostle commands, may glorify the one Lord.

³⁵ Thus, as Jerome warns, we must be careful “not to eat the Paschal Lamb outside a single house, against the command of the Law”, meaning outside the universal Church. From this, it is clear, he says, that Jews, heretics, and all assemblies of false doctrine—who do not eat the Lamb within the one Church—are not eating the true flesh of the Lamb, but that of the dragon, which, as the Psalter says, was “given as food to the peoples of Ethiopia.”

³⁶ The argument here is clear: who is truly in unity regarding the major feast days? Are the Hebrews, Greeks, Latins, and Egyptians all in agreement, or is it only the small faction of Britons and Scots, who are at the very edge of the world, described as the “scabs of the earth”? Judge this for yourselves.

³⁷ “For with the same judgment you judge, you shall be judged”. This matter concerns your own peril. You are the leaders and the eyes of the people—if, through your stubbornness, they are led into error, you will have to answer for it before the strict Judge, just as Ezekiel warns:

³⁸ “You will be held accountable for the blood of souls”.

³⁹ The elders of our Church, whom you now reject, observed the faith faithfully, humbly, and without contradiction, knowing it was right in their days. They passed it on to their successors, following the Apostle’s command:

⁴⁰ “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil”.

⁴¹ But I fear that you may judge the unanimous rule of the universal Catholic Church as an “evil appearance”, which God forbids. What more is there to say? Let us return to the Apostle’s own words:

⁴² “Brethren, let no one deceive you in the matter of feast days, new moons, or Sabbaths, which are but shadows of things to come, while the body is Christ’s”.

⁴³ The venerable Saint Augustine explains this beautifully. He says:

⁴⁴ “The feast day is Easter, as the Evangelist Luke writes: ‘The feast of Unleavened Bread was approaching, on which it was necessary to sacrifice the Passover lamb’.

⁴⁵ The Passover is slain, but the Truth is brought to life. The part of the feast day—the 14th lunar day—is not the whole day, which is why we are led astray only in part. The idle Sabbath and the trumpet-blown new moon are shadows, not the body of Christ. The shadow is slain, but the Truth is brought to life.”

⁴⁶ And I beg you to consider this carefully: either forgive me or guide me with your words or with writings that are stronger and more certain, leading me to a better understanding if you have one. And I will gladly accept it, just as I have accepted this. But if you have nothing better, then remain silent and do not call us heretics. For it is written: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness”. For we are children of the day, not of the night or of darkness. And you should be careful lest what is said of others be said of you: “You have put to death souls that should not die and have given life to souls that should not live”. Therefore, we do not hate you, but we defend the truth.

⁴⁷ Jerome also comes to our aid, saying: “The Church of the city of Rome is not to be considered different from the Church of the whole world. Both Gaul and Britain, Africa and Persia, the East and India, and all barbarian nations worship one Christ and observe one rule of truth. If authority is sought, the world is greater than a single city. The bishop of Rome, or of Alexandria, and so on…” And later he says: “Here, supported by the defenses of the world, the raging madness of the Arians roars; here, the Church, torn into three parts, seeks to draw to itself the chorus of monks who dwell nearby. Ancient authority rises against me,” he says. “Meanwhile, I cry out: whoever is united with the chair of Saint Peter, he is mine.”

⁴⁸ Either these two are lying, or all of them are. I am pressed on every side. If I cry out with Jerome, the interpreter of divine Scripture and the adversary of all heretics, I am attacked by you; if I do not cry out, I am excommunicated by the universal Catholic Church, to whom God has given the authority to bind and to loose.

⁴⁹ Having examined these things, I now turn to Cyprian, who, as they say, must be taken in full. I find him to be one of the most weighty voices on the unity of the Church. He says: “We have come into this world from one Father and one Mother, and so we shall come in the future.” Whoever does not have one Mother on earth, nor one Father, can no longer have God as his Father, for he who does not have the Church as his Mother will not have the Father in heaven.

⁵⁰ This is why, after the confession of the Trinity—where the Father is with the Son and the Holy Spirit—there follows the pious confession of one Mother, declaring the holy Catholic Church. Why was one Adam created, and why was one Eve taken from his side and formed into a woman? Is it not, according to the Apostle, “a great mystery concerning Christ and the Church”? There is not another formed from Christ’s side, but only one.

⁵¹ Thus, there is one mystical place in the side of Jesus Christ, pierced by the soldier’s spear, from which flowed water and blood—two signs of the one Church. In the flood, only one ark was preserved; there was no other. “If anyone outside the ark of Noah could have been saved, then someone outside the Church might be saved”.

⁵² Likewise, on Mount Sinai, Moses was shown only one tabernacle as the model to follow. One alone spoke before God, in whom Moses saw the back of the Most High, as the Lord said: “There is a place with me; stand in the cleft of the rock, and you will see my back”. That rock was Christ; His back represents the Incarnation; the one cleft signifies His single Passion; the one place symbolizes the one Church in a figurative sense. See that the right hand of the Lord is only seen in one place, in one rock, in one cleft.

