§27.45Στίχ. με΄. Ἀπὸ δέ ἕκτης ὥρας σκότος ἐγένετο ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἕως ὥρας ἐνάτης. (33) Περὶ ταύτης τῆς ἐκλείψεως καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ζαχαρίας εἰπών· Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἔσται φῶς.
Verse 45: "And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." (33) Concerning this eclipse, the prophet Zechariah also said: "In that day," he says, "there shall be no light.
Καὶ ψῦχος καὶ πάγος ἔσται μίαν ἡμέραν.
And there shall be cold and frost for one day.
Καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη γνωστὴ τῷ Κυρίῳ.
And that day is known to the Lord.
Καὶ οὐχ ἡμέρα, καὶ οὐ νύξ· καὶ πρὸς ἐσπέραν ἔσται φῶς. Εἰπὼν δὲ τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐσκοτίσθαι τοὺς βάλλοντας χεῖρας τῷ φωτί.
And it is neither day nor night; and toward evening there shall be light." And by saying "darkness," he means that those who laid hands on the Light were darkened.
Ὡς γὰρ Αἰγυπτίοις σκότος. καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ φῶς· οὕτως καὶ νῦν τῇ μὲν Ἐκκλησίᾳ φῶς, τοῖς δὲ Ἰουδαίοις σκότος τριῶν ἡμερῶν, φωτὸς πατρικοῦ, ἀπαυγάσματος Χριστοῦ, ἐκλάμψεως ἁγίου Πνεύματος.
For just as there was darkness for the Egyptians and light for the sons of Israel, so also now there is light for the Church, but for the Jews a darkness of three days, [bereft] of the Fatherly light, of the radiance of Christ, and of the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
Καὶ ἐπεὶ ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ἡμέρᾳ γεγένηται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, εἰκὸς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ὁ ὥρᾳ ἐσφάλθαι· τάχα διὰ τοῦτο ὁ ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας ἀνθρώπων πάσχων ὥρᾳ ἕκτῃ ἐκρεμάσθη.
And since man was created on the sixth day, and it is likely that he fell at the sixth hour, perhaps for this reason He who suffers for the salvation of men was hung on the cross at the sixth hour.
Τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ σημεῖον, ὅπερ ἔμπροσθεν αἰτοῦσιν ὑπέσχετο δώσειν, λέγων· Γενεὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλὶς σημεῖον ἐπιἐητεῖ, καὶ ἑξῆς· καὶ, Ὅταν ὑψώσητε τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τότε γνώσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι. Καὶ γὰρ πολλῷ θαυμαστότερον ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ προσηλουμένου ταῦτα γενέσθαι ἢ ἐπὶ γῆς βαδίζοντος.
This is the sign which He promised to give to those who asked for it before, saying: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign," and so on; and, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He." For indeed it was much more marvelous for these things to happen when He was nailed to the cross than when He was walking upon the earth.
Οὐ ταύτῃ δὲ μόνον τὸ παράδοξον ἦν, ἀλλʼ ὅτι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ γέγονεν ὅπερ ἐζήτουν, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ὅπερ οὐδὲ πρότερον συνέβη, ἀλλʼ ἐν Ἀἰγύπτῳ μόνον, ὅτε καὶ τὸ Πάσχα ἐτελεῖτο· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα τύπος ἦν τούτων.
And not only in this was the marvel, but also because what they were seeking came from heaven, and over all the inhabited world, which had never happened before, but only in Egypt when the Passover was also celebrated; for indeed those things were a type of these.
Ἵνα γὰρ μὴ εἴπωσιν ἔκλειψιν εἶναι τὸ γεγενημένον, διὰ τοῦτο τῇ δι΄ γίνεται, ὅτε ἔκλειψιν συμβῆναι ἀμήχανον.
For lest they should say that what happened was an eclipse, for this reason it happens on the fourteenth [day of the moon], when it is impossible for an eclipse to occur.
Ἐν μέσῃ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ, ἵνα πάντες οἱ τὴν γῆν οἰκοῦντες μάθωσιν, ὅτι πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡμέρα ἦν.
And in the middle of the day, so that all who inhabit the earth might know that it was day everywhere in the inhabited world.
Καὶ Φλέγων δέ τις παῤ Ἕλλησι φιλόσοφος μέμνηται τούτου τοῦ σκότους, ὡς παραδόξως γεγενημένου ἐν τῇ ιδ΄ τῆς σελήνης· ὅτε οὐ πέφυκεν ἔκλειψις γίνεσθαι, ὅτε πολὺ ἀπέχει τό τοῦ ἡλίου διάστημα, ὅσον ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἕως τέλους.
And indeed a certain Phlegon, a philosopher among the Greeks, mentions this darkness as having occurred paradoxically on the fourteenth day of the moon; when it is not natural for an eclipse to happen, since the distance from the sun is very great, as much as from the beginning of heaven to the end.
Τότε γὰρ γίνονται ἐκλείψεις, ὅταν πλησιάσωσιν ἀλλήλοις οἱ δύο οὗτοι φωστῆρες.
For eclipses occur then, when these two luminaries approach each other.
Γίνεται γὰρ ἔκλειψις ἡλίου συνοδικῶς ὑποδραμούσης αὐτὸν σελήνης, οὐ πανσελήνῳ, ὅτε διάμετρός ἐστι τῇ σελήνη.
For an eclipse of the sun occurs when the moon runs under it in conjunction, not at full moon, when [the sun] is diametrically opposite to the moon.
Τοῦτο δὲ γέγονεν, ὡς πενθούσης τῆς κτίσεως ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δηλούσης, ὅτι, τῆς παροινίας ταύτης πραχθείσης ἐξ Ἰουδαίων, ἐσκοτίσθη αὐτῶν ὁ νοῦς, καὶ ἀπέστη ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ὁ νοητὸς ἥλιος.
And this happened as if creation were mourning over what had occurred, and thereby showing that, this outrage having been committed by the Jews, their mind was darkened, and the intelligible Sun departed from them.
Εἴτε γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐνόμιζον τοῦτο πεποιηκέναι, ἔδει πιστεῦσαι καὶ φοβηθῆναι· εἴτε οὐκ αὐτὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ ἐκ τούτου ἔδει κατανυγῆναι.
For whether they thought that He had done this, they ought to have believed and feared; or if not He, but the Father, from this also they ought to have been pricked in heart.
Ὀργιζομένου γὰρ ἦν τὸ σκότος ἐκεῖνο, καὶ δεῖγμα τοῦ μέλλοντος λαβεῖν τοὺς θεομάχους τε καὶ μιαιφόνους.
For that darkness was a sign of one who is angry, and a token of what those who fight against God and commit murder were about to receive.
Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ μετὰ πάντων τῆς (36) παροινίας τοῦτο γίνεται, ὅτε κόρος ἔλαβε τῶν σκωμμάτων, καὶ πάντων ἐφθέγξαντο ὅσα ἠθέλησαν.
For for this reason it happens after all their outrage, when they had their fill of mockeries, and had uttered everything that they wished.