Early Church Fathers and Eclipses

No. 362

Last Monday I posted a visualization on Edwards and eclipses. Today, for a comparison, I am doing the same for the Early Church Fathers. The references below link to PDF pages of the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers hosted at the Christian Classic Ethereal Library.

On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Saviour falls on the day before the passover; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? Let that opinion pass however; let it carry the majority with it; and let this portent of the world be deemed an eclipse of the sun, like others a portent only to the eye. Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Cæsar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth—manifestly that one of which we speak. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? Surely no such event as this is recorded for a long period. But it was a darkness induced by God, because the Lord happened then to suffer. And calculation makes out that the period of 70 weeks, as noted in Daniel, is completed at this time. - Julius Africanus, ANF 6:325, The Fathers of the Third Century (CCEL)

CORPUS NOTECARDS

None

TERMS & REFERENCES

Term Set A: eclipse eclipsed

Term Set B: sun moon

Max Distance Between Terms = 10

Reference List A/B

ANF-02:677 - Fathers of the Second Century
ANF-03:463 - Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian
ANF-04:978 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-05:30 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-06:325 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-06:359 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-08:1375 - The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, etc.
ANF-08:1400 - The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, etc.
ANF-08:1433 - The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, etc.
NPNF1-02:132 - The City of God, Christian Doctrine
NPNF1-02:845 - The City of God, Christian Doctrine
NPNF1-08:92 - Expositions on the Psalms
NPNF1-13:206 - Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
NPNF2-03:1008 - Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
NPNF2-03:1361 - Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
NPNF2-05:489 - Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
NPNF2-05:806 - Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
NPNF2-07:116 - Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
NPNF2-07:214 - Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
NPNF2-08:321 - Basil: Letters and Select Works
NPNF2-09:600 - Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Reference List B/A

ANF-02:426 - Fathers of the Second Century
ANF-03:280 - Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian
ANF-05:29 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-05:30 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-06:325 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-06:359 - The Fathers of the Third Century
ANF-09:496 - Recently Discovered Additions to Early Christian Literature; Commentaries of Origen
NPNF1-01:157 - Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
NPNF1-02:132 - The City of God, Christian Doctrine
NPNF1-09:591 - On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
NPNF1-13:801 - Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
NPNF2-01:1518 - Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
NPNF2-02:340 - Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425
NPNF2-03:1361 - Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
NPNF2-06:981 - Jerome: Letters and Select Works
NPNF2-07:115 - Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
NPNF2-07:215 - Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
NPNF2-07:359 - Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
NPNF2-08:345 - Basil: Letters and Select Works
NPNF2-09:600 - Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus