Letter to Eusebius

1An epistle to Eusebius, Marcellus, Vivian, and Carpus, and to the Egyptians, from our holy father Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia of the island of Cyprus, concerning the precise clarification of the day of Passover, from the epistle to Eusebius and Marcellus, Vivian, and Carpus.

Therefore the Jews ate the Passover, with which the Lord ate this, two days before the appointed true Passover; as the scribes and the Pharisees said, that they might perform the Passover beforehand, so that they might not be unable to eat the Passover when the uproar is seized. As also the most holy Matthew says concerning the Savior that he said to the disciples: 'You know that in two days the Passover occurs and the Son of Man is handed over to be crucified.' This was precisely fulfilled, for Christ entered into the mystery on the second of the Sabbath, the tenth day of the name of our Lord Jesus, which was a symbol because of the iota. For then Judas took the price of the honored one, for whom they valued him from the sons of Israel according to what is written, and he sought an opportunity to hand him over. And they performed it beforehand, being in an uproar instead of guarding with themselves the lamb purchased for them through the silver given to Judas, from the tenth counted until the fourteenth, which was the fifth of the Sabbaths. And they perform it beforehand, being in an uproar because of the people and saying: 'Let us perform the Passover beforehand, so that when the people comes we might not be unable to seize him.' And because of this, they no longer ate the Passover on the fifth, which descended to the eleventh of the moon, but on the...

2On the third Sabbath, when the light shines, they seize the Christ, in which time they also anticipate and complete the Passover. Thus, they defile the Passover with them by moving it toward evening on the twelfth day, two days before the Passover, while the light is shining, calculating the night into the day—that is, from Tuesday to the fourth Sabbath. Consequently, the church observes these four days because of the seizure of the Lord, fasting throughout the entire year except only during Pentecost and the Epiphanies.

Having been seized toward evening when the light shines, he remains in the court of Caiaphas the whole night. For do not suppose that he was seized toward evening on the fifth day; read the Gospel according to John and examine it, and you will see that when he is seized from Gethsemane, he is brought to Caiaphas. He remained in the house of Caiaphas until morning. In the morning, he is handed over to Pontius Pilate; and this occurred on the fourth of the Sabbaths. He spends that day before Pontius Pilate and the night until morning.

On the fifth of the Sabbaths, he is sent to Herod, who was then in Jerusalem, because he himself had also come with the others to eat the Passover. As that man questioned him many things and, not being deemed worthy of an answer, sends him back to Pilate, he remained until the ninth hour, having been shut up in the praetorium. And a certain betrayal ran forth, saying, even until our own times,

3For the disciples entered to him secretly at the ninth hour, and he broke plain bread and ate with them in the prison. He remained there all night, and in the morning he was led away from the praetorium on the day called Friday, which is the Sabbath; and thus at the third hour he is crucified, according to the precise explanation of Mark and John, the inspired evangelists. Even if in certain copies of the written Gospel of John the letter Γ (gamma) is mistaken because of a slip—which signifies the number three—into the letter Σ (sigma), which stands for six, because both letters look to us with their serifs from the auspicious names toward the right; this was also examined before us by Clement, Origen, Pamphilus, and Eusebius.

It is not right for those learning listeners to divide the harmony of the divine gospels because of the correction or placement of a letter. For see how even Matthew the wisest precisely marks the time of the cross by saying, 'And coming to a place called Golgotha, which is a place of a skull,' and then he leads to the wine with the myrrh and the division of the garments; 'and from the sixth hour darkness came over all the earth until the ninth hour' and the following. But some think that the...

4Saint Matthew says that he was crucified at the sixth hour; indeed, the saint has studied the darkness that follows from the sixth hour. He is therefore crucified at the preparation hour at the third hour, and one day was reckoned to him from the third hour until the ninth. For after the crucifixion, the remainder of the work of salvation for those under the earth was being accomplished; from the sixth to the ninth is one night, and from the ninth to evening is one day.

Thus, there have been three days and two nights. Through the whole Sabbath is one day, and the night that breaks into Sunday. What was spoken concerning him was fulfilled: 'it is necessary that the Son of Man be done in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.' He was crucified at the third hour, in the fullness, on the fourteenth Sabbath according to the moon, on the twentieth of the month of Phamenoth, before the thirteenth kalends of April. For this reason, we fast also on the preparation day.

But he rose on the day of Sunday, when the roosters crowed, during the night of the equinox coinciding with the equinox, namely on the twentieth of the month of Phamenoth, which is interpreted as Nisan among the Hebrews. The months of the Hebrews precede the months of the Egyptians, and the months of the prosperous Athenians likewise precede those of the Lacedaemonians by eight days, if such is the case. The night possessed the same hours, and the passing day possessed the same hours.