LETTERS OF
HEROD & PILOT
CONNECTING ROMAN HISTORY WITH THE
DEATH OF CHRIST AT JERUSALEM.
[These
letters occur in a Syriac MS., of the sixth or seventh century, in the British
Maseum. Dr. Tischendorf states in his Apoca1ypses Apocryphae (Prolegg. p. 56) that
he has a copy of the same in Greek from a Paris MS., of which he says
"scriptura satis differt, non item argumentum." The letters are
followed by a few extracts which seem to have been added by some copyist,
although they are followed by the subscription to Pilate's letter. We suppose
that by Justinus, we are to understand Justus of Tiberias of whom Josephus
speaks as a historian of his time. We cannot venture an opinion favorable to
the genuineness of this extract, because Photius says Justus did not mention
Christ. By Theodorus, we understand the Emperor Tiberius. The question and
answer agree in sense with what is read in the "Anaphora," or
response of Pilate.]
LETTER OF HEROD TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR.
HEROD TO PONTIUS PILATE THE GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM: PEACE.
I AM in great anxiety. I write
these things unto thee, I AM in great anxiety. I write these things unto thee,
that when thou hast heard them thou mayest be grieved for me. For as my
daughter Herodias, who is dear to me, was playing upon a pool of water which
had ice upon it, it broke under her, and all her body went down, and her head
was cut off and remained on the surface of the ice.
And behold, her mother is holding
her head upon her knees in her lap, and my whole house is in great sorrow. For
I, when I heard of the man Jesus, wished to come to thee, that I might see him
alone, and hear his word, whether it was like that of the sons of men.
And it is certain that because of
the many evil things which were done by me to John the Baptist, and because I
mocked the Christ, behold I receive the reward of righteousness, for I have
shed much blood of others' children upon the earth. Therefore the judgments of
God are righteous; for every man receives according to his thought.
But since thou wast worthy to see
that God-man, therefore it becometh you to pray for me. My son Azbonius also is
in the agony of the hour of death.
And I too am in affliction and
great trial, because I have the dropsy; and am in great distress, because I persecuted
the introducer of baptism by water, which was John. Therefore, my brother, the
judgments of God are righteous.
And my wife, again, through all her
grief for her daughter, is become blind in her left eye, because we desired to
blind the Eye of righteousness. There is no peace to the doers of evil, saith
the Lord. For already great affliction cometh upon the priests and upon the
writers of the law; because they delivered unto thee the Just One. For this is
the consummation of the world, that they consented that the Gentiles should
become heirs. For the children of light shall be cast out, for they have not
observed the things which were preached concerning the Lord, and concerning his
Son.
Therefore gird up thy loins, and receive
righteousness, thou with thy wife remembering Jesus night and day; and the
kingdom shall belong to you Gentiles, for we the (chosen) people have mocked
the Righteous One.
Now if there is place for our request,
O Pilate, because we were at one time in power, bury my household carefully;
for it is right that we should be buried by thee, rather than by the priests,
whom, after a little time, as the Scriptures say, at the coming of Jesus
Christ, vengeance shall overtake.
Fare thee well, with Procla thy
wife.
I send thee the earrings of my daughter
and my own ring, that they may be unto thee a memorial of my decease. For
already do worms begin to issue from my body, and lo, I am receiving temporal
judgment, and I am afraid of the judgment to come. For in both we stand before
the works of the living God; but this judgment, which is tempora1, is for a
time, while that to come is judgment for ever.
End of the Letter to Pilate the Governor.
LETTER OF PILATE TO HEROD.
PILATE TO HEROD THE TETRARCH: PEACE.
KNOW and see, that in the day when
thou didst deliver Jesus unto me, I took pity on myself, and testified by
washing my hands (that I was innocent), concerning him who rose from the grave
after three days, and had performed thy pleasure in him, for thou didst desire
me to be associated with thee in his crucifixion. But I now learn from the executioners
and from the soldiers who watched his sepulchre that he rose from the dead.
And I have especially confirmed
what was told me, that he appeared bodily in Galilee, in the same form, and
with the same voice, and with the same doctrine, and with the same disciples,
not having changed in anything, but preaching with boldness his resurrection,
and an everlasting kingdom.
