Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

Post by Secret Alias »

I am putting the finishing touches on a second book which no one will read. I have created a table as an Appendix (one of many) where I am having difficulty reconciling something. Epiphanius in his chapter on the Alogi has a section where he attempts - I think - to establish the correct chronology for the gospels from John. He begins by acknowledging that Jesus began his ministry on Yom Kippur:
“From this day, the twelfth of Athyr, he “preached the acceptable year of the Lord” as had been foretold in the prophet Isaiah … For he indeed preached an acceptable year of the Lord, that is, a year without opposition. He preached for the first year after < the > thirtieth year of his incarnation … In this year he went up to Jerusalem, after being baptized and passing the forty days of the temptation, and the twenty days prior to the first miracle, which I have spoken of, and the choosing of his disciples. It is plain that, after returning to the Jordan from the temptation, and crossing the Sea of Tiberias and going to Nazareth, he went up to Jerusalem and, midway through the feast, cried out, “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.” And then he went to Nazareth, Judaea, Samaria and Tyre (John 7:38) [Epiphanius Panarion 31]
I read this as saying that from Luke chapter 3 to John chapter 7 is 365 days. But when I turn to Irenaeus's chronology in Against Heresies Book 2 there it is TWO YEARS from Luke 3 to John 7. He starts with the heretics talking about a year from Luke 3 and then writes:
after His baptism the Lord went up, at the time of the passover, to Jerusalem, in accordance with what was the practice of the Jews from every land, and every year, that they should assemble at this period in Jerusalem, and there celebrate the feast of the passover. First of all, after He had made the water wine at Cana of Galilee, He went up to the festival day of the passover, on which occasion it is written, "For many believed in Him, when they saw the signs which He did," as John the disciple of the Lord records. Then, again, withdrawing Himself [from Judaea], He is found in Samaria; on which occasion, too, He convened with the Samaritan woman, and while at a distance, cured the son of the centurion by a word, saying, "Go thy way, thy son liveth." Afterwards He went up, the second time, to observe the festival day of the passover in Jerusalem; on which occasion He cured the paralytic man, who had lain beside the pool thirty-eight years, bidding him rise, take up his couch, and depart. Again, withdrawing from thence to the other side of the sea of Tiberias, He there seeing a great crowd had followed Him, fed all that multitude with five loaves of bread, and twelve baskets of fragments remained over and above. Then, when He had raised Lazarus from the dead, and plots were formed against Him by the Pharisees, He withdrew to a city called Ephraim; and from that place, as it is written "He came to Bethany six days before the passover,"(4) and going up from Bethany to Jerusalem, He there ate the passover, and suffered on the day following. Now, that these three occasions of the passover are not included within one year, every person whatever must acknowledge.
When we return to Epiphanius he concludes his statement by saying:
And at the close of the first year he went up to Jerusalem again, and now they tried to arrest him during the feast and were afraid to; at this feast he said, "I go not up at this feast” (John 7)… It says, “He set out midway through the festival and went up to Jerusalem, and they said, Is not this he whom they sought to arrest?
Then he does a complete calculation from the gospels. Epiphanius writes:
And finally after this, at the close of the two year period which followed his baptism and his birthday, in November [for the former] and January [for the latter] — in the thirty-third year of his incarnation, after living through the two consulships I have mentioned, those of the two Gemini and of Rufus and Rubellio, the impassible divine Word accomplished the mystery of his passion in the third consulship, in its third month, in March after January.
My question is - it doesn't seem that Epiphanius is actually counting the marriage at Cana as a Passover in his calculation. This seems odd in a work denying the Alogi who themselves don't count the marriage at Cana as an authentic story. Does that mean that Epiphanius is citing all along from an Alogi text to deny the Alogi? Something doesn't seem right here. Please help.
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

Post by Ben C. Smith »

It is confusing, and I cannot claim to have a handle on it all; also, it has been ages since I really looked into the so-called Alogi or Gaius of Rome on this level.

I think, however, that the Passover in John 2 after the miracle at Cana may not be the issue, or at least not the main issue. There are 3 or 4 Passovers mentioned in John:

John 2.13: 13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [After Cana; this is the episode of the cleansing of the temple.]

John 5.1: 1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [Not called a Passover, but a lot of people think/thought it is.]

John 6.4: 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. [The feeding of the 5000; it is not said that Jesus went up to Jerusalem for this Passover.]

John 13.1: 1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. [This is the Passover during which he was executed.]

