Passion (Christianity)

Passion (Christianity)

The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion. The Crucifixion of Jesus is an event central to Christian beliefs.

The etymological origins of the word lie in the Greek verb πάσχω (paschō), to suffer, from passages such as Matthew (and parallel passages in Mark and Luke) and Acts 1:3. The Latin word passio is used with reference to Christ's mortal suffering in the Vulgate. The term first appears in 2nd century Christian texts precisely to describe the travails and suffering of Jesus in this present context. The word passion has since taken on a more general application and now also describes the accounts of Christian martyrs.

The term the Agony of Jesus is more specifically applied to the Agony in the Garden (Greek agon) Jesus' action praying before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane; similarly to passion, agony has been extended to denote a frame of mind.

Those parts of the four Gospels that describe these events are known as the "Passion narratives". The non-canonical Gospel of Peter is also a Passion narrative. In the liturgical calendar, the Passion is commemorated in Holy Week, beginning on Palm Sunday and ending on Easter Saturday.