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the first of the Kalends of April, 1st of the first-created month of Nisan among the Hebrews and Christians, concerning which it is said: «In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth», and again: «this is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, in the day that God made them», concerning which also the forefather of God David, preluding the salvation of the world, sang: «This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.» Concerning this, all the labor of this writing has been undertaken by us, to show the same and one first-created day corresponding to the day of the divine Annunciation and of the supernatural conception of the only-begotten Son of God from the holy virgin, and to the more godlike and all-luminous day of the life-giving resurrection from the dead for those worthy to celebrate it in spirit and in truth. This has been rightly named the first Passover for orthodox Christians, not in old leaven and flight from the physical Pharaoh in Egypt and his 390 bitter taskmasters, but in the overcoming of the spiritual Egypt, of evil and ignorance and of its ruler the devil, for those who, beyond the types and the shadow of the law, feast in word and deed on the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us) and by His grace and redemption are hastening to the Jerusalem above through the voluntary cross of the passions here and burial and resurrection, that is, of humility unto death, even death on a cross, through which the creator of all power and rule and authority, by the good pleasure of the unbegotten Father and the cooperation of the holy and consubstantial Spirit, having trampled the sluggish and proud tyrant in the oppressed, humble nature of men, raised it up from his malice, granting remission not only to the spirits of Adam's line imprisoned in Hades, but also to those living in the flesh and believing in him, as can be learned from the holy gospels. For He who is the cause of all peace and love for God spoke «Rejoice» with his first utterance to the women, through whom all sorrow had entered the race, and to the holy disciples «peace be with you», having ordered not only rational natures, but also heaven and earth and the elements and all creation to exist in relational interdependence. And the same God and our Lord for 40 whole days did not cease appearing to his disciples and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of heaven, when also he was taken up into heaven in their sight on the holy Mount of Olives on the very fortieth day after the holy resurrection, it being the 5th day of the week, and the third of the month of May according to the Romans. It is, therefore, to speak in summary, the 5534th year of the world, and this year begins on a Sunday, the first Lord's Passover on the 25th of the month of March according to the Romans, and according to the Egyptians on the 29th of Phamenoth, and according to the divinely-inspired old and new scriptures, on Nisan 1st, being the first-created day of the first-created month, on which the new creation in Christ, having begun, transferred from death to life all those who rightly believe in him. 391 Of Africanus, concerning the events of the saving passion and the life-giving resurrection But the details of his deeds and healings of bodies and souls, and of the secrets of knowledge, and of the resurrection from the dead, have been most sufficiently made known by his disciples and apostles before us. a most fearful darkness was brought over the whole world, and by an earthquake the rocks were rent, and many parts of Judea and of the rest of the land were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third of his histories, calls an eclipse of the sun, unreasonably, as it seems to me. For the Hebrews celebrate the Passover on the 14th day of the moon, and the events concerning the Savior happen on the day before the Passover. but an eclipse of the sun occurs when the moon passes under the sun; and it is impossible for it to happen at any other time than in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, at the time of their conjunction. how then could an eclipse be supposed

