APPENDIX 1 - THE CATASTROPHE AT THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS, AD 33
According to Finegan's Handbook of Biblical Chronology, there are only two possible dates for the Crucifixion, viz A! "#
and A! "" $he latter is the date given by %ssher Finegan, with the best &odern research at his fingertips, is unable to
decide conclusively between the& A! "" see&s to be the correct date because the 'ew $esta&ent i&plies, and the
apocryphal Acts of (ilate affir&, that there was an eclipse of the &oon, as well as an obscuration of the sun, in the latter, or
afternoon, phase of the Crucifixion, and in A! "" )but not A! "#* there was an eclipse of the &oon on the day of the
(assover, viz the day of the Crucifixion, and that eclipse occurred in the late afternoon
$he details of the eclipse are as follows+ on Friday April "rd )(assover* A! "" there was a partial, lunar eclipse, ie an
obscuration of a part of the face of the &oon by the shadow of the earth ,t co&&enced, on the &odern reckoning, at -.h
/#& local ti&e in 0erusale&, and ter&inated at -1h "-& local ti&e in 0erusale& ,n nor&al circu&stances this eclipse would
not have been visible in 0erusale& at the ti&e when it actually began, but the last traces of the eclipse would have been
visible for about an half hour once the &oon rose over the horizon at the longitude of 0erusale&, around 2p&, and as the sun
set in the west Further east in Babylon it would have been, in nor&al circu&stances, visible for a longer period, fro& 3ust
after its &axi&u& phase and for a little over an hour in total, and the &any 0ews who lived there would have been able to
observe it clearly as the &oon rose over the city $he whole eclipse lasted al&ost three hours )4h .-&*
According to 5ark, the Crucifixion lasted about 2 hours )fro& the "rd to the 6th hour*, and, according to 5atthew, 5ark
and 7uke, a darkness )8k skotos* occurred between the 2th and the 6th hours, during the latter half of the Crucifixion A
difficulty arises, however, because, according to the other 8ospel9writer, 0ohn, (ilate &ade his final pronounce&ent in the
3udge&ent of 0esus and 0esus was taken away to be crucified around the 2th hour $he 8ospel writers see& to be using
different ti&e9sche&es, since in 0ohn's 8ospel 0esus had 3ust been 3udged and dis&issed to be crucified at about the 2th
hour, whilst in the other three 8ospels 0esus had already been on the cross for " hours by the 2th hour
,t has been suggested that 0ohn was using :o&an ti&e9reckoning and the other 8ospel9writers 0ewish reckoning However,
the :o&ans usually counted the daylight hours 3ust like the 0ews, starting fro& sunrise around 2a& $he "rd hour was
around 6a&, the 2th hour around -4 noon, and the 6th hour around "p& )the precise ti&e at any given date depending on the
ti&e of sunrise, which varied with the seasons* ,n any case, 0ohn is using 0ewish ter&inology in that portion of the 8ospel+
;,t was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour; he says )0ohn -6 -/* ;(reparation of the passover; is a
uni<uely 0ewish expression, Friday being called ;(reparation; because it was the day 0ews prepared for the co&ing
=abbath, and Friday happened also to be the Feast of the (assover that particular year ,t would see& rather i&probable that
0ohn switched fro& 0ewish to :o&an ter&inology in the very sa&e sentence
$he explanation of the two ti&e9sche&es in the Bible is si&ple, but drastic $he 8ospels clearly record that there was a
darkness fro& the 2th to the 6th hours, but also 7uke )4" /.* records that the =%' >A= C?5(7@$@7A B7ACB@! ?%$
)eskotisth*, and 5atthew reports )4C .-* that a great earth<uake occurred at the sa&e ti&e $his blacking out of the sun
could not have been a nor&al solar eclipse, because that is i&possible when the &oon is full and on the other side of the
earth fro& the sun, as it always is at the (assover $hese references, along with the difference of at least " hours between the
two ti&e9sche&es in the 8ospels, are indicators of a huge, and unusual, natural catastrophe
$he cos&ic upheaval is alluded to in the Acts of the Apostles )4 -2, 4#* Fifty days after the (assover, on the !ay of
(entecost, (eter referred to the prophecy of 0oel in the ?ld $esta&ent )0oel 4 "-*, as to an event of which his listeners had
recently witnessed the fulfil&ent, that ;$he sun shall be turned into darkness, and the &oon into blood, B@F?:@ that great
and notable day of the 7ord co&e; $he original Hebrew word for ;blood; here represents a color D blood9red, the color of
the &oon when it is eclipsed )co&pare the phrase ;A= blood; in :evelation 2 -4, below, and ,saiah -" -#, below, which
specifically says the &oon will not shine, in an e<uivalent context* $he significance of the word ;before; in this <uotation
fro& 0oel is that the very sa&e catastrophe is prophesied to occur twice, once, as here in 0oel B@F?:@ the !ay of the 7ord,
and once also at the end of the world, ?' the !ay of the 7ord+ see ,saiah -" 69-#+ ;6 Behold, $H@ !AA ?F $H@ 7?:!
coð, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate+ and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it -#
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light+ $H@ =%' =HA77 B@ !A:B@'@! ,' H,=
8?,'8 F?:$H, A'! $H@ 5??' =HA77 '?$ CA%=@ H@: 7,8H$ $? =H,'@ -" $herefore , will shake the
heavens, and $H@ @A:$H =HA77 :@5?E@ ?%$ ?F H@: (7AC@, in the wrath of the 7?:! of hosts, and ,' $H@
!AA ?F H,= F,@:C@ A'8@: -/ And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no &an taketh up+ they shall every
&an turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land; :evelation 2 -49-C+ ;-4 And , beheld when he had
opened the sixth seal, and, lo, $H@:@ >A= A 8:@A$ @A:$HF%AB@, A'! $H@ =%' B@CA5@ B7ACB A=
=ACBC7?$H ?F HA,:, A'! $H@ 5??' B@CA5@ A= B7??!G -" And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even
as a fig tree casteth her unti&ely figs, when she is shaken of a &ighty wind -/ And the heaven departed as a scroll when it
is rolled togetherG and every &ountain and island were &oved out of their places -. And the kings of the earth, and the
great &en, and the rich &en, and the chief captains, and the &ighty &en, and every bond&an, and every free &an, hid
the&selves in the dens and in the rocks of the &ountainsG -2 And said to the &ountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us
fro& the face of hi& that sitteth on the throne, and fro& the wrath of the 7a&b+ -C F?: $H@ 8:@A$ !AA ?F H,=
>:A$H ,= C?5@G and who shall be able to standH; ,n 0oel the sa&e uni<ue co&bination of an extinguishing of the light
of the sun and a reddening of the &oon in a lunar eclipse is prophesied to occur B@F?:@ that great !ay of the 7ord ,f we
look back through the pages of history, we find that such an event has already occurred, and that was on the day of the
Crucifixion, April "rd A! "", as recorded in the 8ospels and in secular history )for the latter, see below* (eter was,
therefore, pointing out to the 0ews that this prophecy of 0oel, predicting the catastrophe B@F?:@ the !ay of the 7ord, had
already been fulfilled at the Crucifixion
?ne way the sun could be extinguished if it was not eclipsed by the &oon would be if the @A:$H $,7$@! Co&pare the
earth<uake or seis&ic shock &entioned in the 8ospel of 5atthew, the terror of which, according to the apocryphal Acts of
(ilate, persisted throughout the " hours of darkness According to the apocryphal 8ospel of (eter )v 2*, a huge seis&ic
shock occurred 3ust as 0esus was taken down fro& the cross and i&&ediately before the sun reappeared )v 2* =uch an event
would be a natural conco&itant of a shift of the earth on its axis )'otice that on the !ay of the 7ord, according to ,saiah -"
-", the earth is specifically prophesied to ;re&ove out of her place; at the ti&e the sun is extinguished and the &oon is
eclipsed* $he sun, prior to this high in the noonday sky, will have suddenly disappeared below the horizon $his was the
belief of the early Church $ertullian )Adv 5arc ,E /4* <uotes the ?ld $esta&ent prophets to this effect+ ; Christ
suspended on his gibbetI $hese proofs would still have been suitable for &e, even if they had not been the sub3ect of
prophecy ,saiah says+ , will clothe the heavens with blackness J,s .# "K $his will be the day, concerning which A&os also
writes+ And it shall co&e to pass in that day, saith the 7ord, that the sun shall 8? !?>' J&y e&phasisK at noon and the
earth shall be dark in the clear day JA&os 1 6K; 7ikewise in the apocryphal 8ospel of (eter )v .*, dating fro& around the
first half of the second century A!, it is asserted that the 0ewish authorities were concerned when the darkness fell at noon,
because according to their 7aw the sun should not set on an executed cri&inal ,f this pheno&enon occurred on the
afternoon of the Crucifixion and continued around " hours, the lunar eclipse could have beco&e visible in the eastern sky at
0erusale&, when in nor&al circu&stances it would have been invisible beneath the eastern horizon (eter i&plies that the
reddening of the &oon in eclipse had, indeed, been visible to the 0ews in 0erusale&, and the apocryphal Acts of (ilate
distinctly assert that the lunar eclipse was visible there during the period of darkness
$he extent of the physical effects of the catastrophe on the earth and sea is apparent in the following citation of the fourth
