For 2000 years, historians, writers, and artists have been trying to discern and study the image of this man. We pronounce his name daily in the “Creed” prayer - “... crucified for us under Pontius Pilate”... Even people who are far from the Church and have never read the Gospel know about Pontius Pilate from Mikhail Bulgakov’s famous novel “The Master and Margarita.” What was the man like who sent the Savior to Calvary?
Pontius Pilate. Fragment of the painting Christ before Pilate by Mihaly Munkácsy
A little history
Pontius Pilate (lat. Pontius Pilatus) - the fifth Roman procurator (ruler) of Judea from 26 to 36 AD, Roman horseman (equitus). His residence was located in the palace built by Herod the Great in the city of Caesarea, from where he ruled the country.
In general, not much is known about Pontius Pilate. Today, one of the most important sources about him are the Gospels and the works of the Roman historian Josephus. There is also written evidence from historians such as Tacitus, Eusebius of Caesarea and Philo of Alexandria.
According to some information, Pontius Pilate was born in 10 BC in Lugdunum, in Gaul (now Lyon, France). Pontius is, apparently, the family name of Pilate, indicating his belonging to the Roman family of Pontius. He was married to the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Tiberius and the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus Octavian Claudia Procula (she later became a Christian. In the Greek and Coptic churches she is canonized as a saint, her memory is celebrated on November 9 (October 27, old style)). Being the most humble servant of his father-in-law, the emperor, Pilate went with his wife to Judea to become its new Roman prefect. For 10 years, he ruled this country, prevented impending uprisings and suppressed riots.
Almost the only characteristic given to Pilate by his contemporary are the words of Philo of Alexandria: “naturally tough, stubborn and ruthless... depraved, brutal and aggressive, he raped, abused, repeatedly killed and constantly committed atrocities.” The moral qualities of Pontius Pilate can be judged by his actions in Judea. As historians point out, Pilate was responsible for countless cruelties and executions committed without any trial. Tax and political oppression, provocations that offended the religious beliefs and customs of the Jews, caused mass popular uprisings that were mercilessly suppressed.
Pilate began his reign in the Holy Land by bringing into Jerusalem standards with the image of the emperor. So he tried to demonstrate his contempt for the Jews and their religious laws. But in order not to put Roman soldiers at unnecessary risk, this operation was carried out at night. And when in the morning the inhabitants of Jerusalem saw the Roman banners, the soldiers were already in their barracks. This story is described in great detail by Josephus in The Jewish War. Afraid to remove the standards without permission (apparently, this was just what the legionnaires were waiting for in their barracks), the residents of Jerusalem went to Caesarea to meet the new governor of Rome who had arrived. Here, according to Josephus, Pilate was adamant, because removing the standards was tantamount to insulting the emperor. But on the sixth day of the demonstration, either because Pilate did not want to begin his assumption of office with a massacre of civilians, or because of special instructions from Rome, he ordered the standards to be returned to Caesarea.
But the real conflict between the Jews and the Roman governor occurred after Pilate’s decision to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem (vodokanal, a structure for the centralized supply of water to the city from country sources). To implement this project, the procurator asked for subsidies from the treasury of the Jerusalem Temple. Everything would have worked out if Pontius Pilate had secured funding through negotiations and the voluntary consent of the Temple treasurers. But Pilate committed an unprecedented act - he simply withdrew the required amount from the treasury! It is clear that on the part of the Jewish population this unacceptable move provoked a corresponding reaction - an uprising. This became the reason for decisive action. Pilate "ordered to dress (in civilian clothes) a significant number of soldiers, gave them clubs, which they had to hide under their clothes." The legionnaires surrounded the crowd, and after the order to disperse was ignored, Pilate “gave the soldiers a conventional sign, and the soldiers set to work much more zealously than Pilate himself would have liked. Working with clubs, they equally hit both noisy rebels and completely innocent people. The Jews, however, continued to stand firm; but since they were unarmed, and their opponents were armed, many of them fell dead here, and many left covered with wounds. Thus the indignation was suppressed."
The following account of Pilate's cruelty is found in the Gospel of Luke: “At this time some came and told Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.”(Luke 13:1). Obviously, we were talking about an event that was well-known at that time - a massacre right in the Jerusalem Temple during the statutory sacrifice...
However, Pontius Pilate became one of the most famous in history not thanks to his cruelty or the construction of the Jerusalem aqueduct. All his cruelty and treachery were eclipsed by a single act - the trial of Jesus Christ and the subsequent execution. From the Holy Scriptures we definitely know that the Lord was sentenced to death precisely by Pilate, who at that time represented the highest Roman power in Judea. The death sentence was also carried out by a cohort of Roman soldiers. The Savior was crucified on the Cross, and crucifixion is a Roman tradition of capital punishment.
The Trial of Jesus Christ
On the eve of the Jewish Passover, Pilate received an invitation from the Sanhedrin to Jerusalem for the holiday. His temporary residence in Jerusalem was the praetorium, which was probably located in the former palace of Herod at the Tower of Antony. The Praetoria was a vast and magnificent chamber, where not only Pilate’s home was located, but also premises for his retinue and soldiers. In front of the praetorium there was also a small square where the regional ruler held court. It was here that Jesus was brought to be tried and sentenced.
Pilate's residence in Jerusalem - Praetorium
Preliminary "inquiry" in Anna's house
It all begins on the night from Thursday to Friday, when Jesus Christ was taken into custody in the Garden of Gethsemane after his prayer for the cup. Immediately after his arrest, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin (the highest judicial body of the Jews). First, Christ appeared before Anna.
The Great Sanhedrin consisted of 71 judges. Membership in the Sanhedrin was for life. We know the names of only 5 members of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin: the high priest Caiaphas, Annas (who by that time had lost the rights of the high priesthood), holy righteous Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and Gamaliel. Before the conquest of Judea by the Romans, the Sanhedrin had the right of life and death, but from that time its power was limited: it could pronounce death sentences, but the consent of the Roman ruler was required to carry them out. The Sanhedrin was headed by the high priest Caiaphas. Among the members of the court, who had great weight, was also the former high priest Annas, who was at the head of the Sanhedrin for over 20 years before Caiaphas. But even after his resignation, he continued to actively participate in the life of Judean society.
The trial of Jesus Christ began with Anna. The high priests and elders wanted the Savior dead. But taking into account the fact that the decision of the Sanhedrin was subject to approval by the Roman procurator, it was necessary to find such accusations that would arouse political concerns among the Roman ruler. The former high priest wanted to bring the matter to the point of accusing Jesus Christ of plotting rebellion and leading a secret community. There was insidious intent in this. Anna began to ask Christ about his teachings and his followers. But Jesus ruined the plan of the retired high priest: He claimed that he always preached openly, did not spread any secret teaching, and offered to listen to witnesses to his sermons. Because The preliminary inquiry failed; Anna, not having the power to pronounce a sentence, sent Christ to Caiaphas.
Meeting of the Sanhedrin in the house of Caiaphas
The high priest Caiaphas wanted the death of the Savior and made more efforts than others to fulfill this. Immediately after the resurrection of Lazarus, he, fearing that everyone would believe in Jesus, proposed killing the Savior: “You know nothing and will not think that it is better for us that one person should die for the people than for the whole nation to perish”(John 11:49–50).
That night the house of Caiaphas and the courtyard were crowded. The composition of the first meeting of the Sanhedrin, which gathered to judge the Savior, was incomplete. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were absent. The chief priests and elders tried to speed up the trial in order to prepare everything necessary for another morning full meeting of the Sanhedrin, at which they could formally sentence Jesus to death. They were in a hurry to get everything done on Friday, because... the next day was Saturday - it was forbidden to hold a court hearing. In addition, if the trial and execution of the sentence are not carried out on Friday, they will have to wait a week due to the Easter holiday. And this could again disrupt their plans.
The priests wanted to bring two charges: blasphemy (for a charge in the eyes of the Jews) and sedition (for a charge in the eyes of the Romans). “The chief priests and elders and the whole Sanhedrin sought false testimony against Jesus, in order to put Him to death, and found none; and, although many false witnesses came, they were not found"(Matt. 26:57–60). Without witnesses, a judicial decision is impossible. (The Lord, having given the Law to God’s chosen people on Mount Sinai, also established rules regarding witnesses: “According to two witnesses or three witnesses, a person condemned to death must die: he should not be put to death according to one witness.”(Deut. 17:6).
Finally, two false witnesses came who pointed out the words spoken by the Lord when expelling the merchants from the temple. At the same time, they maliciously altered the words of Christ, putting a different meaning into them. At the beginning of His ministry Christ said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”(John 2:18–19). But even this accusation attributed to Christ was not sufficient for serious punishment. Jesus did not utter a single word in His defense. Thus, the night session, which undoubtedly lasted several hours, did not find any basis for the death penalty. The silence of Christ irritated Caiaphas, and he decided to force such a confession from the Lord that would give reason to condemn Him to death as a blasphemer. Caiaphas turned to Jesus: “I adjure You by the living God, tell us, Are You the Christ, the Son of God?” Christ could not help but respond to these words and replied: “You said it!” that is: “Yes, you said correctly that I am the promised Messiah.”, and added: “From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The words of Christ angered the high priest and, tearing his clothes, he said: “What else do we need witnesses for?Behold, now you have heard His blasphemy!” And everyone condemned Jesus for blasphemy and sentenced Him to death.
But the decision of the Sanhedrin, which condemned Jesus to death, had no legal force. The fate of the accused was to be decided only by the prosecutor.
Pilate's Court
Jesus Christ on trial before Pilate
The Jewish high priests, having condemned Jesus Christ to death, could not themselves carry out the sentence without its approval by the Roman governor. As the evangelists narrate, after the night trial of Christ, they brought him in the morning to Pilate in the praetorium, but they themselves did not enter it “so as not to be defiled, but so that they could eat the Passover.” The representative of the Roman government had the right to approve or cancel the verdict of the Sanhedrin, i.e. finally decide the fate of the Prisoner.
The Trial of Pilate is the trial of Jesus Christ described in the Gospels, to whom Pilate, following the demands of the crowd, sentenced him to death. During the trial, according to the Gospels, Jesus was tortured (scourged, crowned with thorns) - therefore, the trial of Pilate is included in the Passion of Christ.
Pilate was unhappy that he was being interfered with in this matter. According to the evangelists, during the trial Pontius Pilate three times refused to put Jesus Christ to death, in which the Sanhedrin led by the high priest Caiaphas was interested. The Jews, seeing Pilate's desire to evade responsibility and not participate in the matter with which they came, brought forward a new accusation against Jesus, which was of a purely political nature. They made a substitution - having just slandered Jesus and condemned Him for blasphemy, they now presented Him to Pilate as a dangerous criminal for Rome: “He corrupts our people and forbids giving tribute to Caesar, calling himself Christ the King.”(Luke 23:2). Members of the Sanhedrin wanted to transfer the matter from the religious area, which Pilate had little interest in, to the political. The chief priests and elders hoped that Pilate would condemn Jesus because He considered Himself the King of the Jews. (With the death of Herod the Elder in 4 BC, the title of King of Judea was destroyed. Control was transferred to the Roman governor. A real claim to the power of the King of the Jews was qualified by Roman law as a dangerous crime.)
A description of Pilate's trial of Jesus is given in all four evangelists. But the most detailed dialogue between Jesus Christ and Pilate is given in the Gospel of John.
