Question: Why did Pilate not release Christ after this?

Answer: Because it was not safe for him to release Him, as accused of stealing royal power. However, he had to demand testimony as to whether Christ had gathered soldiers around Him, and whether He had not prepared weapons, whether He had not stored up gold and silver. And since Pilate was instead weak and evasive, for this reason he is inexcusable. For when they asked him for a notorious villain, he gave it up; and about Christ he asked: "What shall I do to Jesus?" – thus making the Jews themselves the rulers of the court. Since he was a ruler, he could take Him out of their hands by force, just as the famous commander took Paul (Acts 21:31). "Let him be crucified," said the Jews, intending not only to kill Him, but also to ascribe to Him a villainous guilt, for the cross was the execution of evildoers. Pilate washes his hands as a sign that he is clean from hatred. The wisdom is obviously false; for although he himself called Jesus a righteous man, yet he delivered him over to murderers. And they take the wages of murder and His blood upon themselves and on their children; this retribution soon befell them, when the Romans destroyed them and their children. However, even to this day the Jews, as children of those who killed the Lord, bear His blood on them, for for disbelief in the Lord they are persecuted by all, and there is no mercy for them. Pilate beat Jesus, that is, with a whip, either to please them, or as a sign that he also condemned Him, and that they would no longer crucify an innocent man, but a disgraced and condemned one. Thus was fulfilled the prophetic saying: "Splash My widows on the wounds."

Then the soldiers of the governor, taking Jesus to the praetorium, gathered the whole army against Him, and having undressed Him, put on Him a scarlet robe; and having wove a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and gave Him a reed in His right hand. and kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, Rejoice. King of the Jews! and they spat on him, and took a reed, and smote him on the head.

Here the word of David was fulfilled: "Deliver me not over to the mockery of a fool" (Psalm 38:9). For the soldiers dealt with Him worthy of themselves, as if they were madmen; they clothed Him, as a king, in chlamys instead of purple; instead of a sceptre they gave Him a reed, a crown of thorns instead of a royal diadem, and they bowed down to Him in mockery. See how all kinds of reproach have been put into action; the face was disgraced with spitting, the head with a crown, the hand with a reed, the whole body with chlamys, the ears with blasphemous words. But although they did everything they did in reproach to Christ, nevertheless, you understand that all this was done by Jesus Himself in a significant way. Thus, the scarlet chlamys signified our blood-stained and murderous nature, which He took on and sanctified, putting on it. The crown of thorns signified the sins arising from worldly cares, which Christ consumes with His Divinity (the head means His Divinity). The reed is an image of our perishable and feeble flesh, which the Lord took on, just as David says: "The right hand of the Lord is exalted" (Psalm 117:16). And by accepting blasphemy in His ears, the Lord delivered us from the serpent's whispering, which entered through the ears of Eve.

And when they mocked him, they took off his scarlet robe, and clothed him in his garments, and led him away to be crucified. As they went out, they met a certain Cyrenean, named Simon; they compelled him to bear his cross.

The first three Evangelists say that Simon carried the cross of Jesus, and John tells us that it was carried by the Lord Himself. Therefore, it must be admitted that there was both: at first Jesus Himself bore His cross, when no one wanted to bear it; and then on the way they found Simon and laid a cross on him. Consider this: Simon means obedience; therefore, whoever has obedience bears the cross of Christ. Cyrene, as the city of Pentapolis, signifies the five senses that must bear the cross.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means "the place of the skull," they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall to drink; and when he had tasted it, he would not drink. And those who crucified him divided his garments, casting lots; and they sat there to watch over him; and they put an inscription over His head, signifying His guilt: "This is Jesus, King of the Jews."