century writer Arnobius His sources are not identified but he accepts their testi&ony as self9evidently true and such as
would be accepted by the pagan audience he is addressing in this tract Arnobius, Contra 8entes , ."+ ;But when, freed
fro& the body, which He J0esusK carried about as but a very s&all part of Hi&self Jie when He died on the crossK, He
allowed Hi&self to be seen, and let it be known how great He was, all the ele&ents of the universe bewildered by the
strange events were thrown into confusion An earthquake shook the world, the sea was heaved up from its depths, the
heaven was shrouded in darkness, the sun's fiery blaze was checked, and his heat became moderateG for what else could
occur when He was discovered to be 8od who heretofore was reckoned one of usH; 'eedless to say, the heaving up of the
sea fro& the depths, as well as a great seis&ic shock, are pheno&ena one would expect to acco&pany a tilting of the earth
and the resultant disappearance of the sun behind the visible horizon, but not an eclipse or obscuration of the sun of the
usual kind
,t is understandable that the catastrophic tilting of the earth at the Crucifixion should have been a sub3ect the first generation
of Christians continued to refer to in their preaching ,n the Acts of the Apostles )-C 2* the 0ews of $hessalonica in 8reece
stirred up the pagan inhabitants of their city against the Christian &issionary (aul by identifying the Christians as ;these that
have turned the world upside down; $he word ;turn upside down; here is 8k anastato, a verb constructed fro& the
ad3ective anastatos, which &eans ;&ade to rise up and depart, driven fro& one's ho&e, Hdt 4 of cities and countries,
ruined, laid waste; )7iddell9=cott90ones, 7exicon, sv* ,t is used literally of persons re&oved fro& their ho&es in Acts 4-
"1, of the known world in Acts -C 2, and figuratively of doctrinal disturbance in 8al . -4 ,n $hayer's 7exicon, four out of
the five occurrences of this word in a variety of 8reek translations of the ?ld $esta&ent )it is not found in secular writers*
refer to physical re&oval fro& a place >ith the other two 'ew $esta&ent uses being literal and figurative respectively, the
nuance of the word in an a&bivalent passage like Acts -C 2 &ust be decided fro& a co&bination of the balance of
probability, in light of its usage in ?ld $esta&ent 8reek translation, and of deductions drawn fro& the context in which it
occurs First, as it is a geographical location that is the ob3ect of the disturbance in Acts -C 2, a literal interpretation, as of
cities and countries, ;ruined, laid waste,; is preferable ,t would have certainly been a gross exaggeration, in fact a
falsehood, to have clai&ed at that ti&e that Christians had socially or psychologically unsettled the whole oikoumen 9 the
inhabited :o&an world 9 when this was only the beginning of the first &ission to the native 8entiles of @urope, specifically
ai&ed at 8entiles, that is known fro& the 'ew $esta&ent ,t would also have &ade nonsense of the 0ews' ob3ection that
;$hese that have turned the world upside down are co&e hither Jto $hessalonicaK also+; on the figurative interpretation, the
0ews would have been excluding $hessalonica fro& the real&s of the civilized :o&an worldI ,t should accordingly be read
in this sense+ ;$hese Christians who caused a physical upturning of the whole world are now also present right here in
$hessalonicaI; 'o doubt, like (eter on the !ay of (entecost, the Christians pointed to the huge catastrophe at the ti&e of
the Crucifixion of the 5essiah as a fulfil&ent of such scriptures as 0oel 4 and A&os 1 $he 0ews would not have been able
to deny the event itself, but they certainly would have re3ected the Christians' interpretation of it And if they accepted a
connection between the Crucifixion and the catastrophe at all it will have been only to confir& the&selves in their belief
that 0esus was Beelzebub, the chief of the devils, and lord of natural catastrophe $hey could bla&e the cos&ic devastation
on 0esus and his disciples, 3ust as the :o&ans of the later @&pire bla&ed the Christians for the natural catastrophes which
fell at that ti&e on the @&pire, because the Christians threatened their social fabric $he $hessalonians had reason, by their
own lights, to believe such an accusation because it was only a short ti&e prior to this that an earth<uake had rocked the
neighboring city of (hilippi and &iraculously freed (aul and his fellow9apostle who were in prison there at the ti&e )Acts
-2 4.f*
$he earth's tilting in this way would also produce A' A7$@:A$,?' ?F C7?CB9$,5@ $his assu&es that the sun slipped
down the space of approxi&ately 2 hours in the sky at around -4 noon )the 2th hour of the day* to a position 3ust below the
horizon =uch a position is the &ini&u& necessary to effect a blacking out of the sun and a visible appearance of the lunar
disk above the eastern horizon
$his 2th hour is the ti&e9&ark used in the =ynoptic 8ospels )5atthew, 5ark and 7uke* to fix the beginning of the
catastrophe $he sa&e ti&e9sche&e is used in the =ynoptic 8ospels to fix the beginning of the Crucifixion three hours
earlier at the "rd hour 0ohn's 8ospel, on the contrary, states that 0esus was dis&issed by (ilate fro& the (raetoriu&, to be
crucified, ;about; the 2th hour ,f the sun set abnor&ally at -4 noon on the day of the Crucifixion, then the daylight had
been suddenly shortened by a half $his foreshortening would @LAC$7A HA7F $H@ 7@'8$H ?F @ACH H?%: ,'
$H@ (:@C@!,'8 (@:,?! ?F !AA7,8H$, the daylight between sunrise and sunset being divided by custo& into -4
e<ual, hourly, portions )0ohn -- 6* $he length of these portions could vary depending on the length of daylight at any
particular ti&e of year 9 in winter the -4 hours were several &inutes shorter than in su&&er ,n this case, the daylight was
catastrophically shortened, and sunset had fallen at -4 noon, so the sa&e principle, applied now, >?%7! $%:' >HA$
HA! B@@' C?%'$@! A= $H@ ":! H?%: ),' $H@ (:@9CA$A=$:?(H@ ?: '?:5A7 $,5@9=CH@5@ %=@! BA
$H@ =A'?($,C 8?=(@7=* ,'$? $H@ 2$H H?%: ?F $H@ )(?=$9CA$A=$:?(H@* $,5@9=CH@5@ %=@! ,' $H@
F?%:$H 8?=(@7 ,n fact, the phrase in 0ohn's 8ospel is a&biguous+ instead of ;about; the 2th hour, it &ight e<ually well
be translated ;a ti&e e<uivalent to; the 2th hour, being in that case a reference to the fact there was an alteration of clock9
ti&e on that day
$he catastrophe lasted about " hours in total, fro& the 2th to the 6th hour, according to the ti&e9sche&e used in the
=ynoptic 8ospels ,n the apocryphal 8ospel of (eter )v 2*, a great earth<uake occurred 3ust after 0esus expired and was
taken off the cross and i&&ediately before the ree&ergence of the sun $hen reference is &ade in all of the 8ospels to an
;evening; interval of undeter&ined length at the end of the day, during which 0esus' body was hurriedly taken away fro&
the cross and buried to avoid laboring on the =abbath day )the =abbath co&&enced, under nor&al circu&stances, at
sundown, around 2p& Friday* $he events that are said to have occurred in this evening period, the petition of 0oseph of
Ari&athaea to (ilate, the in<uiry into and confir&ation of the death of Christ, and the deposition of 0esus' body, would see&
to re<uire soðing like 4 hours $he use of the word ;evening; here i&plies that sunlight had returned, if only to fade
again shortly thereafter ,e the phase of seis&ic shocks at the end of the " hour9darkness coincided with a ree&ergence of
the sun a little above the horizon and a short twilight period of 4 hours during which the sun finally set as nor&al An
interval of 4 hours would &ean that, what would, in nor&al circu&stances, have been -4 daylight hours, had been
foreshortened that Friday by one hour, to -- hours in all )2 nor&al hours of daylight after sunrise, followed by " hours of
abnor&al darkness, followed by 4 hours of twilight* $his &eans that the lunar eclipse ti&ed by &odern reckoning to have
begun at -.h /#& that Friday )a reckoning which takes no account of natural catastrophes* would have actually begun an
hour earlier, according to the ad3usted ti&e9sche&e, ie about 4# &inutes before the 6th hour, as the =ynoptic 8ospels call
it, in the last half9hour of darkness ,t was also visible as it concluded for about half an hour as the sun set nor&ally at
around 2p& A twilight period of &uch longer than 4 hours would have &eant the lunar eclipse would not have been visible
in the period of catastrophic darkness as the Acts of (ilate assert it was, because we know the eclipse lasted for 4h .-& in
total and ter&inated at 2 "-p& A twilight of about 4 hours duration, between the 6th and the --th hour, would have
allowed the lunar eclipse to have been visible for 4# &inutes before the 6th hour, and, indeed, it would have taken al&ost
that long for the shadow to produce a significant obscuration of the lunar disk ?n the other hand, a twilight any shorter than
4 hours would have left too little ti&e for the transpiring of events connected with the deposition of 0esus' body fro& the
cross, as recorded in the 8ospels
$he &echanics of the catastrophe are described in detail in what professes to be an eye9witness account preserved in
frag&ents of a letter of !ionysius the Areopagite )one of (aul's converts on his afore&entioned first &issionary excursion