“Pilate came out to them and said: What do you accuse this Man of? They answered him: If He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you. Pilate said to them: Take Him, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews said to him: It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death, so that the word of Jesus, which He spoke, might be fulfilled, indicating by what kind of death He would die. Then Pilate again entered the praetorium, and called Jesus, and said to Him: Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him: Are you saying this on your own, or have others told you about Me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Your people and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what did you do? Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world; If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight for Me, so that I would not be betrayed to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate said to Him: So are You a King? Jesus answered: You say that I am a King. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I came into the world, to testify to the truth; everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice. Pilate said to Him: What is truth? And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”(John 18:29-38)
The main question that Pilate asked Jesus was: “Are you the King of the Jews?” This question was due to the fact that a real claim to power as King of the Jews, according to Roman law, was classified as a dangerous crime. The answer to this question was the words of Christ - “you say,” which can be considered a positive answer, since in Jewish speech the phrase “you said” has a positive constative meaning. In giving this answer, Jesus emphasized that not only was he of royal descent by genealogy, but that as God he had authority over all kingdoms.
Evangelist Matthew reports that during the trial of Jesus, Pilate's wife sent a servant to him to say: “Do not do anything to the Righteous One, because today in a dream I suffered a lot for Him”(Matt. 27:19).
Flagellation
Before finally yielding to the Jews, Pilate ordered the Prisoner to be scourged. The procurator, as the holy Apostle John the Theologian testifies, ordered the soldiers to do this in order to calm the passions of the Jews, to arouse compassion among the people for Christ and to please them.
They took Jesus into the courtyard and took off his clothes and beat him. The blows were delivered with triple whips, the ends of which had lead spikes or bones. Then they dressed Him in the king’s jester’s outfit: a scarlet robe (royal-colored cloak), gave Him a cane and a branch (“royal scepter”) in His right hand, and placed a wreath woven from thorns (“crown”) on His head, the thorns of which dug into the Prisoner’s head, when the soldiers beat Him on the head with a cane. This was accompanied by moral suffering. The warriors mocked and outraged the One who contained within Himself the fullness of love for all people - they knelt down, bowed and said: “Hail, King of the Jews!”, and then they spat on him and beat him on the head and face with a cane (Mark 15:19).
When studying the Shroud of Turin, identified with the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, it was concluded that Jesus was struck 98 blows (while the Jews were allowed to apply no more than 40 blows - Deut. 25: 3): 59 blows of a scourge with three ends, 18 with two ends and 21 - with one end.
Pilate brought the bloodied Christ in a crown of thorns and scarlet robe to the Jews and said that he did not find any guilt in Him. "Behold, Man!"(John 19:5), said the procurator. In the words of Pilate "Behold, Man!" one can see his desire to arouse compassion among the Jews for the prisoner, who, after torture, does not look like a king in his appearance and does not pose a threat to the Roman emperor. But the people did not show leniency either the first or the second time and demanded the execution of Jesus in response to Pilate’s proposal to release Christ, following a long-standing custom: “You have a custom that I give you one for Easter; Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you? At the same time, according to the Gospel, the people began to shout even more "let him be crucified."
In the painting by Antonio Ciseri, Pontius Pilate shows the scourged Jesus to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; in the right corner is the grieving wife of Pilate.
Seeing this, Pilate pronounced a death sentence - he sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, and he himself “I washed my hands before the people, and said, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous One.”. To which the people exclaimed: “His blood be on us and on our children”(Matthew 27:24-25). Having washed his hands, Pilate performed the ritual washing of hands customary among the Jews as a sign of non-involvement in the murder being committed (Deut. 21: 1-9)...
After the crucifixion
In the texts of early Christian historians one can find information that 4 years after the execution of the Nazarene, the procurator was deposed and exiled to Gaul. As for the further fate of Pontius Pilate after leaving Judea at the end of 36, there is no reliable information.
Many hypotheses have been preserved, which, despite the differences in details, boil down to one thing - Pilate committed suicide.
According to some reports, Nero signed an order for the execution of Pontius Pilate as a henchman of Tiberius, after he was exiled to Gaul. Apparently, no one was able to intercede for the former Roman procurator of Judea. The only patron Pilate could count on, Tiberius, had died by this time. There are also legends according to which the waters of the river where Pilate was thrown after he committed suicide refused to accept his body. Ultimately, according to this story, Pilate's body had to be thrown into one of the high mountain lakes in the Alps. .
Apocrypha about Pontius Pilate
The name of Pontius Pilate is mentioned in some early Christian apocrypha of the 2nd century.
Many apocrypha even assumed that Pilate subsequently repented and became a Christian. Such pseudo-documents dating back to the 13th century include “The Gospel of Nicodemus”, “Pilate’s Letter to Claudius Caesar”, “Pilate’s Ascension”, “Pilate’s Letter to Herod the Tetrarch”, “Pilate’s Sentence”.
It is noteworthy that in the Ethiopian Church, in addition to the wife of the procurator Claudia Procula, Pontius Pilate himself is canonized.
Pontius Pilate in the novel “The Master and Margarita”
Pontius Pilate is the central character of M.A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” (1928-1940). The son of the astrologer king, the cruel procurator of Judea, the horseman Pontius Pilate, nicknamed the Golden Spear, appears at the beginning of Chapter 2: “Wearing a white cloak with a bloody lining and a shuffling cavalry gait, early in the morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, came out into the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great.”
Having studied the novel, we can conclude that the image of Pontius Pilate is very contradictory, he is not just a villain and a coward. He is a person whom the social conditions that prevailed before him keep within certain limits. Mikhail Bulgakov in his novel showed the procurator as a victim, as a person tormented by pangs of conscience. Pilate is endowed with sympathy for Jesus, in whose sermons he does not see any threat to public order.
A stern, gloomy, but not devoid of humanity hegemon, ready to refuse the Sanhedrin to condemn the strange preacher from Nazareth, he still sends Yeshua to be crucified. He even quarrels with the Jerusalem high priest over a righteous man. However, the fear of being accused of covering for the enemies of Caesar, to whom the priests included the Nazarene, forces him to go against his conscience... The execution of Yeshua Ha-Nozri becomes the main event in the life of Pilate and Conscience haunts the procurator for the rest of his life. He cannot get rid of the vision of the executed Yeshua and suffers for two thousand years, dreaming of meeting Him. That, in fact, is all we learn from Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel.
The image of Bulgakov's Pilate is lonely; the novel says nothing about the hegemon's wife Claudia - the horseman's only friend is the devoted dog Banga.
Bulgakov has a lot of deviations from the Gospel in his novel. So, before us is a different image of the Savior - Yeshua Ha-Nozri. Contrary to the long genealogy set out in the Gospel, going back to the line of David, nothing is known about either Yeshua’s father or mother. He has no brothers. "I don't remember my parents", he says to Pilate. And further: “They told me that my father was Syrian...” The writer deprives his hero of his family, way of life, even nationality. By removing everything, he shapes the loneliness of Yeshua...
Among the significant changes made by Bulgakov to the Gospel tradition is Judas. Unlike the canon, in the novel he is not an apostle and, therefore, did not betray his teacher and friend, since he was neither a student nor a friend of Yeshua. He is a professional spy and informer. This is his form of income.
In the novel “The Master and Margarita” everything is focused on refuting the essence of the Gospel Event - the Passion of Christ. The scenes of the execution of Yeshua Ha-Nozri are devoid of excessive cruelty. Yeshua was not tortured, they did not mock him, and he did not die from torment, which, as can be seen from the text, did not exist, but was killed by the mercy of Pontius Pilate. There is no crown of thorns either. And the scourging was replaced by one blow of the scourge of the centurion Ratslayer. There is no heavy cross-bearing in the novel. And, therefore, there is actually no way of the cross. There is a cart with three condemned men looking into the distance - to where death awaits them, on the neck of each of them is a board with the inscription “Robber and Rebel”. And also carts - with executioners and the necessary, alas, working equipment for carrying out an execution: ropes, shovels, axes and freshly hewn poles... And all this is by no means because the soldiers are kind. It’s just more convenient for them – both soldiers and executioners. For them, this is everyday life: soldiers have service, executioners have work. There is a habitual, disinterested indifference to suffering and death - on the part of the authorities, the Roman soldiers, the crowd. Indifference to the incomprehensible, unrecognized, indifference to a feat that was in vain... Yeshua was not executed by crucifixion with nails on a cross, a symbol of sorrow, like Jesus Christ (and as predicted by the prophets), but simply tied with ropes to a “post with crossbars. At the hour of death, there is not only a group of apostles and women mournfully frozen in the distance (according to Matthew, Mark and Luke) or crying at the foot of the cross (according to John). There is no crowd mocking and shouting: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” From Bulgakov: “The sun burned the crowd and drove it back to Yershalaim”. There are not even twelve apostles. Instead of twelve disciples, there is one Levi Matthew... And what does Yeshua Ha-Nozri say while dying on the cross? In the Gospel of Matthew: “...about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Eli, Eli! lama sabachthan? That is: My God, my God! Why did you leave me?” There is a similar phrase in the Gospel of Mark. John has one word in short: “he said: it is finished.” Bulgakov has the last word of the executed man: “Hegemon...”
Who is he – Yeshua Ha-Nozri in the novel “The Master and Margarita”? God? Or a person? Yeshua, to whom, it seems, everything is open - the deep loneliness of Pilate, and the fact that Pilate has a painful headache, forcing him to think about poison, and the fact that the thunderstorm will come later, in the evening... Yeshua knows nothing about his fate. Yeshua does not have divine omniscience. He is a human. And this representation of the hero not as a god-man, but as an infinitely defenseless man...
We have to admit that Bulgakov composed a different Pilate, who has nothing in common with the historical procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate.
For 2000 years, historians, writers, and artists have been trying to discern and study the image of this man. We pronounce his name daily in the prayer “Creed” - “... crucified for us under Pontius Pilate“... Even people who are far from the Church and have never read the Gospel know about Pontius Pilate from Mikhail Bulgakov’s famous novel “The Master and Margarita.” What was the man like who sent the Savior to Calvary?
A little history
Pontius Pilate(lat. Pontius Pilatus) - the fifth Roman procurator (ruler) of Judea from 26 to 36 AD, Roman horseman (equitus). His residence was located in the palace built by Herod the Great in the city of Caesarea, from where he ruled the country.
In general, not much is known about Pontius Pilate. Today, one of the most important sources about him are the Gospels and the works of the Roman historian Josephus. There is also written evidence from historians such as Tacitus, Eusebius of Caesarea and Philo of Alexandria.
According to some information, Pontius Pilate was born in 10 BC in Lugdunum, in Gaul (now Lyon, France). Pontius is, apparently, the family name of Pilate, indicating his belonging to the Roman family of Pontius. He was married to the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Tiberius and granddaughter of Emperor Augustus Octavian Claudia Procula ( she later became a Christian. In the Greek and Coptic churches she is canonized, her memory is celebrated on November 9 (October 27, old style)). Being the most humble servant of his father-in-law, the emperor, Pilate went with his wife to Judea to become its new Roman prefect. For 10 years, he ruled this country, prevented impending uprisings and suppressed riots.
Almost the only characteristic given to Pilate by his contemporary are the words of Philo of Alexandria: “ naturally tough, stubborn and ruthless... depraved, rude and aggressive, he raped, abused, repeatedly killed and constantly committed atrocities" The moral qualities of Pontius Pilate can be judged by his actions in Judea. As historians point out, Pilate was responsible for countless cruelties and executions committed without any trial. Tax and political oppression, provocations that offended the religious beliefs and customs of the Jews, caused mass popular uprisings that were mercilessly suppressed.
Pilate began his reign in the Holy Land by bringing into Jerusalem standards with the image of the emperor. So he tried to demonstrate his contempt for the Jews and their religious laws. But in order not to put Roman soldiers at unnecessary risk, this operation was carried out at night. And when in the morning the inhabitants of Jerusalem saw the Roman banners, the soldiers were already in their barracks. This story is described in great detail by Josephus in The Jewish War. Afraid to remove the standards without permission (apparently, this was just what the legionnaires were waiting for in their barracks), the residents of Jerusalem went to Caesarea to meet the new governor of Rome who had arrived. Here, according to Josephus, Pilate was adamant, because removing the standards was tantamount to insulting the emperor. But on the sixth day of the demonstration, either because Pilate did not want to begin his assumption of office with a massacre of civilians, or because of special instructions from Rome, he ordered the standards to be returned to Caesarea.
