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Home > Fathers of the Church > The Death of Pilate


THE DEATH OF PILATE

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And when Tiberius Cæsar, the emperor of the Romans, was labouring under a
grievous disease, and understanding that there was at Jerusalem a certain
physician, Jesus by name, who by a single word cured all infirmities, he, not
knowing that the Jews and Pilate had put Him to death, ordered a certain friend
of his named Volusianus: Go as quickly as possible across the seas; and you
shall tell Pilate, my servant and friend, to send me this physician, that he may
restore me to my former health. And this Volusianus, having heard the emperor's
command, immediately departed, and came to Pilate, as he had been commanded. And
he related to the same Pilate what had been entrusted to him by Tiberius Cæsar,
saying: Tiberius Cæsar, the emperor of the Romans, your master, having heard
that in this city there is a physician who by his word alone heals infirmities,
begs you earnestly to send him to him for the curing of his infirmity. Pilate,
hearing this, was very much afraid, knowing that through envy he had caused Him
to be put to death. Pilate answered the same messenger thus, saying: This man
was a malefactor, and a man who drew to himself all the people; so a council of
the wise men of the city was held, and I caused him to be crucified. And this
messenger returning to his inn, met a certain woman named Veronica, who had been
a friend of Jesus; and he said: O woman, a certain physician who was in this
city, who cured the sick by a word alone, why have the Jews put him to death?
And she began to weep, saying: Ah me! My lord, my God and my Lord, whom Pilate
for envy delivered, condemned, and ordered to be crucified. Then he, being
exceedingly grieved, said: I am vehemently grieved that I am unable to
accomplish that for which my lord had sent me. And Veronica said to him: When my
Lord was going about preaching, and I, much against my will, was deprived of His
presence, I wished His picture to be painted for me, in order that, while I was
deprived of His presence, the figure of His picture might at least afford me
consolation. And when I was carrying the canvas to the painter to be painted, my
Lord met me, and asked whither I was going. And when I had disclosed to Him the
cause of my journey, He asked of me the cloth, and gave it back to me impressed
with the image of His venerable face. Therefore, if your lord will devoutly gaze
upon His face, he shall obtain immediately the benefit of health. And he said to
her: Is a picture of such a sort procurable by gold or silver? She said to him:
No; but by the pious influence of devotion. I shall therefore set out with you,
and shall carry the picture to be seen by Cæsar, and shall come back again.



Volusianus therefore came with Veronica to Rome, and said to Tiberius the
emperor: Jesus, whom you have been longing for, Pilate and the Jews have
delivered to an unjust death, and have through envy affixed to the gibbet of the
cross. There has therefore come with me a certain matron, bringing a picture of
Jesus himself; and if you will devoutly look upon it, you shall immediately
obtain the benefit of your health. Cæsar therefore ordered the way to be strewn
with silk cloths, and the picture to be presented to him; and as soon as he had
looked upon it, he regained his former health.

Pontius Pilate, therefore, by the command of Cæsar, is taken and brought through
to Rome. Cæsar, hearing that Pilate had arrived at Rome, was filled with
exceeding fury against him, and caused him to be brought to him. But Pilate
brought down with him the seamless tunic of Jesus; and he wore it on him in
presence of the emperor. And as soon as the emperor saw him, he laid aside all
his anger, and immediately rose up to meet him. Nor was he able to speak harshly
to him in anything; and he who seemed so terrible and fierce in his absence, now
in his presence is somehow found to be mild. And when he had sent him away,
immediately he blazed out against him terribly, crying out that he was a wretch,
inasmuch as he had not at all shown him the fury of his heart. And immediately
he made him be called back, swearing and declaring that he was the son of death,
and that it was infamous that he should live upon the earth. And as soon as he
saw him, he immediately saluted him, and threw away all the ferocity of his
mind. All wondered; and he himself wondered that he should thus blaze out
against Pilate when he was absent, and that while he was present he could say
nothing to him roughly. Then, by a divine impulse, or perhaps by the advice of
some Christian, he caused him to be stripped of that tunic, and immediately
resumed against him his former ferocity of mind. And when at this the emperor
wondered very much, it was told him that that tunic had belonged to the Lord
Jesus. Then the emperor ordered him to be kept in prison, until he should
deliberate in a council of the wise men what ought to be done with him. And a
few days after, sentence was therefore passed upon Pilate, that he should be
condemned to the most disgraceful death. Pilate, hearing this, killed himself
with his own knife, and by such a death ended his life.

When Cæsar knew of the death of Pilate, he said: Truly he has died by a most
disgraceful death, whom his own hand has not spared. He is therefore bound to a
great mass, and sunk into the river Tiber. But malignant and filthy spirits in
his malignant and filthy body, all rejoicing together, kept moving themselves in
the waters, and in a terrible manner brought lightnings and tempests, thunders
and hail-storms, in the air, so that all men were kept in horrible fear.
Wherefore the Romans, drawing him out of the river Tiber, in derision carried
him down to Vienna, and sunk him in the river Rhone. For Vienna is called, as it
were, Via Gehennæ, the way of Gehenna, because it was then a place of cursing.
But there evil spirits were present, working the same things in the same place.
Those men therefore, not enduring such a visitation of demons, removed from
themselves that vessel of malediction, and sent him to be buried in the
territory of Losania. And they, seeing that they were troubled by the aforesaid
visitations, removed him from themselves, and sunk him in a certain pit
surrounded by mountains, where to this day, according to the account of some,
certain diabolical machinations are said to bubble up.




ABOUT THIS PAGE

Source. Translated by Alexander Walker. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 8. Edited
by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY:
Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Revised and edited for New Advent by
Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0812.htm>.

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