So far as the calendar is concerned, there are evidences of mixed usage. The predominance at difl'erent times of dillerent influences (Roman, Macedonian, Egyptian, older Jewish) brought into use dillerent names. The occurrence of Xanthicus in 2 Mac U""- ^ (the sixth month of the Macedonian calendar) shows clearly the existence of a Mace- donian element in the mixed usage. The name ' Dioscorinthius' (mentioned earlier in the same account, 2 Mac IP') is also probably Macedonian and a modified form of the first month. Dins. It may, however, be a textual corruption for ' Dystrus ' (the name of the fifth month), as H. A. Redpath, in Hastings' SDB, p. 937, suggests, supporting the suggestion with the Sinaitic text of To 2'=, where Dystrus is mentioned. Otherwise Dioscorinthius is the name of an intercalary month. That an intercalary month must have had a place in the Macedonian calendar is to be assumed, though its name and place are unknown. Of the Egyptian calendar traces are found in the names ' Pachon ' and ' Epiphi ' in 3 Mac 6"'.
7. The feasts.— A popular and practically useful method of reckoning time within the year is that which relates events to well-known religious festi- vals. This method is especially useful where for some reason or other the names of montlis have become involved in confusion. In the nature of tlie case, of such festivals in the New Testament the Passover (' the days of unleavened bread,' ij^^pat Twv di'i'/twi', Ac 12*' 20®, irdcrxa, Ac 12'') stands prominent. The D.ay of Pentecost (vixipa t>7s irecTijKoo-r^s, Ac 2' 20'") and the Day of Atonement (' fast,' v-qarela, Ac 27'-') are also used as landmarks. But in the allusion to the Feast of Dedication (ivKtxhia, Jn 10-'-') the intention perhaps was not so much to give the exact time as to account for Jesus' walking ' in the temple in Solomon's porch.' Simil.arly the Feast of Tabernacles (uKr]voTrT)yla, Jn 7") is mentioned as explanatory of the cour.se which Jesus had taken. In Jn 5' the purpose of the author would be defeated if he had meant to fix the time of the action (cf. also Lk 22', Mk 1,5«, Jn 6^ 12'-).
8. The week. — Though peculiar to the Jewish people, the constituticju of a unit of time by group- ing together seven days was retained in the usage of the Christian Church. But no separate word was adopted to designate the week as such. In spite of the fact that the Greek language oU'ered
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TIMOTHY
the tempting word i^So/idt (which came later into universal use) the period was generally known by its last day, the Sahhath (iTa.ji'fia.Tov, Lk IS'-), and in the plural (ffdjSfJaTa), as shown in the name of tiie first day (liiaTdv aa^^arciv, Mt28', Mk 16-, Lk 24'). In Ac 17-, aaiiSiaTo. rpla (rendered ' weeks ' in IlVm) is, in the light of St. Paul's custom to use the Sabbath day as the time for preaching (Ac IH^), correctly translated ' three Sabbath days.' The seven-day period required to mature the process of fulhlling a vow is evidentlj' not viewed as a week in the modern sense of any period of seven con- secutive day.s (Ac 21'").
With the exception of the Sabbath (the seventh day) the days of the week are given no names, but are distinguished by ordinal numbers. The first day, however, acquired greater importance among Christians because of its association with the resurrection of the Lord (' Lord's day,' KvpiaKii ilfi^pa, Rev 1'°). And this ultimately came to be the name of the day { = Dominica). It was the day on which the Christians assembled together for the observance of their services (the ' breaking of bread,' mutual exhortation, taking up collections for the needs of their brethren, Ac 20', 1 Co 16-). But in the earlier period the day was called the ' first of the week ' (/j.ia twv (ra^fSaToif, Ac 20'). Other distinctions between the days of the week do not appear, with the exception of the fact that the day before the Sabbath was observed among the Jews as a season of preparation. Sometimes it was designated simply as the 'eve of the Sabbath' {irpojap^aToi', Jth 8", Mk 15*") ; but in the NT oftener as the 'Preparation [day]' (irapauKivii, Mt 27"^ Mk 15«, Lk 23''\ Jn W*-'^). It was scarcely as yet the fixed name of the day. This it became later as it was taken up by Christian usage, and persists to the present time as the proper name of Friday in modem Greek.
9. The day. — Jewish custom fixed the beginning of the day at sunset. Since that custom prevails to the present time among the Jews it is not likely that it was ever superseded among them. Never- theless, the Roman way of reckoning from midnight was evidently prevalent at least in official circles. The testimony, however, is limited to the Fourth Gospel, and the point of view may be peculiar to the author (Jn 19'^ ; of. also P" 4^). The day was divided into two sections of twelve hours, i.e. from midnight to midnight. These two sections might be viewed together as a twenty-four-hour unit (St. Paul spent a rvx^vi^fpo", 'a night and a day,' in the deep, 2 Co U'^). Of the night-day unit the day is the time for work (Jn 11") and the night is divided into four military watches of three hours each (Mt U'^ 24«, Mk 6'>\ Lk 12»8).