ACC ~ Matthew 27 v45

DARKNESS FELL

ORIGEN: It is my opinion that just as the other signs which accompanied Christ’s Passion were performed only in Jerusalem, so also the darkness which covered the land until the ninth hour occurred only in Judea. For in Jerusalem alone was the veil of the temple rent asunder and the earth shook and rocks split apart and graves opened. [1] … By the power of Christ, however, darkness fell upon all the land of Judea for three hours, but the light which illumines every church of God in Christ shone upon the rest of the land. Although darkness fell upon Judea until the ninth hour, it is clear that the light shone on it again, “until the full number of Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.” [2] The fact that darkness fell upon the land of Judea for three hours demonstrates that it was because of its sins that Judea was deprived of the light of three moments, that is, the light of God the Father, the splendor of Christ and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 134. [3]

[1] Mt 27:51-52.

[2] Rom 11:25-26.

[3] GCS 38.2:274-75, 278.

ALL THE LAND

ORIGEN: Certain believers, wishing to offer some defense of the gospel in a few brief words, have said that if no new miracle had been performed at the time of Christ’s Passion but everything happened in the normal manner, [1] then it would also have to be believed that the eclipse of the sun occurred as usual. Since it is agreed, however, that other prodigies which happened at that time were not customary events but new and wondrous (for the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and rocks were split apart and graves were opened and many bodies of the saints rose from the dead), [2] it follows that neither did the eclipse of the sun happen as it normally does. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 134. [3]

[1] These were pagans who maintained on the basis of astronomical calculations that at the time of Jesus’ death no eclipse could have occurred.

[2] Mt 27:51-52.

[3] GCS 38.2:272-73.

FROM THE SIXTH HOUR

JEROME: Those who write against the Gospels [1] suppose that it is out of ignorance that the disciples of Christ have interpreted the eclipse of the sun (a phenomenon which usually happens at certain, established times) in accordance with the resurrection of the Lord, whereas an eclipse of the sun normally occurs only at the rising of a new moon. Now there is no doubt that at the time of the Passover the moon was full. [2] Lest we believe that the shadow of the earth or the movement of the moon’s orb across the sun had produced a brief twilight, a duration of three hours is specified in order to preclude all other explanations. I am persuaded that this happened in fulfillment of the prophecies: “The sun will set at noon, and the light in the day will become dark over the earth,” [3] and in another place, “The sun set when it was still the middle of the day.” [4] And it seems quite clear to me that the light of the world (this is a greater heavenly body) had held back its beams so that neither would the Lord be seen hanging nor would the wicked blasphemers take any delight while the sun was still shining. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.27.45. [5]

[1] Cf. p. 236 n. 6.

[2] Easter was celebrated on the fourteenth of Nisan, according to the lunar calendar in use then among the Jews. On that day the moon was full.

[3] Amos 8:9.

[4] Jer 15:9.

[5] CCL 77:273-74.

REPORT OF AN ECLIPSE

APOLLINARIS: Now a certain Phlegon, [1] a philosopher among the Greeks, recollects this darkness as an incredible occurrence in the fourteenth [night] of the moon, when an eclipse should not have appeared … for eclipses occur at the time when these two stars [the sun and the moon] draw near to one another. An eclipse of the sun happens at the conjunction of the sun and the moon as it runs into its way. This is not the time of the full moon, when the sun is diametrically opposed to the moon. But the eclipse occurred as creation mourned over what had happened, signifying that the drunken behavior of the Jews was linked to a darkened mind. The sunshine of the intellect had departed from them. For if they had been considering him—for that darkness found its source in the wrathful one and was evidence of what was about to overtake the murderers. FRAGMENT 142. [2]

[1] Phlegon of Tralles wrote a work on various marvels, long-lived people and the Olympics at the time of Hadrian (mid-second century), of which only a very few fragments are extant. He displayed a certain curiosity about the Christian religion.

[2] MKGK 50-51.

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