The dating of the Last Supper: modern views. Part 1 Calendar hypothesis dating of the Last Supper
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32420/2021.94.2248Keywords:
Annie Jaubert, Book of Jubilees, Last Supper, Essenes calendar, harmony of the gospelsAbstract
The article analyzes various approaches to solving the problem related to the nature and dating of the so-called Last Supper, which Jesus Christ spent with his disciples before his death. Synoptic gospels narrative clearly indicate that this event took place on Thursday night and it was a Passover Seder. The narrative of John's gospel shows that the Jewish Passover meal has to be on Friday night. Theologians have been reconciling these two narratives for a long time.
The first section of the article is devoted to one of the most fashionable trends - the calendar solution of the problem of dating the Last Supper of Jesus. The article highlights the features and stages of the formation of the Jewish calendar. The article also analyzes a hypothesis developed in detail by Annie Jaubert, which is based on the idea of the existence during the period of the Second Temple of various calendar systems in Judaism and opposing groups that understood differently the peculiarities of celebrating religious holidays.
Annie Jaubert developed the theory of two calendars based on the pseudo-epigraph – the Book of Jubilees and Qumran manuscripts, using information from patristic literature. In her opinion, Christ has the Passover Jewish meal with the 12 apostles not on Thursday, but on Tuesday, because He did not use the official temple lunisolar calendar, but the solar calendar of the Essene’s, described in the Book of Jubilees and celebrated the Passover before the priests and the Saducees.
Some confirmation of this hypothesis can be found in the works of Epiphanius of Cyprus and Victorinus of Pettau. The article also provides the main arguments of the critics of this hypothesis. In particular, following this concept we have to reject the narratives of the synoptic gospels, considering them late corrections, and it is also unclear how the temple priesthood could allow the slaughter of lambs for the Essenes a few days ahead of schedule. Also, there is no documentary evidence of such cases in the history of Judaism. Thus, the calendar theory has both a number of serious confirmations and many weak arguments.
The next issue of this Journal will present the so-called “rabbinic solution” dating of the Last Supper and its detailed review (Part 2). Astronomical and other concepts of this problem (Part 3) will be considered in the issue after next.
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