Why is the most solemn day in the Christian calendar called Good Friday? In Sweden and Denmark it’s “long Friday”; in Germany it’s Charfreitag or Sorrowful Friday. That all chimes with what we commemorate at 3pm today – Good Friday does not. I have been unable to find any convincing explanation of this online, so I thought I’d call on the collective wisdom of Coffee Housers. Any answers?
PS – Can we be as precise as to say 3pm, the Jewish “ninth hour”? Four years ago, a pair of astronomers claimed to have scientifically verified this. Their computer programme looking at star activity between 26AD and 35AD found the first full moon after the vernal equinox was registered on Friday 7 April AD 30 and Friday 3 April at 3pm on 33AD. The solar eclipse, described in the Bible, was only visible in Jerusalem on the latter date.
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