Irenaeus is clear in Against Heresies 2.22.3 about accepting John 2.13, John 5.1, and John 13.1 as Passovers. He kind of glides over John 6.4, but that is probably because his avowed purpose in this section is "to ascertain how often after his baptism the Lord went up, at the time of the Passover, to Jerusalem." Jesus did not go up during the Passover of John 6.4; therefore, the feeding of the 5000 is mentioned but not counted.

Epiphanius, on the other hand, is clear in Panarion 51.21.28 about not accepting John 5.1 as a Passover, writing, "'After this there was a feast of the Jews' — I presume he is speaking of another feast of the Jews, Pentecost or Tabernacles — 'and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.'" This is the miracle which Epiphanius interprets as marking the end of "the acceptable year."

Epiphanius is not simply counting Passovers like Irenaeus does; rather, he is actually determining which month certain things happened in. It appears to me that he accepts the miracle at Cana as having preceded a Passover feast, but he definitely thinks that John 5.1 is from some other feast, and he seems to accept the Passover which is approaching at the feeding of the 5000, since he has Jesus baptized at age 29, but nearly 30 full years old (for so he interprets Luke's wording, "Jesus began to be 30 years old" at the baptism), in November, then working the Cana miracle precisely on his birthday in January (about 20 days after the temptation, which lasted 40), then attending a Passover in Jerusalem in April or March. This is the first Passover mentioned in John. Epiphanius does not need to deal with the second possible Passover, in John 5.1, so we next consider that he probably accepted the Passover in John 6.4 as the second Passover of Jesus' career. Finally, there is the third Passover, mentioned in John 13.1, during which Jesus died. The length of time between a first Passover and a third Passover is two years (plus a day to account for the Passover itself), agreeing with Epiphanius' calculations (A) that Jesus was baptized at age 29, but nearly 30, thus apparently experiencing that first Passover, after Cana, at age 30, and (B) that Jesus died at age 32 (or, as Epiphanius puts it, during his 33rd year). Thus:
  1. Passover 1 (after Cana): age 30.
  2. Passover 2 (before the feeding of the 5000): age 31.
  3. Passover 3 (the passion of Christ): age 32 (= during his 33rd year).
If that makes sense....
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

Post by Ben C. Smith »

A likely (to me) synthesis of how Epiphanius is interpreting the chronology of John:

MonthEventEpiphanius, Panarion
NovemberBaptism of Jesus (Beginning of Acceptable Year)51.24.4-7
December
JanuaryBirthday of Jesus (He Turns 30); Wedding in Cana51.29.7
February
MarchPassover in John 2.13
April
May
June
July
August
September
OctoberFeast of Tabernacles?? (End of Acceptable Year??)51.21.28
November
December
JanuaryBirthday of Jesus (He Turns 31)
February
MarchPassover in John 6.4 (the Feeding of the 5000)
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
JanuaryBirthday of Jesus (He Turns 32)
February
MarchPassover in John 13.1 (the Passion)51.25.7-8

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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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Very useful. You should get a credit for straightening out the Appendix. Not that you'd want it. But this is much better and clearer than what I worked out. Humbled.
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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No problem. I used to be obsessed with the separate chronologies of the synoptics and John, and so of course Gaius of Rome and the Alogi came up in all of that. (And yes, no need for a credit. Thanks.)
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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But what do you make of this in bold:
In this year he went up to Jerusalem, after being baptized and passing the forty days of the temptation, and the twenty days prior to the first miracle, which I have spoken of, and the choosing of his disciples. It is plain that, after returning to the Jordan from the temptation, and crossing the Sea of Tiberias and going to Nazareth, he went up to Jerusalem and, midway through the feast, cried out, “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.” And then he went to Nazareth, Judaea, Samaria and Tyre” (John 7:38)
I feel a bit guilty of pulling a 'Columbo' with a follow up question but it's for the book. Doesn't that imply the first year ended in chapter 7.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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I guess what I am edging toward is whether this is another example of Epiphanius citing directly from a lost source without acknowledgement (like the Carpocratian information from Hegesippus). The material in this section confirms what the Alogi say - i.e. two Passovers.
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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What I am imagining is that Gaius or the Alogi wrote at a time where John only had two Passovers and no mention of Cana and they were criticizing a new canonical set where additional stories were added prompting the mention in chapter 21 to justify the 'update' from John - i.e. that he had lots of stories so the addition was natural.
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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Secret Alias wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 10:22 am But what do you make of this in bold:
In this year he went up to Jerusalem, after being baptized and passing the forty days of the temptation, and the twenty days prior to the first miracle, which I have spoken of, and the choosing of his disciples. It is plain that, after returning to the Jordan from the temptation, and crossing the Sea of Tiberias and going to Nazareth, he went up to Jerusalem and, midway through the feast, cried out, “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.” And then he went to Nazareth, Judaea, Samaria and Tyre” (John 7:38)
I feel a bit guilty of pulling a 'Columbo' with a follow up question but it's for the book. Doesn't that imply the first year ended in chapter 7.
Well, Epiphanius is pretty clear that the "acceptable year" ended in chapter 5:

