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Acts of Pilate
Anonymous / composite
Chapter 1 About this work A pseudonymous narrative associated with the Gospel of Nicodemus that expands Jesus’s trial, crucifixion, resurrection testimony, and in some forms the descent to the dead.
Author Anonymous / composite
Traditional attribution Pilate’s official records; later associated with Nicodemus
Date Main form c. mid-4th century; later accretions
Origin Unknown
Genre Apocryphon Several related textual forms circulate under this title, so the precise witness and date must be verified.
Annas and Caiaphas , Summas and Datam , Gamaliel , Judas
Chapter 2 ›,
Levi
,
Neptalim
,
Alexander
and
Jairus
,
and
the
rest
of
the
Jews
,
came
to
Pilate
,
accusing
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
of
many
things
,
and
saying
:
We
know
him
to
be
the
son
of
Joseph
the
carpenter
,
born
of
Mary
;
and
he
says
that
he
is
the
Son
of
God
,
and
a
king
.
Not
only
so
,
but
he
also
breaks
the
Sabbath
,
and
wishes
to
do
away
with
the
law
of
our
fathers
.
Pilate
says
:
What
is
it
that
he
does
,
and
wishes
to
destroy
the
law
?
The
Jews
say
:
We
have
a
law
,
not
to
heal
any
one
on
the
Sabbath
;
but
he
,
by
evil
arts
,
heals
on
the
Sabbath
the
lame
and
the
hunchbacked
,
the
blind
,
the
palsied
,
the
lepers
,
and
the
demoniacs
.
Pilate
says
to
them
:
By
what
evil
arts
?
They
say
to
him
:
He
is
a
sorcerer
;
and
by
Beelzebub
,
prince
of
the
demons
,
he
casts
out
demons
,
and
they
are
all
subject
to
him
.
Pilate
says
to
them
:
It
is
not
in
an
unclean
spirit
to
cast
out
demons
,
but
in
the
god
of
Scolapius
.
The Jews say : We pray thy majesty to set him before thy tribunal to be heard . Pilate , calling the Jews to him , says to them : How can I , seeing that I am a governor , hear a king ? They say to him : We do not say that he is a king , but he himself says he is . And Pilate , calling a runner , says to him : Let Jesus be brought in with kindness . And the runner , going out and recognising Him , adored Him , and spread on the ground the cloak which he carried in his hand , saying : My lord , walk upon this , and come in , because the governor calls thee . But the Jews , seeing what the runner did , cried out against Pilate , saying : Why didst not thou make him come in by the voice of a crier , but by a runner ? for the runner , too , seeing him , has adored him , and has spread out before him on the ground the cloak which he held in his hand , and has said to him : My lord , the governor calls thee .
And Pilate , calling the runner , says to him : Wherefore hast thou done this , and honoured Jesus , who is called Christ ? The runner says to him : When thou didst send me into Jerusalem to Alexander , I saw him sitting upon an ass , and the children of the Hebrews breaking branches from the trees , strewing them in the way ; and others held branches in their hands ; and others spread their garments in the way , shouting and saying , Save , therefore , Thou who art in the highest ; blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord !
The Jews cried out , saying against the runner : The children of the Hebrews indeed cried out in Hebrew . How canst thou , a Gentile , know this ? The runner says to them : I asked one of the Jews , and said , What is it that they cry out in Hebrew ? and he explained to me . Pilate says to them : And how did they cry out in Hebrew ? The Jews said : Osanna in the highest ! Pilate says to them : What is the meaning of Osanna in the highest ? They say to him : Save us , Thou who art in the highest . Pilate says to them : If you yourselves bear witness to the terms and words in which the children cried out , in what has the runner sinned ? And they were silent . The governor says to the runner : Go out , and lead him in , in whatever way thou wilt . And the runner , going forth , did after the same form as before , and says to Jesus : My lord , go in , because the governor calls thee .
As Jesus , then , was going in , and the standard - bearers bearing the standards , the heads of the standards were bowed of themselves , and adored Jesus . And the Jews , seeing the standards , how they bowed themselves and adored Jesus , cried out the more against the standard - bearers . And Pilate says to the Jews : Do you not wonder at the way in which the standards have bowed themselves and adored Jesus ? The Jews say to Pilate : we saw how the men carrying the standards bowed themselves and adored Jesus . And the governor , calling the standard - bearers , says to them : Why have you so done ? They say to Pilate : We are Gentile men , and slaves of the temples : how had we to adore him ? for when we were holding the figures , they themselves bowed and adored him .
Pilate says to the chiefs of the synagogue and the elders of the people : Choose ye men powerful and strong , and let them hold the standards , and let us see whether they will bow of themselves . And the elders of the Jews , taking twelve men very strong and powerful , made them hold the standards , six and six ; and they stood before the governor’s tribunal . Pilate says to the runner : Take out Jesus outside of the prætorium , and bring him in again , in whatever way thou wilt . And Jesus and the runner went outside of the prætorium . And Pilate , calling those who had formerly held the standards , said to them : By the health of Cæsar , if the standards do not bow themselves when Jesus comes in , I will cut off your heads . And the governor ordered Jesus to come in a second time . And the runner did after the same form as before , and besought Jesus much that He would go up and walk upon his cloak . And He walked upon it , and went in . And as Jesus was going in , immediately the standards bowed themselves , and adored Jesus .
Notes 1 The word in the original is the general term præses, which the Vulgate uses for procurator.
2 i.e., was it possible for us.
3 Vultus. He seems to have read πρόσωπα, and not προτομαι, as in the Greek.
