Gregorii Opuscula, or, Notes & observations upon some passages of Scripture with other learned tracts / written by John Gregory ...

CHAP. XVII. Aera Passionis Dominicae.

NO less question hath been made about the Year of our Saviour's Passion, then that of his Nativitie. Thus much is certain, That hee suffered upon Fridaie the fourth of Nisan.

Not to take notice of the Acts of Pilate cited by the He∣reticks in Epiphanius. Clemens of Alexandria delivereth, That our Saviour suffered in the 16 of Tiberius, and 25 of Phamenosh,, which answereth to the 21 of March; but our Saviour suffered upon Fridaie, therefore the Dominical that year was E: but the 16 of Tiberius had 11 for the Cycle of the Sun, therefore the Dominical Letter was not E, but A: therefore either the Passion was not upon that daie, or els it was not that year.

Epiphanius affirmeth that our Saviour suffered the 20 of March, but hee suffered (as before) upon the feria sexta, therefore the Dominical must bee D, for otherwise Fridaie could not fall upon March the 20. This hap'ned Anno 19 of Tiberius; but the Cycle of the Moon for the year was 15, therefore the Passover that year was not celebrated March the twentieth, but the fourth of April, and feria not sexta but septima.

Manie other forms of this opinion are set down by the Antient, but which will not endure the touch of these Cha∣racters.

Phlegon Trallianus noteth an Eclips of the Sun the fourth year of the 202 Olympiad, the most horrible that ever was. No man ever doubted but this was that which the Scripture noteth at our Saviour's Passion, observed also by the Astro∣nomers in Egypt, reported to have said those words, Aut De∣us Naturae patitur, &c. The Reverend Father Dionysius may bee seen in his Epistle to Polycarpus and to Apollophanes, but who when hee saith, that this was don by the Interposition of the Moon, doth not a little betraie his Tradition; for

the Sun and Moon were then Diametrically opposed, and the Moon her self totally Eclipsed in Libra to the Antipodes of Jerusalem; therefore the Eclips was supernatural.

The fourth year of the 22 Olympiad answereth to the 19 of Tiberius, and the 33 of the Nativitie, which was the 4745 of the Julian Period, and 3982 of the World, in the 78 Ju∣lian year, and 780 of Nabonassar; and becaus it was feria sexta, therefore it was the third daie of April, there hap∣ning the verie same daie a natural Eclips of the Moon in the 11 of Libra, which began at Jerusalem at 5 of the clock and 49 minutes in the afternoon. Therefore this daie was exceeding terrible, for the Sun was totally once, and the Moon once totally, and twice Eclipsed.