Saints Pontius Pilate & Claudia Procula

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In Eastern Christianity, and by extension in the Catholic Church, Pontius Pilate’s wife Claudia Procula is venerated as a Saint.

But a lesser known fact is that within Oriental Orthodoxy in the Ethiopic tradition, Pilate himself has been venerated as a Saint since at least the 6th century.

Since there is an Ethiopian Catholic Church, this means that the Catholic Church, at least in one of her 24 Churches, recognizes Pontius Pilate as a Saint.

Does anybody here venerate him? I personally feel comfortable venerating Claudia, but Pilate not so much.

St. Claudia Procula, pray for us
 
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Do you believe in accounts about Pilate by Josephus and Philo?
 
I’m not familiar with them. I suppose I would “believe” in them as I trust Josephus and Philo…

But I also trust the Ethiopian Church, to a degree.

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Saint Prokla I am more comfortable venerating however… When I try venerating Pontius Pilate, something feels wrong. She’s also much more widely recognized and venerated than Pilate.

Does the Ethiopian Catholic Church venerate Pontius Pilate like the Ethiopian Orthodox which it originated from?

Oh and to anybody who wants to condemn Pilate for his actions taken with Jesus - try putting yourself in his shoes. I can’t say if I wasn’t in his position when he was that I wouldn’t have done the exact same thing he did…
 
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For those who believe in the accounts about Pilate by Josephus and Philo, Pilate was not a very good man basically.

Can see Wikipedia entry for Pilate and look under written accounts and then under Josephus and Philo.
 
Yeah I don’t know what to make of everything.

Like I said, I don’t feel comfortable venerating him myself - I’ve tried and my conscience screams at me not to.
 
i gave this post a “like” because i “like” alternate history themes

but as miserable as things are on planet earth today, conditions would be considerably worse had not the christian church come into existence…

what would we be? pagans?; no thank you…

oh & i am going to look for this novel in my book club… 🙂
 
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“Augustine suggested that Pilate not only recognized Jesus’ innocence, he also recognized his divinity—and converted to Christianity. Augustine compared Pilate with the magi, claiming that while the magi were the first to recognize Jesus’ divinity at his “rising,” or birth,b Pilate was the first to recognize his divinity at his “setting,” or death.7 By washing his hands of Jesus’ blood, Pilate was suggesting that Jesus’ blood would wash away our sins, Augustine wrote.”
 
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brian_custer said:
oh & i am going to look for this novel in my book club… 🙂
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The University of Virginia Press has published an English translation of Caillois’ novel. I can’t find it on the publisher’s website but the title is simply “Pontius Pilate.” It’s very short, not much over 100 pages.
 
the traditional definition of a “saint” is that the Church recognizes that the particular individual is in heaven

pilate was a ruthless pagan

sometime, a few years after the murder of Jesus, he was “recalled” to rome, more or less because he had lost control of the situation in palestine

rome applied much more heavy-handed tactics in the area thereafter

what became of pilate after his "recall’ i have never read

if anyone knows of his conversion; i would really enjoy reading about it… 🙂
 
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brian_custer said:
anyone knows of his conversion; i would really enjoy reading about it… 🙂
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It’s in the apocryphal book called the Gospel of Nicodemus and Acts of Pilate.

Which is also the book where we get the tradition of Veronica and the name of St. Longinus.
 
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thank you for that. i am definitely going to look into these sources…
 
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BartholomewB said:
Saint or not, we owe a lot to PP. There’s a “what-if” novel by Roger Caillois, a twentieth-century French writer, in which the trial of Jesus before Pilate ends with his acquittal. Jesus consequently lives on to enjoy a ripe old age. The Christian religion, of course, never comes into existence.

Ponce Pilate - L'Imaginaire - GALLIMARD - Site Gallimard
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This sounds very plausible. But, if this is the case with Pontius Pilatus, what would we say about Judas? Following the same reasoning, christianity owes much more to him.
 
My mom was taught by nuns, and one of the stories that floated around in that era was that Pilate was in purgatory until the end of time. It’s probably not an official teaching or anything, but it’s there in the back of my head, and so I wouldn’t really feel a connection to “St. Pilate, pray for us!” And at the same token, I’m very fond of praying for the people in purgatory… but I also remember reading in St. Gertrude’s “Life and Revelations” (also a Catholic classic, but not official church teaching) that not everyone in purgatory has the privilege of benefiting from people’s prayers. So I mentally lumped him in with that group.

re: Judas, there’s no official teaching there, either. But another Catholic classic points out that he was the first of those who
damned themselves by refusing to practice their faith in their lives and for those who purposely refuse to believe and avail themselves of the fruits of the Redemption.
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midori said:
… and so I wouldn’t really feel a connection to “St. Pilate, pray for us!”
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This makes me wonder, partly in jest, what would Pontius Pilate be the patron saint of? Since he famously asked, perhaps rhetorically, “What is truth?,” he could be the patron saint of all who languish in the error of Relativism. So many today believe (or are told) that truth is relative. “That may be true for you but not for me.” St. Pilate, help us! 🤔
 
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All good suggestions, but let’s not derail the thread further! (Mea culpa…)
 
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