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Questions & Answers

Crucifixion Date

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Our Lord and the Faith › Crucifixion Date

The question

Why in the Synaxarium of Paremhotep 27 it says we celebrate the day in which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified?

The answer

On this day we do not celebrate but we commemorate the Crucifixion of our Lord. We believe that on the year our Lord was crucified, the actual crucifixion took place on the 27th of Paremhotep of that year and His Resurrection was on the 29th of that same month. We have to differentiate between commemoration of the Crucifixion and Resurrection on this date and the day we celebrate the Holy Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord which changes every year. Since our Lord was crucified on a Friday and resurrected on a Sunday the early Church chose to keep Sunday as the day of the Lord and celebrate the Holy Feast of the Resurrection on a Sunday rather than keeping the dates of 27th and the 29th of Paremhotep fixed which would mean celebrating the Resurrection of any day of the week.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 751 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.