Pontius Pilate a saint?

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Cecilianus said:
Eastern Catholics always use the same calendar for pre-schism saints as their Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox counterparts, including for saints generally not venerated in the West (such as St. Constantine the Great).

For the general claim that the Ethiopian Catholics venerate “the same devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the angels and the saints” as the Ethiopian Orthodox, sharing “the same doctrine and liturgical tradition” and that there is difference in faith between the two,
ecs.org.et/Church.htm
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All that link shows is that the Ethiopian Catholic Church exists, which I already knew. I searched for a calendar and a list of saints and could find neither. What I was wondering is whether there is any evidence to collaborate Pilate as a Catholic saint. You know, the topic. I was hoping some Ethiopian Catholic would know where the resource was to answer this question.
 
For Christ to die a violent death , so that he could rise again, you had to have the evil men to betray and carry the killing. This fulfilled the prophocies.
Now the question is , did the evil men have a choice? for to complete the christ story, someone had to betray, and someone had to be killers.
Just imagine if Judas did not betray or Plilate sentenced Christ to death.
mypete
 
I remeber in a parish bulliten many years ago, a letter from Pilate written to his superiors. It gave a discription of Jesus Christ, he said he thought well of him, and ordered his soldier to make sure no harm comes to him when he is was preaching. Sounds to me like there was some good there.
 
There are multiple letters from the first few centuries supposedly from Pilate, but the authenticity of them is debateable. Most of them are embedded into apocryphal gospels but may have originally been separate.
 
Tradition doesn’t look favorably upon Pilate…

“He was Crucified under Pontius Pilate.”
 
DorianGregorian said:
“He was Crucified under Pontius Pilate.”
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Yes, and no one can deny that. It was under Pilate, but the question is, was it Pilate’s desire, or was he forced? And even if it was his will, that doesn’t rule out a repentance.
 
GeorgeSword said:
Yes, and no one can deny that. It was under Pilate, but the question is, was it Pilate’s desire, or was he forced? And even if it was his will, that doesn’t rule out a repentance.
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It was neither his desire nor something he was forced into - it was something he caved in to out of cowardice. If he is a saint, it is because of his repentance.
 
Hi all,

Very interesting discussion. This is something I’ve wondered about for a long while.

Anyways, I only have a couple of things to add from my own studies.

I’ve read the supposed correspondence from Pontius Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius and with Herod. Both are very interesting, but I do have to say they read more like later pious fiction than actual period documents. From what I remember, that’s the general scholarly consensus as well.

Also, when I visited Switzerland about 10 years ago, I spent a few days in Lucerne. The Swiss have an old legend that after Pilate was recalled to Rome, he was exiled by Caligula to modern-day Switzerland, where he killed himself. The locals cast his body into the mountain lake of Lucerne, but the body was rejected by the water and demons physically expelled it. The locals then tied it down with rocks and chains to make sure the body would sink.

What I thought was neat was that the mountain peak overlooking the lake to this day is named Mount Pilatus.

Anywho, figured I’d share.
 
I just saw a National Geographic special the other day - although I don’t necessarily believe anything they say. They actually had a show on that said that Jesus had actual brothers!

Anyway, they speculated that Potius Pilate went back to Rome in disgrace and that the proper thing to do would be to commit suicide (apparently it was the honorable thing to do, as it allowed his family to keep their property).

Again, I would take this with a grain of salt, because these historians use a couple of facts and then make assumptions on all the rest based on what was most likely in that time period. And we all know that nothing that happened around Jesus was normal.

Peace,
John Marie Philomena
 
The bulliten article said it was excerpts from an actual letter that is in the care of the Vatican. Im going to see if I can find it on the net.
 
I have no right to judge Pilate, as I don’t know his heart and I am not God, but it would seem that he had some awareness of Jesus’ divinity but still crucified him out of fear of reprisal.
 
EphelDuath said:
I have no right to judge Pilate, as I don’t know his heart and I am not God, but it would seem that he had some awareness of Jesus’ divinity but still crucified him out of fear of reprisal.
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He was definitely fortitude challenged. However, any sin could be forgiven. As mentioned earlier, we have the example of St. Paul.
 
pnewton said:
Do you have any documentation from the Catholic Church? I think I documented pretty well he is definitely not a Catholic Saint.

All Catholic Saints, of any Rite, still must be canonized by the Catholic Church as a whole. We are still one Church.
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Well you may want to read this… vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_02051995_orientale-lumen_en.html
" Since, in fact, we believe that the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches is an integral part of the heritage of Christ’s Church, the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with that tradition, so as to be nourished by it and to encourage the process of unity in the best way possible for each." and “It has been stressed several times that the full union of the Catholic Eastern Churches with the Church of Rome which has already been achieved must not imply a diminished awareness of their own authenticity and originality.(58) Wherever this occurred, the Second Vatican Council has urged them to rediscover their full identity, because they have “the right and the duty to govern themselves according to their own special disciplines. For these are guaranteed by ancient tradition, and seem to be better suited to the customs of their faithful and to the good of their souls.”” To my understanding includes Pilate as a saint in The Ethiopian Catholic Church. The Ethiopian Catholic Church states ecs.org.et/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=175&Itemid=87 " The Ethiopian Catholic Church is especially close to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whose doctrine and liturgical tradition she shares. While separated by their understanding of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, the Ethiopian Catholic and Orthodox Churches have basically the same sacraments, the same prayers, the same devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the angels and the saints, the same traditions: the same faith. For this reason, the Ethiopian Catholic Church does not proselytize Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, but strives for brotherly cooperation. Indeed, Ethiopian Catholics pray and work in hope for the day that the Ethiopian Catholic and Orthodox Churches will unite in full communion."
 
Interesting idea. Of course, a courageous Pilate or even a modestly proud Roman with gravitas would have not only refused to crucify Our Lord and subject himself to the Client’s demands but would have his legionaries lash Caiphas and the Sanhedrin out of his camp… and raised them to prepare for the riots and rebellion that followed.

Given that it’s only a couple more decades before they rise in revolt anyway, he may have been justified in Rome for doing so.

Being that he refused to do so and gave in puts it on his life and possible repentance and general conversion, baptism, etc outside of canonical Scripture, of course. I wasn’t aware the Ethiopian Church believed that. Certainly worthy of a prayer and some reflection on the possibilities.
 
SyroMalankara said:
While you are, no doubt, correct, it seems that the Ethiopian Church had formally accepted the request to expunge Pontius Pilate from its Calendar
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Where did you get this information? Doesn’t sound at all correct compared to my last post quoting Pope John Paul II.
 
AdvocatusVerbum said:
Interesting idea. Of course, a courageous Pilate or even a modestly proud Roman with gravitas would have not only refused to crucify Our Lord and subject himself to the Client’s demands but would have his legionaries lash Caiphas and the Sanhedrin out of his camp… and raised them to prepare for the riots and rebellion that followed.
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Peter denied Christ three times. Saint doesn’t mean having never sinned. I can honestly say, I don’t think I could have done better then Pilate. How many of you are marytrs? Also, Jesus spoke to Pilate, and he pondered the Truth. What did Jesus have to say to standing before Herod? …something to think about…
 
Right. I was more just saying it wasn’t Scriptural, not denying a possibility of redemption after. Just that what the RIGHT decision would have been facing that. Or the wrong decision a proud Pagan Roman would have made, as well.
 
Wasn’t scriptural? Well, Pilate did want everyone to know, Jesus was King of the Jews. He also tried to set Jesus free, more then once.
 
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