into @urope* to the Apostle 0ohn's disciple, (olycarp $hese frag&ents are not part of the &aterial ascribed to !ionysius the
Areopagite in &edieval ti&es, which is generally considered spurious, and &ust be evaluated on the &erits $he content of
the letter, in part, is <uoted by 5ichael =yncellus )in ed 5igne (8 ,E col 242ff*, a presbyter in 0erusale&, and in =uidas
sv !ionysius !ionysius, a pagan philosopher at the ti&e, was present in Heliopolis, @gypt, when the catastrophe occurred,
in the co&pany of a philosopher friend, Apollophanes His account reads as follows+ ;>e JApollophanes and hi&selfK were
both present, standing together in Heliopolis, when we saw the &oon falling into align&ent with J8k empiptoK the sun in an
abnor&al way For it was not the right ti&e for a con3unction $hen again, we saw it Jviz the &oonK fro& the ninth hour
Jaround " p&K till sundown, restored preternaturally to its place Jin the skyK opposite the sun :e&e&ber this too+ he
JApollophanesK is aware we saw it Jthe &oonK beginning the align&ent J8k emptosisK in the east, and traveling as far as the
li&it of Jalign&ent withK the sun J8k mechri tou eliakou peratosK, then &oving back in a retrograde fashion J8k
anapodizoK And again, the align&ent J8k emptosisK and its ter&ination J8k anakatharsisK did not co&e about by Ja
coincidence atK a single point Jin the skyK J8k ek tou autouK, but by an opposition J8k ek tou kata diametron enantiouK;
>hat !ionysius saw caused hi& to re&ark to his philosopher friend, ;=o&e unknown god is suffering in the fleshI $hat is
why the whole universe is thrown into darkness, and convulsed; )'ote here, too, the reference to a ;convulsion;
acco&panying the obscuration ?f course, the description of the &echanics of the pheno&enon 3ust related &atches what
would result fro& a shift of the earth on its axis, not a nor&al eclipse* ,&agine the i&pact (aul's preaching would have had
on !ionysius years later, when he heard the Apostle at the Areopagus in Athens, as he pointed to an altar he had seen in the
city dedicated precisely to so&e ;unknown god,; and clai&ed to disclose that ;unknown god,; 0esus, to his audience, the
very ?ne who suffered in the flesh at the ti&e of the catastropheI )Acts -C -2ff* And this in a context where the
Crucifixion event was already a sub3ect of debate, as de&onstrated earlier, in relation to the Christian &essage
$he heavenly sign was clear to a pagan philosopher, and would be even &ore so to a 0ew trained in sacred sy&bolis& ,n
0udais& the &oon, the reflex or i&age of the sun, sy&bolized the 5essiah, the ;,&age; of 8od $he =HA!?> of death
passed over the 5essiah during those last &inutes He was upon the cross But it was not a total eclipse >ithin three days
the 5essiah, like the &oon within three hours, recovered His full 8loryI Further&ore, the heavenly sign was &atched by an
earthly one ,n the 'ew $esta&ent, 0esus is called the (assover 7a&b of 8od, >hose sacrifice on Calvary re&itted, once for
all ti&e, the sins of the world ?n that day in A! "", when the sun was located in the Hebrew sign of the 7a&b )$aleh*, our
Aries, those hours during which the shadow of death passed over the &orally spotless, snow9white, 7a&b of 8od, 0esus,
and the literal shadow passed over the face of the snow9white, full, &oon, were the very hours, 6th to --th, during which the
snow9white, (assover, la&b was slain in the $e&ple )0osephus, >ars, E, 6 "* $his period was designated as the only
proper ti&e to sacrifice the (assover la&b, by 0ehovah Hi&self, when the cere&ony was instituted in @gypt at the @xodus
$here in the Books of 5oses, for so&e reason it has taxed the ingenuity of scholars to explain, this period, called the
;evening9ti&e; in !euterono&y -2 2, is also called, &ore specifically, the ti&e ;between the two evenings; )@xodus -4 2
etc* $he prophetic =pirit signified by this uni<ue expression the ti&ing of the greater (assover =acrifice of which the literal
(assover was a type 9 that period precisely fro& the 6th to the --th hour between the two evenings 8od Hi&self created on
8ood Friday+ the first evening fell catastrophically at noon and benighted the world till the 6th hour, and the second fell at
the --th hour to close the day, and return the world to relative nor&ality
Another &ystery is cleared up by this close reading and reexa&ination of the 8ospel records of the Crucifixion 0esus
prophesied He would be ;three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth; )5atthew -4 /#* ?n the usual
understanding of the chronology of the Crucifixion and burial, 0esus spent no &ore than " days and 4 nights in the bowels of
the earth $here is no way another night can be fitted into the sche&e without forcing the evidence one way or the other But
now we can see that an extra, "9hour9long, night of co&plete darkness has been supernaturally interposed by 8od Hi&self
into the Friday of the Crucifixion $he Christian neo9(latonist (hilopon, as cited hereafter, e&phasized that the darkness at
the Crucifixion was actually and properly speaking a ;night,; which started at the 2th hour $he 8ospel of 5atthew records
0esus' giving up the ghost i&&ediately before the account of the earth<uake and rending of the $e&ple veil ,n the
apocryphal 8ospel of (eter )dating fro& around the first half of the second century A!*, 0esus expires 3ust before an
earth<uake at the end of the " hours of darkness and the return of light According to the apocryphal Acts of (ilate, the fear
of the earth<uake persisted during the period of darkness between the 2th and 6th hours Hence, we can conclude, 0esus
gave up the ghost during the period of darkness $hat is night nu&ber - )$he 0ews reckoned pars9pro9toto in chronology, so
any part of a night or day counted as one night or day in esti&ations of the duration of ti&e* $hen followed the e<ually
abnor&al shortened day of around 4 hours called ;evening; in the 8ospels $hat's day nu&ber - )$he beginning of day was
always sunrise a&ongst the 0ews, and night began at sunset, so here there was, indeed, a sunrise, though an abnor&al one, a
ree&ergence of the sun above the western horizon, followed two hours later by a sunset %ndoubtedly it was a ;day;, 3udged
by the astrono&ical criteria used to deter&ine these things For the sa&e reason, the 8ospel of 0ohn counts the earlier,
shortened day fro& sunrise to noon, when the sun set catastrophically, as a day with -4 hours, with its &idpoint at the 2th
hour D 6a& on the &odern reckoning 'ote also how the 0ewish authorities in the apocryphal 8ospel of (eter Jv .K are said
to have been concerned that what the 7aw said about the sun setting on a cri&inal's execution applied to 0esus during the
period of three hours' darkness* $hen followed Friday night, night nu&ber 4, followed by =aturday dayti&e, day nu&ber 4
$hen followed =aturday night, night nu&ber ", followed by =unday &orning, day nu&ber ", when 0esus rose fro& the dead
$otal+ " days and " nights, 3ust as 0esus had prophesied
Finally, an abnor&al obscuration of the sun is noted in Chinese annals in the thirties of the first century A!, though the
precise year is given differently in different accounts $he records of the obscuration will be considered in so&e detail as
they provide an independent verification of the uni<ueness and unusualness of the event, fro& sources totally unconnected
with the western &ilieu of the 'ew $esta&ent and the annals preserved by Christian writers $he following account, dating
the abnor&al obscuration to the beginning of April A! "", is fro& Alexander Ha&ilton, A Bey to the Chronology of the
Hindus, Eol ,,, Ca&bridge, -14#, p 4.-f+ ;Earious opinions were for&ed on religious sub3ects, which were greatly
heightened by a pheno&enon that took place on the last day of the =eventh 5oon of the twenty9sixth year of the fifty9fourth
cycleG on which day, universal darkness is said to have prevailed in China for so&e hours $his answers within one day to
that darkness which prevailed at the death of Christ For the last day of the seventh 5oon of the twenty9sixth year of the
fifty9fourth cycle answers to the second of April, in the year of hrist !! J5y e&phasisK $he 5issionaries &ention this
pheno&enon as a total eclipse of the =un, that took place on the last day of the seventh 5oon, in the year of Christ "4+ not
recollecting, that the co&&ence&ent of the Hebrew year had been altered by the co&&and of 8od, fro& the autu&nal, to
the spring e<uinox; $he &issionaries referred to are the early 0esuit &issionaries to China who beca&e expert in Chinese
astrono&y in order to exploit the astrological superstitions of the Chinese e&perors and gain political power over the&
Ha&ilton adds a note to the second occurrence in the <uoted passage of the words ;seventh 5oon; )ibid p 4.- footnote*+
;$he Crucifixion of Christ took place on Friday the third day of April in the year of Christ ""G which answers to the
fourteenth day of the &onth 'isanG the &oon having beco&e visible on the evening of the twenty9eighth day of 5arch
preceding Conse<uently, as the Chinese year co&&enced with the autu&nal e<uinox, the seventh 5oon of the year "4,
answered to the first 5oon of the year "", the thirteenth day of the &onth 'isan being the second of April; $he difference
