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Jesus saith to Pilate, Observe how they who say the truth are judged by those who have power on earth.

CHAPTER IV

Pilate therefore, leaving Jesus within the prætorium, went out to the Jews and said to them, I find not one fault in him. The Jews say to him, IIe said, I can destroy this temple, and raise it up again in three days. Pilate said to them, What temple? The Jews say to him, That which Solomon built in forty-six years; and he speaketh of destroying and building it in three days. Pilate saith to them, I am innocent of the blood of this man: Ye shall see to it. The Jews say to him, His blood be on us and on our children.

But Pilate called the elders and priests and Levites and said to them privately, Do not so: for though ye accuse him I have found him in no wise worthy of death, not even for healing and the violation of the Sabbath. The priests and Levites and elders say, Tell us, if one hath blasphemed Cæsar, is he worthy of death or no? Pilate saith to them, He is worthy to die. The Jews answered him, How much more is he worthy to die who hath blasphemed God?

Now the governor commanded the Jews to go out of the prætorium, and calling Jesus he said to him, What shall I do to thee? Jesus saith to Pilate, As it is allowed. Pilate saith, How is it allowed? Jesus saith, Moses and the prophets preached beforehand of my death and resurrection. Now when the Jews heard this they said to Pilate, Why further desirest thou to hear the blasphemy? And Pilate said, If this saying is blasphemous, take ye him, and lead him to your synagogue, and judge him according to your law. The Jews say to Pilate, Our law containeth this, If a man sinneth against man, he is worthy to receive forty stripes save one; but he that blasphemeth against God is to be stoned.

Pilate saith to them, Therefore judge him according to your law. The Jews say to Pilate, We wish him to be crucified. Pilate saith to them, He deserveth not to be crucified.

Now the governor looking at the people of the Jews standing round, saw very many of the Jews weeping, and he said, All the multitude doth not wish him to die. The elders say to Pilate, The whole multitude of us have come for this that he may die. Pilate saith to the Jews, What hath he done that he should die? They say to him, Because he said that he is the Son of God and a King.

[The ensuing chapters follow closely the earlier Gospel of Nicodemus.]

THE LETTERS OF PILATE1

LETTER OF KING 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, 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

1 These letters exist in a Syrian MS. of probably the sixth century and in a Greek MS. probably of the fifth.

22 Peter ii. 13.

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 judg ment to come. For in both we stand before the works of the living God; but this judgment, which is temporal, is for a time, while that to come is judgment forever.

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 sepulcher, that He rose from the dead. And I have especially confirmed what was told me, that He appeared bodily in Gali

lee, 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.

3

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.

4

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 sepulcher, 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 everybody 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 sepulcher. 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, 3 Literally," renewed anything."

4 Literally, "his wife": a manifest error.

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