And behold, heaven and earth rejoice;
and behold, Procla my wife is believing in the visions which appeared unto her,
when thou sentest that I should deliver Jesus to the people of Israel, because
of the ill-will they had.
Now when Procla, my wife, heard
that Jesus was risen, and had appeared in Galilee, she took with her Longinus
the centurion and twelve soldiers, the same that had watched at the sepulchre,
and went to greet the face of Christ, as if to a great spectacle, and saw him
with his disciples.
Now while they were standing, and
wondering, and gazing at him, he looked at them, and said to them, What is it?
Do ye believe in me? Procla, know that in the covenant which God gave to the
fathers, it is said that every body which had perished should live by means of
my death, which ye have seen. And now, ye see that I live, whom ye crucified.
And I suffered many things, till that I was laid in the sepulchre. But now,
hear me, and believe in my Father - God who is in me. For I loosed the cords of
death, and brake the gates of Sheol; and my coming shall be hereafter.
And when Procla my wife and the
Romans heard these things, they came and told me, weeping; for they also were
against him, when they devised the evils which they had done unto him. So that,
I also was on the couch of my bed in affliction, and put on a garment of
mourning, and took unto me fifty Romans with my wife and went into Galilee.
And when I was going in the way I
testified these things; that Herod did these things by me, that he took counsel
with me, and constrained me to arm my hands against him, and to judge him that
judgeth all, and to scourge the Just One, Lord of the just. And when we drew
nigh to him, O Herod, a great voice was heard from heaven, and dreadful
thunder, and the earth trembled, and gave forth a sweet smell, like unto which
was never perceived even in the temple of Jerusalem. Now while I stood in the
way, our Lord saw me as he stood and talked with his disciples. But I prayed in
my heart, for I knew that it was he whom ye delivered unto me, that he was Lord
of created things and Creator of all. But we, when we saw him, all of us fell
upon our faces before his feet. And I said with a loud voice, I have sinned, O
Lord, in that I sat and judged thee, who avengest all in truth. And lo, I know
that thou art God, the Son of God, and I beheld thy humanity and not thy
divinity. But Herod, with the children of Israel, constrained me to do evil
unto thee. Have pity, therefore, upon me, O God of Israel !
And my wife, in great anguish,
said, God of heaven and of earth, God of Israel, reward me not according to the
deeds of Pontius Pilate, nor according to the will of the children of Israel,
nor according to the thought of the sons of the priests; but remember my
husband in thy glory!
Now our Lord drew near and raised
up me and my wife, and the Romans; and I looked at him and saw there were on
him the scars of his cross. And be said, That which all the righteous fathers
hoped to receive, and saw not - in thy time the Lord of Time, the Son of Man,
the Son of the Most High, who is for ever, arose from the dead, and is
glorified on high by all that he created, and established for ever and ever.
1. Justinus, one of the writers
that were in the days of Augustus and Tiberius and Gaius, wrote in his third
discourse: Now Mary the Gali1aean, who bare the Christ that was crucified in
Jerusalem, had not been with a husband. And Joseph did not abandon her; but
Joseph continued in sanctity without a wife, he and his five sons by a former
wife; and Mary continued without a husband.
2. Theodorus wrote to Pilate the
Governor: Who was the man, against whom there was a complaint before thee, that
he was crucified by the men of Palestine? If the many demanded this
righteously, why didst thou not consent to their righteousness? And if they
demanded this unrighteously, how didst thou transgress the law and command what
was far from righteousness?
Pilate sent to him: - Because he
wrought signs I did not wish to crucify him: and since his accusers said, He
calleth himself a king, I crucified him.
3. Josephus saith: Agrippa, the
king, was clothed in a robe woven with silver, and saw the spectacle in the theatre
of Caesarea. When the people saw that his raiment flashed, they said to him,
Hitherto we feared thee as a man:
henceforth thou art exalted above the nature of mortals. And he saw an angel
standing over him, and he smote him as unto death.
End of the Letter of Pilate to Herod.
THE EPISTLE OF PONTIUS PILATE
WHICH HE WROTE TO THE ROMAN EMPEROR CONCERNING OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar
the Emperor - Greeting:
UPON Jesus Christ, whom I fully
made known to thee in my last, a bitter punishment hath at length been
inflicted by the will of the people although I was unwilling and apprehensive.
