3

to be fashioned by them if he was raised in the evening. But I think that through these things it is proved that what is said in Matthew, "late on the Sabbath," does not signify the late hour of the Sabbath, nor the evening time; but Matthew himself added the hour "dawning into the first day of the week," which was early, while it was still dark according to John; for in this way the harmony of the evangelical voices would concur; as one time is signified through them, but each changes the parts of the time; since of one and the same hour, it is possible to conceive of the beginning, and the middle, and the end.

3. You would not, then, be mistaken in saying that the first things of our Savior's resurrection are signified in John, in whose account the Magdalene, early, while it was still dark, having come to the tomb a first and a second time, and not finding the body of the Savior, weeps because no one yet knew about his resurrection; and that the time in Matthew is a second part of the same hour, at which the same Magdalene, coming a third time with the other Mary to the tomb, no longer weeps, as having seen in John's account the angels and the Savior himself; for what is in Luke and Mark would be indicative of other things, in which more women come to the sight; but consider that the Magdalene came at times not far separated from each other, but in the same place and at the same time to have been present for both the first and the second; the first, by herself alone; the second, with the other Mary; and so, then, the same Mary Magdalene saw both what was in Matthew and what was in John; nor was she absent from what was recorded by the many; for she did not depart from the place; but she was present and remained, astonished at what she had seen, and desiring, in addition to the first, to be deemed worthy of second and third theophanies; which she obtained after this, as more women arrived at the tomb at different times, and as an angelic vision appeared to them at different times in different ways, while she herself was present at each sight; thus, then, the Magdalene became a spectator of what was recorded by the four evangelists; which is why she was mentioned by them all; and so the time presented by John and by Matthew was the same; but different intervals of the same time have been observed by each.

4. Let it not trouble you that it is said in Matthew that after the two Marys came to see the 22.945 tomb, "for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, rolled away the stone from the door." For it is not proper to think that the angel rolled away the stone at that very hour; for how could that be? since it had already happened in John, in whose account not only Mary, but also two disciples had come to the tomb; wherefore you might say that the account in Matthew is a narration of what had happened before this; for according to this, the two Marys came to see the tomb, and found it open, since before this a great earthquake had occurred, and the angel had rolled away the stone, who, appearing, again announces the good news to the women. This, then, could be one solution to the difficulties concerning the passage.

5. The proposed matters might also be resolved in another way, if you were to suppose that the Marys in Matthew were different, and the one in John was another; for we find that there were four Marys in all present at the passion of the Savior with the other women; first, then, the Theotokos, the mother of the Savior himself; second, her sister Mary, the wife of Clopas; then a third, Mary Magdalene; and a fourth, the mother of James and Joseph; and John mentioned the first three Marys, saying thus: "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." But of the fourth Mary, the mother of James and

3

πλάττεσθαι αὐτοὺς εἰ τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ ἐγήγερτο. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι διὰ τούτων ἀποδείκνυσθαι τὸ παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ λεγόμενον ὀψὲ Σαββάτων, μὴ τὴν ὀψινὴν ὥραν τοῦ Σαββάτου σημαίνειν, μηδὲ τὸν ἑσπερινὸν καιρόν· ἀλλ' αὐτὸς Ματθαῖος ἐπήγαγεν τὴν ἐπιφώσκουσαν ὥραν εἰς μίαν Σαββάτων, ἥτις ἦν πρωῒ, ἔτι σκοτίας οὔσης κατὰ τὸν Ἰωάννην· οὕτω γὰρ ἡ συμφωνία συνδράμοι ἂν τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν φωνῶν· ὡς καιροῦ μὲν ἑνὸς δι' αὐτῶν σημαινομένου, ἀναλλαττόντων δὲ παρ' ἑκάστου τῶν τοῦ καιροῦ μορίων· ἐπεὶ καὶ μιᾶς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὥρας, καὶ τὴν ἀρχήν ἐστιν ἐπινοῆσαι, καὶ τὸ μέσον, καὶ τὸ τέλος.

