OTHER APPENDIXES TO THE ACTS OF PILATE
Under this heading may be noticed the various forms of Reports of Pilate to the Emperor, and other Letters attributed to him: of his death, of the Vengeance of the Saviour, and also the Greek writing called the Story of Joseph of Arimathaea.
It is probable that some sort of Report of Pilate to Tiberius was concocted very early. Tertullian states it as a fact that Pilate reported all the events of the Passion to Tiberius, and that the Emperor tried, without success, to induce the Senate to declare Jesus a God.[1] What the source of this story was is unknown, but it is a very obvious one to invent. The texts of the apocryphal Reports which we have are all late, but in some of the Greek ones there are faint similarities to the Gospel of Peter.
Tischendorf prints a short
LETTER OF PILATE TO TIBERIUS
which cannot be traced further back than the fifteenth century. It is written in rather elegant Latin, evidently, I think, by an Italian of the early Renaissance. The tenor of it is this:
'Jesus Christ of whom I recently wrote to you has been executed against my will. So pious and austere a man has never been seen, nor will be again. But there was a wonderful unanimity in the request of the Jews and their leader that he should be crucified, though their own prophets, and the Sibyls, testified against them, and signs appeared at his death which the philosophers said threatened the collapse of the whole world. His disciples who still live do not belie their master's teaching, but are active in good works. Had I not feared a general rising, the man might have been yet alive.' He ends, feebly excusing his conduct. Date, the 5th of the Kalends of April.
REPORT OF PILATE (ANAPHORA).
There are two Greek texts of this which do not differ in essentials. In some manuscripts one form is appended to the Acts of Pilate. It is a late document, and not of much interest in its present form: but, as has been said, it contains faint reminders of the Gospel of Peter, and may be based on a briefer document of early date. After the address it begins:
'I have received a communication, O most mighty, which oppresses me with fear and trembling.'
He goes on to say that in Jerusalem, a city of his province, the Jews delivered him a man named Jesus, charging him with much that they could not substantiate, and in particular with violating the sabbath. The miracles are then described with some rhetorical ornament, particularly in the case of Lazarus.
- ↑ A letter of Tiberius to Abgar of Edessa, quoted by Moses of Chorene (History of Armenia, II, ch. 38) gives exactly the same account of the proceedings in the Senate, and mentions the report of Pilate.
