APOCRYPHAL GOSPEL

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 October 1928, Page 8

APOCRYPHAL GOSPEL

STORY OF PONTIUS PILATE. Modern scholarship has been adding to the store of apocryphal gospels in recent years. The latest discovery by Dr. Mingana has been published by the John Rylands Library of Manchester in its bulletin, states the London correspondent of the Melbourne “Argus.” It tells the story of the persecution of Pilate by the Jews after the. Crucifixion, and thus supplements another gospel associated with Pontius Pilate, the Acts of Pilate. The new fragments tells that Pilate and his wife, Procula, overjoyed at the news of the Resurrection and the miracles which followed at the tomb of Christ, gave a great banquet to the poor of 6 Jerusalem. Procula then made up her mind to visit the tomb. The news of her decision came to the Jews, and they decided to kill Pilate and seize his wife. Gamaliel, a Jewish disciple of Christ, hearing of the conspiracy, warned Joseph of Arimathea, who, in turn, warned Pilate. Sending troops to the tomb, Pilate was able to make Judas Iscariot a prisoner, and the betrayer of Christ was punished by being crucified head downwards. This so incensed the Jews that they persuaded King Herod to send a complaint tp the Emperor Tiberius Caesar.

While the letter of Herod was being sent to the Emperor, Pilate himself dispatched a report telling of the life and death of the Christ, and accusing the Jews of bringing about Christ’s death, whereupon Tiberius ordered that the Jews responsible should be killed. . The Emperor refused to relieve Pilate of responsibility, and he sent messengers to Jerusalem, ordering‘that Pilate himself should be brought to his presence. At the order of the Emperor’s envoy Pilate was flogged for having permitted the crucifixion of Jesus without asking the permission of Tiberius. Perceiving his plight the Jews persuaded the envoy to deliyer Pilate himself to them for crucifixion. Pilate was accordingly crucified on the cross of Christ with a crown of thorns on his head. While Procula stood beneath the cross talking to Pilate two crowns came down from heaven and a voice was heard promising that, because of their sufferings, the crown of a martyr was reserved for Pilate and Procula in heawn. The miraculous crowns disappeared, and the Jews, terrified at the vision, took Pilate from the cross and restored him to the envoy of the Emperor. Meanwhile the only son of the Emperor had been stricken with sickness and had died. Hearing of the miracles at the Christ’s tomb the Emperor determined to send the body to Jerusalem, where the boy was restored to life. When Pilate eventually came before Tiberius the Emperor greeted him with the cry, “I shall now do to you what you did to Him.” This time Pilate was crucified and his head was struck off. His friends, however, saved the body and took it to Jerusalem, where they found that Procula had died that day. She was therefore buried with her husband near the sepulchre of Jesus. Dr Mingana’s fragment ends with the story of the Emperor’s anger at King Herod and his search for the Virgin Mary. Tiberius failed to find her because “she had left this world and ascended into heaven,” where she found Pilate and Procula in the sunshine of the cross of her Son.

The new gospel is attributed to Cyriacus, Bishop of Oxyrhynchus, but internal evidence suggests that the author was Gamaliel, a disciple whose name occurs frequently in the apocryphal gospels.