of one day in the calendar date used in this calculation, April 4 instead of April ", is probably due to the fact China is
approxi&ately 1 hours ahead of 8reenwich 5ean $i&e, and therefore the day in <uestion started approxi&ately 1 hours
earlier than in 7ondon, viz in 85$ ter&s on ;the second of April,; and was therefore referred to as ;the second of April,;
though the darkness fell towards the end of that sa&e Chinese day, on what would be called in 85$ ter&s ;the third of
April;
$he native Chinese chronology dated events on a 2#9year cycle, which functioned like our century or -##9year cycle, to
provide points of historical reference :ather as we date the Crucifixion of Christ to the ;-st century; of the Christian era,
they dated this abnor&al eclipse to the ;/2th Cycle,; or the ;/#th cycle,; or the ;./th cycle,; depending on the particular
syste& of chronology e&ployed
According to the 0esuit !u Halde the year was the 41th of the /#th cycle, which cycle co&&enced in A! /, and it fell
during the reign of 8uangwudi )otherwise spelled Buang wu ti, etc, &eaning ;=hining 5artial @&peror,; the posthu&ous
title of 7iu Liu* 8uangwudi was the founder of the 7ater or @astern Han !ynasty ?f this eclipse !u Halde writes )under
the reign of Fuang Eou $i D 8uangwudi, translation fro& the French &ine*+ ;$he Chinese Annals report that in the twenty9
eighth year of this Cycle, on the last day of the =eventh 5oon, there was a total eclipse of the sun, and that it appeared
before the time predicted for it ,t is for astrono&ers to decide whether this eclipse is the sa&e as that which occurred at the
death of 0esus Christ; )!escription gMographi<ue, histori<ue de l'e&pire de la Chine, -C"2, to& -, p "24* 'ote the
unusual ti&ing of the eclipse, outside the nor&al, predictable, eclipse cycle ,t is said to have broken astrono&ical laws+ in
the history of China written by the 0esuit Adrien 8reslon it is noted fro& the native Chinese records that ;in the thirty9
second year of the Christian era, as we Christians co&pute it, about the &onth of April JHa&ilton corrects this to April A!
""K, a failure of the sun, outside the regular natural order and laws determined for the motions of the planets, then
happened, at which e"traordinary event Fua&vutius JD 8uangwudiK the e&peror was very &uch shaken; )Fuoted in
Huetius, !e&onstratio @vangelica, to& -, -C"", p "#a, translation fro& the 7atin and e&phasis &ine*
$he abnor&al eclipse happened in the Cth year of the reign of 8uangwudi, which corresponds to the 41th year of the then9
current Cycle )or 42th in Ha&ilton's syste&* $his year has been variously identified as A! "- or alternatively A! "4 $he
annals which call 8uangwudi's Cth year ;Aear 41,; represent the co&&ence&ent of his reign as having fallen in Aear 44 of
the sa&e Cycle, which would correspond, in that case, to A! 4. or A! 42 8uangwudi ascended the throne in the &iddle of
that year, so the Cth year of his reign, &easured fro& the ti&e he took the throne, would begin in &id A! "- or &id A! "4
,n the latter case his Cth year, &easured fro& the ti&e he took the throne, would run fro& the &iddle of A! "4 to the
&iddle of A! "", and would include within it the April of the Crucifixion Ha&ilton reckons the =eventh 5oon in which the
eclipse occurred as the seventh counting fro& Autu&n A! "4, falling in April A! "" ?ther accounts date the eclipse to the
$hird 5oon, but these are counting the 5oons fro& the Chinese 'ew Aear, which fell so&e ti&e between 0anuary 4- and
February 4- in any given year
$he later Chinese dynastic annals date all reigns and events within the& by the 2#9year cycle back to the third &illenniu&
BC But this is a later rationalization of the historical records, as, in fact, the use of the 2#9year cycle co&&enced only in the
reign of 8uangwudi's i&&ediate predecessor $his predecessor was treated as an usurper by 8uangwudi and subse<uent
e&perors of the @astern Han, and the period when 8uangwudi seized the throne was one of political tur&oil and internal
strife >e do not know how the original, conte&porary, records of 8uangwudi's reign &easured his regnal years >as it
fro& the precise ti&e of his accession &idway through that Chinese year, was it fro& the first Chinese 'ew Aear
i&&ediately following his accession, or was his reign backdated to the Chinese 'ew Aear i&&ediately preceding his
accessionH All these were traditional ways of reckoning an e&peror's reign All we know for certain is that the abnor&al
eclipse happened in 8uangwudi's ;Cth Aear; $his alone is likely to have been the way the original records drawn on by the
later annalists to construct their consecutive histories dated the event =uch si&ple chronological notices, dating events
solely by an e&peror's regnal year, have been discovered by archaeologists precisely fro& the period of the @astern Han ,n
the later annals the Cth regnal year was e<uated with the ;41th Aear; of the 2#9year cycle+ that &ight or &ight not be correct,
given the novelty of the 2#9year cycle in the days of 8uangwudi hi&self and the uncertainty as to how it &ight have been
applied by conte&porary recorders $here is a further proble& in accurately correlating these Chinese years with years in
the Christian era ,f the year in which he gained power, viz the 44nd year of the 2#9year cycle, according to the later annals,
was, indeed, A! 42 rather than A! 4., as so&e of the 0esuit historians believed, and his regnal years were &easured fro&
the ti&e of his accession )in the &iddle of that year*, or fro& the 'ew Aear following )which would be the beginning of A!
4C*, then, on either reckoning, his Cth year included the first half of A! "" and also the April of the Crucifixion $hat &akes
the identification of the Chinese abnor&al eclipse and the obscuration of the sun at the Crucifixion a near certainty ?nly if
the e&peror's year of accession, Aear 44 in the annals, is e<uated with A! 4., and his reign assu&ed to have been backdated
in the original records to the beginning of that sa&e year, can his Aear C have been A! "- $his date has been preferred,
nevertheless, because a solar eclipse visible in 8uangwudi's capital 7oyang did occur that year on the last day of the $hird
5oon ,n that case, the connection of the Chinese abnor&al eclipse with the darkness at the Crucifixion could be severedG
and there existed fro& the beginning, for various reasons, and still exists, an ani&us against connecting the two events on
the part of writers opposed to the 0esuit &ission
But the evidence suggests the eclipse of A! "- was not the abnor&al eclipse Firstly, it was not a total eclipse as the
abnor&al one is said to have been )$he 0esuit Couplet described the abnor&al eclipse as ;totalis,; ;total,; and !u Halde, as
<uoted above, concurred @ven Bayer, who disputed the fact, preferring to translate the relevant word in the Chinese annals
as ;densus,; was ad&itting it was ;pitch9black,; for that is what ;densus; &eans when applied to shadow, and this does not
suit a partial eclipse like the one in A! "-* =econdly, the eclipse of A! "- was not abnor&al in any way $he records of the
abnor&al eclipse &ention an ;acceleration of the &oon's &otion; as having produced the event, which is further described
as having occurred on the ;last day; of the cycle of the &oon ,f, as has been argued by the nay9sayers, the abnor&ality of
the obscuration revolved &erely around the fact it occurred on the ;last day; of the lunar cycle, rather than the first of a new
cycle )the first day of new cycle being the so9called ;'ew 5oon; when the &oon and sun are regularly at con3unction, and
the &oon can &ove across the sun, causing a solar eclipse*, it &akes a nonsense of its uni<ueness, since &any other eclipses
are recorded at this period as having occurred identically on the last day of the &oon, rather than on the first ,n fact, that
was the standard way of recording the& at the ti&e 8uangwudi would not have been surprised, dis&ayed, and shaken, at an
eclipse on the last day of the &oon, as had occurred so &any ti&es before, but only at soðing )echoing 8reslon*, outside
the regular natural order and laws determined for the motions of the planets $he uni<ueness in this case can only relate to
the afore&entioned ;acceleration of the &oon's &otion;
,f the abnor&al eclipse was the one in A! "- it would, in fact, be one of the few eclipses &entioned in the Chinese annals in
the reign of 8uangwudi which corresponded to a genuine astrono&ical event 5ostly the recorded eclipses in his reign are
;false;, &eaning they do not correspond to any co&putable eclipse ;False; eclipses of this type were entered in the annals
for various reasons, a&ong the& the following A solar eclipse was taken by the astrologers to be a bad sign for the e&peror,
and if the astrologers predicted such an eclipse and it did not happen, then it would be a sign that Heaven had ;spared; the
e&peror ?bviously the astrologers had a vested interest in inventing eclipses which they knew would never &aterialize,
thus pleasing their i&perial patron =uch ;false; predictions were recorded, along with ;genuine; ones, in the annals
Beeping the afore&entioned observations in &ind with regard to the dating of the Chinese eclipse in ter&s of the Christian
era, and co&paring the circu&stantial data extracted fro& the Chinese annals in relation to that eclipse cited i&&ediately