⁵³ The house of the prostitute Rahab alone was saved from the fire of Jericho, marked by a scarlet cord. Solomon built only one temple. “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”. All these things, as you surely remember well, have been explained as referring to the unity of the Church.

⁵⁴ Terrified by these things, I turned to other sources and found Augustine (who is called “water from the clouds”) explaining this verse from the Psalter: “By day the sun shall not burn you, nor the moon by night”. He interprets this as follows: A person is burned by the sun during the day when he has a distorted view of Christ, and by the moon at night when he has a distorted view of the Church.

⁵⁵ Thus, it is written in the Law: “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother shall surely be put to death”. But what could be a greater error regarding our Mother, the Church, than to say: Rome is in error, Jerusalem is in error, Alexandria is in error, Antioch is in error, the whole world is in error—only the Scots and Britons understand the truth?

⁵⁶ Jerome also writes: “Moses, when he died, was mourned, but Jesus was buried on the mountain without tears.” Those who die under the Law, crucifying the Lord on the fourteenth day of the moon, are mourned; but those who rise with Christ in the Gospel are received with joy.

⁵⁷ Again, Saint Augustine appears to me, refuting all heresies under the title of anathema, saying: “The Tessarescaedecaditas, that is, those who observe Passover on the fourteenth day of the moon with the Jews, are heretics.” Similarly, when interpreting the Gospel, he states: “From among those lying sick by the pool, Jesus chose only one to heal, because whoever is outside of unity, even if he comes near, cannot be healed.” This deeply unsettles me—unless your faithful counsel, with a stronger and more certain judgment, can lead me to a better understanding.

⁵⁸ What more can I say? I turned to the words of Pope Gregory, Bishop of Rome—whom we have all accepted and who has been honored with the title Golden-Mouthed. Though he wrote after all the others, he is rightly preferred above them. I found that he interprets this passage from Job: “There is a place where gold is refined”. The gold represents the assembly of the saints; the place of refining is the unity of the Church; the fire is the tribulation of martyrdom. Therefore, whoever burns outside the unity of the Church may be consumed but cannot be purified. For this reason, Paul also says: “If I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing”, and so on.

⁵⁹ I also found Gregory interpreting another verse in the same sense: “Be to me a protector, O God, and a fortified place, that you may save me”. Neither in heaven among the angels nor on earth among men did he find a fortified place—that is, a place of true safety—except in humble unity. The archangel lost it and became the devil; man imitated him, lost it, and became dead. And this is what I fear. Consider this with compassion, brothers—whether it is merit or cowardice.

⁶⁰ Finally, I turned to the computation of various cycles, examining what each language considered regarding the course of the sun and moon. I found differences—some calculating by the day, others by the moon, some by the month, some by the leap year, others by the epact, and some by the lunar increment (which you call the saltus). In doing so, I discovered that these cycles contradict the one you uphold.

⁶¹ First, there is the cycle established by our holy father, Saint Patrick, in which the moon is regularly observed from the 14th to the 21st day, and the equinox is fixed on the 21st of March (XII Kalends of April). Second, there is Anatolius, whom you praise, though he asserts that those who follow the 84-year cycle can never arrive at the true reckoning of Easter. Third, Theophilus. Fourth, Dionysius. Fifth, Cyril. Sixth, Morinus. Seventh, Augustine. Eighth, Victorius. Ninth, Pachomius the monk, the founder of Egyptian monasteries, to whom an angel dictated the method of calculating Easter.

⁶² Tenth, the 318 bishops who devised the 19-year cycle (called Enneadecaeteris in Greek), in which the Kalends of January, the corresponding lunar day, the start of the first month, and the 14th moon are all recorded with proper accuracy. By this method—like a bright and unmistakable path that dispels the darkness of ignorance—those who diligently seek the correct time for the Paschal solemnity can reliably determine it.

⁶³ I found this cycle (whose author, origin, and time are uncertain) to be strongly opposed to the established reckoning in terms of the Kalends, the leap year, the epact, the 14th moon, the first month, and the equinox.

⁶⁴ As Cyril says: “Examine carefully what the Nicene Synod decreed regarding the 14th moon of all years over the course of the 19-year cycle.” Victorius ensured that this cycle, after twenty-eight iterations, covering 532 Kalends and 133 leap years, would return precisely to its starting point. This was done to prevent errors concerning the moon of the first month so that we may celebrate Easter on the following Sunday rather than on the 14th moon, like the Jews and the heretics known as Tessarescedecaditae.

