sb. and a. Also 7 -decuman. [ad. med.L. quarta-, quartodecimān-us, f. quartus decimus fourteenth.]
A. sb. One of those early Christians who celebrated Easter on the day of the Jewish Passover (the 14th of Nizan), whether this was a Sunday or not.
The practice (chiefly observed in Proconsular Asia) was condemned by the Council of Nice, A.D. 325.
1624. Darcie, Birth of Heresies, viii. 31. The Phrygian Montanists condemne the Quartodecumans.
1642. Hales, Schism, 7. Why might not it be lawful … to celebrate Easter with the Quartodeciman...?
1709. J. Johnson, Clergym. Vade M., II. p. cxv. When Austin came first to this island, the Christians he found here were Quartodecimans.
1833. J. H. Newman, Arians, I. i. (1876), 13.
1883. P. Schaff, Hist. Church, II. XII. lxxxiii. 706. There is no evidence at all that the apostle John celebrated Easter with the Quarto-decimans.
B. adj. Of or relating to the Quartodecimans, or their method of observing Easter.
1702. Echard, Eccl. Hist. (1710), 478. The Quartodeciman controversie … between the Eastern and Western churches.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., I. i. 38. The quartodeciman schism as it was called.
1833. J. H. Newman, Arians, I. i. (1876), 13. Polycrates, who was primate of the Quarto-deciman Churches.
1879. Maclear, Celts, xi. 180. The quarto-deciman view of the earlier Asiatics of Asia Minor.
Hence Quartodecimanism, the views or practice of the Quartodecimans.
1880. Athenæum, 9 Oct., 463/2. The quartodecimanism of John.
1885. G. Salmon, in Academy, 5 Dec., 367/2. The Ignatian letters have not a word about Quartodecimanism.
So † Quartodecimarian a. Obs. rare–1.
1666. Bp. Sam. Parker, Free Censure, 90. That early and unhappy Quartodecimarian Schism.
