Pilate's Wife Procia (Claudia>

irst Person Narratives by Sarah M. Foulger

Pilate’s Wife

Marten de Vos, Flemish, 1532-1603, Oil on Wood

Musee de la Lunette, Morez, France

Pilate's Wife, Procia

Scripture  Matthew 27:11-26

Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.”But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.”Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?”And they said, “Barabbas.”Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning,

he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus,

he handed him over to be crucified. Matthew 27:11-26

Story of Pilate's Wife (Letter believed to be written by Procia (Pilate's wife))

Jesus of Nazareth is in grave danger and I cannot seem to find a way to do anything about it. Yesterday, I had a fearsome dream about Jesus and I have not been able to share the weight of this terrible dream effectively. It is not my practice to meddle in my husband’s business but I have told Pilate to do whatever he has to do to get out from under this travesty. So far, I have not succeeded and he has not succeeded.

My husband, Pilate, is an important man. He is the governor of Jerusalem with authority over all Judea1 yet he seems powerless to calm the agitated Chief Priests of Judea. You know, it was a great honor for Pilate to be appointed to this post. I would have preferred an easier placement, a lively city such as Antioch in Syria but Jerusalem is an important post and I was so proud of him when he received this influential assignment. Jerusalem is an important trade center in the Empire and it is, of course, the very heart of Judaism. Herod the Great, the father of the current Herod,2 expanded the beautiful temple here for the Jewish people and faithful Jews now come from as far away as Persia to worship in this magnificent temple. Jerusalem is a remarkable city but it is not without trouble.

My husband and I are not Jewish, of course, we are Roman citizens. Pilate is a student of philosophy and a seeker of truth. In all matters, like Socrates, he asks questions. He attempts to illumine every situation through a path of inquiry. Pilate is eager for truth and I admire that in him. I have also sought the truth in my own way and this quest has led me to honor the God of the Jews. I wish I had even one ligula3 of the faith I have witnessed in the Jews I have come to know. Most of our servants are Jews and I find their God to be inescapably compelling, a God of both justice and mercy. Can you imagine? In the Roman pantheon, there is a god for this and a god for that. There are gods who offer fertility4 and gods who rule the sea.5 Why, we even have a god who looks after door hinges.6 There is a goddess of justice, Justitia and there is a minor goddess, Clementia, who offers mercy but there is no God who balances and delivers all of these forces as does the one God worshipped by the Hebrews.

My faith in this God of Israel is but a newly sprouted seedling but my faith in Jesus of Nazareth, who places all his trust in this one God, is a sturdy oak. I am grateful beyond words to Jesus and in awe of his abilities. Without a word, he healed my son, Pilo.7 Pilo became very ill so quickly. He was hot as dark sand in summer’s sun and white as a ghost. I feared for his life. Pilate brought the best physicians to our home to no effect but then, my servant told me what she had heard about this Jewish healer, Jesus.

I had already heard of him, of course. All of Judea knows about this man. You would have to be holed up in a cave not to have heard all of the rumors of things he has said and done. You must know I would have done anything to help my son, anything at all. I would rather have been sick myself than to watch little Pilo suffer in this way. And so we traveled all the way to Gennesaret where Jesus was teaching and healing. I was fully prepared to plead for the health of my son, to pay this Jesus whatever he wanted. But when we got to Gennesaret, he was constantly surrounded by people. They babbled in Aramaic and I caught only a word here or there and with the crush of the crowd, I despaired of ever getting close to him. The miracle is that it didn’t matter. It was not necessary for Jesus to touch Pilo or to speak a word to us. This may sound incredible to you but, I tell you, Pilo became well again and we came home doubly blessed.

I’m sure you are not surprised to hear that I continued to listen eagerly to every story about Jesus that came my way and there were many. I have come to worship the God of the Jews,8 the God of justice and mercy, and I am deeply grateful to this messenger of God, Jesus, who has compassion not only for his own people but for a little Roman boy. His God is my God now. Not every Jew is like Jesus, however, and not every Jew favors him. Joseph Caiaphas, the Chief Priest, is determined to rid Judea of him.

I know this Caiaphas. He is a clever man and not to be trusted. We met Caiaphas early on. When my husband took this post seven years ago, he set about making improvements to the city. One of the problems with Jerusalem, when he first took charge, was the water supply. Pilate had an exceptional idea to build a new aqueduct and stream good water into the ancient city.9 He ran into trouble, however, when he suggested that the surplus temple tax be used to pay for it. Caiaphas was outraged by the notion and accused Pilate of stealing from the temple. I saw nothing wrong with the idea. It is the people of Jerusalem who most benefit from this fresh water supply. Why wouldn’t they want to help pay for it? I am but a Governor’s wife and no politician but I have learned that what people want and what they are willing to pay for are two different matters.