infra, it should be easier for the reader to co&e to a conclusion on its identity with the &iraculous event in April A! "" $he
following citations )translation of the French &ine* are fro& the 0esuit 8aubil's Histoire de l'Astrono&ie Chinoise in
=ouciet's ?bservations &athM&ati<ues, astrono&i<ues, gMographi<ues, chronologi<ues, et physi<ues, to&e ,,, (aris, -C"4,
p -2"ff $he Astrono&ical event was recorded as follows+ ;=eventh year Jof listed solar eclipses in the dynasty of the
@astern Han, which began with the first year of 8uangwudiK, $hird 5oon last day Fuey9hay Jalternatively transcribed 8ui9
haiK, eclipse of the sun, location of the sun .N advanced within the Constellation (i; $he Chinese $hird 5oon )&eaning the
third lunar &onth* was that in the course of which the sun &oved out of Aries into $aurus $he constellation (i was located
around the northern ;eye; of $aurus At the ti&e of the Crucifixion the sun was still in Aries, but the effect of the
catastrophe was to &ake the sun set approxi&ately one hour earlier than nor&al $his is e<uivalent to soðing on the
order of -.N &ove&ent of the sun in advance of its nor&al position, which would place it )if it had actually &oved against
the starry background* so&ewhere within the constellation $aurus, at roughly the sa&e position it would have been, in
nor&al circu&stances, at the end of the lunar month $hat is because the catastrophe happened half9way through the then9
current lunar &onth )'isan in ,srael, the $hird 5oon in China*, each lunar &onth occupying approxi&ately "#N of starry
background as viewed fro& the earth, and resulted in the afore&entioned chronological advance of one hour or so,
e<uivalent to -.N or half a lunar &onth's progress $his presu&ably is why the Chinese annals place the eclipse
chronologically on the last day of the $hird 5oon, rather than half9way through it, and on what they called 8ui9hai, the last
day of a 2#9day lunar cycle, and also with the sun in the constellation (i )northern ;eye; of $aurus*, which reflects the
situation if the sun and &oon had physically &oved one hour or -.N in advance of their nor&al positions 8aubil cited the
0esuit Bouvet's belief that this entry in the Chinese annals was the description of a supernatural eclipse, actually the
catastrophic Crucifixion event, which occurred historically on the -.th or -2th day of the lunar &onth, and which was
altered by later Chinese editors to place it on the &oon's last day ?ne of Bouvet's evidences was the use of the word (o9che
to describe the eclipse, which will be explained hereafter 8aubil re3ected Bouvet's view and held to the identity of the
eclipse with that in A! "-, but he failed satisfactorily to account for its unusual circu&stances and the extre&e response of
the @&peror
$hat the eclipse was not a result of a nor&al advance of the lu&inaries is clearly stated in the historical annals+ the relevant
entry reads+ ;,n the seventh year of Fuang9vou9ti J8uangwudiK, on the day Fuei9hay J8ui9haiK, the last of the $hird 5oon,
eclipse of the sun; 8aubil su&&arizes the events following and resulting fro& this eclipse, thus+ ;After the observing of the
eclipse the @&peror J8uangwudiK went into retire&ent for five days, so he could concentrate his thoughts wholly on his
own conduct as regards the governing of his sub3ects, upon which he issued a decree of which the following is a prMcis
;$he sight of the sun and &oon warns us to think on our ways ,t is necessary to correct one's faults and thus pree&pt the
evils with which Heaven threatens us As for &yself, , can scarcely speak, , tre&ble at the sight of &y faults , re<uire that
the ?fficers of &y Court give &e their sincere advice in sealed &issives, and , re<uire that none give &e the title Ching JD
;Holy, =acred;K; ,n conse<uence of the i&perial directives, the ?fficers supplied sealed &issives to the @&peror $he
history has preserved the &e&oir of that supplied by $ching9hing, and this is what he said+ ;According to the laws of
astrono&y, eclipses of the =un can appear only on the first day of the 5oon >hile for several years, there have been seen
&any on the last day of the &oon, this co&es as a result of the fact that the 5oon accelerated its movement, and thereby the
time of the eclipse fell earlier than e"pected $he =un is the i&age of the =overeign $he 5oon is the i&age of the =ub3ects
$he faults of the latter usually have their origin in those of the for&er; Apart fro& the first ,&perial @dict, the 8reat
Chinese History Jnote -+ ;'ien9y9sse, History of Fuang9vou9ti J8uangwudiK ( 8;K reports a second @dict issued on 5ay
46 of the sa&e thirty9first year of 0esus Christ Jsic 8aubil who e<uates Aear 41 of the /2th Cycle with A! "-K, as follows+
;$he An and the Aang JAin and AangK are not in accord+ the (o9che of the sun and &oon &akes us aware of the fact;; $he
Ain and Aang were the bipolar principles of the universe+ the concepts of down and up, the entities earth and heaven, fe&ale
and &ale, ruled and ruler, etc, etc, reflected the o&nipresence in nature of the two principles ,f the Ain and Aang were not
in accord, it &eant the universe was in disarray 8uangwudi took the abnor&al eclipse to be a sign that the universal laws
were in disorder $he word (o9che used to describe the eclipse had a very precise &eaning+ it was an ;eclipse neither on the
first, nor on the last day,; )e&phasis &ine* viz of the lunar &onth ,t also &eant an eclipse ;outside the bounds of the
ecliptic; $hus, the eclipse in 8uangwudi's Cth year was, indeed, one which broke astrono&ical laws $here is little doubt
that it was the catastrophic event in April A! "", and not, as so&e, including 8aubil, have argued, a &ere ;&iscalculated;
eclipse, as these were only too fa&iliar in the ancient Chinese Court, and were not occasions for i&perial dis&ay and deep
soul9searching of the kind described here
Additionally there is the state&ent that in this case the 5oon accelerated its movement, and thereby the time of the eclipse
fell earlier than e"pected $he event in A! "" occurred about one hour before sunset in China, sunset being around C p& in
that part of the world $he sun would have been <uite near the horizon in the west, and the &oon )which was in opposition
&id9way through the lunar &onth* would have been 3ust below the eastern horizon =uddenly the sun will have disappeared
below the western horizon, though it is doubtful, because of the instantaneousness of the occurrence, if anyone would have
been aware of exactly what happened to it A darkness even deeper than at a nor&al total eclipse of the sun would have
thrown the e&peror's capital, 7oyang, into the blackness of night $he stars would have been visible above, and the full
&oon, with a partial eclipse on its face for part of the duration, would have hung o&inously overhead $his condition
continued for around three hours, with the &oon and stars &oving steadily westwards across the sky $hen the &oon will
have been thrown back eastwards as suddenly as it was thrown westwards when the event began, but the sun will not have
risen again, as three or &ore hours later it was in a position which caused it to re&ain invisible beneath the western horizon
$he &oon now visible towards the east will have shifted observably around -.N further west than its nor&al position at that
ti&e of night $his per&anent advance of the &oon, as well as its initial te&porary thrusting into visibility even farther
towards the west, when the event began, would appear to be the ;acceleration of the &oon's &ove&ent; referred to in the
annals
$he strangest aspect of the Chinese experience of the catastrophe is yet to be related $he astrologers in China had a school
which interpreted all astrono&ical events for the benefit of the e&peror, and told hi& what the event ;&eant; in astrological
ter&s $here was a fixed interpretation for certain events, and there was one for such an occasion as this, when the sun was
obscured on the day 8ui9hai, the last day of a 2#9day lunar cycle $he &eaning of such an eclipse was that ;a Heavenly 5an
falls dead,; the particular word for ;fall dead; being used of kings and princes $his totally abnor&al and preternatural
;eclipse; was classed as having occurred on the day 8ui9hai, for the reasons stated earlier $herefore that, the astrologers
believed, is what it &eant+ a ;Heavenly 5an falls dead,; and evidently, it &ight be added, in view of its uni<ueness, a &ore
uni<uely ;Heavenly 5an; in so&e way than nor&al $he thought a&ongst the astrologers would be that it was the @&peror
hi&self who was indicated by the sign, and this explains why 8uangwudi refused the title ;holy; for hi&self ,n the event,
the @&peror did not die (erhaps he believed his ruse had worked, and Heaven had been pleased with his refusal of the title
;holy; ?f course, the truth was that the greatest and only truly ;Heavenly 5an; Hi&self had fallen dead that day, though
the Chinese would re&ain ignorant of the fact for centuries to co&e
!etails of the 7unar @clipse, (assover April " )0ulian D April - 8regorian* A! ""+
Beginning of lunar eclipse 0erusale& ti&e )on the &odern reckoning*+ -.h /#& )at Babylon -2h "-&*, which corresponds
)on the ti&e9sche&e used in the =ynoptic 8ospels, according to this reconstruction, with a loss of one hour in the late
afternoon* to 4# &inutes before the 6th hour
