It was an old custom in the Christian Church of the early ages to announce on Epiphany (q.v.) the days on which Easter would fall, and this announcement was called the Indictio paschalis; but as on the appointment of the days on which Easter should be observed depended the appointment of the movable feasts, this announcement was called the Indictio festorurns mobilium. The first practices of this kind we find in the Alexandrian Church, but it soon became general throughout the Christian Church, even by ecclesiastical enactments. Thus the fourth Synod at Orleans (Concil. Aurelian. 4, c. 1) ordered its observance, and even the fifth Synod at Carthage (A.D. 401, Concil. Carthag. 5, Song of Solomon 7) ordered a written announcement, which was called Epistola paschalis et heortastica. See Bingham, Antiquit. Ecclesiast. 9:85 sq.; Augusti, Handbuch der Christl. Archa l. 1, 544; Riddle, Christian Antiquities, p. 687. (J. H. W.)
The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature was edited by John McClintock and James Strong. It contains nearly 50,000 articles pertaining to Biblical and other religious literature, people, creeds, etc. It is a fantastic research tool for broad Christian study.
John McClintock was born October 27, 1814 in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants, John and Martha McClintock. He began as a clerk in his father's store, and then became a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in New York. Here he converted to Methodism and considered joining the ministry. McClintock entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1832 and graduated with high honors three years later. Subsequently, he was awarded a doctorate of divinity degree from the same institution in 1848.WikipediaRead More