Caiaphas and the other leaders were persuaded, eventually, to agree to Pilate’s plan but they did so in secret. They did not want the people to know that there was a big surplus of funds in the temple and they did not want them to find out that their hard-earned shekels, given in trust to the temple authorities, would be used by the new Roman governor in this way. Word leaked out, however, and there was a great uprising among the Jews the likes of which Pilate had never seen before. Pilate was accused of tyranny and thievery but a Jew cannot levy a charge at a Roman. Nothing will ever come of such a charge. I have often wondered if Caiaphas might be the man who let the secret be known and stirred up the riots. He is out for himself, that one, and I do not trust him.

Caiaphas has now concocted a case against Jesus and brought him to Pilate to be tried. He is a clever man, as I’ve said, and he has accused Jesus of breaking the law. Specifically, Jesus is accused of blasphemy and of breaking the Sabbath. They say he is a blasphemer because he calls himself a king but I do not believe this. He speaks of the kingdom of God but he has not named himself king. It is my understanding that the opposite is the case. He always gives the credit to God calling himself a humble servant, a far cry from a king. He is accused of breaking the Sabbath and this I know to be true. There are plenty of witnesses to his healings on the Sabbath and to his teachings about the Sabbath. He says that God has created the Sabbath as a gift not as a burden.

The Pharisees are always asking him thorny questions but once he asked the Pharisees if it is legal to heal on the Sabbath and they could not answer him. He asked them again: if an animal from their own livestock fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t they rescue it? And again, they did not know how to answer him because they knew the answer. They knew they would rescue the poor animal in the well even on the Sabbath. And, if a sheep or a goat or a calf, why not a man or a woman or a child? Jesus has challenged their authority and I am afraid they are not going to stand for it. They are desperate to control him and now they have implored Pilate to bring him to trial. Pilate has tried to tell them that Jewish law is not his business but they are utterly insistent and Pilate is afraid there will be another uprising if the matter is not handled carefully.

I am sick about it, I tell you. I am consumed by dread. There is a foul tide moving in and every step I take seems to back me away from it. I have told Pilate and he has told Caiaphas that Jesus is an innocent man but he will not hear it. I am afraid Caiaphas will not be satisfied until Jesus is hanging on a cross. What can I possibly do to stop it? These priests and elders have deluded themselves, imagining they are righteous. But this is not righteousness; this is madness. Jesus has already borne so many indignities. I do not want this man Jesus bruised or beaten or spat upon any more and I certainly do not want him to suffer under Pontius Pilate. Pilate assures me he does not want this either. He has been deeply impressed by Jesus.

Let me tell you what has happened. Pilate has asked Jesus directly, “Are you king of the Jews?” Jesus has answered, “You say so, but I tell you, for this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”10 Pilate asked him fervently, “What is truth?” You must understand that this gets to heart of what matters most to Pilate – truth itself. I think he sensed  that truth was standing before him and he didn’t know how to keep this truth alive. Pilate said to him, “Do you hear these many accusations they are making against you?” But Jesus was utterly silent. His steadfast refusal to answer any more questions has aggravated the Chief Priests but my husband is greatly amazed by the power of his silence.

Pilate has searched diligently for a way out for Jesus and he thought he had discovered one.  Every year, during the Festival of Passover, the Governor releases a prisoner for the crowd,   anyone the crowds wants let go. Jesus has quite a loyal following and Pilate hoped they would speak up and call for Jesus of Nazareth to be the one released. And that would be the end of it. But the group Caiaphas assembled in Herod’s palace, where the trial took place, did not choose Jesus and the madness continues. I have told Pilate in no uncertain terms, “Have nothing to do with this innocent man.” I have told him how much I am suffering on account of what is happening to Jesus and I have told him of my dream.       

Pilate is the Governor of Jerusalem but there appears to be no stopping the Chief Priests and the Elders who are jealous of Jesus’ many followers. That is the best word for it. They are jealous. My husband has given them every chance to redeem themselves. He has asked them if they are sure about this and has asked them, “What should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” To a man, these temple officials answered, “Let him be crucified!” “Why?” he asked, “what evil has he done?” But they are like a fire that has grown out of control and cannot safely be extinguished and must run its course. They are not thinking clearly. They are not thinking at all. This is how wars ignite. They have no interest in truth right now and they continue to shout all the more, “Let him be crucified!” A riot is beginning and Pilate is trapped or so it seems.            

He wants them to know that he will take no responsibility for their insanity. “With the sun as my witness,” he has told them, “I find no fault in this man.”11 Why, in front of them all, he has taken a bowl of clean water, some of that good water he worked so hard to bring into the city and he has washed his hands. There are a few who have tried to intervene on Jesus’ behalf, Nicodemus the Pharisee among them.12 Nicodemus is an important judge, a member of the Sanhedrin,13 but the others have overwhelmed him, accusing him of being a disciple of Jesus. They have dared to accuse Pilate as well14 but Pilate has held his ground, responding loudly and authoritatively, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to this matter yourselves.” He considers, and rightly so, that, if they want Jesus punished, they ought to do it themselves. Punishment for blaspheming against God is a stoning, they have told him. But they do not wish to stone Jesus perhaps because he has insisted that only those without sin have any right to pick up such a stone.         

