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they say after the sixth, and the "between the two evenings," if you should begin from the seventh, the middle of the ninth is completed, at which hour the wise men of the Hebrews also record that the lamb is sacrificed. At this hour, therefore, of the slaughter of the lamb on the day of Preparation, the Savior, giving up the spirit, both showed the substitution for the riddle and clearly made the recapitulation through the harmony of the times 44. And so great was the necessity of the substitution, that although it was the feast of the Passover, the Jews were not able to postpone the abomination in honor of the feast, which indeed others would have done, but having once rushed willingly to the murder, they had their punishment coinciding with their impulse, as they did not know, for the most manifest unveiling of the substitution. 45 And the reason for the full moon at the time of the passion is also preserved for you, that, since the sun was about to be darkened from the sixth hour until the ninth on account of such an abomination committed against the Savior, and to turn away its own rays as if they were eyes, that it might not see the abomination, the full moon was ordained <for> the passion, so that it would not be thought by the Greeks to be a solar eclipse by the moon's passing under, but, with it standing at so great a distance from the sun, it must necessarily be confessed <for> the one who suffered that the darkness 'from the sixth hour' occurred, according to the history of the gospels, happening at the passion of the Savior. And prophetically anticipating from above he cried out; for Amos says: "And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, the sun shall set at noon and the light shall grow dark in the daytime"; and since this day was about to be divided between light and darkness, Zechariah, another prophet, again says: "And it shall be in that day that there shall not be light, and that day shall be known to the Lord; and it is not day and not night; toward evening there shall be light", and he makes the whole of it ambiguous 46 by the partial succession of darkness and light. And since the prophet cried out that the sun will be darkened at noon and sometimes some were about to disbelieve whether this truly happened in the case of the Savior or not, there is now a great proof seen before your eyes, so that by seeing the restoration from the proof you might be freed from the question. What then follows today? So that the master's voice might be shown, threatening the Jews, Amos says, putting forth the passion of the Savior, the beloved of God, and setting against it their lawlessness: "The sun shall set at noon and the light shall grow dark in the daytime, and I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will bring up sackcloth upon every loin and baldness upon every head, and I will make them as a mourning for a beloved one and those with them as a day of grief." For of the sun's setting at noon he has set as signs the turning of the feasts into mourning and of the songs into lamentation, and all these things God said he would do on account of his beloved; for such a mourning, he says, there will be, and such a necessity of punishment, as will be analogous to 47 the worth of the beloved who was outraged. See then: if, since the Savior has suffered, the sufferings do not follow, if their feasts have not been turned into mourning, if their songs have not been turned into lamentation, the sun did not set at noon. But if you perceive the great wonder, that Christ was crucified at the feast of the Passover, and the punishment on account of this changed the feasts into mourning, with the Romans having attacked, and all the Jews having fled together as into a common trap, into Jerusalem, and during the feasts themselves, as the history says, being consumed by sword and fire and famine and endless wailings, so that with they themselves being arrayed under so many evils, the change both of the feasts into mourning and of the songs into lamentation expressly came to pass, it is clear that, with these things having turned out before our eyes, the sun did set at noon; for this is what the things that have been said signify. For a period of two years, then, the war consumed the Jews in mourning, and until this day the mourning of Judea has been prolonged. For where is the temple? Where is the priesthood? Where is the kingdom? Where is the headquarters? Where is the city of the law?

