This topic was posted , thanks OneVike.
Posted on 02/06/2021 12:06:10 PM PST by OneVike
what was the original language?
There is 0% chance that this letter was written by Pilate.
I agree. Not a chance in Hell that it’s genuine.
Such a letter was widely circulated within the fourth century, there being a few significantly varied manuscript. There is no evidence that the Church at the time regarded it authentic. In fact, Eusebius reports of a letter from Pilate to Caesar with quite the opposite tone. That letter has been lost, but so widely referenced that various scholars have attempted to determine its contents in its entirety.
There also exists an apocryphal* gospel, The Acts of Pilate, and a book, The Book of the Rooster which enjoys a semi-canonical status among Ge-ez, an Eastern Christian sect from Ethiopia often called “Orthodox,” but which have beliefs not common among other Orthodox churches.
Apocryphal here means works that were held by certain sects to be secret truths, as opposed to its completely improper misuse to refer to books from ancient Christian Old Testaments that Saint Jerome noted were not deemed authentic by those Jews of his day who did not believe in Christ. Some apocryphal gospels are plainly non-Christian, while others record legends about Jesus and the first Christians which were held to be true, but not recorded in Canonical gospels.
Some legends from the apocrypha show remarkable consistency, despite varying details which betray that they come from very disparate sources. The information contained in such apocrypha is regarded as true, if not authoritative, by Catholic and/or Orthodox tradition, such as the “origin stories” of the Holy Family, whose differences reflect varying tradition on details (such as the prior marital status of Joseph). Pilate apocrypha, however utterly contradict each other: some suppose Pilate died a heroic, Christian martyr, others that he died a demon-haunted villain.
I’d appreciate it if you could share any scholarly research into the history of this letter. This letter intrigues me but do not have a sense at all of the authenticity.
For me, I give little weight to information on anything that that does not have a traceable foundation that supports an assertion or fact.
Many thanks....
BUMP
The letter was allegedly found in the Vatican library in the 1850’s and was believed to have been written in the 6th or 7th century, probably in Greek. It is known as the Actipalate or the Acti Palate. My skepticism began with the physical description of Jesus (doesn’t sound Jewish), and doubt about whether Pilate would have shared those feelings with Augustus, who would likely have questioned his mental health. If you search Actipalate you’ll plenty of attention has been given the document, some of which is absolute belief in its authenticity. For me, not so much.
Appreciate the information.
Cheers...
While not scripture, I think the initial chapter which talks about the meeting of the Magi was great literature, and quite moving.
It is one of my all-time favorite books, so I agree with you.
I believe that is the correct, official way it was spelled. I have several versions of the Holy Bible, and in the Book of Matthew, that is the way it is spelled in the King James Version of the Bible, “Pontius.” It says in Matthew 27, verse 2: “And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to PONTIUS PILATE the governor.” So, you are correct.
If Pilate turns up in heaven he would definitely be one of those we would be surprised to see.
No, there is no Jesus jumping to see the Roman Governor, and the rest, while eloquent, sounds contrived.
This topic was posted , thanks OneVike.
Hi.
Probably a fake. No corraboration that I know of, but two things:. I did stay at a Holiday inn one time, and when I get to heaven, I won’t be surprised that Pontius Pilate is there ahead of me.
5.56mm
Fake. I think the writing style is even later than the 19th century some other posters have mentioned. Reads somewhat like some recent SciFi.
Yup.
I don’t think we are reading the original version. So the translation may have literary license of the time posted. Love to see the oldest print of it.
Seems fake to me. But I’m not a doctor of manuscripts.
The translation to me seems like SciFi writers Jack Vance or Fritz Leiber (toned down some in his case), but that’s probably just me projecting what I know on to it.
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