Caiaphas does not want to bother with stones. He wants Jesus crucified and he wants Imperial Rome to be blamed. He wants the Romans to handle Jesus for him and I think he believes Pilate owes him after that business with the aqueduct. To satisfy their thirst for blood, Jesus has been flogged and now, against the desires of Pilate’s own heart and mine, he has been handed over to the authorities for bloody crucifixion. I don’t know what is going to happen but I hope this crucifixion does not proceed. I wish I knew how to stop this violent insanity. I wish Pilate knew how.

Now, I am praying to the God of the Hebrews. I am praying for the jealousy and the violence and the political maneuvering to come to an end. I am praying that I will not be left with a life of regret, a life of wondering what I could have done differently. And I am praying that,  having failed in my attempts to help him, this God of justice and of mercy will prevail.

Referrence

1. Pontius Pilate's title was traditionally thought to have been procurator, since Tacitus speaks of him as such. However, an inscription on a limestone block known as the Pilate Stone — a dedication to Tiberius Caesar Augustus — that was discovered in 1961 in the ruins of an amphitheater at Caesarea Maritima refers to Pilate as "Prefect of Judaea".

2. Herod Antipas was King during most of Jesus’ lifetime. His father, called Herod the Great, is the King who expanded the temple in Jerusalem.

3. ligula – roman spoonful.

4. Faunus and Flora.

5. Neptune and Glaucus.

6. Cardea.

7. The story of Pilo is told in a letter purportedly written by Procula or Procla, wife of Pilate. This letter was translated into English in 1929 by Catherine Van Dyke and the letter is held in the Vatican archives.

8. According the The Gospel of Nicodemus, Procla was a worshipper of the God of the Jews.

9. The new aqueduct constructed when Pontius Pilate was governor of Jerusalem and the ways in which it was paid for are well documented.

10. Combines dialogue from the canonical Gospels.

11. Acts of Pilate in The Gospel of Nicodemus.

12. Intervention as described in the Gospel of Nicodemus.

13. Hebrew Council of Judges.

14. The Gospel of Nicodemus.

• Pontius Pilate's wife is mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus, probably written around the middle of the 4th century but with roots older than that),[6] which gives a more elaborate version of the episode of the dream than Matthew.[7][8] The name Procla derives from translated versions of that text. The oldest sections of the book appear first in Greek. The text contains multiple parts, which are uneven in style and would seem to be by different hands. The oldest section—an invented Report of Pilate to the Emperor Claudius, inserted as an appendix—may have been composed in the late 2nd century, but most of the "Acts" were written later. Justin the Martyr wrote, "And that these things did happen, you can ascertain from the Acts of Pontius Pilate."[5] The Apology letters were written and addressed by name to the Roman Emperor Pius and the Roman Governor Urbicus. All three of these men lived between 138–161 AD.
• Procla is recognized as a saint in two churches within the Eastern Christian tradition: the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
• A letter, purportedly written in Latin by Pilate's wife from "a little Gallic mountain town" several years after Pilate left Jerusalem, was first published in English by Pictorial Review Magazine in April 1929.[9] Letters survive purporting to be written by Procla and relating to her time living in Judea. These manuscripts were found in a Belgian monastery in Bruges and placed within the Vatican archives. An American literary scholar Catherine van Dyke, was the first person to translate the letters into English. They were first published in Pictorial Review Magazine, April 1929. The entire text of Claudia's Letter is now published by Issana Press under the title of "Relics of Repentance". The English version of the letter was provided by writer Catherine Van Dyke and it states that Pilate's wife successfully sought Jesus' aid to heal the crippled foot of her son Pilo.
• The Biblical scholar Paul Maier, in Pontius Pilate: A Biographical Novel (1968), attempts to take what is known from the documented record and from there construct a fictional narrative as connective material. Maier refers to Pilate's wife as "Procla" arguing that the name "Claudia" only comes from a later tradition.

Prayer of Procia

Teach us to see the truth, O God, that you place before us. Forgive our terrible failures in the face of angry mobs. Forgive our jealousies and power mongerings. Beyond our failures, show us the path of justice and cover us with a mercy that sets us free. Amen.

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You are welcome to use these narratives for worship or study but please give the author, Sarah M. Foulger, credit for the writing - and consider making a contribution to the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor P.O. Box 468, Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04538.. www.congregationalchurchboothbayharbor.org

Sarah M. Foulger may be contacted at: sarahfoulger@gmail.com