But the real conflict between the Jews and the Roman governor occurred after Pilate’s decision to build in Jerusalem aqueduct (water utility, a structure for the centralized supply of water to the city from country sources). To implement this project, the procurator asked for subsidies from the treasury of the Jerusalem Temple. Everything would have worked out if Pontius Pilate had secured funding through negotiations and the voluntary consent of the Temple treasurers. But Pilate committed an unprecedented act - he simply withdrew the required amount from the treasury! It is clear that on the part of the Jewish population this unacceptable move provoked a corresponding reaction - an uprising. This became the reason for decisive action. Pilate "ordered to dress (in civilian clothes) a significant number of soldiers, gave them clubs, which they had to hide under their clothes." The legionnaires surrounded the crowd, and after the order to disperse was ignored, Pilate “gave the soldiers a conventional sign, and the soldiers set to work much more zealously than Pilate himself would have liked. Working with clubs, they equally hit both noisy rebels and completely innocent people. The Jews, however, continued to stand firm; but since they were unarmed, and their opponents were armed, many of them fell dead here, and many left covered with wounds. Thus the indignation was suppressed."
The following account of Pilate's cruelty is contained in the Gospel of Luke: " At this time some came and told Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.”(Luke 13:1). Obviously, we were talking about an event that was well-known at that time - a massacre right in the Jerusalem Temple during the statutory sacrifice...
However, Pontius Pilate became one of the most famous in history not thanks to his cruelty or the construction of the Jerusalem aqueduct. All his cruelty and treachery were eclipsed by a single act - trial of Jesus Christ and the subsequent execution. From the Holy Scriptures we definitely know that the Lord was sentenced to death precisely by Pilate, who at that time represented the highest Roman power in Judea. The death sentence was also carried out by a cohort of Roman soldiers. The Savior was crucified on the Cross, and crucifixion is a Roman tradition of capital punishment.
The Trial of Jesus Christ
On the eve of the Jewish Passover, Pilate received an invitation from the Sanhedrin to Jerusalem for the holiday. His temporary residence in Jerusalem was praetoria, which was probably located in the former palace of Herod at the Tower of Antony. The Praetoria was a vast and magnificent chamber, where not only Pilate’s home was located, but also premises for his retinue and soldiers. In front of the praetorium there was also a small square where the regional ruler held court. It was here that Jesus was brought to be tried and sentenced.
Pilate's residence in Jerusalem - Praetorium
Preliminary "inquiry" in Anna's house
It all begins on the night from Thursday to Friday, when Jesus Christ was taken into custody in the Garden of Gethsemane after his prayer for the cup. Immediately after his arrest, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin (the highest judicial body of the Jews). First, Christ appeared before Anna.
Great Sanhedrin consisted of 71 judges. Membership in the Sanhedrin was for life. We know the names of only 5 members of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin: the high priest Caiaphas, Annas ( having lost the rights of the high priesthood by that time), holy righteous Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and Gamaliel. Before the conquest of Judea by the Romans, the Sanhedrin had the right of life and death, but from that time its power was limited: it could pronounce death sentences, but the consent of the Roman ruler was required to carry them out. The Sanhedrin was headed by the high priest Caiaphas. Among the members of the court, who had great weight, was also the former high priest Annas, who was at the head of the Sanhedrin for over 20 years before Caiaphas. But even after his resignation, he continued to actively participate in the life of Judean society.
The trial of Jesus Christ began with Anna. The high priests and elders wanted the Savior dead. But taking into account the fact that the decision of the Sanhedrin was subject to approval by the Roman procurator, it was necessary to find such accusations that would arouse political concerns among the Roman ruler. The former high priest wanted to bring the matter to the point of accusing Jesus Christ of plotting rebellion and leading a secret community. There was insidious intent in this. Anna began to ask Christ about his teachings and his followers. But Jesus ruined the plan of the retired high priest: He claimed that he always preached openly, did not spread any secret teaching, and offered to listen to witnesses to his sermons. Because The preliminary inquiry failed; Anna, not having the power to pronounce a sentence, sent Christ to Caiaphas.
Meeting of the Sanhedrin in the house of Caiaphas
The high priest Caiaphas wanted the death of the Savior and made more efforts than others to fulfill this. Immediately after the resurrection of Lazarus, he, fearing that everyone would believe in Jesus, proposed killing the Savior: “ you know nothing and will not think that it is better for us that one person should die for the people than for the whole nation to perish"(John 11:49–50).
That night the house of Caiaphas and the courtyard were crowded. The composition of the first meeting of the Sanhedrin, which gathered to judge the Savior, was incomplete. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were absent. The chief priests and elders tried to speed up the trial in order to prepare everything necessary for another morning full meeting of the Sanhedrin, at which they could formally sentence Jesus to death. They were in a hurry to get everything done on Friday, because... the next day was Saturday—it was forbidden to hold a court hearing. In addition, if the trial and execution of the sentence are not carried out on Friday, they will have to wait a week due to the Easter holiday. And this could again disrupt their plans.
The priests wanted to bring two charges: blasphemy(for accusation in the eyes of the Jews) and sedition(for accusation in the eyes of the Romans). " The chief priests and elders and the entire Sanhedrin looked for false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death, and found none; and although many false witnesses came, they were not found"(Matt. 26:57–60). Without witnesses, a judicial decision is impossible. (The Lord, having given the Law to God’s chosen people on Mount Sinai, also established rules regarding witnesses: “ According to two witnesses or three witnesses, a person condemned to death must die: he should not be put to death according to one witness"(Deut. 17:6).)
Finally, two false witnesses came who pointed out the words spoken by the Lord when expelling the merchants from the temple. At the same time, they maliciously altered the words of Christ, putting a different meaning into them. At the beginning of His ministry Christ said: “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"(John 2:18-19). But even this accusation attributed to Christ was not sufficient for serious punishment. Jesus did not utter a single word in His defense. Thus, the night session, which undoubtedly lasted several hours, did not find any basis for the death penalty. The silence of Christ irritated Caiaphas, and he decided to force such a confession from the Lord that would give reason to condemn Him to death as a blasphemer. Caiaphas turned to Jesus: “ I adjure You by the living God, tell us, Are You the Christ, the Son of God?“Christ could not help but respond to these words and answered: “ You said!" that is: " Yes, you said it right that I am the promised Messiah", and added: " From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.“The words of Christ angered the high priest and, tearing his clothes, he said: “ What more need do we have of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard His blasphemy!“And everyone condemned Jesus for blasphemy and sentenced Him to death.
But the decision of the Sanhedrin, which condemned Jesus to death, had no legal force. The fate of the accused was to be decided only by the prosecutor.
Pilate's Court
Jesus Christ on trial before Pilate
The Jewish high priests, having condemned Jesus Christ to death, could not themselves carry out the sentence without its approval by the Roman governor. As the evangelists narrate, after the night trial of Christ, they brought him in the morning to Pilate in the praetorium, but they themselves did not enter it “so as not to be defiled, but so that they could eat the Passover.” The representative of the Roman government had the right to approve or cancel the verdict of the Sanhedrin, i.e. finally decide the fate of the Prisoner.
The Trial of Pilate is the trial of Jesus Christ described in the Gospels, to whom Pilate, following the demands of the crowd, sentenced him to death. During the trial, according to the Gospels, Jesus was tortured (scourged, crowned with thorns) - therefore, the trial of Pilate is included in the Passion of Christ.
Pilate was unhappy that he was being interfered with in this matter. According to the evangelists, during the trial Pontius Pilate three times refused to put Jesus Christ to death, in which the Sanhedrin led by the high priest Caiaphas was interested. The Jews, seeing Pilate's desire to evade responsibility and not participate in the matter with which they came, brought forward a new accusation against Jesus, which was of a purely political nature. They made a substitution - having just slandered Jesus and condemned Him for blasphemy, they now presented Him to Pilate as a dangerous criminal for Rome: “ He corrupts our people and forbids giving tribute to Caesar, calling Himself Christ the King."(Luke 23:2). Members of the Sanhedrin wanted to transfer the matter from the religious area, which Pilate had little interest in, to the political. The chief priests and elders hoped that Pilate would condemn Jesus because He considered Himself the King of the Jews. ( With the death of Herod the Elder in 4 BC, the title of king of Judea was destroyed. Management passed to the Roman governor. According to Roman law, a real claim to the power of the King of the Jews was classified as a dangerous crime.)
A description of Pilate's trial of Jesus is given in all four evangelists. But the most detailed dialogue between Jesus Christ and Pilate is given in the Gospel of John.
“Pilate came out to them and said: What do you accuse this Man of? They answered him: If He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you. Pilate said to them: Take Him, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews said to him: It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death, so that the word of Jesus, which He spoke, might be fulfilled, indicating by what kind of death He would die. Then Pilate again entered the praetorium, and called Jesus, and said to Him: Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him: Are you saying this on your own, or have others told you about Me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Your people and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what did you do? Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world; If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight for Me, so that I would not be betrayed to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate said to Him: So are You a King? Jesus answered: You say that I am a King. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I came into the world, to testify to the truth; everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice. Pilate said to Him: What is truth? And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.” (John 18:29-38)
The main question that Pilate asked Jesus was: “Are you the King of the Jews?” This question was due to the fact that a real claim to power as King of the Jews, according to Roman law, was classified as a dangerous crime. The answer to this question was the words of Christ - “you say,” which can be considered a positive answer, since in Jewish speech the phrase “you said” has a positive constative meaning. In giving this answer, Jesus emphasized that not only was he of royal descent by genealogy, but that as God he had authority over all kingdoms.
Evangelist Matthew reports that during the trial of Jesus, Pilate’s wife sent a servant to him to say: “ do not do anything to the Righteous One, because now in a dream I suffered a lot for Him"(Matt. 27:19).
Claudia Procula - wife of Pontius Pilate
Flagellation
Before finally yielding to the Jews, Pilate ordered the Prisoner to be scourged. The procurator, as the holy Apostle John the Theologian testifies, ordered the soldiers to do this in order to calm the passions of the Jews, to arouse compassion among the people for Christ and to please them.
They took Jesus into the courtyard and took off his clothes and beat him. The blows were delivered with triple whips, the ends of which had lead spikes or bones. Then they dressed Him in the king’s jester’s outfit: a scarlet robe (royal-colored cloak), gave Him a cane and a branch (“royal scepter”) in His right hand, and placed a wreath woven from thorns (“crown”) on His head, the thorns of which dug into the Prisoner’s head, when the soldiers beat Him on the head with a cane. This was accompanied by moral suffering. The warriors mocked and outraged the One who contained within Himself the fullness of love for all people - they knelt down, bowed and said: “ Rejoice, King of the Jews!”, and then they spat on him and beat him on the head and face with a cane (Mark 15:19).
When studying the Shroud of Turin, identified with the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, it was concluded that Jesus was struck 98 blows (while the Jews were allowed to apply no more than 40 blows - Deut. 25: 3): 59 blows of a scourge with three ends, 18 with two ends and 21 - with one end.
Pilate brought the bloodied Christ in a crown of thorns and scarlet robe to the Jews and said that he did not find any guilt in Him. " Behold, Man!"(John 19:5), - said the procurator. In the words of Pilate " Behold, Man!“One can see his desire to arouse compassion among the Jews for the prisoner, who, after torture, does not look like a king in his appearance and does not pose a threat to the Roman emperor. But the people did not show leniency either the first or the second time and demanded the execution of Jesus in response to Pilate’s proposal to release Christ, following a long-standing custom: “ You have a custom that I give you one for Easter; Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?" At the same time, according to the Gospel, the people began to shout even more loudly “ let him be crucified».