In good truth, no age ever had or will have a man so good and strict.
But the people made a wonderful effort,
and all their scribes, chiefs and elders agreed to crucify this ambassador of
truth, their own prophets, like the Sibyls with us, advising the contrary; and
when he was hanged super- natural signs appeared, and in the judgment of philosophers
menaced the whole world with ruin.
His disciples flourish, not belying
their master by their behavior and continence of life; nay, in his name they
are most beneficent. Had I not feared a sedition might arise among the people,
who were almost furious, perhaps this man would have yet been living with us.
Although, being rather compelled by fidelity to thy dignity, than led by my own
inclination, I did not strive with all my might to prevent the sale and suffering
of righteous blood, guiltless of every accusation, unjustly, indeed,
through the maliciouness of men,
and yet, as the Scriptures interpret, to their own destruction.
Farewell. The 5th of the Calends of
April.
THE REPORT OF PILATE THE GOVERNOR
CONCERNING OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST; WHICH WAS SENT
To AUGUSTUS CAESAR, IN ROME.
IN those days, when our Lord Jesus
Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate, the governor of Palestine and
Phoenicia, the things here recorded came to pass in Jerusalem, and were done by
the Jews against the Lord. Pilate therefore sent the same to Caesar in Rome,
along with his private report, writing thus:
To the most potent, august, divine
and awful Augustus Caesar, Pilate, the administrator of the Eastern Province:
I have received information, most
excellent one, in consequence of which I am seized with fear and trembling. For
in this province which I administer, one of whose cities is called Jerusalem,
the whole multitude of Jews delivered unto me a certain man called Jesus, and
brought many accusations against him, which they were unable to establish by
consistent evidence. But they charged him with one heresy in particular,
namely,
That Jesus said the Sabbath was
not a rest, nor to be observed by them. For he performed many cures on that
day, and made the blind see, and the lame walk, raised the dead, cleansed
lepers, healed the paralytic who were wholly unable to move their body or brace
their nerves, but could only speak and discourse, and he gave them power to
walk and run, removing their infirmity by his word alone.
There is another very mighty deed
which is strange to the gods we have: he raised up a man who had been four days
dead, summoning him by his word alone, when the dead man had begun to decay,
and his body was corrupted by the worms which had been bred, and had the stench
of a dog; but, seeing him lying in the tomb be commanded him to run, nor did
the dead man at all delay, but as a bridegroom out of his chamber, so did he go
forth from his tomb, filled with abundant perfume. Moreover, even such as were
strangers, and clearly demoniacs, who had their dwelling in deserts, and
devoured their own flesh, and wandered about like cattle and creeping things,
he turned into inhabiters of cities and by a word rendered them rational, and
prepared them to become wise and powerful, and illustrious, taking their food
with all the enemies of the unclean spirits which were destructive in them, and
which he cast into the depth of the sea.
And, again, there was another who
had a withered hand, and not only the hand but rather the half of the body of
the man was like a stone, and be had neither the shape of a man nor the
symmetry of a body: even him He healed with a word and rendered whole.
And a woman also, who had an issue
of blood for a long time, and whose veins and arteries were exhausted, and who
did not bear a human body, being like one dead, and daily speechless, so that
all the physicians of the district were unable to cure her, for there remained
unto her not a hope of life; but as Jesus passed by she mysteriously received
strength by his shadow falling on her, from behind she touched the hem of his
garment, and immediately, in that very hour, strength filled her exhausted
limbs, and as if she had never suffered anything, she began to run along towards
Capernaum, her own city, so that she reached it in a six days' journey.
And I have made known these things
which I have recently been informed of, and which Jesus did on the Sabbath. And
he did other miracles greater than these, so that I have observed greater works
of wonder done by him than by the gods whom we worship.
But Herod and Archelaus and Philip,
Annas and Caiaphas, with all the people, deivered him to me, making a great
tumult against me in order that I might try him.
Therefore, I commanded him to be
crucified, when I had first scourged him, though I found no cause in him for
evil accusations or dealings.
Now when he was crucified, there
was darkness over all the world and the sun was obscured for half a day, and
the stars appeared, but no lustre was seen in them; and the moon lost its
brightness, as though tinged with blood; and the world of the departed was swallowed
up;so that the very sanctuary of the temple, as they call it, did not appear to
the Jews themselves at their fall, but they perceived a chasm in the earth, and
the rolling of successive thunders.