5axi&u& phase of lunar eclipse 0erusale& ti&e+ -Ch #.& )at Babylon -Ch .2&*G &oonrise at Babylon -1h -1&
'or&al &oonrise )on the absolute horizon* at 0erusale& -Ch .C&
$er&ination of lunar eclipse 0erusale& ti&e+ -1h "-& )at Babylon -6h 44&*
%nder nor&al circu&stances, the lower ri& of the &oon would be approxi&ately 2O above absolute eastern horizon at
0erusale& at that ti&e
'or&al sunset at 0erusale& -Ch .1&
=hadow -C##### se&i9shadow #22####
$H@ H?%:= ?F $H@ C:%C,F,L,?' ,' $H@ / 8?=(@7=+
5atthew 4C/. 'ow fro& the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour /2 And about the ninth
hour 0esus cried with a loud voice, saying, @li, @li, la&a sabachthaniH that is to say, 5y 8od, &y 8od, why hast thou
forsaken &eH .# P 0esus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost .- And, behold, the veil of the
te&ple was rent in twain fro& the top to the botto&G and the earth did <uake, and the rocks rentG .4 And the graves were
openedG and &any bodies of the saints which slept arose, ." And ca&e out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
the holy city, and appeared unto &any .C P >hen the even was co&e, there ca&e a rich &an of Ari&athaea, na&ed
0oseph, who also hi&self was 0esus' disciple+ .1 He went to (ilate, and begged the body of 0esus $hen (ilate co&&anded
the body to be delivered .6 And when 0oseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 2# And laid it in his
own new to&b, which he had hewn out in the rock+ and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed
5ark -. 44 P And they bring hi& unto the place 8olgotha, which is, being interpreted, $he place of a skull 4" And they
gave hi& to drink wine &ingled with &yrrh+ but he received it not 4/ And when they had crucified hi&, they parted his
gar&ents, casting lots upon the&, what every &an should take 4. And it was the third hour, and they crucified hi& 42 And
the superscription of his accusation was written over, $H@ B,'8 ?F $H@ 0@>= 4C And with hi& they crucify two
thievesG the one on his right hand, and the other on his left 41 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was
nu&bered with the transgressors 46 And they that passed by railed on hi&, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that
destroyest the te&ple, and buildest it in three days, "# =ave thyself, and co&e down fro& the cross "- 7ikewise also the
chief priests &ocking said a&ong the&selves with the scribes, He saved othersG hi&self he cannot save "4 7et Christ the
Bing of ,srael descend now fro& the cross, that we &ay see and believe And they that were crucified with hi& reviled hi&
"" P And when the sixth hour was co&e, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour "/ And at the ninth
hour 0esus cried with a loud voice, saying, @loi, @loi, la&a sabachthaniH which is, being interpreted, 5y 8od, &y 8od, why
hast thou forsaken &eH C And 0esus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost "1 And the veil of the te&ple was rent
in twain fro& the top to the botto& /4 P And now when the even was co&e, because it was the preparation, that is, the
day before the sabbath, /" 0oseph of Ari&athaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdo& of 8od,
ca&e, and went in boldly unto (ilate, and craved the body of 0esus // And (ilate &arvelled if he were already dead+ and
calling unto hi& the centurion, he asked hi& whether he had been any while dead /. And when he knew it of the centurion,
he gave the body to 0oseph /2 And he bought fine linen, and took hi& down, and wrapped hi& in the linen, and laid hi& in
a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre
7uke 4" // P And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour /. And the
sun was darkened, and the veil of the te&ple was rent in the &idst /2 And when 0esus had cried with a loud voice, he said,
Father, into thy hands , co&&end &y spirit+ and having said thus, he gave up the ghost .# P And, behold, there was a &an
na&ed 0oseph, a counsellorG and he was a good &an, and a 3ust+ .- )$he sa&e had not consented to the counsel and deed of
the&G* he was of Ari&athaea, a city of the 0ews+ who also hi&self waited for the kingdo& of 8od .4 $his &an went unto
(ilate, and begged the body of 0esus ." And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was
hewn in stone, wherein never &an before was laid ./ And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on
0ohn -6 -" >hen (ilate therefore heard that saying, he brought 0esus forth, and sat down in the 3udg&ent seat in a place
that is called the (ave&ent, but in the Hebrew, 8abbatha -/ And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth
hour+ and he saith unto the 0ews, Behold your BingI -. But they cried out, Away with hi&, away with hi&, crucify hi&
(ilate saith unto the&, =hall , crucify your BingH $he chief priests answered, >e have no king but Caesar -2 P $hen
delivered he hi& therefore unto the& to be crucified And they took 0esus, and led hi& away "- P $he 0ews therefore,
because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not re&ain upon the cross on the sabbath day, )for that sabbath day
was an high day,* besought (ilate that their legs &ight be broken, and that they &ight be taken away "4 $hen ca&e the
soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with hi& "" But when they ca&e to 0esus, and
saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs
$@=$,5?'A ?F $HA77%= A'! (H7@8?'+
$hallus was a historian who wrote so&e ti&e between A! "" )as can be deduced fro& his &ention of the catastrophe at the
Crucifixion, for the dating of which, see below* and A! -1# )when he is cited by $heophilus of Antioch* (hlegon's floruit
was c A! -/# Fro& the Chronography of 0ulius Africanus )fl first half of the third century A!*, apud 8eorge =yncellus
)p 2#6, 4- Bonn* D 5Qller section 1 Jfr 8reekK+ ;?' $H@ C,:C%5=$A'C@= C?''@C$@! >,$H ?%: =AE,?:'=
(A==,?' A'! H,= 7,F@98,E,'8 :@=%::@C$,?' As to His works severally, and His cures effected upon body and
soul, and the &ysteries of His doctrine, and the resurrection fro& the dead, these have been &ost authoritatively set forth by
His disciples and apostles before us ?n the whole world there pressed a &ost fearful darknessG and the rocks were rent by
an earth<uake, and &any places in 0udea and other districts were thrown down $his darkness $hallus, in the third book of
his History, calls, as appears to &e without reason, an eclipse of the sun For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the -/th
day according to the &oon, and the passion of our =avior falls on the day before the passoverG but an eclipse of the sun takes
place only when the &oon co&es under the sun And it cannot happen at any other ti&e but in the interval between the first
day of the new &oon and the last of the old, that is, at their 3unction+ how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen
when the &oon is al&ost dia&etrically opposite the sunH 7et that opinion pass howeverG let it carry the &a3ority with itG and
let this portent of the world be dee&ed an eclipse of the sun, like others a portent only to the eye (hlegon records that, in
the ti&e of $iberius Caesar, at full &oon, there was a full eclipse of the sun fro& the sixth hour to the ninth &anifestly that
one of which we speak But what has an eclipse in co&&on with an earth<uake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of
the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universeH =urely no such event as this is recorded for a long period But
it was a darkness induced by 8od, because the 7ord happened then to suffer;
,&&ediately following this passage =yncellus <uotes @usebius' Chronicle verbati& in the original 8reek as follows+ ;0esus
Christ underwent his passion in the -1th year of $iberius JA! "49""K Also at that ti&e in another 8reek co&pendiu& we
find an event recorded in these words+ ;the sun was eclipsed, Bithynia was struck by an earth<uake, and in the city of
'icaea &any buildings fell; All these things happened to occur during the 7ord's passion ,n fact, (hlegon, too, a
distinguished reckoner of ?ly&piads, wrote &ore on these events in his -"th book, saying this+ ;'ow, in the fourth year of
the 4#4nd ?ly&piad JA! "49""K, a great eclipse of the sun occurred at the sixth hour JnoonK that excelled every other
before it, turning the day into such darkness of night that the stars could be seen in heaven, and the earth &oved in Bithynia,
toppling &any buildings in the city of 'icaea; $he passage is translated into 7atin with no alteration )except superficial and
verbal* in 0ero&e in the fourth century A! )7atin Chronicon* and Anastasius Bibliothecarius c A! 1C# )p -/ ed (ar*
>herever @usebius obtained this <uotation )perhaps fro& the sa&e kind of co&pendiu& he &entions earlier in the passage*,
this was not all that (hlegon had to say about the ;eclipse;, as is clear fro& the passage of (hlegon epito&ized about a
hundred years earlier than @usebius in Africanus, and fro& the passages fro& (hlegon su&&arized by ?rigen )below* ,n
@usebius' <uotation only the sixth hour is &entioned, in Africanus' epito&e the eclipse is said to have lasted fro& the sixth
to the ninth hour Also Africanus' citation &entions the fact that the &oon was ;full; at the ti&e of the eclipse $his proves it
