Ὲκλείπω – ekleipō, “to cease; to fail; to run out” 

With this Greek word, the Evangelist St. Luke tells us that, during the Crucifixion, the sun was blotted out and its rays no longer basked the earth in their usual warmth and light. In his words, “It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun” (Lk 24:45, NAB). With the help of Mr. Richard Olds, one of our resident Greek teachers, I recently did a little digging to determine if the word here translated “eclipse” is really the Greek word that gives us the word we use today to describe the celestial phenomenon in which the moon passes in front of the sun and blocks its light from reaching Earth’s surface. We discovered that the root word used by St. Luke, ekleipō, is indeed the one that gives us our word “eclipse.”

But here is the thing that is odd and prompted this search: A solar eclipse, as described above, only occurs during a new moon. However, we know that the Crucifixion occurred during a full moon.

In order to make sense of this claim, we need a few more data points.

First data point: The Jewish calendar was a luni-solar calendar. This means that it consisted of months that each lasted 29 or 30 days and were based on the cycle of lunar phases, which has a period of approximately 29.5 days. Each year then varied between 12 or 13 months (This 13th month was added 7 times within a 19-year cycle in order to keep the year aligned with the seasons as much as possible). The beginning of each month was signaled by a “new moon,” which meant a full moon occurred halfway through the month (This “new moon” was slightly different than what we call a new moon today. Our new moon occurs when none of the moon is illuminated; their “new moon” occurred when the first, tiniest, illuminated sliver of the moon is visible at dusk the day after it was completely dark. The new month began when that sliver of the moon was seen. Thus, do you agree, perhaps, that the quotations should really go around our new moon and not theirs?).

Second data point: At the first Passover, God instructed Moses and Aaron that each household is to procure an unblemished lamb and “keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight” (Ex 12:6). Later that same evening, the Jewish families were to hold a special meal (the Seder meal), in which they ate the Passover lamb along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The Passover sacrifice and meal were celebrated every year during this first month (the month of Nisan) beginning in the afternoon of the 14th day. Due to the 29.5 day period of the moon’s phases, this means that the Passover occurred when the moon was full.

Third data point: Although the exact chronology of Holy Week and Christ’s Passion can be difficult to discern and harmonize from the four Gospel accounts, it is clear that Christ’s Passion occurs at the time of the Feast of Passover. Thus, Christ’s crucifixion occurred when the moon was full.  

To drive the point home further, when the moon is fully illuminated, it is in opposition to the sun; this means that it is approximately 180° from the sun in our sky. A full moon will rise as the sun sets, be up all night, and set as the sun rises (If you are thinking, “Wait, isn’t the moon always up at night?” I implore you to go out every evening and morning for a month to look for the moon! When my college students have to complete this assignment, it is eye opening for them!).

When the moon is full, lunar eclipses (the moon going through Earth’s shadow) sometimes occur, but never solar (the moon covering the sun). That is, never, except for once: when the Son of God gave His life for the life of the world. It was a 13th century astronomer-monk who first brought this to my attention. As he ends his work De Sphaera Mundi, which became a widespread introductory astronomy text for the following four centuries, Johannes Sacrobosco closes as follows: 

From the aforesaid it is also evident that, when the sun was eclipsed during the Passion and the same Passion occurred at full moon, that eclipse was not natural – nay, it was miraculous and contrary to nature, since a solar eclipse ought to occur at new moon or thereabouts. On which account Dionysius the Areopagite is reported to have said during the same Passion, "Either the God of nature suffers, or the mechanism of the universe is dissolved.”

The heavens do indeed proclaim the glory of God. (Ps 19:1)  May we, too, with the sun and the moon, bow down and worship our Crucified and Risen Lord. Christos anesti!