The Manuscript and The Contents of The Document
The Sardica paschal table is a part of Codex Verona LX(58), or, more fully, MS Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare LX(58). It was first published by Eduard Schwartz in his Christliche und jüdische Ostertafeln (Berlin, 1905), where the manuscript in which it occurs was called Codex Verona 60. The manuscript has 126 leaves of vellum measuring 27 cm by 20 cm. It is written in Latin uncial script that paleographers have dated to about AD 700. The Sardica document occurs on folios 79 verso to 80 verso. It is apparently a copy of a Christian document written at the time of the Council of Sardica (AD 343). It contains the creed and anathemas drawn up by the eastern bishops meeting at the council, followed by a list of Christian "Passovers", that is, Julian calendar dates of the 14th day (the Paschal full moon) of the Paschal lunar month, the Sunday following which is Easter. This table is preceded by a list of Julian calendar dates of 14 Nisan observed by the Jewish community in some eastern Mediterranean city (possibly Antioch). The Jewish dates are captioned Quibus supputationibus faciant Iudei pascha. The Christian dates are captioned Quo numero faciamus nos Christiani.
The dates as they stand are somewhat garbled. Schwartz proposed emendations, and these emendations have been reviewed and criticized recently by Sacha Stern of University College London.
A striking feature of the Jewish dates is that, for the 16 years listed, all the Passovers are in the Julian month of March. This is clearly inconsistent with the modern Hebrew calendar. It also corroborates the complaints of 3rd and 4th-century Christian computists that some Jews held Passover before the spring equinox.
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