Epiphanius, Panarion 51.21.28-29: 28 "After this there was a feast of the Jews" — I presume he is speaking of another feast of the Jews, Pentecost or Tabernacles — "and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" (John 5.3). This was when he came to the Sheep Pool on the Sabbath, and healed the paralytic who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 29 And after this, the acceptable year now being over, they began to persecute him, from the time when he healed the paralytic at the Sheep Pool on the Sabbath. John says in turn, "The Jews persecuted Jesus the more, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God" (John 5.38).

What he writes about chapter 7 is this:

Epiphanius, Panarion 51.25.1-8: 25,1 For he indeed preached an acceptable year of the Lord, that is, a year without opposition. He preached for the first year after <the> thirtieth year of his incarnation, and everyone accepted his preaching. Neither Jews nor gentiles nor Samaritans disputed it; all were glad to hear him. 2 In this year he went up to Jerusalem, after being baptized and passing the forty days of the temptation, and the twenty days prior to the first miracle, which I have spoken of, and the choosing of his disciples. 3 It is plain that, after returning to the Jordan from the temptation, and crossing the Sea of Tiberias and going to Nazareth, he went up to Jerusalem and, midway through the feast, cried out, "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink" (John 7.14, 37). And then he went to Nazareth, Judea, Samaria, and Tyre. 4 And at the close of the first year [literally, "having completed the first year," πληρωθέντος τοῦ πρώτου ἐνιαυτοῦ] he went up to Jerusalem again, and now they tried to arrest him during the feast and were afraid to; at this feast he said, "I go not up at this feast" (John 7.8). 5 He was not lying, never fear! It says, "He set out midway through the festival and went up to Jerusalem" (John 7.14), "and they said, 'Is not this he whom they sought to arrest? And lo, he speaketh boldly. Have the priests, then, learned that this is the Christ?'" (John 7.25-27). 6 For because he was speaking mysteriously with his brethren, and in supernatural terms, they did not know what he meant. He was telling them that he would not go up to heaven at that feast, or go to the cross then to accomplish the work of the passion and the mystery of redemption, and rise from the dead and ascend to heaven. All these things he accomplished at his own discretion. 7 And finally after this, at the close of the two year period which followed his baptism and his birthday, in November [for the former] and January [for the latter] — in the thirty-third year of his incarnation, after living through the two consulships I have mentioned, those of the two Gemini and of Rufus and Rubellio, 8 the impassible divine Word accomplished the mystery of his passion in the third consulship, in its third month, in March after January. He suffered in the flesh for us while retaining his impassibility, as Peter says, "being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3.17).

I have highlighted the problematic section. The underlined section afterward is not an issue; it says that Jesus went up for this feast in chapter 7 after the first year had been completed, and so it is in the text. The highlighted portion, however, is confusing, not least because it appears to date parts of that same feast to before the trip to Jerusalem ("again") in the underlined portion. I have no easy peasy explanation for this. The contradiction is both external (against the rest of Epiphanius' chronology) and internal (the highlighted portion versus the underlined portion). Perhaps the entire highlighted portion is supposed to be parenthetical, attempting to line up the Johannine sequence with the synoptic sequence (John never mentions Tyre; the synoptics do). At any rate, it seems very clear that overall the events of John 7 come after the end of the "acceptable year." Epiphanius is not always a very careful writer.
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Re: Epiphanius's Alogi Chapter and Irenaeus. Again Please Help!

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Secret Alias wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:13 am What I am imagining is that Gaius or the Alogi wrote at a time where John only had two Passovers and no mention of Cana and they were criticizing a new canonical set where additional stories were added prompting the mention in chapter 21 to justify the 'update' from John - i.e. that he had lots of stories so the addition was natural.
My issue with this idea would be that Cana actually fits quite well with the rest of Epiphanius' sequence; it is the feast in John 5.1 that does not (but it is not actually called a Passover, despite Irenaeus taking it as such), as well as that bit I highlighted above from chapter 7.
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