In the painting by Antonio Ciseri, Pontius Pilate shows the scourged Jesus to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; in the right corner is the grieving wife of Pilate.
Seeing this, Pilate pronounced a death sentence - he sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, and he himself “ washed his hands before the people, and said: I am innocent of the blood of this righteous one" To which the people exclaimed: “ His blood be on us and on our children"(Matthew 27:24-25). Having washed his hands, Pilate performed the ritual washing of hands customary among the Jews as a sign of non-involvement in the murder being committed (Deut. 21: 1-9)…
After the crucifixion
In the texts of early Christian historians one can find information that 4 years after the execution of the Nazarene, the procurator was deposed and exiled to Gaul. As for the further fate of Pontius Pilate after leaving Judea at the end of 36, there is no reliable information.
Many hypotheses have been preserved, which, despite the differences in details, boil down to one thing - Pilate committed suicide.
According to some reports, Nero signed an order for the execution of Pontius Pilate as a henchman of Tiberius, after he was exiled to Gaul. Apparently, no one was able to intercede for the former Roman procurator of Judea. The only patron Pilate could count on, Tiberius, had died by this time. There are also legends according to which the waters of the river where Pilate was thrown after he committed suicide refused to accept his body. In the end, according to this story, Pilate's body had to be thrown into one of the high mountain lakes in the Alps.
Apocrypha about Pontius Pilate
The name of Pontius Pilate is mentioned in some early Christian apocrypha of the 2nd century.
Many apocrypha even assumed that Pilate subsequently repented and became a Christian. Such pseudo-documents dating back to the 13th century include “The Gospel of Nicodemus”, “Pilate’s Letter to Claudius Caesar”, “Pilate’s Ascension”, “Pilate’s Letter to Herod the Tetrarch”, “Pilate’s Sentence”.
It is noteworthy that in the Ethiopian Church, in addition to the wife of the procurator Claudia Procula, Pontius Pilate himself is canonized.
Pontius Pilate in the novel “The Master and Margarita”
Pontius Pilate is the central character of M.A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” (1928-1940). The son of the astrologer king, the cruel procurator of Judea, the horseman Pontius Pilate, nicknamed the Golden Spear, appears at the beginning of the 2nd chapter: “In a white cloak with a bloody lining, a shuffling cavalry gait, early in the morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan in the covered colonnade between the two wings of Herod’s palace The Great Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, came out.”
Having studied the novel, we can conclude that the image of Pontius Pilate is very contradictory, he is not just a villain and a coward. He is a person whom the social conditions that prevailed before him keep within certain limits. Mikhail Bulgakov in his novel showed the procurator as a victim, as a person tormented by pangs of conscience. Pilate is endowed with sympathy for Jesus, in whose sermons he does not see any threat to public order.
A stern, gloomy, but not devoid of humanity hegemon, ready to refuse the Sanhedrin to condemn the strange preacher from Nazareth, he still sends Yeshua to be crucified. He even quarrels with the Jerusalem high priest over a righteous man. However, the fear of being accused of covering for the enemies of Caesar, to whom the priests included the Nazarene, forces him to go against his conscience... The execution of Yeshua Ha-Nozri becomes the main event in the life of Pilate and Conscience haunts the procurator for the rest of his life. He cannot get rid of the vision of the executed Yeshua and suffers for two thousand years, dreaming of meeting Him. That, in fact, is all we learn from Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel.
The image of Bulgakov's Pilate is lonely; the novel says nothing about the hegemon's wife Claudia - the horseman's only friend is the devoted dog Banga.
Bulgakov has a lot of deviations from the Gospel in his novel. So, before us is a different image of the Savior - Yeshua Ha-Nozri. Contrary to the long genealogy set out in the Gospel, going back to the line of David, nothing is known about either Yeshua’s father or mother. He has no brothers. “I don’t remember my parents,” he tells Pilate. And further: " They told me that my father was Syrian...“The writer deprives his hero of his family, his way of life, even his nationality. By removing everything, he shapes the loneliness of Yeshua...
Among the significant changes made by Bulgakov to the Gospel tradition are Judas. Unlike the canon, in the novel he is not an apostle and, therefore, did not betray his teacher and friend, since he was neither a student nor a friend of Yeshua. He is a professional spy and informer. This is his form of income.
In the novel “The Master and Margarita” everything is focused on refuting the essence of the Gospel Event - the Passion of Christ. The scenes of the execution of Yeshua Ha-Nozri are devoid of excessive cruelty. Yeshua was not tortured, they did not mock him, and he did not die from torment, which, as can be seen from the text, did not exist, but was killed by the mercy of Pontius Pilate. No crown of thorns. And the scourging was replaced by one blow of the scourge of the centurion Ratslayer. In the novel there is no heavy burden of bearing the cross. And, therefore, there is actually no way of the cross. There is a cart with three condemned men looking into the distance - to where death awaits them, on the neck of each of them is a board with the inscription “Robber and Rebel”. And also carts - with executioners and the necessary, alas, working equipment for carrying out an execution: ropes, shovels, axes and freshly hewn poles... And all this is by no means because the soldiers are kind. It’s just more convenient for them – both soldiers and executioners. For them, this is everyday life: soldiers have service, executioners have work. There is a habitual, disinterested indifference to suffering and death - on the part of the authorities, the Roman soldiers, the crowd. Indifference to the incomprehensible, unrecognized, indifference to a feat that was in vain... Yeshua was not executed by crucifixion with nails on a cross, a symbol of sorrow, like Jesus Christ (and as predicted by the prophets), but simply tied with ropes to a “post with crossbars.” At the hour of death, there is not only a group of apostles and women mournfully frozen in the distance (according to Matthew, Mark and Luke) or crying at the foot of the cross (according to John). There is no crowd mocking and shouting: “ If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross" From Bulgakov: “ The sun burned the crowd and drove it back to Yershalaim». There are not even twelve apostles. Instead of twelve disciples there is one Levi Matthew... And what does Yeshua Ha-Nozri say while dying on the cross? In the Gospel of Matthew: “... About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Eli, Eli! lama sabachthan? That is: My God, my God! Why did you leave me?"A similar phrase is in the Gospel of Mark. In short, John has one word: “ said: it's done" Bulgakov has the last word of the executed man: “Hegemon...”
Who is he – Yeshua Ha-Nozri in the novel “The Master and Margarita”? God? Or a person? Yeshua, to whom, it seems, everything is open - the deep loneliness of Pilate, and the fact that Pilate has a painful headache, forcing him to think about poison, and the fact that the thunderstorm will come later, in the evening... Yeshua knows nothing about his fate. Yeshua does not have divine omniscience. He is a human. And this representation of the hero not as a god-man, but as an infinitely defenseless man...
We have to admit that Bulgakov composed a different Pilate, who has nothing in common with the historical procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate.
Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK
25.10.2015Who these days does not know the fifth Roman procurator Nudoy Pontius Pilate? Especially after Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita” and the film based on the novel. A stern, gloomy, but not devoid of humanity hegemon, ready to refuse the Sanhedrin to condemn the strange preacher from Nazareth, he still sends Yeshua to be crucified. He even quarrels with the Jerusalem high priest over a righteous man. However, the fear of being accused of covering for the enemies of Caesar, to whom the priests included the Nazarene, forces him to go against his conscience... That, in fact, is all that we learn from the wonderful novel by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Supplemented by texts from the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, our information about this Roman, in general, is exhausted by this. Pilate is the executioner who sent the Son of God to be crucified! Executioner - and nothing more. But it turns out that the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, who approved with his seal the unjust decision of the court of the Jewish priests, played a much more significant role in the history of Christianity than the role of the executioner.
Let's return to the Jerusalem events of the spring month of Nisan.
Pilate is depressed by what has happened - that he was unable to save the righteous man.
The procurator dreams of quickly leaving for his headquarters in Caesarea. He has already given his people the necessary orders and is ready to leave. And then something incredible happens: the main Jerusalem confidant of the hegemon appears in the praetorium and reports that the crucified Yeshua Ha-Nozri has risen. Yes Yes. Risen! And there are witnesses to this. The woman Mary from Magdala spoke with the Risen One!
Perhaps this message was followed by a silent scene in the Praetorium. Like in The Inspector General. Pilate and his centurions froze in amazement. Still would. The resurrection from the dead is a concept quite accessible to the mind of a Jew, but inaccessible to the mind of a Roman. The procurator was almost speechless from such news. And how can the Iron Roman not get confused, after all, he will have to prepare a report on the trial and executions in Jerusalem! Well, how will he explain to Caesar Tiberius, the Roman people and the Senate that the preacher from Nazareth, whom he executed, resurrected on the third day and went to Galilee to meet with his disciples? This is exactly what his spies reported to Pilate.
The brave Roman warrior, the dashing grunt, the horseman of the Golden Spear, Pilate, is at a loss. What will he write in the report? Who in Rome would believe the tale of the resurrection?
Having humbled his pride, the procurator seeks a meeting with the high priest and asks him whether there is a prophecy about Ha-Nozri in the sacred Jewish books. And the high priest confirms this. He says that after the crucifixion we looked at the sacred books and looked for the testimony of God... And it was revealed to us that Yeshua Ha-Nozri, crucified by us, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the true and omnipotent God... Pilate is confused, shocked! What Roman general or governor ever found himself in such a situation? And then the procurator remembers: indeed, during the interrogation, the Nazarene, as if even pitying the procurator, quietly whispered to him: “You would not have any power over me if it had not been given to you from above.” Pilate then did not pay attention to these words of the arrested man. He believed that he was talking about the power given to the procurator by Caesar Tiberius... But the righteous man had in mind a different power... God's power! So how can we explain all this to pagan Rome now? Who will believe that he, Pontius Pilate, interrogated the Son of God? And how can one believe that God sent his Son to suffer? Until now, the Greek and Roman gods sent their children to punish earthlings who had gone astray. And here - God sent his Son to be crucified? Where is the logic? Where is the common sense of the Romans? Are you well, Roman procurator?
Far from being a stupid man, Pilate, having interviewed witnesses and disciples of the crucified man who had not yet left Judea to preach the teachings of Jesus, racked his brains over the incredible material he had collected and wrote a report on that terrible Friday that stunned Rome. The report was delivered to the emperor. Biblical historians call that document the “Acts of Pilate.” Theologians have established: there are different versions of these acts. Most of them are fake. Some acts are very favorable to Jesus Christ, others are full of hatred towards Christians. What was in the original acts of Pilate? Most likely, there was no slander against the crucified Son of God. For the pagan Tiberius treated the procurator’s texts with confidence and, apparently, believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! And he treated his teaching with understanding. Historians of early Christianity write that the emperor even approached the Senate with a proposal to include Christ among the host of Roman gods. However, the Senate did not support Caesar. Tiberius stuck to his opinion and punished anyone who dared to insult Christians. True, later Tiberius himself organized the persecution of believers in the crucified... And the subsequent Caesars - Caligula, Nero, Domitian - became famous for persecuting Christians, brutal reprisals against the bearers of the new faith. But here’s the most interesting thing here, which, in fact, is the mystery of Pilate - the “Acts of Pilate” sent by Pilate to Tiberius, whether we want it or not, are the first official text about the Jerusalem events of the 14th day of the spring month of Nisan. First! The disciplined Roman administrator Pilate, as befits his position, clearly informed Rome about the events in Jerusalem.
That is, it turns out that the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate was the first to testify about Jesus Christ!