And amid this terror the dead appeared
rising again, as the Jews themselves bore witness, and said that it was
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, and Moses, and Job,
who had died before, as they say, some three thousand five hundred years.
And there were very many whom I
myself saw appearing in the body, and they made lamentation over the Jews,
because of the transgression which was committed by them, and because of the
destruction of the Jews and of their law.
And the terror of the earthquake
continued from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour; and when
it was evening on the first day of the week, there came a sound from heaven,
and the heaven became seven times more luminous than on all other days.
And at the third hour of the night
the sun appeared more luminous than it had ever shone, lighting up the whole
hemisphere. And as lightning - flashes suddenly come forth in a storm, so there
were seen men, lofty in stature, and surpassing in glory, a countless host, crying
out, and their voice was heard as that of exceedingly loud thunder, Jesus that
was crucified is risen again: come up from Hades ye that were enslaved in the
subterraneous recesses of Hades.
And the chasm in the earth was as
if it had no bottom; but it was so that the very foundations of the eaith appeared,
with those that shouted in heaven, and walked in the body among the dead that
were raised. And He that raised up all the dead and bound Hades said, Say to my
disciples,
He goeth before you into Galilee,
there shall ye see Him.
And all that night the light
ceased not shining. And many of the Jews died in the chasm of the earth, being
swallowed up, so that on the morrow most of those who had been against Jesus
were not to be found. Others saw the apparition of men rising again whom none
of us had ever seen. One synagogue of the Jews was alone left in Jerusalem
itself, for they all disappeared in that ruin.
Therefore being astounded by that
terror, and being possessed with the most dreadful trembling, I have written
what I saw at that time and sent it to thine excellency; and I have inserted
what was done against Jesus by the Jews, and sent it to thy divinity, my lord.
The REPORT OF
PONTIUS PILATE.
GOVERNOR OF JUDEA
Which was sent to Tiberius Caesar
in Rome.
To the most potent, august, dreadful,
and divine Augustus, Pontius Pilate, administrator of the Eastern Province.
I HAVE undertaken to communicate
to thy goodness by this my writing, though possessed with much fear and
trembling, most excellent king, the present state of affairs, as the result
hath shown. For as I administered this province, my lord, according to the
command of thy serenity, which is one of the eastern cities called Jerusalem,
wherein the temple of the nation of the Jews is erected, all the multitude of
the Jews, being assembled, delivered up to me a certain man called Jesus,
bringing many and endless accusations against him; but they could not convict
him in anything.
But they had one heresy against
him, that he said the sabbath was not their proper rest.
Now that man wrought many cures
and good works: he caused the blind to see, he cleansed lepers, he raised the
dead, he healed paralytics, who could not move at all, but had only voice, and
all their bones in their places; and he gave them strength to walk and run,
enjoining it by his word alone.
And he did another yet more mighty
work, which had been strange even among our gods, he raised from the dead one
Lazarus, who had been dead four days,commanding by a word alone that the dead
man should be raised, when his body was already corrupted by worms which bred
in his wounds. And he commanded the fetid body, which lay in the grave, to run,
and as bridegroom from his chamber so he went forth from his grave, full of
sweet perfume.
And some that were grievously afflicted
by demons, and had their dwellings in desert places, and devoured the flesh of
their own limbs, and went up and down among creeping things and wild beasts, he
caused to dwell in cities in their own houses, and by a word made them
reasonable, and caused to become wise and honorable those that were vexed by
unclean spirits, and the demons that were in them he sent out into a herd of swine
into the sea and drowned them.
Again, another who had a withered
hand, and lived in suffering, and had not even the half of his body sound, he
made whole by a word alone. And a woman who had an issue of blood for a long
time, so that because of the discharge all the joints of her bones were seen
and shone through like glass, for all the physicians had dismissed her without
hope, and had not cleansed her, for there was in her no hope of health at all;
but once, as Jesus was passing by she touched from behind the hem of his garments,
and in that very hour the strength of her body was restored, and she was made
whole, as if she had no affliction, and began to run fast towards her own city
of Paneas.
