It was some time about the middle of the second century that St Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, the personal disciple of St John, visited Rome, and conferred with Anicetus, the bishop of that city, on this and other subjects. On the Paschal question neither bishop was convinced by the other; but it was agreed that on such a matter it was not essential that there should be uniformity. The discussion was carried on with moderation, the two bishops received the Eucharist together, and Anicetus, ‘out of reverence’ for Polycarp permitted him to act as celebrant in his church[143]. The subject of the proper time for observing the Christian Pascha continued to excite discussion; and between A.D. 164 and 166, on the occasion of disputes at Laodicea, a defence of the practice of proconsular Asia came from the pen of one of the bishops of that region, Melito, bishop of Sardis. Unfortunately no remains of the work of Melito survive of such a kind as would help us to understand the writer’s argument, or to clear the difficulties which surround the attempt to form a well assured picture of the practice of his part of the Christian world. It has indeed been conjectured that the work of Melito was directed mainly against certain sectaries, perhaps Ebionites, who on the fourteenth day of Nisan feasted after the manner of the Jews upon a paschal lamb. This practice was so distinctly Judaistic, that it was rejected everywhere by the orthodox. Of vastly more importance and significance, as affecting the whole Church, were incidents which occurred towards the close of the century. Victor, bishop of Rome, successor next but one to Anicetus, was a man of different temper; or, at all events, he attached a much higher importance to uniformity as to the time of observing Easter. Interest in the question was roused in various quarters. Councils of bishops (at the instance of Victor) discussed it in Gaul, in Greece, in Palestine, in Pontus, and as far east as Osrhoene beyond the Euphrates. By this time it was found that what, for convenience, we may style the Western practice was also largely followed in the East. The churches, however, of proconsular Asia still maintained their old position. A letter written by Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, to Victor on their behalf is preserved by Eusebius[144].