224 ÉTIENNE NODET circumstances giving rise to such a novelty, Epiphanius may pro- vide a clue. Born in Palestine and aware of its manifold traditions, he tells us that the discussions about the date of Passover-Easter had begun in 135 CE, after the expulsion of the circumcised from Judea, including the Nazoreans and their bishops, the successors of James (Panarion 70.9-10). At that time, the diocese of Caesarea absorbed the Aelia Capitolina district. So we can speculate that some of these Nazoreans merged there with Christians and started to give some prominence to the specific Lord’s Day following the days of Unleavened Bread, i.e. the Passover feast as a whole, and that this new custom was deemed to be meaningful, so that in due course it spread everywhere, from harbor city to harbor city. Such a hypothesis would explain the hybrid character of the ancient Christian calendar, as noted by A. Jaubert. These short remarks will suffice here, for the result of the inquiry is negative. The late introduction of the Easter Sunday cel- ebration indicates that there was no liturgical framework in place that could have guided the Passion narratives in the Synoptics. A different conclusion could be ventured for Pentecost, because the Ascension and Pentecost narrative of Acts 1-2 duplicates the short account of Luke 24,49-51 and inserts it into a chronological and liturgical frame that starts from the day of the Resurrection. The feast is mentioned casually as a supposedly obvious chronological reference in Acts 20,16 (Jerusalem) and 1 Cor 16,8 (Ephesus), but the fact that it had a meaning for the Corinthians — and the Ephe- sians — may be significant. A custom of not kneeling down on that day, notably by the time of persecution mentioned in Acta Pauli (fr. 7) and in a lost work of Irenaeus (Fr. deperditorum operum § 7), is interesting, albeit poorly witnessed. Anyhow, no discussion about Pentecost is to be found in works by the early Christian writ- ers. So, according to the rule on undiscussed “new” customs, one can conjecture that it had always been celebrated on a Sunday, which could have helped in giving some prominence to the Sunday of the Resurrection, seven weeks before, but cannot properly explain the very name Pasxa. ¥ Thus, it appears that Paul’s authority has been strong enough to give shape to the Passion stories. Two steps may have been involved : first, the introduction of Jesus’ Passover meal at the very beginning of the day of the crucifixion, making it a Christianized Passover. This corresponds to the presentation of Justin, who