Sunday, April 16, 2017

Blessed Pilate?

I was reading a nice Easter piece by Kevin Williamson, and I came across this:

"In the Ethiopian church, Pilate is revered as a saint..."

I had no idea, so that sent me off on an investigation online.

Anyway, it's a complicated story, but just tracking the Ethiopian Church, there's a text they seem to be following, The Martyrdom Of Pilate, which I don't recall hearing of, but which has Pilate becoming a Christian and getting crucified:

'The blessed Pilate began to pray while hanging on the cross, and said : " O my Lord, I have polluted your holy cross by the hanging of my body on it, because it is a pure wood and my body is an impure body..."'

In this variant story,
Pilate dies in glory.

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