was not a nor&al eclipse of the sun and that it did, indeed, as @usebius' <uotation puts it, excel ;every other JeclipseK before
it; $he 8reek word ekleipo, whence the word ;eclipse;, does not always refer to an occultation of the sun by the &oon ,t
&eans, si&ply, ;to fail; or ;to desert a position; )eg in the sky* ,n one of its earliest occurrences in 8reek literature with
reference to the sun, in Herodotus E,, xxxvii 4, it !?@= '?$ )and cannot, according to the evidence of eclipse cycles*
indicate a nor&al eclipse of the sun, but precisely an abandon&ent by the sun of its position in the sky and a pre&ature
nightfall As 5acan says in his co&&entary+ ;$he disappearance of the sun fro& his seat in heaven is apparently conceived
in ter&s of &otion Herodotus is of course aware of the )apparent* &otions of the sun, diurnal and annual )cp 4 4/94.*G it is
not to be supposed that the &otion here posited is in a visible direction analogous to either of those+ it is apparently a direct
retreat, or evanish&ent, fro& a cloudless and clear sky; $his was a pheno&enon co¶ble, se&antically, to that which
was a historical reality at the Crucifixion ,n the /th century texts of the 8ospel of 7uke, Eaticanus and =inaiticus, and in a
few other texts )(ap C., C, 7, Coptic*, 7uke 4" //9/. reads+ ;)//* And it was now about the sixth hour, and there was a
darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, )/.* $H@ =%' HAE,'8 FA,7@! )or 7@F$ ,$= (?=,$,?'* ; )8reek+
tou liou eklipontos* $he word is ekleipo as in Herodotus $his see&s not only to explain why the A! "" event was referred
to as an ;eclipse; but also to reflect a belief that soðing si&ilar to the pheno&enon recorded by Herodotus occurred at
the Crucifixion, it being well known )cf Africanus* that no nor&al eclipse was possible at the (assover full &oon
(hlegon in @usebius confir&s the conco&itant shockwave which caused severe da&age in 'icaea Bithynia ?f course,
(hlegon's local reference here does not &ean the da&age was li&ited to that locality, but only that the records he had
available to hi&, like those in the unidentified co&pendiu&, related to 'icaea ,n ?rigen's su&&ary, (hlegon refers to
;great earth<uakes; plural, though ?rigen see&s to be <uoting fro& &e&ory >e have the evidence in the 8ospels and early
Christian literature that earth<uakes also affected 0udaea and Heliopolis )as witnessed by !ionysius the Areopagite* in
@gypt ?ur sources do not allow to track the da&age outside of those regions, though the apocryphal Acts of (ilate JbelowK
refer to the ;swallowing up; of the whole world by the infernal regions, which see&s to be soðing &ore than a
description of an earth<uake
Both (hlegon and the co&pendiu& <uoted by @usebius confir& the dating of the Crucifixion to A! "", as the /th year of
the 4#4nd ?ly&piad and the -1th year of $iberius exclude A! "#, but include A! "4 and A! "", and, further, A! "4 is
excluded because (assover was not a Friday that year $he earliest date is that provided by (hlegon, described as the
;distinguished reckoner of ?ly&piads;, viz the /th year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad, which is su&&er )conventionally - 0uly*
A! "4 to su&&er )conventionally "# 0une* A! "" !uring that ?ly&piadic year there was only one (assover, viz 'isan -/
D "rd April A! "", and this &ust be the date indicated by (hlegon @usebius' custo& in his Chronicle was to e<uate
?ly&piadic years with the 0ulian years )0anuary - to !ece&ber "-* in which they began )Finegan, Handbook of Biblical
Chronology, -661, R"4#, like !ionysius of Halicarnassus, ibid R-6-* =o (hlegon's /th year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad, which
was properly su&&er A! "4 to su&&er A! "", @usebius e<uated with the 0ulian year A! "4 )not A! ""*, and hence with
the -1th )not the &ore correct -6th* year of $iberius ,n later Christian chronicles this conventional chronology of @usebius
predo&inated over the &ore precise chronology of (hlegon, though (hlegon's dating to the -6th year of $iberius was
retained in the Ar&enian translation of the Chronicle of @usebius, in (hilopon and in Cedrenus )A reference in (hilopon to
an eclipse in the 4nd year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad has been taken to be an alternative date for the Crucifixion event, but this
is contained in an aside by (hilopon, the purpose of which see&s to be to infor& the reader that (hlegon &entioned two
eclipses in the sa&e ?ly&piad, one in its 4nd and the other in its /th year, that is, presu&ing it is not a &ere textual error+
(hilopon clearly <uotes (hlegon twice on the next page as dating the Crucifixion catastrophe to the /th year of the 4#4nd
?ly&piad $he relevant passages of (hilopon are cited infra All the surviving direct citations of the passage in (hlegon date
the event to the /th year of the ?ly&piad*
$he account of (hlegon is su&&arized as follows by ?rigen, a friend of Africanus+
;And with regard to the eclipse in the ti&e of $iberius Caesar, in whose reign 0esus appears to have been crucified, and the
great earth<uakes which then took place, (hlegon too, , think, has written in the thirteenth or fourteenth book of his
Chronicles; )?rigen, Against Celsus 4 ""*
;:egarding these we have in the preceding pages &ade our defense, according to our ability, adducing the testi&ony of
(hlegon, who relates that these events took place at the ti&e when our =avior suffered; )?rigen, Against Celsus 4 .6*
J(hlegon &entioned 0esus also in connection with his foreknowledge in the sa&e part of his work+ ;'ow (hlegon, in the
thirteenth or fourteenth book, , think, of his Chronicles, not only ascribed to 0esus a knowledge of future events )although
falling into confusion about so&e things which refer to (eter, as if they referred to 0esus*, but also testified that the result
corresponded to his predictions =o that, he also, by these very ad&issions regarding foreknowledge, as if against his will,
expressed his opinion that the doctrines taught by the fathers of our syste& were not devoid of divine power; )?rigen,
Against Celsus 4 -/*K
$he Chronicon (aschale Jthis part of it not later than A! "./K cites (hlegon twice in the sa&e for& )pp 4-6, 444, ed
Cang*, ibid p 4-6+ ;$he pagans had taken notice of this year Jviz the year of the CrucifixionK, &entioning expressly an
earth<uake as happening at the ti&e, and particularly (hlegon, the collector of ?ly&piads For in his -"th book he says thus+
in the /th year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad, there happened an eclipse of the sun, the greatest of any known before, and night
ca&e on at the 2th hour of the day, so that even the stars beca&e visible A great earth<uake struck in Bithynia $his is the
account of that notable &an, who recognized the abnor&ality of the solar eclipse;
(hilopon, a Christian 'eo9(latonist, fl 2th century A! )!e opif &und ,, 4-, p 11* wrote, ;(hlegon &entioned this
darkness also, rather this night, in the ?ly&piads )for he says that an eclipse occurred in the 4nd year of the 4#4nd
?ly&piad*, the greatest of those not Jsic in (hiloponK known before, and night ca&e on at the 2th hour of the day, so that
even the stars appeared in heaven; and ibid p 16+ ;$hat (hlegon's eclipse is no other than that which happened at the
Crucifixion of our 7ord Christ is proved fro& the history itself of $iberius Caesar For (hlegon says, that he began his
reign in the 4nd year of the -61th ?ly&piad, and the eclipse happened in the /th year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad =o that fro&
the beginning of $iberius' reign to the /th year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad, are collected near -6 years, three of the -61th, and in
the other four -2 'ow the -6th of the reign of $iberius, was the year, in which the Crucifixion of Christ happened, and
the wonderful eclipse of the sun conse<uent upon it;
Cassiodorus, the Christian chronicler, fl 2th century A!, confir&s the uni<ue nature of the eclipse+ Cassiodorus, Chronicon
)(atrologia 7atina, v 26* ; ?ur 7ord 0esus Christ suffered )Crucifixion* and an eclipse Jlit failure, desertionK of the sun
occurred, such as never was before or since; J7atin+ ; !o&inus noster 0esus Christus passus est et defectio solis facta
est, <ualis ante vel post&odu& nun<ua& fuit;K )?n the irregular dating of the Crucifixion in this last chronicle to [Link]
5arch, see further, Appendix C of ;$he First Church of :o&e; on $he (re9'icene !ating of the Birth and !eath of 0esus*
$he Historia 5iscella c A! C1/, 7ib E,,, p 44C+ ;>riting a&ongst other things (hlegon also in the -"th discourse
records this in the identical words+ Further in the /th year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad there occurred the greatest failure
JdefectioK of the sun, and night ca&e on at the 2th hour of the day, so that even the stars beca&e visible in the heavens Also
a great earth<uake struck Bithynia, and overthrew the greatest part of 'icaea;
Freculphus 7exoviensis, c A! 14/, Chron $o& ,, 7ib , c 2+ ;(hlegon also wrote on these sub3ects, who is a notable
co&piler of ?ly&piads, saying this in the -"th book+ 'ow in the /th year of the 4#4nd ?ly&piad, there occurred a failure
JdefectioK of the sun great and outstanding above all other which had happened before, at the 2th hour of the day, etc ;
$@=$,5?'A ?F $H@ AC$= ?F (,7A$@ +