And these things happened thus:
but the Jews reported that Jesus did these things on the sabbath. And I saw
that greater marvels had been wrought by him than by the gods whom we worship.
Him then Herod and Archelaus and
Philip, and Annas and Caiaphas, with all the people, delivered up to me, to put
him on his trial. And because many raised a tumult against me, I commanded that
he should be crucified.
Now when he was crucified darkness
came over all the world; the sun was altogether hidden, and the sky appeared
dark while it was yet day, so that the stars were seen, though still they had
their lustre obscured, wherefore, I suppose your excellency is not unaware that
in all the world they lighted their lamps from the sixth hour until evening.
And the moon, which was like blood, did not shine all night long, although it
was at the full, and the stars and Orion made lamentation over the Jews, because
of the transgression committed by them.
And on the first day of the week,
about the third hour of the night, the sun appeared as it never shone before,
and the whole heaven became bright. And as lightnings come in a storm, so
certain men of lofty stature, in beautiful array, and of indescribable glory, appeared
in the air, and a countless host of angels, crying out and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will among men: Come up from Hades, ye who are in bondage
in the depths of Hades.
And at their voice all the mountains
and hills were moved, and the rocks were rent, and great chasms were made in
the earth, so that the very places of the abyss were visible.
And amid the terror dead men were
seen rising again, so that the Jews who saw it said, We beheld Abraham and
Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, who died some two thousand five hundred
years before, and we beheld Noah clearly in the body.
And all the multitude walked about
and sang hymns to God with a loud voice, saying, The Lord our God, who hath
risen from the dead, hath made alive all the dead, and Hades he hath spoiled
and slain.
Therefore, my lord king, all that
night the light ceased not. But many of the Jews died, and were sunk and
swallowed up in the chasms that night, so that not even their bodies were to be
seen. Now I mean, that those of the Jews suffered who spake against Jesus. And
but one synagogue remained in Jerusalem, for all the synagogues which had been
against Jesus were overwhelmed. Through that terror, therefore, being amazed
and being seized with great trembling, in that very hour, I ordered what had
been done by them all to be written, and I have sent it to thy mightiness.
THE TRIAL AND
CONDEMNATION OF PILATE.
NOW when the letters came to the
city of the Romans, and were read to Caesar with no few standing there, they
were all terrified, because, through the transgression of Pilate, the darkness
and the earthquake had happened to all the world. And Caesar, being filled with
anger, sent soldiers and commanded that Pilate should be brought as a prisoner.
And when he was brought to the
city of the Romans, and Caesar heard that he was come, he sat in the temple of
the gods, above all the senate, and with all the army, and with all the
multitude of his power, and commanded that Pilate should stand in the entrance.
And Caesar said to him, Most impious one, when thou sawest so great signs done
by that man, why didst thou dare to do thus?
By daring to do an evil deed thou
hast ruined all the world.
And Pilate said, King and Autocrat,
I am not guilty of these things, but it is the multitude of the Jews who are
precipitate and guilty. And Caesar said, And who are they? Pilate saith, Herod,
Archelaus, Philip, Annas and Caiaphas, and all the multitude of the Jews.
Caesar saith, For what cause didst
thou execute their purpose?
And Pilate said, Their nation is seditious
and insubordinate, and not submissive to thy power.
And Caesar said, When they delivered
him to thee thou oughtest to have made him secure and sent him to me, and not
consented to them to crucify such a man, who was just and wrought such great
and good miracles, as thou saidst in thy report. For by such miracles Jesus was
manifested to be the Christ, the King of the Jews.
And when Caesar said this and himself
named the name of Christ, all the multitude of the gods fell down together, and
became like dust where Caesar sat with the senate.
And all the people that stood near
Caesar were filled with trembling because of the utterance of the word and the
fall of their gods, and being seized with fear they all went away, every man to
his house, wondering at what had happened.
And Caesar commanded Pilate to be
safely kept, that he might know the truth about Jesus.
And on the morrow when Caesar sat
in the capitol with all the senate, he undertook to question Pilate again. And
Caesar said, Say the truth, most impious one, for through thy impious deed
which thou didst commit against Jesus, even here the doing of thy evil works
were manifested, in that the gods were brought to ruin.
Say then, who is he that was crucified,
for his name hath destroyed all the gods?