The good news from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John appeared later than his acts. And therefore we can assume that the procurator Pontius Pilate, condemned by modern society, is in fact the first historian of Christianity. Pilate is a historian! Sounds unusual to a layman’s ear, doesn’t it? But where to go if the “Acts of Pilate” - a recognized historical document (!) about Easter days in Jerusalem, took place and was discussed in the Roman Senate?
This paradoxical situation is analyzed in detail in A. Zverintsev’s novel “Son of Thunder, or the Shadow of Golgotha.” The book describes Pilate's very difficult relationship with the Jews.
Pilate, appointed procurator of Judea, at the head of his cohorts, tried to solemnly enter Jerusalem, but was greeted not with palm branches, as the governors of Rome were greeted in other provinces, but with sticks, stones and shouts: “Get off to Caesarea, pig-eating Pilate!” The high priest explained to the hegemon: the Jews cannot see images of a human face on Roman banners, even if it is the face of the ruler of the world, Caesar Tiberius. And Pilate had to cover the banners. The procurator was about to build a water supply system for the Jews like the Roman one and wanted to take money for the construction from the temple’s coffers, but was rebuffed. Temple money is temple money! But the Jews cannot use Roman money to build a water supply system! And blood was shed. Another denunciation against the procurator went to Rome. Pilate erected a statue of Caesar in Herod's temple - in response: all the streets of the city were filled with Jews lying on the ground in protest. And until Pilate removed his idol from the temple, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ready to die for their faith, did not rise from the ground. And Pilate realized that things would not work out between him and the Jews. He left Jerusalem, which was hostile to him, and settled in Caesarea.
From there he ruled the country. And so, on the eve of the Jewish Passover, I received an invitation from the Sanhedrin to the holiday of the 14th day of the spring month of Nisan. To go or not to go? But protocol required the presence of the governor at the celebration...
The world knows what happened at these celebrations...
And how did the author of the first official testimony about Jesus Christ, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, end his earthly journey? What are the opinions on this matter? In the texts of early Christian historians one can find information that four years after the execution of the Nazarene, the procurator was deposed and exiled to Gaul. Mental torment haunted this man chosen by providence. The procurator painfully tried to understand who he was: whether he was the murderer of the God-man or the fulfiller of the prophecies encrypted in the Holy Scriptures about the Son of Man, who came to people to lead them to salvation... It is believed that the procurator could not bear the mental anguish and committed suicide.
But with death, the hegemon did not disappear into oblivion. There is a legend that today the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate can be found in the Swiss Alps. On Good Friday, dressed in a Roman toga, he appears on the mountain and washes and washes his hands, and shows them to everyone so that they can see that there is no blood of the Savior on them... And he repeats: “I am innocent of the blood of this Just One...”
A little history
Pontius Pilate (lat. Pontius Pilatus) - Roman ruler of Judea from 26 to 36 AD. e; Roman horseman. Josephus and Tacitus call him a procurator, but an inscription found in Caesarea in 1961, dating from the reign of Pilate, shows that he, like other Roman rulers of Judea from 6 to 41, apparently served as a prefect.
The reign of Pontius Pilate was marked by mass violence and executions. Tax and political oppression, the provocative actions of Pontius Pilate, which insulted the religious beliefs and customs of the Jews, caused mass popular uprisings, which were mercilessly suppressed by the Romans. According to the first-century philosopher Philo of Alexandria, Pilate was responsible for countless cruelties and executions committed without any trial.
Pontius Pilate in the Christian tradition
According to the New Testament, Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus Christ to crucifixion, in whose death the Sanhedrin, led by the high priest Caiaphas, was interested. According to the gospel story, Pilate “took water and washed his hands in front of the people,” thus using an ancient Jewish custom that symbolized innocence in shedding blood (hence the expression “washing one’s hands”). After the Samaritans complained about the bloody massacre committed by Pontius Pilate, in 36 the Roman legate in Syria Vitellius (father of the future Emperor Vitellius) removed him from office and sent him to Rome. The further fate of Pilate is unknown.
There are many legends regarding the subsequent life of Pilate and his suicide, the historical authenticity of which is questionable. According to Eusebius of Caesarea (4th century), he was exiled to Vienne in Gaul, where various misfortunes eventually forced him to commit suicide. According to another apocryphal legend, after committing suicide, his body was thrown into the Tiber, but this caused such a disturbance in the water that the body was removed, taken to Vienne and drowned in the Rhone, where the same phenomena were observed, so that in the end he had to be drowned in bottomless lake in the Alps. According to other reports, he was executed by Nero; in Vienne, tourists are shown the pyramidal tomb of Pilate.
The name of Pontius Pilate is one of three (except the names of Jesus and Mary) mentioned in the Christian Creed: “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, ... crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried.” According to a common theological interpretation, the words “under Pontius Pilate” are an indication of a specific date, of the fact that the earthly life of Christ became a fact of human history.
The initial hostility of Christianity towards Pontius Pilate gradually disappears, and the “repentant” and “converted to Christianity” Pilate becomes the hero of a number of New Testament apocrypha, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church even canonized Pilate and his wife. Pilate's wife Procula (the name is known from a number of copies of the Gospel of Nicodemus) began to be identified with the Roman Christian Claudia, mentioned by the Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 4:21) - as a result, a double name arose - Claudia Procula. The feast of Saints Pilate and Procula is celebrated on June 25.
Pilate's Court
The Trial of Pilate is the trial of the Roman procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, over Jesus Christ, described in the Gospels. The Judgment of Pilate is included in the Passion of Christ.
A description of Pilate's trial of Jesus is given in all four evangelists:
Gospel Description of Judgment
From Matthew
(Matt.27:11-14)
...and having bound Him, they took Him away and handed Him over to Pontius Pilate, the governor... Jesus stood before the governor. And the ruler asked Him: Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus said to him: You speak. And when the chief priests and elders accused Him, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him: Do you not hear how many testify against You? And he did not answer a single word, so the ruler was very surprised.
From Mark
(Mark 15:1-5)
Immediately in the morning, the high priests with the elders and scribes and the entire Sanhedrin held a meeting and, having bound Jesus, took him away and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked Him: Are you the King of the Jews? He answered and said to him, “You speak.” And the chief priests accused Him of many things. Pilate asked Him again: “Are you not answering?” you see how many accusations are against you. But Jesus did not answer anything to this either, so Pilate marveled.
From Luke
(Luke 23:1-7)
And the whole multitude of them rose up, and took Him to Pilate, and began to accuse Him, saying: We have found that He corrupts our people and forbids giving tribute to Caesar, calling Himself Christ the King. Pilate asked Him: Are you the King of the Jews? He answered him: You speak. Pilate said to the chief priests and the people: I find no guilt in this man. But they insisted, saying that He was disturbing the people by teaching throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee to this place. Pilate, hearing about Galilee, asked: Is He a Galilean? And having learned that He was from Herod’s region, He sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem these days.
From John
(John 18:29-38)
Pilate came out to them and said: What do you accuse this Man of? They answered him: If He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you. Pilate said to them: Take Him, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews said to him: It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death, so that the word of Jesus, which He spoke, might be fulfilled, indicating by what kind of death He would die. Then Pilate again entered the praetorium, and called Jesus, and said to Him: Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him: Are you saying this on your own, or have others told you about Me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Your people and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what did you do? Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world; If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight for Me, so that I would not be betrayed to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate said to Him: So are You a King? Jesus answered: You say that I am a King. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I came into the world, to testify to the truth; everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice. Pilate said to Him: What is truth? And having said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them: I find no guilt in Him.
The Jewish high priests, having condemned Jesus Christ to death, could not themselves carry out the sentence without its approval by the Roman governor. As the evangelists narrate, after the night trial of Christ, they brought him in the morning to Pilate in the praetorium, but they themselves did not enter it so as not to be defiled, but so that they could eat Easter.
According to the testimony of all the evangelists, the main question that Pilate asked Jesus was: “Are you the King of the Jews? " This question was due to the fact that a real claim to power as King of the Jews, according to Roman law, was classified as a dangerous crime. The answer to this question was the words of Christ - you speak. , which can be considered as a positive answer, since in Jewish speech the phrase “you said” has a positive constative meaning. In giving this answer, Jesus emphasized that not only was he of royal descent by genealogy, but that as God he had authority over all kingdoms. The most detailed dialogue between Jesus Christ and Pilate is given in the Gospel of John (see quote above).
Evangelist Matthew reports that during the trial of Jesus, Pilate’s wife sent a servant to him to say: “Do not do anything to that righteous one, because now in a dream I have suffered much for Him” (Matthew 27:19). According to the apocrypha, Pilate's wife's name was Claudia Procula and she later became a Christian. In the Greek and Coptic churches she is canonized and commemorated on November 9 (October 27, old style).
Jesus Christ at the trial of Herod Antipas
Only the Evangelist Luke reports about the bringing of Jesus to Herod Antipas. Pilate, having learned that Jesus was from Herod's region, sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem these days (Luke 23:7). Herod Antipas heard a lot about Jesus Christ and had long wanted to see him, hoping to witness one of his miracles. Herod asked Jesus many questions, but he did not answer them. Afterwards, as Luke reports, Herod and his soldiers, having humiliated Him and mocked Him, dressed Him in light clothes and sent Him back to Pilate. And that day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for before they had been at enmity with each other.
(Luke 23:11-12)
It should be noted that the Romans wore white (light) clothing for candidates for any leadership or honorary position. Thus, Herod, by dressing Jesus this way, wanted to express that he perceived him only as an amusing contender for the Jewish throne and did not consider him a dangerous criminal. This is probably exactly how Pilate understood Herod, since he referred to the high priests that Herod did not find anything in Jesus worthy of death.
After Pilate first brought Jesus to the people who demanded his execution, he, deciding to arouse compassion for Christ among the people, ordered the soldiers to beat him. They took Jesus into the courtyard and took off his clothes and beat him. Then they dressed him in the king’s jester’s outfit: a scarlet robe (royal-colored cloak), placed a wreath woven from thorns (“crown”) on his head, and gave him a cane and a branch (“royal scepter”) in his right hand. After this, the soldiers began to mock him - they knelt down, bowed and said: “Hail, King of the Jews!”, and then spat on him and beat him on the head and face with a cane (Mark 15:19).
When studying the Shroud of Turin, identified with the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, it was concluded that Jesus was struck 98 blows (while the Jews were allowed to apply no more than 40 blows - Deut. 25: 3): 59 blows of a scourge with three ends, 18 with two ends and 21 - with one end.
Christ before the crowd
Pilate twice brought Jesus out to the people, declaring that he did not find in him any guilt worthy of death (Luke 23:22). The second time this was done after his torture, which was intended to arouse the pity of the people, showing that Jesus had already been punished by Pilate. Pilate went out again and said to them: Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, so that you may know that I do not find any guilt in Him. Then Jesus came out wearing a crown of thorns and a scarlet robe. And [Pilate] said to them: Behold, Man!
(John 19:4-5)
In the words of Pilate, “Behold, Man!” one can see his desire to arouse compassion among the Jews for the prisoner, who, after torture, does not look like a king in his appearance and does not pose a threat to the Roman emperor. The very appearance of Christ after the mockery of him became the fulfillment of one of the prophecies of the 21st messianic psalm: “But I am a worm, and not a man, reproached by men and despised by the people” (Ps. 21:7).
The people did not show leniency either the first or the second time and demanded the execution of Jesus in response to Pilate’s proposal to release Christ, following a long-standing custom: “You have a custom that I release one to you for Easter; Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you? At the same time, according to the Gospel, the people began to shout even more loudly let him be crucified. Seeing this, Pilate pronounced a death sentence - he sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, and he himself “washed his hands before the people and said: I am innocent of the blood of this Righteous One.” To which the people exclaimed: “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:24-25). Having washed his hands, Pilate performed the ritual washing of hands customary among the Jews as a sign of non-involvement in the murder being committed (Deut. 21: 1-9).