Fro& the Acts of (ilate, First 8reek For& )as extant, not older than /th century A!, but a work of this na&e, the Acts of
(ontius (ilate, is referred to by 0ustin 5artyr, , Apol "., /1, in the &iddle of the 4nd century A!, in his defense before the
@&peror, who would have been able to exa&ine these Acts hi&self, so this &ay be a reworking of earlier, genuine &aterial*+
;And at the ti&e he was crucified there was darkness over all the world, the sun being darkened at &id9day, and the stars
appearing, but in the& there appeared no lusterG and the &oon, as if turned into blood, failed in her light And the world was
swallowed up by the lower regions, so that the very sanctuary of the te&ple, as they call it, could not be seen by the 0ews in
their fallG and they saw below the& a chas& of the earth, with the roar of the thunders that fell upon it And in that terror
dead &en were seen that had risen, as the 0ews the&selves testifiedG and they said that it was Abraha&, and ,saac, and
0acob, and the twelve patriarchs, and 5oses and 0ob, that had died, as they say, three thousand five hundred years before
And there were very &any who& , also saw appearing in the bodyG and they were &aking a la&entation about the 0ews, on
account of the wickedness that had co&e to pass through the&, and the destruction of the 0ews and of their law And the fear
of the earth<uake re&ained fro& the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour;
$@=$,5?'A ?F $H@ 8?=(@7 ?F (@$@:
A large frag&ent of this apocryphal, !ocetic, 8ospel was discovered at Ak&i& )(anopolis* in @gypt in -112 $he following
section deals with the catastrophic events at the Crucifixion+ $his work is &entioned with disapproval by =erapion of
Antioch towards the end of the second century A! )apud @usebius Hist @cc E, xii 492* and is datable to around the
&iddle or earlier half of that century ,t is therefore an early witness to traditions current in second century Church circles
concerning the catastrophic events at the Crucifixion
;. J$he Crucifixion is in progress at this point in the narrativeK And it was noon, and darkness ca&e over all 0udaea+ and
they Jthe 0ewish leadersK were troubled and distressed, lest the sun had set, whilst he J0esusK was yet alive+ JforK it is written
for the&, that the sun set not on hi& that hath been put to death And one of the& said, 8ive hi& to drink gall with vinegar
And they &ixed and gave hi& to drink, and fulfilled all things, and acco&plished their sins against their own head And
&any went about with la&ps, supposing that it was night, and fell down And the 7ord cried out, saying, 5y power, &y
power, thou hast forsaken &e And when he had said it he was taken up And in that hour the vail of the te&ple of 0erusale&
was rent in twain 2 And then they drew out the nails fro& the hands of the 7ord, and laid hi& upon the earth, and the
whole earth <uaked, and great fear arose $hen the sun shone, and it was found the ninth hour+ and the 0ews re3oiced, and
gave his body to 0oseph that he &ight bury it, since he had seen what good things he had done And he took the 7ord, and
washed hi&, and rolled hi& in a linen cloth, and brought hi& into his own to&b, which was called the 8arden of 0oseph;
$@=$,5?'A ?F $H@ (%B7,C A:CH,E@= ,' (A8A' :?5@ A'! ?F (,7A$@'= 7@$$@: $? $,B@:,%=+
$ertullian )fl first half of the third century A!*, Apol LL,+ ;But the 0ews were so exasperated by His teaching, by which
their rulers and chiefs were convicted of the truth, chiefly because so &any turned aside to Hi&, that at last they brought
Hi& before (ontius (ilate, at that ti&e :o&an governor of =yriaG and, by the violence of their outcries against Hi&, extorted
a sentence giving Hi& up to the& to be crucified He Hi&self had predicted thisG which, however, would have signified
little had not the prophets of old done it as well And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited &any notable signs, by which
His death was distinguished fro& all others At His own free9will, He with a word dis&issed fro& Hi& His spirit,
anticipating the executioners work ,n the sa&e hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very ti&e was
in his &eridian blaze $hose who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse
Aou yourselves have the account of the world9portent still in your archives JLL, -6+ ;@t ta&en suffixus &ulta &ortis illius
propria ostendit insignia 'a& spiritu& cu& verbo sponte di&isit, praevento carnificis officio @ode& &o&ento dies
&ediu& orbe& signante sole subducta est !eli<uiu& uti<ue putaverunt <ui id <uo<ue super Christo praedicatu& non
scierunt @t ta&en eu& &undi casu& relatu& in arcanis vestris habetis;K $hen, when His body was taken down fro& the
cross and placed in a sepulcher, the 0ews in their eager watchfulness surrounded it with a large &ilitary guard, lest, as He
had predicted His resurrection fro& the dead on the third day, His disciples &ight re&ove by stealth His body, and deceive
even the incredulous But, lo, on the third day there a was a sudden shock of earth<uake, and the stone which sealed the
sepulcher was rolled away, and the guard fled off in terror+ without a single disciple near, the grave was found e&pty of all
but the clothes of the buried ?ne But nevertheless, the leaders of the 0ews, who& it nearly concerned both to spread abroad
a lie, and keep back a people tributary and sub&issive to the& fro& the faith, gave it out that the body of Christ had been
stolen by His followers For the 7ord, you see, did not go forth into the public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered
fro& their errorG that faith also, destined to a great reward, &ight hold its ground in difficulty But He spent forty days with
so&e of His disciples down in 8alilee, a region of 0udaea, instructing the& in the doctrines they were to teach to others
$hereafter, having given the& co&&ission to preach the gospel through the world, He was enco&passed with a cloud and
taken up to heaven, a fact &ore certain far than the assertions of your (roculi concerning :o&ulus All these things (ilate
did to ChristG and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Hi& to the reigning Caesar, who was at the
ti&e $iberius Aes, and the Caesars too would have believed on Christ, if either the Caesars had not been necessary for the
world, or if Christians could have been Caesars; ,t has been noted in this connection ;8reat stress is to be placed on the fact
that $ertullian was probably a 3urisconsult, fa&iliar with the :o&an archives, and influenced by the& in his own acceptance
of !ivine $ruth ,t is not supposable that such a &an would have hazarded his bold appeal to the records, in re&onstrating
with the =enate and in the very faces of the @&peror and his colleagues, had he not known that the evidence was
irrefragable;
(hilopon )!e opif &und ,, 4-, p 11* wrote, ;$hat (hlegon's eclipse is no other, than that which happened at the
Crucifixion of our 7ord Christ, S is proved from the history itself of #iberius aesar J5y e&phasisK For (hlegon says
etc;
?' $H@ (HA=,CA7 (?==,B,7,$A ?F A :A(,! (?7@ =H,F$ A'! :@$%:'
$here see&s to be evidence that precisely the kind of catastrophe it is suggested here took place in A! "" can take place and
has taken place @instein, no less, was inclined to accept the evidence that polar shift had occurred in the relatively recent
geological past )in the (leistocene* Attached here )(!F 9 to download, right9click and select ;=ave $arget As;* is a paper
on this sub3ect ,t suggests a <uite s&all asteroid, say -### &eters across )s&aller than the Arizona &eteor craterI*, or even
.## &eters across, could tilt the earth to a (@:5A'@'$ new position on its axis if the tor<ue produced by the angle of
i&pact was sufficient and the gravitational pull of the sun and &oon at the ti&e was in the right direction Also it describes
an alternative scenario in which the sun and &oon were in a different position and the effect of the asteroid i&pact would
then be :@E@:=@! )co&pletely or otherwise* after a short period of ti&e ,e the earth would tilt and then tilt back again,
the da&age in that case being li&ited to the i&&ediate destruction caused by the i&pact $he sa&e paper suggests this huge
&ove&ent could take place over a few days or even a few H?%:= )exactly as in A! "", on the proposed reconstruction*
$he paper describes catastrophic effects acco&panying a tilt of about 4# degrees, but only for a situation in which the tilt
re&ained per&anent $he author says the &ost catastrophic effects would only gradually build up in that case, the &ain
devastation, apart fro& extensive earth<uake and volcanic da&age, being by tidal flooding and wind A te&porary tilt 9 of
the kind he says would occur if the sun and &oon were not pulling in the sa&e direction as the tor<ue produced by i&pact,
and of the kind it is suggested here took place in A! "" 9 would not allow ti&e for the buildup of effects of the sa&e
tre&endously catastrophic &agnitude $he sun and &oon in A! "" were actually pulling in opposite directions, as the &oon
was full at that ti&e Also this paper presu&es that hu&an life continued after even a per&anent tilt of the earth in the
(leistocene, and conditions under the alternative scenario of a te&porary tilt and return to at or near the original axis are less
devastating
