Pontius Pilate a saint?

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Claire_from_DE

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I think I read somewhere that in the eastern church there is a tradition that Pontius Pilate and his wife became saints, or at least became Christians. Since he was in the gospel reading in today’s mass, my RCIA discussion group was wondering if this is true. I hope it is. We know that even people who make terrible decisions can repent and God’s mercy is without limits.
 
I have heard that the Ethiopian Church venerates them as saints.
 
I think it’s only the Ethiopians who consider him a saint.

According to the Acts of Pilate he repented. There isn’t much within Holy Tradition stating anything either way.

If you want an example of someone who made horrible choices and who repented though, St. Paul fits the bill quite well.
 
I wonder why pontius pilate was venerated as a saint? Is there any evidence that he repented, was baptized and ebcame a Christian?

History tells is that he was a brutal ruler responsible for killing many Jews. Even Rome recalled him for his brutaility.

How can a brutal murderer be considered a saint unless there is evidence that he became a Chistian?
 
Not to say Wikipedia is a great source for anything, but the article makes no mention of brutality from him from historical sources. It seems most everything about him after the Gospels is based purely on legend and tradition.

edit* it appears there are a few references in Josepheus, but only one of them involved any type of brutality or death. It doesn’t seem he was any more brutal then any other Roman governor would have been dealing with a riotous population.
 
Pilate died unrepentant in prison after being brought to trial through the efforts of St Mary Magdalan. It is not certain whether his death was accidental or suicide.

John
 
I hope Prodomus comes back and tells his sources for that one, I have never heard that before, how about anybody else?
 
Formosus said:
What is your source for this?
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Its a book on the life of St Mary Magdalen. I can’t find it at the moment. We have recently moved house and we still have an awful lot of books in boxes. I’ll try and find it so I can give you the details. I believe it was researched by nuns at one of the convents in Greece, though it may have been elsewhere.

John
 
St Mary Magdalen was a women of wealth. She and other women provided for Christ and the disciples as they travelled around.
Her affluent position in society enabled her to have an audience with the emperor over lunch. When she described the resurrection of Christ the emperor exclaimed that a man could no more rise from the dead than one of the eggs on the table could turn red. St Mary picked up one of the eggs and it immediately turned red. Orthodox icons of St mary Magdalen often depict her holding a red egg for this reason and this is where the tradition of dyeing eggs red for Pascha comes from.
I understand that many Catholics believe that St Mary Magdalen was a prostitue but this is a relatively recent Western tradition originating from Pope Gregory the Great in 591. It has apparently even been quietly rejected by the Catholic Church in the 60’s.

John
 
Pope St. Gregory Dialogos? I thought he was a great father in the Orthodox Church :rolleyes:

As for Pilate, again there is nothing definite on this as the Acts of Pilate, a 5th or 6th century document, talks of Pilate in a positive light and acts as the basis for the Ethiopian claims to his sainthood. I don’t see anything definitive in one way or the other and I personally would rather side on God’s infinite mercy and the tradition of an apostolic church.
 
From the Catholic Encyclopedia
His rule was brought to an end through trouble which arose in Samaria. An imposter had given out that it was in his power to discover the sacred vessels which, as he alleged, had been hidden by Moses on Mount Gerizim, whither armed Samaritans came in large numbers. Pilate seems to have thought the whole affair was a blind, covering some other more important design, for he hurried forces to attack them, and many were slain. They appealed to Vitellius, who was at that time legate in Syria, saying that nothing political had been intended, and complaining of Pilate’s whole administration. He was summoned to Rome to answer their charges, but before he could reach the city the Emperor Tiberius had died. That is the last we know of Pilate from authentic sources, but legend has been busy with his name. He is said by Eusebius (Church History II.7), on the authority of earlier writers, whom he does not name, to have fallen into great misfortunes under Caligula, and eventually to have committed suicide.
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In short, we do not know what happened to him. His fate belongs to God alone, but he is not a Saint.
 
pnewton said:
From the Catholic Encyclopedia

In short, we do not know what happened to him. His fate belongs to God alone, but he is not a Saint.
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Yet he is held to be a Saint in the Ethiopian Church by ( I assume) both Catholic Ethiopians and Orthodox.
 
Formosus said:
Yet he is held to be a Saint in the Ethiopian Church by ( I assume) both Catholic Ethiopians and Orthodox.
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Catholics are Catholics. Do you have any link to show he was a Saint? I linked Eusebius.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Claudia Procula is commemorated as a saint, but not Pilate, because in the Gospel accounts Claudia urged Pilate not to have anything to do with Jesus. In some Eastern Orthodox traditions, Pilate committed suicide out of remorse for having sentenced Jesus to death
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.

Okay, one group does recognize him as a Saint.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church recognized Pilate as a saint in the sixth century, based on the account in the Acts of Pilate.[24]
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He is not a Saint in the Catholic Church.

Here is a link to the Acts of Pilate

books.google.com/books?id=9I8ySs4eusoC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=pontius+pilate+gnostic&source=bl&ots=yGaHNkOsmH&sig=fymWgu6kaINLm95EgDNl5uO03II&hl=en&ei=-b4SS-SxDtOvngetlcjEAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=pontius%20pilate%20gnostic&f=false
 
As I said, as Ethiopian Orthodox and Catholics hold the same liturgical calender, then they[Ethiopian Catholics] do indeed venerate Pilate as a saint much as the Byzantine Churches venerate Saints which are not on western Calenders.
 
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