Apocryphal tales
Pilate's trial is described in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. In it, in addition to the information contained in the canonical Gospels, the author makes additions emphasizing the messianic status of Christ (for example, the episode with the worship of Christ banners in the hands of standard bearers). Pilate's trial begins with a dispute about the legality of the birth of Jesus, which ends with a dialogue between Pilate and 12 men who were present at the betrothal of the Virgin Mary and who testified to the legality of the birth of Jesus:
(And) Pilate said to them: “Why do they want to kill Him?”
They told him: “They are angry with him, for he heals on Saturdays.”
Pilate said: “Do they want to kill Him for good deeds?”
They told him: “Yes, sir.”
Pilate, angry, left the praetorium and said: “The sun is my witness - I will declare to everyone that I have not found a single sin in this man.”
The Gospel of Nicodemus records Jesus' answer to Pilate's question, “What is truth?” (the question according to the Gospel of John remained unanswered): “Jesus said: “The truth is from heaven.” Pilate said to Him: “Is there no truth in earthly things?” Jesus said to Pilate: “Listen - the truth is on earth among those who, having power, live by the truth and carry out righteous judgment.”
Witnesses in the defense of Christ at the trial are the sick who were miraculously healed by him: the paralytic, the man born blind, Veronica, the bleeding wife; residents of Jerusalem remember the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus. In response to this, Pilate, on the occasion of the holiday, invites the people to release Christ or Barabbas to their choice, and subsequently the apocrypha repeats the canonical gospel text, with the exception of Jesus being brought out to the people after the reproach.
Historical evidence
In addition to the New Testament, Pontius Pilate is mentioned in the writings of Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, and Tacitus. In 1961, in the Mediterranean port of Caesarea, which was once the residence of the Roman governor of Judea, two Italian archaeologists discovered a limestone slab measuring 82 x 100 x 20 cm with a Latin inscription deciphered by archaeologist Antonio Frova as:
…]S TIBERIÉUM
…PON]TIUS PILATUS
..PRAEF]ECTUS IUDAE
..́.
which may be a fragment of the inscription: "Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, presented Tiberius to the Caesareas." This slab became the first archaeological find to confirm the existence of Pilate.
Josephus also mentions the name of Pilate in the so-called Testimonium Flavianum (see Historicity of Jesus Christ).
In general, the number of historical evidence about Pontius Pilate is significantly inferior to the number of apocryphal texts associated with his name - starting with the “Transcripts of Pilate to Tiberius”, references to which are already found in authors of the 2nd-3rd centuries, and ending with forgeries of the 20th century - such, for example, as the “Testimony of the Greek Hermidius” (who allegedly served as the official biographer of the ruler of Judea and recorded the details of the trial of Jesus).
For two thousand years, theologians, historians, writers, and artists have been scrutinizing the image of this man. His name was not known to most of his contemporaries living in the Roman Empire. But today, about two billion Christians in different parts of our planet, reading the Creed, pronounce the name of Pontius Pilate, realizing the reality of events that changed the course of human history - “... crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures..."
“Wearing a white cloak with a bloody lining and a shuffling cavalry gait, early in the morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, came out into the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great.”
For many years, most of our compatriots, based on this fragment from “The Master and Margarita,” imagined the fifth Roman procurator of the province of Judea. It is not surprising that for Bulgakov’s readers Pilate was rather a legendary, artistic image. The mythological school* also made a lot of efforts to ensure that most of the characters in the gospel narrative lost connection with history in our minds...
* A system of theories first proposed in the 18th century. Charles Dupuy (1742-1807) and Constantin Volney (1757-1820), which mainly assert that Jesus Christ is a fictional image, as the entire gospel narrative is devoid of historical basis.
Today, one of the most important historical sources of our knowledge about Pontius Pilate is the works of the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus. Equally important for us is the written evidence of such historians as Philo of Alexandria, Tacitus, Suetonius, Eusebius of Caesarea...
Caesarea artifact
Until the twentieth century. archaeologists did not have any material evidence of the presence of such a Roman governor as Pontius Pilate in the province of Judea. And the discovery of a valuable artifact in 1961 in Caesarea during excavations of a theater was truly a sensation. This discovery forced even stubborn skeptics and rationalists to treat the procurator as a historical figure.
Here is the text of the monument:
".......STIBERIEUM
.........TIUSPILATUS
.........ECTUSIUDA...E"
A fragment of a stele with an inscription in Latin on the left side was artificially hewn by workers in the 4th century. according to R.H. for its secondary use as a stair step. But experts in ghostly epigraphy still tried to restore the inscription:
"S TIBERIEUM
TIUS PILATUS
ECTUS IUDAE"
« To the inhabitants of Caesarea Tiberius
............Pontius Pilate
............prefect of Judea»
The discovered artifact not only materially confirmed the written evidence of Roman and Jewish historians about the real existence of Pilate, but also put an end to the controversy over the official title of the Roman governor. The fact is that in the Vulgate* Pontius Pilate is called a procurator, and in Judea, according to many historians, since the establishment of the direct rule of Rome (6 AD), prefects (“overseer, guardian”) have ruled. This fact also provoked doubts about the historicity of the Roman governor. Besides the Vulgate, Pilate is only given the title of procurator by Tacitus. Evangelists simply call Pilate ἡγεµών - “ruler” (Matthew 27:2; Luke 3:1).
* Vulgata Versio(“generally accepted version”) - a translation of the Holy Scriptures into Latin made by Blessed Jerome of Stridon in the 5th century.
Today it is already obvious that in most Greek texts of the 1st-2nd centuries. the title does not have uniformity, and the dignitary, officially called the prefect, was often called ἐπίτροπος (“viceroy”) in many sources. This is how Pontius Pilate was called, for example, by Philo of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea.
At one time, the greatest expert on Roman history, T. Mommsen, noted that the Romans initially called prefects commanders of auxiliary cavalry and foot units, and since the time of Augustus, the position of prefect became military-administrative: in addition to the praetorian prefect - the commander of the Praetorian Guard - a city prefect of Rome appeared, replacing city praetor; several prefects were sent to the most important imperial (not senatorial) provinces. One of them was Judea.
Food for thought
According to some information, Pontius Pilate was born in 10 BC in Lugdunum, in Gaul (now Lyon, France). Pontius is, apparently, the family name of Pilate, indicating his belonging to the Roman family of Pontius. As for the name Pilate (Pilatus), it can be assumed that this is a nickname that was received by the future governor of Judea at the beginning of his military career. Pilum - a heavy-shafted throwing spear of Roman infantry, used in close combat. The main purpose of throwing this spear is to pierce the enemy's shield. Plunging into the shield, this weapon pierced the metal casing, plunging deeply into the wooden base of the shield. The enemy was unable to continue the battle without throwing off his shield, since the heavy shaft of this spear deprived him of maneuverability. Most likely, in his youth, during military campaigns, the future Roman prefect received the nickname Pilatus (“spear thrower”) for his excellent mastery of this weapon.
Pilate went on a state trip to the Middle East accompanied by his wife Claudia, the illegitimate daughter of the living Emperor Tiberius (let’s pay attention to this detail) and the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus Octavian.
Features of the Roman procuratorate
“A good shepherd shears his sheep, but does not skin them,” was the directive received from Emperor Tiberius by all dignitaries representing the power of the Roman throne in the provinces of the empire.
But the title procurator - “manager of the emperor’s income, or trustee” - was not always understood correctly by the procurators themselves. Very often, the emperor's treasury got mixed up with his own pockets, and business trips to the Roman provinces were considered by officials as an opportunity to increase personal wealth. Taxation itself was arbitrary and often took on the scale of confiscation. The methods of extortion were no less outrageous. Taxpayers who were no longer able to contribute to the imperial treasury were thrown into prison.
Judea was no exception in this regard, and since it was poorer than other provinces, it became impoverished faster and the rampant extortions here were especially painful.
First clashes
The new Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate, took office in 25 AD, settling, like all his procurator predecessors (Coponius, Marcus Ambivius, Rufus Tineus, Valerius Gratus), in the residence city of Caesarea Maritime.
Apparently, the predecessors of Pontius Pilate were already able to form among the local population a “special attitude” towards the Roman presence in the Holy Land. Surely Pilate himself heard about the obstinacy of the Jews, whose repeated uprisings had to be suppressed by the Romans. Therefore, let us explain the gesture with which Pilate began his reign in the Holy Land - bringing into Jerusalem standards with the image of the emperor. So he tried to demonstrate his contempt for the Jews and their religious laws. But in order not to put Roman soldiers at unnecessary risk, this operation was carried out at night. And when in the morning the inhabitants of Jerusalem saw the Roman banners, the soldiers were already in their barracks. This story is described in great detail by Josephus in The Jewish War. Afraid to remove the standards without permission (apparently, this was just what the legionnaires were waiting for in their barracks), the residents of Jerusalem went to Caesarea to meet the new governor of Rome who had arrived. Here, according to Josephus, Pilate was adamant, because removing the standards was tantamount to insulting the emperor. But on the sixth day of the demonstration, either because Pilate did not want to begin his assumption of office with a massacre of civilians, or because of special instructions from Rome, he ordered the standards to be returned to Caesarea. Most likely, the reason for this turn of events in this story, as in some other episodes of the “Jewish War,” was the desire of the author, Josephus, to present both the procurator himself and his compatriots to the Roman reader in the most favorable light.
We can say that the first clash between Pilate and the local population ended in victory for the latter. Apparently, it was this incident, which aggravated the procurator’s hatred, that explains the subsequent attitude towards such situations.
Jerusalem Aqueduct
But the real conflict between the Jews and the Roman governor occurred after Pilate's decision to expand the water supply network in Jerusalem. To implement this project, the procurator asked for subsidies from the treasury of the Jerusalem Temple. Everything would have worked out if Pontius Pilate had secured funding through negotiations and the voluntary consent of the Temple treasurers. But Pilate committed an unprecedented act - he simply withdrew the required amount from the treasury! It is clear that on the part of the Jewish population this unacceptable move provoked a corresponding reaction - an uprising. “Many tens of thousands of Jews gathered near the workers engaged in the construction of the water pipeline and began to loudly demand that the governor abandon his plan.” In a manner typical of the author of Jewish Antiquities, Josephus tried to soften the situation: “As usually happens in such cases, some of them allowed themselves to insult Pilate with curses.” Apparently, this became the reason for decisive action. Pilate "ordered to dress (in civilian clothes) a significant number of soldiers, gave them clubs, which they had to hide under their clothes." The legionnaires surrounded the crowd, and after the order to disperse was ignored, Pilate “gave the soldiers a conventional sign, and the soldiers set to work much more zealously than Pilate himself would have liked. Working with clubs, they equally hit both noisy rebels and completely innocent people. The Jews, however, continued to stand firm; but since they were unarmed, and their opponents were armed, many of them fell dead here, and many left covered with wounds. Thus the indignation was suppressed."
Galilean pilgrims or Zealots?
The next account of Pilate's cruelty is found in the Gospel of Luke. At this time some came and told Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.(Luke 13:1). Various guesses can be made around this verse, but it is obvious that it was about an event known at that time, since the word Γαλιλαίων is preceded by the definite article τῶν. Without knowing the true motives of the procurator, we can only assume that the group of Galilean pilgrims was identified by Pilate with the rebellious Galilean Zealots. This could have been the reason for the unexpected massacre right in the Jerusalem Temple during the statutory sacrifice.