γʹ. Οὐκ ἂν γοῦν ἁμάρτοις τὰ μὲν πρῶτα τῆς ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν σημαίνεσθαι εἰπὼν παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ, παρ' ᾧ ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ πρωῒ, ἔτι οὔσης σκοτίας, καὶ πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον ἐπιστᾶσα τῷ μνήματι, καὶ μὴ εὑροῦσα τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Σωτῆρος, κλαίει διὰ τὸ μηδένα μήπω ἐγνωκέναι περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ· τῆς αὐτῆς δὲ ὥρας μέρος εἶναι δεύτερον τὸν παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ χρόνον, καθ' ὂν τρίτον ἐπιστᾶσα ἡ αὐτὴ Μαγδαληνὴ ἅμα τῇ ἄλλῃ Μαρίᾳ τῷ μνήματι, οὐκέτι κλαίει, ὡς ἂν παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ τεθεαμένη τοὺς ἀγγέλους καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Σωτῆρα· τὰ γὰρ παρὰ τῷ Λουκᾷ καὶ τῷ Μάρκῳ ἑτέρων ἂν εἴη δηλωτικὰ, παρ' οἷς πλείους ἀπαντῶσιν γυναῖκες ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν· τὴν δέ γε Μαγδαληνὴν μὴ μακρὰν ἀλλήλων διεστῶσιν ἀπηντηκέναι καιροῖς νόμιζε, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ παρατυχεῖν καὶ τὸ πρῶτον καὶ τὸ δεύτερον· τὸ μὲν πρῶτον, καθ' ἑαυτὴν μόνην· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον, μετὰ τῆς ἄλλης Μαρίας· οὕτω δ' οὖν ἡ αὐτὴ Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ ἐθεᾶτο καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ· οὐκ ἀπελιμπάνετο δὲ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀναγεγραμμένων· οὐ γὰρ ἀπεστάτει τοῦ τόπου· παρῆν δὲ καὶ παρέμενεν καταπεπληγμένη μὲν τὰ τεθεαμένα, ποθοῦσα δὲ πρὸς τοῖς πρώτοις καὶ δευτέρων καὶ τριῶν θεοφανειῶν καταξιωθῆναι· ὧν ἐτύγχανεν μετὰ ταῦτα διαφόρως μὲν πλειόνων γυναικῶν ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον ἀφικνουμένων, ἄλλοτε δ' ἄλλως αὐταῖς ἀγγελικῆς ὄψεως παραφαινομένης, αὐτῆς δὲ ἐφ' ἑκάστῃ θέᾳ παρατυγχανούσης· οὕτω γοῦν τῶν παρὰ τοῖς τέσσαρσιν εὐαγγελισταῖς ἀναγεγραμμένων θεωρὸς ἐγίγνετο ἡ Μαγδαληνή· διὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐμνημονεύθη· οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ μὲν καιρὸς ὁ αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰωάννου καὶ τοῦ Ματθαίου παριστάμενος· τοῦ δ' αὐτοῦ καιροῦ διάφορα διαστήματα παρ' ἑκάστῳ τετηρημένα.

δʹ. Μὴ ταραττέτω δέ σε τὸ λέγεσθαι παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ μετὰ τὸ ἐλθεῖν τὰς δύο Μαρίας θεωρῆσαι τὸν 22.945 τάφον, «ὁ ἄγγελος γὰρ Κυρίου καταβὰς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἀπεκύλισεν τὸν λίθον ἐκ τῆς θύρας.» Οὐ γὰρ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ὥραν προσήκει νοεῖν τὸν ἄγγελον ἀποκεκυλικέναι τὸν λίθον· πῶς γάρ; ὁπότε προϋπῆρχεν παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ, παρ' ᾧ οὐχ ἡ Μαρία μόνη, ἀλλὰ καὶ δύο μαθηταὶ ἐληλύθασιν εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον· διόπερ εἴποις ἂν τὸν παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ λόγον διηγηματικὸν εἶναι τῶν πρὸ τούτου γεγενημένων· ἦλθον μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τοῦτον αἱ δύο Μαρίαι θεωρῆσαι τὸν τάφον, εὗρον δὲ αὐτὸν ἀνεῳγμένον, ἐπειδήπερ πρὸ τούτου σεισμὸς ἐγεγόνει μέγας, καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος ἀποκεκυλίκει τὸν λίθον, ὃς ἐπιστὰς, αὖθις εὐαγγελίζεται τὰς γυναῖκας. Αὕτη μὲν οὖν μία λύσις ἂν γένοιτο τῶν κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἀπορουμένων.

εʹ. Λυθείη δ' ἂν καὶ ἄλλως τὰ προκείμενα, εἰ ἑτέρας μὲν τὰς παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ Μαρίας ὑπολάβοις εἶναι, ἑτέραν δὲ τὴν παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ· τέσσαρας γοῦν τὰς πάσας Μαρίας παρούσας τῷ πάθει τοῦ Σωτῆρος μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων γυναικῶν εὑρίσκομεν· πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τὴν Θεοτόκον τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Σωτῆρος μητέρα· δευτέραν δὲ τὴν ταύτης ἀδελφὴν Μαρίαν, τὴν τοῦ Κλωπᾶ· εἶτα τρίτην Μαρίαν τὴν Μαγδαληνήν· καὶ τετάρτην τὴν Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωσὴφ μητέρα· καὶ τῶν μὲν πρώτων τριῶν Μαριῶν ἐμνημόνευσεν Ἰωάννης λέγων οὕτως· «Εἱστήκεισαν δὲ παρὰ τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Κλωπᾶ, καὶ Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνή.» Τῆς δὲ τετάρτης Μαρίας τῆς μητρὸς Ἰακώβου καὶ