Pilate said, And verily his
records are true; for even I myself was convinced by his works that he was
greater than all the gods whom we venerate.
And Caesar said, For what cause
then didst thou perpetrate against him such daring and doing, not being
ignorant of him, or assuredly designing some mischief to my government?
And Pilate said, I did it because
of the transgression and sedition of the lawless and ungodly
Jews.
And Caesar was filled with anger,
and held a council with all his senate and officers, and ordered a decree to be
written against the Jews thus:-
To Licianus who holdeth the first
place in the East Country. Greeting:
I have been informed of the audacity
perpetrated very recently by the Jews inhabiting Jerusalem and the cities round
about, and their lawless doing, how they compelled Pilate to crucify a certain
god called Jesus, through which great transgression of theirs the world was
darkened and drawn into ruin. Determine therefore, with a body of soldiers, to
go to them there at once and proclaim their subjection to bondage by this
decree.
By obeying and proceeding against
them, and scattering them abroad in all nations, enslave them, and by driving
their nation from all Judea as soon as possible show, wherever this hath not
yet appeared, that they are full of evil.
And when this decree came into the
East Country, Licianus obeyed, through fear of the decree, and laid waste all
the nation of the Jews, and caused those that were left in Judea to go into slavery
with them that were scattered among the Gentiles, that it might be known by
Caesar that these things had been done by Licianus against the Jews in the East
Country, and to please him.
And again Caesar resolved to have
Pilate questioned, and commanded a captain, Albius by name, to cut off Pilate's
head, saying, As he laid hands upon the just man, that is called Christ, he
also shall fall in like manner, and find no deliverance.
And when Pilate came to the place
he prayed in silence saying, O Lord, destroy not me with the wicked Hebrews,
for I should not have laid hands upon thee, but for the nation of lawless Jews,
because they provoked sedition gainst me: but thou knowest that I did it in ignorance.
Destroy me not, therefore, for this my sin, nor be mindful of the evil that is
in me, O Lord, and in thy servant Procla who standeth with me in this the hour
of my death, whom thou taughtest to prophecy that thou must be nailed to the
cross. Do not punish her too in my sin, but forgive us, and number us in the
portion of thy just ones.
And behold, when Pilate had finished
his prayer, there came a voice from heaven, saying, All generations and the
families of the Gentiles shall call thee blessed, because under thee were
fulfilled all these things that were spoken by the prophets concerning me; and
thou thyself must appear as my witness at my second coming, when I shall judge
the twelve tribes of Israel, and them that have not confessed my name. And the
Prefect cut off the head of Pilate, and behold an angel of the Lord received
it. And when his wife Procla saw the angel coming and receiving his head, she
also, being filled with joy, forthwith gave up the ghost, and was buried with
her husband.
[The Synaxaria of the Greeks, under
Oct. 28th, intimate the commemoration of Procla, the wife of Pilate. The
AEthiopic calendar inserts 'Pilate and his wife Procla' under June 25th. The reason
for putting these names among the saints is, that Pilate by washing his hands
attested the innocence of Jesus, while Procla sought to dissuade her hushand
from complying with the Jews. The above story makes of Pilate almost a martyr;
and Tertullian makes him almost a saint in Apol. c. Gentes, cap. 21]
THE DEATH OF PILATE
WHO CONDEMNED JESUS.
NOW whereas Tiberius Caesar emperor
of the Romans was suffering from a grievous sickness, and hearing that there was
at Jerusalem a certain physician, Jesus by name, who healed all diseases by his
word alone; not knowing that the Jews and Pilate had put him to death, he thus
bade one of his attendants, Volusianus by name, saying, Go as quickly as thou
canst across the sea, and tell Pilate, my servant and friend, to send me this
physician to restore me to my original health. And Volusianus, having heard the
order of the emperor, immediately departed, and came to Pilate, as it was
commanded him.