Another clash, described by the Jewish historian Philo of Alexandria (25 BC - 50 AD), occurs a short time later, again, in Jerusalem. By order of Pilate, golden shields were hung on the walls of his Jerusalem residence (the palace of Herod the Great) - this time without the image of the emperor, but with texts of dedication from the donor. Once again, a group of parliamentarians from the local population, led by four princes from the family of Herod the Great, appeals to Pilate with a request to remove the shields. The delegates support their appeal with the threat of a complaint to the emperor himself, whom they meaningfully call their master.
The first thing you should pay attention to is that it is absolutely incredible that the emperor would interfere in the decisions of his son-in-law-prefect on such a minor matter (we will talk about the emperor’s attitude towards Jerusalem and towards the Jews in general below). Even if this had happened, the matter would have ended with the confiscation of the palace in favor of the Roman throne, as was the case in similar situations in Gaul, Spain, Syria, Greece, etc. Second: Herod’s palace had no religious significance. After the death of Herod the Great, the palace served as the Jerusalem residence of the Roman governors, and the new owners of the palace, without in any way offending the feelings of the religious population, could designate it with their visible symbols. Probably the main reason for the protest was the desire of the representatives of Herod’s family to return the façade of the family palace to its previous appearance (after all, the palace nominally continued to belong to them). It was under their leadership that the indignation was organized.
Attitude of Rome
It is noteworthy that in this case and in other similar situations, the Jews tried to change Pilate’s decision by appealing to the emperor’s court. The time has come to present the true attitude of Rome (and Tiberius himself) towards the Jews and Judea. This will help clarify why Pontius Pilate ended up here and why it was him, as well as generally understand the situation that had developed by this time in the Middle East.
Emperor Tiberius said: “Let them hate me, as long as they fear me.” From Roman sources we know that it was under Emperor Tiberius that a number of decrees were issued, according to which the “Jewish cult” was prohibited, and all objects of religious ornate “superstitious religion” in Rome itself and its environs were subject to burning. According to Suetonius, “Jews capable of bearing arms were conscripted for military service in units located in areas where epidemics were raging. People who were not subject to military service due to age were sent to distant provinces without the right to return to Rome. Those who violated this prohibition were given into slavery.” And Josephus clarifies that those Jews who evaded military service, citing religious laws, were subject to the death penalty.
The ideologist of such a policy of the Roman throne, a kind of Himmler of Ancient Rome, was the all-powerful adviser to Emperor Tiberius Sezhan. It was he, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, who took “energetic steps to exterminate the entire Jewish race.” Some historians suggest that, on the recommendation of Sejan, Tiberius sent Pontius Pilate to Judea.
Almost the only characteristic given to Pilate by his contemporary are the words of Philo of Alexandria: “naturally tough, stubborn and merciless... depraved, rude and aggressive, he raped, abused, repeatedly killed and constantly committed atrocities.” Apparently, Pontius Pilate, being the most humble servant of the emperor-father-in-law, decisively pursued the policy of his related patron in relation to the population of Judea. It is unlikely that the threat of indignant Jews to complain to Emperor Tiberius could have frightened the Roman governor.
The surviving "rods" - bronze coins minted during the procuratorate of Pontius Pilate in Judea - also reflect his open contempt for the culture of the local population. Pilate was the only procurator who allowed himself to mint pagan symbols on coins (for example, simpulum - ceremonial ladle for sacrificial libations, lituus- the rod of pagan priests), which offended the religious feelings of the Jews.
Apocryphal metamorphosis
For many Christians over the course of two thousand years, the image of the Roman governor, during whose procuratorate the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, was presented differently.
Apparently, even at an early stage, this was facilitated by the wide popularity among early Christian communities of documents that were reminiscent of shorthand reports in nature. The well-established work of archivists in the Roman provinces gave hope for the existence of office documents that recorded such a high-profile process as the trial of Christ. Thus, a work replete with all sorts of details of the trial of the Savior, known as Acta Pilati (“Acts of Pilate”), was mentioned already in the 2nd century. Saint Justin Martyr, and later Tertullian and Gregory of Tours.
Many apocrypha even assumed that Pilate subsequently repented and became a Christian. In this regard, an apocryphal monument is interesting, tracing its authorship to Nicodemus, the secret disciple of Christ, most likely for the same reason why the names of the apostles (Peter, Thomas, Philip) appeared in the titles of other apocrypha. Moreover, the “Gospel of Nicodemus” was very well known in Rus'. One of the oldest copies of this monument dates back to the 13th century. (library of the Church of St. Sophia of Novgorod). Among the pseudo-documents we can also include “Pilate’s Letter to Claudius Caesar”, “Pilate’s Ascension”, “Pilate’s Letter to Herod the Tetrarch”, “Pilate’s Sentence”. The range of creation of these fakes extended from the 2nd century. until the late Middle Ages.
In light of the above, it is interesting that in the Ethiopian Church Pontius Pilate and his wife Claudia Procula are canonized. In one of the medieval Ethiopian manuscripts, called the “Confession of Pilate,” the following confession is put into the mouth of Pilate, pronounced at the tomb of the Savior: “I believe that You have risen and appeared to me, and I also believe that You, Lord, will not judge me, for I acted in condemning You out of fear of the Jews. I believe in Your words and in the deeds that You did when you were among people.” Undoubtedly, this legend, like other legends presented in apocryphal literature, has a very tentative relationship to the historical Pilate.
However, the apocryphal point of view on the personality of Pilate was not the only one in the Christian environment. The father of church history, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine Eusebius, referring to Roman historians, says: “Pontius Pilate, having fallen into many impiety, killed himself with his own hand, as Roman historians write about it.” And if we conduct the conversation in terms of historical reliability, then we must admit: neither the New Testament nor the testimony of historians gives grounds to whitewash Pilate, as is done in the apocryphal monuments mentioned above.
The moral qualities of Pontius Pilate can be judged by his actions in Judea. Pilate was undoubtedly a tough and resourceful person; just remember how he suppressed the protest of the residents of Jerusalem, who accused him of plundering the temple treasury. It is very difficult to admit that such an unprincipled ruler will stand up for justice and legality in legal proceedings to the end. And although in the Gospel narrative the procurator of Judea is presented as a hesitant person, the fact of his innocence in the death of Jesus is not deduced from this. On the contrary, we definitely know from the Holy Scriptures that the Lord was sentenced to death precisely by Pilate, who at that time represented the highest Roman power in Judea. The death sentence was also carried out by a cohort of Roman soldiers. The Savior was crucified on the Cross, which in itself should attract attention, because crucifixion is the Roman tradition of the death penalty.
About 80 years after the death penalty of the Lord on Calvary, the Roman historian Tacitus testified to the unambiguous role of Pontius Pilate in the crucifixion of Christ: “This nickname (Christians) comes from Christ, who during the reign of Tiberius was put to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate. Suppressed for some time, this harmful superstition spread again, and not only in Judea, where this evil arose, but also in the City itself (Rome).
After the crucifixion
In 36 AD, several years after the crucifixion of the Savior, Pilate staged another brutal pogrom. This time, the people living north of Judea, the Samaritans, paid with their lives. Having surrounded the village of Tiraphan, the Roman troops actually took the Samaritans by surprise. After the surprise attack, having dealt with those who tried to fight back, Pilate ordered the execution of the “most influential and most prominent” captured local residents. Josephus Flavius dwelled on this event in detail, since it was after it that the Roman governor was recalled to Rome. In fact, this was the end of Pilate's Middle Eastern mission.
As for the further fate of Pontius Pilate, there is no reliable information about his fate after leaving Judea at the end of 36.
Many hypotheses have been preserved, which, despite the differences in details, boil down to one thing - Pilate committed suicide.
Phlegon (a historian of the early 2nd century who compiled chronicles of the Olympics) was the first to mention this. It is further repeated by the already quoted Eusebius.
Apparently, no one was able to intercede for the former Roman procurator of Judea when he reached Rome. This, most likely, was the reason for the despair that washed over the former Roman prefect of Judea. The only patron on whom Pilate could count, Tiberius, had died by this time, and Emperor Nero took the throne. According to other sources, it was Nero who signed the order for the execution of Pontius Pilate as Tiberius’ henchman. There are also legends according to which the waters of the Tiber River refused to accept the body of Pilate, thrown there after committing suicide. The same thing happened when they tried to drown Pilate's body in Gaul in the Rhone River, and in the end, according to this story, Pilate's body had to be thrown into one of the high mountain lakes in the Alps.
According to other sources, Pilate died of natural causes in Gaul, where even today guides show his grave, supposedly marked by an obelisk, at the hippodrome in Vienne. It is unlikely that this has anything to do with reality. It is noteworthy, however, that to this day the nearby mountain bears the name of the Roman procurator.
Antonia Fortress or Essene Gate?
On the issue of localizing the place of the trial of Christ
Among pilgrims visiting Jerusalem, it is still widely believed that the Ecce Homo arch on the Via Dolorosa route in the Old City is located exactly above the place where Pilate brought out the Savior in scarlet and a crown of thorns before the crowd and said: Behold the Man!(John 19:5).
Guides, and sometimes even the pilgrims themselves, know that many “stopping points” of the so-called Way of the Cross have symbolic meaning and are far from historical reality. The history of Jerusalem has seen many storms, sieges, and conquests, as a result of which the city was repeatedly turned into ruins (over the course of its history, the city was destroyed about 80 times). Thanks to modern archaeological excavations, many discoveries have been made that have radically changed the idea of what Jerusalem looked like at the time of Christ. The exposed cultural layers were able to tell how successive owners (Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ayyubids, Mongols, Turks) redesigned ancient Jerusalem “for themselves.”
For example, today it is obvious that the Ecce Homo arch is a fragment of the triumphal arch of Emperor Hadrian, erected in 135 A.D. Liphostroton on the modern route Via Dolorosa is nothing more than the pavement of Aelia Capitolina (a city built by the Romans on the site of a destroyed Jerusalem in the 2nd century). Underground grottoes, arranged as cells with flat elevations, were actually stables in the past, and only in 1911 did the Jerusalem Patriarchate begin to consider this place one of the places of temporary detention of the Savior and called it “The Imprisonment of Christ,” etc.
Back in the 14th century. The monks of the Franciscan order for the pious processions of Good Friday designated places that, in their opinion, were consistent with the Gospel narrative, and it is these “stops” that make up the Via Dolorosa - the “Sorrowful Path”, which for some reason Orthodox pilgrims go through today. The Franciscans took as their starting point the buildings of the Javiliyya Madrasah on the site of the Antonia fortress destroyed in 70 (today the El-Omariyya Madrasah).
Modern archeology offers quite serious arguments in favor of the fact that the detention, the trial of the Roman procurator, the scourging, and the imposition of the death sentence took place in a completely different place in Jerusalem. According to the gospel narrative, the trial of Jesus Christ took place in Praetoria, the official residence of the Roman governor. During the earthly life of the Savior in Jerusalem there were two points controlled by the Roman military contingent: the fortress of Antonia and the palace of Herod the Great with barracks.
It is hardly possible that the trial took place in the Antonia fortress (the presence of the governor in it is also doubtful). Thanks to archaeological studies of the foundation of the fortress, it has been established that the citadel itself most likely had the shape of a tower (90 m x 40 m) rising above the Temple Mount, and it was used by the Romans, among other things, as an observation post, from where it was convenient to monitor the actions of pilgrims. The premises of the fortress were too cramped to serve both as a residence for government officials and as a headquarters with barracks for the military contingent of legionnaires.
Currently, there is no doubt in the scientific world that the palace of Herod the Great was the residence of the Roman governor, and therefore the Evangelical Praetorium. The territory of the palace was protected by a powerful fortification system with three high towers (Hippicus, Phasael and Mariamne). Today, pilgrims and tourists in the Old City can see the massive base of one of the towers, the Ottoman superstructure on which was called מיגדל דוד - “Tower of David”.