The "skull" place was called so because, according to tradition, the fathers say, Adam was buried here. This means that just as in Adam we all died, so in Christ we must come to life. Further, do not be troubled by the fact that you hear different things from the Evangelists, that, according to this Matthew, they offered the Lord vinegar with gall, according to the story of Mark – wine with myrrh, and according to the testimony of John – vinegar with gall and hyssop. Different things were done, as usually happens in a disorderly crowd, where everyone does his own. Therefore, it is necessary to think that one brought wine, the other vinegar with bile. There are many kinds of death, but Christ dies on the cross in order to sanctify the tree, through which we were cursed, and to bless everything: the heavenly, signified by the upper part of the cross, and the subterranean, signified by the footstool, and the boundaries of the earth, both eastern and western, signified by the transverse parts of the cross; and at the same time, in order that, with outstretched hands, he might call and gather the scattered children of God. The soldiers divide His garments as a poor man who has nothing more. What the other Evangelist calls the title, Matthew calls "guilt," because the enemies, in their justification, wrote over Him why He was crucified, namely, that He was crucified as King of the Jews, that is, as a thief of the kingdom of Judah and a rebel. Thus, they wrote the word "king" for slander; but, in spite of this, this testimony is true, as the testimony presented by enemies. The Lord is indeed the King, Who came precisely for this very purpose, to save the Jews. And since the carnal Jews did not desire to have Him as king over them, He is made king of the spiritual Jews, that is, those who confess, for Jew means one who confesses.

Then two thieves were crucified with Him, one on the right hand and the other on the left. And those who passed by cursed Him, shaking their heads, and saying, "He who destroys the temple, and builds in three days! save thyself; if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests, with the scribes, and the elders, and the Pharisees, mocking, said, "He saved others, but he cannot save himself; if He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and let us believe in Him; he trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he is pleasing to him. For He said, I am the Son of God. Likewise, the thieves who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

In order to slander Christ, two thieves are crucified with Him, so that He too may be recognized as a lawless man like them. But they were an image of two peoples, the Jewish and the Gentile, since both of these nations were equally lawless and together blasphemed Christ, just as the robbers at first both blasphemed Him. But then one of them came to know Him and confessed Him to be king, wherefore he said, Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom. In the same way, the pagan people confessed Christ. The other thief, the image of the Jewish people, continued to blaspheme. The devil compelled many to say: "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross" – in order to force Him to come down from the cross and to destroy the work of universal salvation by the cross. But Christ is the Son of God, and He did not heed the enemy, so that you also would know that you should not listen to the wiles of the devil, but should do good, even if people began to think ill of you.

And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour; and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: "Eli, Eli! Lama Savakhthani?" that is: "My God, My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" Some of those who stood there, hearing this, said, "He is calling Elijah." And immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. and others said, "Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him."

The darkness that was then did not occur in the natural order, as, for example, it happens as a result of a natural eclipse of the sun. On the fourteenth day of the moon there is never an eclipse, but there are usually eclipses at the birth of the moon; but at the time of Christ's crucifixion it was the fourteenth day of the moon, because then the Passover was celebrated; therefore, the darkness was not natural. Moreover, this darkness was all over the world, and not in one country, for example, in Egypt, so that it would be evident that the creation sympathized with the suffering of the Creator and that the light from the Jews had departed; And those Jews who demanded a sign from heaven, let them now see the sun darkened. Further, since man was created on the sixth day, and ate of the tree at the sixth hour (for this is the hour of eating), the Lord, recreating man and healing His fall, is nailed to the tree on the sixth day and at the sixth hour. The prophetic saying "Eli, Eli" is pronounced in the Hebrew language in order to show that He is not an opponent of the Old Testament scriptures. And "why hast Thou forsaken Me?" – He said to signify that He is a true man, and not illusory, for man, being a lover of life, naturally wants to live. Therefore, just as when He was grieving and grieving, He showed in Himself the fear of death that is natural to us, so now, when He says, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He reveals in Himself a natural love of life. For He was a true man and is like us in all things, except sin. However, some understood that the Saviour, taking upon Himself the face of the Jews, expresses here the following: Why hast Thou, Father, forsaken the Jewish people, that they should fall into such a grievous sin and be subjected to destruction? As descended from the Jews, Christ says: Why hast Thou forsaken Me, instead of – why hast Thou forsaken My kinsmen, My people, that they have done themselves such evil? Meanwhile, the people of the common people, being ignorant and unfamiliar with the prophecies, did not understand this proclamation and thought that Christ was calling Elijah (not all Jews knew the prophecies, just as not all Christians now know the Gospel). And they gave him vinegar to drink, that he might die sooner before Elijah came to save him. That is why some said: "Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save Him," that is, do not hasten His death, let us find out if Elijah will help Him.