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φασὶ μετὰ τὴν ἕκτην, τὸ δὲ "ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ἑσπερινῶν", εἰ ἀπὸ ἑβδόμης ἄρξαιο, τὸ κέντρον τῆς ἐννάτης τετελεσμένον ἐστίν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ οἱ σοφοὶ τῶν Ἑβραίων ἱστοροῦσι τὸ πρόβατον θύεσθαι. Ἐν ταύτῃ οὖν τῇ ὥρᾳ τῆς σφαγῆς τοῦ προβάτου κατὰ τὴν παρασκευὴν ὁ σωτὴρ ἀποδοὺς τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὴν ἀντεισαγωγὴν τοῦ αἰνίγματος ἐπεδείξατο καὶ τὴν ἀνακεφαλαίωσιν διὰ τῆς τῶν χρόνων 44 ἁρμονίας σαφῶς ἐποιήσατο. Καὶ τοσαύτη ἦν ἡ ἀνάγκη τῆς ἀντεισαγωγῆς, ὥστε ἑορτῆς οὔσης τοῦ πάσχα οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν Ἰουδαῖοι εἰς τιμὴν τῆς ἑορτῆς μεταθεῖναι τὸ ἄγος, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἄλλοι ἂν ἐποίησαν, ἀλλ' ἅπαξ πρὸς τὸν φόνον ἑκουσίως ὁρμήσαντες ἔσχον τὴν δίκην συγχρωμένην τῇ ὁρμῇ, ὡς οὐκ ᾔδεσαν, πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀντεισαγωγῆς φανοτάτην ἐκκάλυψιν. 45 Τηρεῖται δέ σοι καὶ τῆς πλησιφαοῦς σελήνης ἡ κατὰ τὸ πάθος αἰτία, ὅτι, ἐπείπερ ἤμελλεν ὁ ἥλιος τοῦ τοιούτου γινομένου κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἄγους σκοτίζεσθαι ἀπὸ ἕκτης ὥρας ἕως ἐννάτης καὶ τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ἀκτῖνας καθάπερ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀναστρέφειν, ἵνα μὴ ἴδῃ τὸ ἄγος, ἡ πλησιφαῆς <πρὸς> τὸ πάθος ὡρίσθη, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἔκλειψις ἡλίου καθ' ὑποδρομὴν σελήνης τοῖς Ἕλλησι νομισθῇ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον διεστη κυίας αὐτῆς τοῦ ἡλίου ἀνάγκη <ἐπὶ> τοῦ παθόντος ὁμολογη θῆναι συμβῆναι τὸ σκότος τὸ "ἀπὸ τῆς ἕκτης ὥρας" κατὰ τὴν τῶν εὐαγγελίων ἱστορίαν ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ σωτῆρος πάθει γινόμενον. Καὶ προφητικῶς ἄνωθεν προλαβὼν ἐβόα· φησὶ γοῦν Ἀμώς· "Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, λέγει κύριος, δύσεται ὁ ἥλιος μεσημβρίας καὶ συσκοτάσει ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τὸ φῶς"· καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἤμελλεν ἡ ἡμέρα αὕτη μερίζεσθαι φωτὶ καὶ σκότει, Ζαχαρίας αὖθις ἄλλος προφήτης φησίν· "Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ οὐκ ἔσται φῶς, καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη γνωστὴ τῷ κυρίῳ· καὶ οὐχ ἡμέρα καὶ οὐ νύξ· τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἔσται φῶς", καὶ ὅλην αὐτὴν ἀμφίβολον ποιεῖ 46 τῇ παρὰ μέρος διαδοχῇ τοῦ σκότους καὶ τοῦ φωτός. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ὁ προφήτης ἐβόα ὅτι σκοτισθήσεται ὁ ἥλιος μεσημ βρίας καὶ ἐνίοτέ τινες ἤμελλον ἀπιστεῖν εἰ ἀληθῶς γέγονε τοῦτο ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἢ οὐ, ἔστιν ὑπὸ τοῖς σοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἄρτι ὁρώμενον μέγα τεκμήριον, ἵνα ἐκ τοῦ τεκμηρίου τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν βλέπων ζητήματος ἀπαλλάττοιο. Τί οὖν παρακολουθεῖ σήμερον; Ἵνα δειχθῇ ἡ δεσποτικὴ φωνὴ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους ἀπειλῶν, φησὶν ὁ Ἀμὼς τὸ πάθος τοῦ σωτῆρος τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ προβαλλόμενος καὶ τὴν αὐτῶν παρανομίαν ἀντιτιθείς· "∆ύσεται ὁ ἥλιος μεσημβρίας καὶ συσκοτάσει ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τὸ φῶς, καὶ μεταστρέψω τὰς ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν εἰς πένθος καὶ πάσας τὰς ᾠδὰς ὑμῶν εἰς θρῆνον, καὶ ἀναβιβάσω ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ὀσφὺν σάκκον καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν κεφαλὴν φαλάκρωμα, καὶ θήσομαι αὐτοὺς ὡς πένθος ἀγαπητοῦ καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτῶν ὡς ἡμέραν ὀδύνης". Τοῦ γὰρ δῦναι τὸν ἥλιον μεσημβρίας σημεῖα τέθεικε μεταστροφὴν τῶν ἑορτῶν εἰς πένθος καὶ τῶν ᾠδῶν εἰς θρῆνον, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα διὰ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγαπητὸν ἔφη ὁ θεὸς ποιήσειν· τοιοῦτον γὰρ πένθος, φησίν, ἔσται καὶ τοιαύτη ἀνάγκη δίκης, οἷα ἀναλογήσει πρὸς 47 τὴν τοῦ ὑβρισθέντος ἀγαπητοῦ ἀξίαν. Ὅρα τοίνυν· εἰ μή, ἐξ οὗ πέπονθεν ὁ σωτήρ, παρακολουθεῖ τὰ πάθη, εἰ μὴ μετε στράφησαν εἰς πένθος αἱ ἑορταὶ αὐτῶν, εἰ μὴ αἱ ᾠδαὶ αὐτῶν εἰς θρῆνον, οὐκ ἔδυ ὁ ἥλιος μεσημβρίας· εἰ δὲ συνορᾷς τὸ μέγα θαῦμα, ὅτι ἐν ἑορτῇ μὲν τοῦ πάσχα ἐσταυρώθη ὁ Χριστός, ἡ δὲ δίκη τούτου χάριν μετέβαλεν εἰς πένθος τὰς ἑορτάς, Ῥωμαίων μὲν ἐπελθόντων, τῶν δὲ Ἰουδαίων συμφυγόντων ἁπάντων ὥσπερ εἰς κοινὴν παγίδα τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἑορταῖς, ὡς ἡ ἱστορία φησίν, ξίφει καὶ πυρὶ καὶ λιμῷ καὶ οἰμωγαῖς ἀνηνύτοις δαπανηθέντων, ὡς ὑπὸ τοσούτων κακῶν ἐστοιχισμένων αὐτῶν ῥητῶς ἀποβῆναι τὴν μεταβολὴν καὶ τῶν ἑορτῶν εἰς πένθος καὶ τῶν ᾠδῶν εἰς θρῆνον, δῆλον ὅτι, τούτων ἐκβεβηκότων ἐπ' ὄψεσιν, ἔδυ ὁ ἥλιος μεσημβρίας· τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὰ εἰρημένα. ∆ιετῆ γοῦν χρόνον ὁ πόλεμος καὶ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐπὶ πένθει ἀνάλωσε καὶ ἄχρι τῆς σήμερον τῆς Ἰουδαίας τὸ πένθος παρέτεινεν. Ποῦ γὰρ ὁ ναός; ποῦ ἡ ἱερωσύνη; ποῦ ἡ βασι λεία; ποῦ τὸ ὁρμητήριον; ποῦ ἡ τοῦ νόμου πόλις;