And he told the same Pilate what
had been committed to him by Tiberius Caesar, saying, Tiberius Caesar, emperor
of the Romans, thy Lord, having heard that in this city there is a physician
who healeth diseases by his word alone, earnestly entreateth thee to send him
to him to heal his disease. And Pilate was greatly terrified on hearing this,
knowing that through envy he had caused him to be slain. Pilate answered the
messenger, saying thus, This man was a malefactor, and a man who drew after
himself all the people; so, after counsel taken of the wise men of the city, I
caused him to be crucified. And as the messenger returned to his lodgings he
met a certain woman named Veronica, who had been acquainted with Jesus, and he
said, O woman, there was a certain physician in this city, who healed the sick
by his word alone, why have the Jews slain him? And she began to weep, saying,
Ah, me, my lord, it was my God and my Lord whom Pilate through envy delivered
up, condemned, and commanded to be crucified. Then he, grieving greatly, said, I
am exceedingly sorry that I cannot fulfil that for which my lord hath sent me.
Veronica said to him, When my Lord
went about preaching, and I was very unwillingly deprived of his presence, I
desired to have his picture painted for me, that while I was deprived of his
presence, at least the figure of his likeness might give me consolation. And
when I was taking the canvas to the painter to be painted, my Lord met me and
asked whither I was going. And when I had made known to him the cause of my
journey, He asked me for the canvas, and gave it back to me printed with the
likeness of his venerable face. Therefore, if thy lord will devoutly look upon
the sight of this, he will straightway enjoy the benefit of health.
Is a likeness of this kind to be
procured with gold or silver? he asked. No, said she, but with a pious sentiment
of devotion. Therefore, I will go with thee, and carry the likeness to Caesar
to look upon, and will return.
So Volusianus came with Veronica
to Rome, and said to Tiberius the emperor, Jesus, whom thou hast long desired,
Pilate and the Jews have surrendered to an unjust death, and through envy
fastened to the wood of the cross. Therefore, a certain matron hath come with
me bringing the likeness of the same Jesus, and if thou wilt devoutly gaze upon
it, thou wilt presently obtain the benefit of thy health. So Caesar caused the
way to be spread with cloths of silk, and ordered the portrait to be presented
to him; and as soon as he had looked upon it he regained his original health.
Then Pontius Pilate was apprehended
by command of Caesar and brought to Rome.
Caesar, hearing that Pilate had
come to Rome, was filled with exceeding wrath against him, and caused him to be
brought to him. Now Pilate brought with him the seamless coat of Jesus, and
wore it when before the emperor. As soon as the emperor saw him he laid aside
all his wrath, and forthwith rose to him, and was unable to speak harshly to
him in anything: and he who in his absence seemed so terrible and fierce now in
his presence is found comparatively gentle.
And when he had dismissed him, he
soon became terribly inflamed against him, declaring himself wretched, because
he had not expressed to him the anger of his bosom.
And immediately he had him recalled,
swearing and protesting that he was a child of death, and unfitted to live upon
earth. And when he saw him he instantly greeted him, and laid aside all the
fury of his mind.
All were astonished, and he was astonished
himself, that he was so enraged against Pilate while absent, and could say
nothing to him sharply while he was present. At length, by Divine suggestion,
or perhaps by the persuasion of some Christian, he had him stripped of the
coat, and soon resumed against him his original fury of mind.
And when the emperor was wondering
very much about this, they told him it had been the coat of the Lord Jesus.
Then the emperor commanded him to be kept in prison till he should take counsel
with the wise men what ought to be done with him.
And after a few days sentence was
given against Pilate that he should be condemned to the most ignominious death.
When Pilate heard this he slew himself with his own dagger, and by such a death
put an end to his life.
When Pilate's death was made known
Caesar said, Truly he has died a most ignominious death, whose own hand has not
spared him. He was therefore fastened to a great block of stone and sunk in the
river Tiber. But wicked and unclean spirits, rejoicing in his wicked and unclean
body, all moved about in the water, and caused in the air dreadful lightning
and tempests, thunder and hail, so that all were seized with horrible fear. On
which account the Romans dragged him out of the river Tiber, bore him away in
derision to Vienne, and sunk him in the river Rhone. For Vienne means, as it were,
Way of Gehenna, because it was then a place of cursing. And evil spirits were
there and did the same things.
Those men, therefore, not enduring
to be so harassed by demons, removed the vessel of cursing from them and sent
it to be buried in the territory of Losania. But when they were troubled
exceedingly by the aforesaid vexations, they put it away from them and sunk it
in a certain pool surrounded by mountains, where even yet, according to the account
of some, sundry diabolical contrivances are said to Issue forth.
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