On the Chronology of the Passover during the Passion of 37 CE

The Sabbath started at sunset on Friday 16th March, so the daytime of the Sabbath on the 10th Nisan was the 17th March. The 18th and 25th of March were Sundays. The Passover must have started at sunset on Wednesday night, the 21st March and the 21st Nisan ended at sunset on Wednesday 28th March.

Is this the proposed chronology? Death of Tiberius on Friday 16th March, the daytime of the 9th Nisan; Sabbath 10th Nisan, Friday night 16th March and daytime Saturday 17th March; Last Supper on the night of Wednesday the 21st March, the 15th Nisan; trial before Caiphas on the same night, illegally; appearance before Pilate on Thursday; execution on the afternoon of Friday 23rd March, the 16th Nisan; resurrection at the change from the Sabbath the 17th Nisan to the start of the first day of the week, the 18th Nisan, corresponding to Saturday night, the 24th March; manifestation on Sunday 25th March, the daytime of the 16th Nisan; festival of Attis on the same Sunday.

The data available for calculating the date of the execution of Jesus.

Tertullian and Augustine have as date of execution 8th day before Kalends [= 24th March].

Orosius 8th of the Kalends = 25th March in 33 A.D.; Epiphanius 25th March in 32 A.D. [But he also gives the date of birth as being late in 1 B.C., so the year is only a reconstruction. The date of 25th March belongs with 33 A.D.]. Cassiodorus 8th of the Kalends = 25th March in 33 A.D. Acts of Pilate 8th day before the Kalends = 25th March in 33 A.D. (But the 8th day before the Kalends should be the 24th March. Perhaps this is a mistake for the 8th day OF the Kalends. Or perhaps two dates have been fused).

Lactantius 10th of the Kalends [= 23rd March].

Jesus appeared before Caiphas on the night of the fifth day of the week [Wednesday night or perhaps Thursday night] in 32 A.D. according to Malalas. But he makes this the third day of the moon [= the 3rd of Nisan] which would make the Friday the 4th of Nisan, when it should be the 14th. They then set the execution on the 14th Nisan [which would then be the afternoon of the following Monday]. If a fusion of two dates is assumed, disentangling gives you these two. (a) Appearance before Caiphas in illegal trial on Sunday night, the 3rd Nisan, the 2nd day of the week. Execution on THE SECOND Friday, the 6th day of the week, the 14th Nisan. (b) Appearance before Caiphas on Wednesday night, the 5th day of the week, the 13th Nisan. Execution on Friday, the 14th of Nisan. But this is not the right solution. See below, on Lactantius.

Montanist Passover according to Sozomen, 23rd March.

The Conclusion.

Dismiss the year 32 A.D. and the year 33 A.D. as plausible but wrong new guesses based on the assumption of a birthdate at the end of 1 B.C. and a ministry of three years. Accordingly dismiss a date for the execution of 24th March in 32 A.D. or 25th March in 33 A.D. Treat the date in the Acts of Pilate as fusion of the 24th and 25th, both only reconstructions.

Accept date of 23rd March (without year) in Lactantius. In text of Malalas the context shows the date of the 3rd of Nisan to be a mistake for the 13th. Appearance before Caiaphas is then on Wednesday night, the 13th Nisan, the 5th day of the week. Malalas could not possibly have neglected to point out a contradiction to the reader. He thus agrees with Lactantius. Both agree with the canonical John in not making the Last Supper a Passover. Of the two, only Malalas gives a year, 32 A.D., but this can be disregarded as a reconstruction, since the 23rd March that year was a Thursday, not a Friday. The absence of a year in one, and the wrong correspondence in the other, indicate the omission or deletion of a year thought impossible because too late.

Assume the year to be 37 A.D. and the date of the Resurrection manifestation to be Sunday 25th March. This fits the correspondence of the daylight of the 14th Nisan with the 23rd March in Lactantius and the Byzantine historian. It gives a date for the resurrection linked with Attis. It fits the indirect evidence of difficulty in accepting the figure for the year, which would have seemed four years too late. Also, this date would fit in with the Montanist date of Passover on the 23rd March, if this date is the preparation day and the first Mikra Kodesh starts at sunset the same day. The Montanists must have been thinking of the death of Jesus on the preparation day (the 14th Nisan), since they would not have had any reason to care about the date of Passover otherwise.


In this connection it might be useful to remember what I said months ago, that the manifestation of the resurrection was only completed with the appearance to Thomas on the second Sunday, Low Sunday or Quasimodo.