Apparently, after the grandiose and majestic Temple of Jerusalem, Herod's palace was the largest building in Jerusalem with extensive gardens and adjacent military barracks.
When describing the palace and its fortifications, Josephus reports the so-called Essene Gate, through which one could enter the private area of the palace of Herod the Great. It was this Essene Gate that was discovered in the 1970s. Israeli archaeologist Magen Broshi.
In 2009, while participating in seasonal archaeological excavations on Mount Zion under the leadership of the famous British archaeologist Simon Gibson, I heard first-hand from Simon, who was part of M. Brochi’s expedition, a story about the discovery of a monumental gate with the remains of a large courtyard located between two fortress walls. It was they who were identified as the Essene Gate. According to Gibson, this find fits well with the description of the scene of the Savior's trial in the Gospel of John: Pilate, having heard this word, brought Jesus out and sat down at the judgment seat, in a place called Liphostroton, and in Hebrew Gavvatha(John 19:13). Indeed, in the above-mentioned excavation, a raised platform and a platform with steps were discovered, which, apparently, is designated in the Gospel as Liphostroton - “stone platform.”
As for the “trial,” again, Josephus has an interesting passage in The Jewish War, where he describes the trial of the procurator Cassius Florus, which took place in Herod’s palace on the occasion of the beginning of the disturbances in Jerusalem in 66: “Florus spent the night in the royal palace, and the next day he ordered a judge’s chair to be placed in front of the palace, which he ascended.” This fragment echoes the “seat of judges” mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 27:19).
From the Gospel of John we can conclude that the Praetorium, where the trial of Christ took place, was a separate building located next to the palace, with adjoining prison cells. According to Gibson, discovered by archaeologists in the 70s. the well-defended Essene Gate, with its courtyard, perfectly corresponds to the description of the site of the Roman tribunal, both by Josephus and the evangelists. Despite the fact that they were erected under Herod for a private entrance through the Praetoria to the palace, this does not exclude the possibility of holding public events inside the gates and in the large courtyard between the walls. This place was ideal for the announcement of decrees and public trials. It was easy to control those gathered here due to the fact that this area was well protected. The court at the gate was probably carefully guarded by Roman soldiers from the Praetoria barracks. The people who could be allowed to observe the process could react emotionally to some moments of the trial, but were physically powerless. At the end of the case, most likely, those who came to the trial were put outside the outer gates under the careful supervision of Roman soldiers stationed on the adjacent towers. Apparently, after being sentenced to death, the Savior was taken back to the prison cell in Pretoria, and it was from there that the Lord began His path to Calvary.
This means that proposed in the 14th century. Catholic Franciscan monks, the route of the Way of the Cross with its starting point at the Antonia Fortress, which has become traditional today, is inaccurate in relation to the one followed by pious pilgrims in the Byzantine period. Amazingly, it seems that the pilgrims of that time knew that Praetoria was located next to the palace of Herod the Great, since at that time the route of the Way of the Cross was different: from Gethsemane it ran around the city to the house of Caiaphas on Mount Zion, then to the palace of King Herod , where the location of Pilate's Praetorium was supposed, and, finally, to the Temple of the Resurrection.
Apparently, we can, not without reason, assume that the Gospel Praetorium and the Essene Gate with the courtyard mentioned in the Gospel: And the soldiers took Him inside the courtyard, that is, to the praetorium... (Mark 15, 16) - there is one and the same place in which the trial of the Roman procurator over the Son of Man took place.
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In history, the truth often turns into a legend, and it is no longer considered true. And then some person comes, naive and gullible from the point of view of others, and says: “What if the legend contains a sound grain? What if you believe her?
This happened more than a hundred years ago, when Schliemann, whom we have already talked about, believed that Troy, described by Homer in the poem “The Iliad,” actually existed, and went to look for it. He followed in the footsteps of Homer's heroes and found the place where this great city stood.
Something similar happened during the search for another ancient hero, or rather, the anti-hero of the Bible, the Roman governor in Judea Pontius Pilate. He did not glorify himself in anything either before or after the execution of Jesus Christ, he came from obscurity and disappeared into obscurity. But his word, his decision to wash his hands of it changed the history of the entire earth.
Since many scientists today think that in fact Jesus did not exist - this is, so to speak, a collective image formed in the memory of descendants from the images of several teachers and prophets who preached at the turn of our era - then the existence of Pontius Pilate is in doubt . Was there such a politician and administrator in the Roman Empire?
You can believe me, for two thousand years now researchers have been combing through Roman archives, unfortunately preserved quite poorly, so as not to miss a single word, not a single mention of Pontius Pilate. But we found little. True, we can say with confidence that Pontius Pilate probably existed and actually served in Judea.
But only recently did English scientists find out where it came from.
And if we talk about historical sensations, about unraveling mysteries that are many hundreds of years old, then the story of Pontius Pilate will be in the foreground.
The British turned to ancient chronicles, as well as to Roman inscriptions - after all, England was once a Roman colony, it was conquered by Julius Caesar, and many Roman commanders served there, gaining experience in wars with the Scots and Irish, the rebellious sons of Albion.
In 13 BC, a Roman detachment arrived in the Caledonian Forest in southern Scotland. The power of the Romans was ending in those parts. The Scots, who lived to the north, did not obey anyone and attacked the Roman garrisons.
The Roman ruler of England sent the centurion Pontius to those parts in order for him to establish good relations with the Scottish king Metallanus. Pontius arrived in the king's capital, Fortingall. And since the king was not very rich and powerful, his capital was obviously a simple castle surrounded by village houses.
The most famous place in Fortingall was the yew tree.
The yew tree is similar to juniper. It grows very slowly and can live for thousands of years. The yew at Fortingall was one of the oldest trees in Scotland. It was believed that it was already two thousand years old.
It was under this tree that the Roman centurion met the niece of the Scottish king Elijah and fell madly in love with her.
Meanwhile, the Romans, with the permission of Metallanus, built a small fortress nearby, and Pontius commanded its garrison. Apparently, Pontius's relationship with the royal family was good.
At least the king did not object to the wedding of Elijah and the Roman officer.
And soon disaster struck. Elijah gave birth to a boy and died in childbirth. This happened quite often in those days.
The boy was left an orphan. He grew up in a Roman fortress and played under an ancient tree.
The boy grew up when the time came for the centurion to leave Scotland. Pontius's relationship with the king was so good that he sent his son Mansuteus with him. He wanted the prince to learn all sciences in Rome.
Pontius is a rare name, and English historians immediately suspected that this was not the same Pontius Pilate mentioned in the Gospel? Moreover, the boy born in 10 BC, the son of Pontius, would have been the same age as the governor of Judea during the events described in the Bible.
Where did the second half of the name come from?
Scientists believe that this happened due to the fact that little Pontius was completely orphaned - his father died shortly after returning to Rome. And then the boy was given a felt hat. Such a hat was called “pilatus”, and only the head of the family could wear it. If an adult inherited this hat, no one would pay attention to it. When a ten-year-old boy became the head of the family, this address conveyed both respect and some irony.
So the nickname became part of the name. You won't find another one like it in Rome. You can be almost sure that we are talking about exactly the person described by Mikhail Bulgakov in the novel “The Master and Margarita”.
Pontius Pilate entered public service and at the age of forty received the high post of governor of a Roman province. The fate of his friend, Prince Mansuteus, also turned out well, who turned out to be very capable and was so liked in Rome that he was sent home, confirmed not only as the Scottish king, but also as the Roman governor, which happened very rarely - as a rule, the Romans did not trust the nobility of the conquered provincial
Pontius Pilate ended his career in Judea poorly, although he managed to become famous for centuries.
However, on the day when this happened, no one in the world suspected that the governor was signing his own sentence for eternity. And least of all, Pilate himself thought about it, for whom, most likely, those events were ordinary and completely insignificant.
Of course, you know what happened, but still I will remind you that it never hurts to read again about what any cultured person should know.
The priests of Jerusalem, who enjoyed no less power in the city than King Herod himself, were afraid of the growing influence of Jesus Christ. They saw him as a threat to their dominance in the country. And, accusing the preacher of sacrilege and rebellion against the authorities, they seized him and brought him to Pontius Pilate. They accused Christ of allegedly wanting to destroy the Jerusalem Temple and calling himself the son of God. They found witnesses, and although Christ did not justify himself, but also did not admit to the crimes, his fate seemed to be decided.
And suddenly an obstacle arose before the accusers of Christ in the person of Pontius Pilate. He talked with Christ and, apparently, was convinced that he was innocent of anything. But the Roman governor had to remain in tolerable relations with the top of Jewish society. And then he cheated - he ordered the prisoner to be sent to King Herod, so that he could sort it out and take responsibility for himself. But Herod turned out to be even more cunning than Pilate and, as the Evangelist Luke writes, having not achieved any miracles from Christ, amid the cries of the high priests, he ordered him to be beaten and, having changed his clothes so that no traces of torture could be seen, sent him back to the Roman. Moreover, he took advantage of this opportunity to improve his relations with the Roman Empire. The Evangelist writes: “And that day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for before they had been at enmity with each other.” What kind of conspiracy happened between the two rulers, we will obviously never know.
Whether Pilate wanted it or not, whether he had already agreed with Herod or was left alone with his conscience, he continued the interrogation of Jesus and after the interrogation told the Jewish Pharisees that he considered Christ innocent and, moreover, was going to exercise his right - in honor of the Jewish Easter holiday to pardon one of those sentenced to death. And in addition to the two robbers, Barabbas was also sentenced to death, who was accused of rebelling against the authorities. Pilate said, “Let us free Christ.”
You should have listened to the noise made by the Pharisee priests and their minions, who ran to the governor’s palace!
And then Pontius Pilate performed a demonstrative act, which is described only in the Gospel of Matthew: “Pilate, seeing that nothing helped, but the confusion was increasing, took water and washed his hands in front of the people, and said: I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man.”
Oh, and Pilate was cunning! What a school of diplomacy in the capital of a conquered people! And the Roman Empire is pure, and the high priests got whomever they wanted to be torn to pieces.
Pilate's troubles began after the execution of Christ. Despite his crafty policies, a rebellion against the Romans soon broke out in Jerusalem. Pilate brutally suppressed him, causing the displeasure of Rome. An excellent diplomat - and suddenly such recklessness! And when after this Pilate massacred the Samaritan tribe, Rome decided to sacrifice an insufficiently flexible governor. There is an old law: “There is no bad church, but there are bad priests.” And if things go wrong in the colony, then we need to point out the culprit, who can be sent to trial, so that everyone can see how we are fighting for justice!
Apparently, the reputation of the cunning Pilate was so bad that he was not only recalled home, but also ordered to await trial.
And then Pilate was lucky. Emperor Tiberius, who issued this strict decree, died. The trial did not take place, but the governor’s property, apparently acquired through illegitimate means, was confiscated, he was expelled from public service, and Pilate left Rome.
He went north to what is now France.
Further events of his life border on a legend, a moral parable, so it cannot be said that this was exactly what happened.
But there are medieval French chronicles that say that in his old age Pontius Pilate realized his sins and accepted Christianity - he became one of the first Christians among noble Romans.
What is more certain is that Pontius Pilate returned to England, where his childhood friend ruled Scotland.
King Mansuteus accepted him as a brother and settled him in his castle. Legends say that Pontius Pilate preached Christianity throughout England and achieved considerable success in doing so. From the chronicles it is known that he died on July 5, 1955, that is, he lived for sixty-four years - a lot for those times.
As an ascetic and holy man, Pontius Pilate was allegedly buried in Fortingall under an ancient yew tree.
This yew has survived to this day. Now there is a small church next to it.
The yew, which is already four thousand years old, looks less like a tree and more like an interweaving of gnarled trunks, some of which died thousands of years ago, while others sprout new shoots.