⁶⁵ It was established in all synods (except the Gangrense and Caesarean synods) that no Church, city, or region should act contrary to the Nicene Council’s decree on Easter. Even if the Nicene Synod had not recorded the lunar cycle of the first month, the Selenite stone cycle in Persia—whose inner glow increases and decreases with the moon of the first month—would have been sufficient as a natural example of the Paschal reckoning.

⁶⁶ Thus, we must not mix the common year with embolism (intercalation) or take embolism from the common year—meaning we should not falsely celebrate a short 12-month lunar year as if it were a long 13-month year. Rather, in the first month, within the unity of the Church, we must partake of the true Lamb—the spotless one—like the true Israelites, eating it in one house as commanded.

⁶⁷ This is the same month in which Cain led the just Abel into the field to kill him, foreshadowing Christ, who was led into Pilate’s praetorium. on Friday. For in this same day, it is believed that He was conceived in the womb and later died on the cross—just as Adam died spiritually in Paradise on a Friday due to sin and, on that same day, died physically as well.

⁶⁸ Test these things if you wish; if not, refute them with Catholic testimonies. Otherwise, let us each acknowledge this: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to what he has done in the body”. And, “Do not judge before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the intentions of the heart”. And, “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged; for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged”. And, “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls”. What I say seems burdensome to you, as I can see; likewise, what you say is a burden to me—unless you prove it with the words of Holy Scripture. “Let us bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”. For if we wound another’s weak conscience, we sin against Christ. If we have sound judgment, it is for your benefit; if we lose our minds, it is for God. “For if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s”. We implore you for Christ’s sake not to reproach us along with our mother, for every offspring bears the likeness of its mother. From where we receive the Spirit, from there we breathe. Your confidence is what gives us the ability to speak.

⁶⁹ So, after the year had passed, as I previously mentioned, In accordance with Deuteronomy, “I asked my fathers, that they might declare it to me, my elders, that they might tell me”, I inquired of the successors of our earlier fathers—namely, Bishop Ailbe, Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, Columba, Brendan, Nessan, and Lugaid—about their judgment concerning our excommunication, which had been pronounced by the aforementioned Apostolic Sees. They gathered together, some in person, others represented by legates sent in their stead, and in the plain of Lene they decreed and declared: “Our predecessors, through trustworthy witnesses, some still living and others who have peacefully passed away, commanded that we humbly and without hesitation receive what is better and more firmly established—proven both at the source of our baptism and by the wisdom and authority of the successors of the apostles of the Lord.” Afterward, they all rose together and, as is customary, offered prayers for us concerning this matter, resolving to celebrate Easter in the coming year in unity with the universal Church. But before long, a certain whitewashed wall arose, pretending to uphold the tradition of the elders. Yet he did not bring unity between both sides but instead caused division, rendering part of what had been promised void. May the Lord (as I hope) strike him down in whatever way He wills.

⁷⁰ Then it seemed right to our elders, according to the commandment, that “if a dispute arises between one case and another, and judgment varies between leprosy and non-leprosy, they should go to the place the Lord has chosen”. And if the cases were of greater importance, they should, according to the synodal decree, be referred to the principal cities. Therefore, we sent those whom we knew to be wise and humble, as if children returning to their mother, embarking on their journey with God’s will. Some of them reached the city of Rome, and after three years, they returned to us, having seen everything as they had heard—and even more certain things, for what is seen is more convincing than what is heard. They had been in the same lodging with a Greek, a Hebrew, a Scythian, and an Egyptian, and together in the Church of Saint Peter, they celebrated Easter—on the very date from which we had been separated for an entire month. Before the holy relics, they bore witness to us, saying: “Throughout the entire world, this Easter is celebrated, as we know.” And we, in the presence of the relics of the holy martyrs and the Scriptures they had brought, perceived the power of God within them. With our own eyes, we saw a blind girl regain her sight upon touching these relics, a paralyzed man walk, and many demons cast out.

⁷¹ I have said these things not to attack you, but to defend myself, like an owl hiding in its dwelling. Yet, If by chance I have spoken anything unpolished or flawed with unclean lips, then with the two-edged tongs of your lips, touch me with the burning coal from the altar of God., as in the vision of Isaiah. And circumcise the foreskin of my uncultivated speech with the double-edged knives of Ben-Nun, thrice fourfold, five times ten fingers deep, buried along with the foreskins of the people who came before. For it is a grave offense not to acknowledge one’s errors and not to accept more certain truths when they are presented. It is the mark of heretics to prefer clinging to a perverse opinion rather than amending a faulty one. “For the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin”. And “the wages of sin is death”, from which may the Divine Majesty, the simple Trinity, and the manifold summit—beneath whom nothing exists, within whom nothing is contained, outside whom nothing stands, beyond whom nothing extends, above whom nothing rises, upholding all things without strain, penetrating all things without diminution, surrounding all things without expansion, and surpassing all things without rest—deign to deliver us. Amen, amen.