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καλανδῶν Ἀπριλλίων, αʹ τοῦ πρωτοκτίστου μηνὸς Νισὰν παρ' Ἑβραίοις καὶ Χριστιανοῖς, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται· «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν», καὶ πάλιν· «αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίη σεν ὁ θεός», περὶ ἧς καὶ ὁ θεοπάτωρ ∆αβὶδ τὴν κοσμικὴν προανακρουό μενος σωτηρίαν μεμελῴδηκεν· «αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα ἣν ἐποίησεν ὁ κύριος, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καὶ εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ.» Περὶ ταύτης καὶ ἡμῖν ὁ πᾶς τοῦδε τοῦ γράμματος πόνος καταβέβληται, δεῖξαι τὴν αὐτὴν καὶ μίαν πρωτόκτιστον ἡμέραν σύστοιχον τῇ τοῦ θείου εὐαγγελισμοῦ καὶ τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς ἐξ ἁγίας παρθένου συλλήψεως τοῦ μονο γενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ τῇ τῆς ζωοποιοῦ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως θεοειδεστέρᾳ καὶ ὁλοφώτῳ τοῖς ἀξίοις ἑορτάζειν αὐτὴν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ. Αὕτη Χριστιανοῖς ὀρθοδόξοις πρῶτον πάσχα καλῶς ἐχρημάτισεν, οὐκ ἐν ζύμῃ παλαιᾷ καὶ φυγῇ τοῦ κατ' Αἴγυπτον αἰσθητοῦ Φαραῶ καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ 390 πικρῶν ἐργοδιωκτῶν, ἀλλ' ἐν καταλήψει τῆς νοητῆς Αἰγύπτου, τῆς κακίας καὶ ἀγνοίας καὶ τοῦ ταύτης ἀρχηγοῦ διαβόλου, ὑπὲρ τοὺς τύπους καὶ τὴν νομικὴν σκιὰν αὐτῷ τῷ ἀληθινῷ ἀμνῷ τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ αἴροντι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου κατατρυφῶσιν ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ (τὸ γὰρ πάσχα ἡμῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστός) καὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι καὶ ἀπολυτρώσει πρὸς τὴν ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπειγομένοις διὰ σταυροῦ τῶν τῇδε παθῶν ἑκουσίου καὶ τα φῆς καὶ ἀναστάσεως, ἤτοι ταπεινώσεως μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυ ροῦ, δι' ἧς ὁ πάσης δυνάμεως καὶ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας δημιουργός, εὐδο κίᾳ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου πατρὸς καὶ συνεργείᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ ὁμοουσίου πνεύ ματος, πατήσας τὸν ἀδρανῆ καὶ ὑπερήφανον τύραννον ἐν τῇ τυραννουμένῃ ταπεινῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ βασκανίαν τὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐξανέστησεν, οὐ μόνον τοῖς ἐξ Ἀδὰμ ἐν Ἅιδῃ φρουρουμένοις πνεύμασι χαρισάμενος ἄφεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐν σαρκὶ ζῶσι καὶ πιστεύσασιν αὐτῷ, ὡς ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν εὐαγγελίων ἐστὶ καταμαθεῖν. «Χαίρετε» γὰρ ταῖς γυναιξὶ πρώτῃ φωνῇ, δι' ὧν ἅπασα λύπη τῷ γένει εἰσέφρησεν, προσεφθέγξατο καὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖς μαθηταῖς «εἰρήνη ὑμῖν» ὁ πά σης εἰρήνης καὶ φιλοθέου στοργῆς αἴτιος, οὐ μόνον ταῖς λογικαῖς φύσεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ καὶ στοιχείοις καὶ πάσῃ κτίσει συντάξας τὸ εἶναι τῇ σχετικῇ ἀλληλουχίᾳ. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς θεὸς καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν ἐπὶ μʹ τὰς ὅλας ἡμέρας ὀπτανόμενος καὶ λέγων τὰ περὶ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν οὐ διέλειψε τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς, ἡνίκα καὶ ἐπ' ὄψεσιν αὐτῶν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνελήφθη ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ ὄρει τῶν ἐλαιῶν τῇ αὐτῇ τεσσαρακοστῇ μετὰ τὴν ἁγίαν ἀνάστασιν ἡμέρᾳ, εʹ μὲν οὔσῃ τῆς ἑβδομάδος, τρίτῃ δὲ τοῦ κατὰ Ῥωμαίους Μαΐου μηνός. Ἔστιν οὖν, ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ εἰπεῖν, εφλδʹ ἔτος τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τοῦτο πρῶτον ἄγον ἡμέραν ἔτος κυριακήν, τὸ πρῶτον κυριακὸν πάσχα Μαρτίου μηνὸς κεʹ κατὰ Ῥωμαίους, κατὰ δὲ Αἰγυπτίους Φαμενὼθ κθʹ, κατὰ δὲ τὰς θεοπνεύστους παλαιὰς καὶ νέας γραφὰς Νισὰν αʹ πρωτόκτιστος ἡμέρα τοῦ πρωτοκτίστου μηνὸς ὑπάρχουσα, καθ' ἣν ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ καινὴ κτίσις ἀρξαμένη πάντας εἰς ζωὴν ἐκ θανάτου μετήγαγε τοὺς ὀρθῶς εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύοντας. 391 Ἀφρικανοῦ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸ σωτήριον πάθος καὶ τὴν ζωοποιὸν ἀνάστασιν Τὸ δὲ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν πράξεων αὐτοῦ καὶ θεραπειῶν σωμάτων καὶ ψυχῶν καὶ τῶν τῆς γνώσεως ἀποκρύφων, ἀναστάσεώς τε τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν αὐταρκέστατα τοῖς πρὸ ἡμῶν μαθηταῖς τε καὶ ἀποστόλοις αὐτοῦ δεδήλω ται. καθ' ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου σκότος ἐπήγετο φοβερώτατον, σεισμῷ τε αἱ πέτραι διερρήγνυντο καὶ τὰ πολλὰ Ἰουδαίας τε καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς γῆς κατερ ρίφη. Τοῦτο τὸ σκότος ἔκλειψιν τοῦ ἡλίου Θάλλος ἀποκαλεῖ ἐν τρίτῃ τῶν ἱστο ριῶν, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ἀλόγως. Ἑβραῖοι γὰρ ἄγουσι τὸ πάσχα κατὰ σελήνην ιδʹ, πρὸ δὲ μιᾶς τοῦ πάσχα τὰ περὶ τὸν σωτῆρα συμβαίνει. ἔκλειψις δὲ ἡλίου σελήνης ὑπελθούσης τὸν ἥλιον γίνεται· ἀδύνατον δὲ ἐν ἄλλῳ χρόνῳ πλὴν ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ μιᾶς καὶ τῆς πρὸ αὐτῆς κατὰ τὴν σύνοδον αὐτὴν ἀπο βῆναι. πῶς οὖν ἔκλειψις νομισθείη