What were the Festal Letters of St. Athanasius?

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The Festal Letters of St. Athanasius were cyclical episcopal letters sent according to Alexandrian custom at Christmas to notify the bishops of his province of the date of Easter. Beyond announcing Easter’s date, the letters and their accompanying Index preserve important historical and biographical information.

The Festal Letters of St. Athanasius (catalogued in Latin as Epistulae festales) were cyclical episcopal letters issued according to an established Alexandrian custom. As described in the Quarterly Review article "British Museum----MSS. from the Egyptian Monasteries," it was standard practice for the patriarchs of Alexandria to dispatch a cyclical letter at Christmas to all the bishops of their province to notify them of the specific day on which Easter was to be observed. In his Introduction to The Festal Letters of Athanasius, William Cureton explains that from his consecration until his death on the seventh day of the Egyptian month Pachon in A.D. 373, Athanasius continued to issue these letters, though not without occasional interruption. His first Festal Letter was written for A.D. 329, the year following his election. Over the course of his patriarchate, Athanasius wrote upwards of forty such letters—roughly one for each year he occupied the see. While St. Jerome mentions the Festal Letters in his Catalogue without specifying their number, Cosmas Indicopleustes cites up to forty-five, designating each letter by the numerical year of Athanasius's episcopate rather than the total actually dispatched, since adverse circumstances prevented him from sending letters in certain years. Although these epistles almost entirely perished in their original Greek—apart from a fragment of the 39th letter preserved by Theodorus Balsamon—a substantial collection survived in an ancient Syriac version. Prefixed to this collection is a chronological summary entitled: "An Index of the month of every separate year, and of the days, and the Indictions and Consulates, and Governors in Alexdria; and of all the Epacts, and of all those that are called the Gods', and the reason why some letters were not sent, and the answers of strangers, from the Festal Letters of the Pope Athanasius." In addition to establishing the date of Easter, the Festal Letters and their Index provide crucial historical and biographical records. For instance, the Index documents that between 329 and 333, the newly elected bishop spent several months each year undertaking pastoral retreats among the monastic solitaries across the deserts of Egypt and Libya. Sources: William Cureton, Introduction to The Festal Letters of Athanasius (1848); British Museum----MSS. from the Egyptian Monasteries. Quarterly Review 77: Nos. 153-4 (Dec. 1845-Mar. 1846) pp.39-69; Volume 25 - New Testament IX - Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon; 1995-Spring.Vol16.1

What were the Festal Letters of St. Athanasius?

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