(Matt. 27:1-2, 11-32; Mark 15:1-19; Luke 23:1-25 and John 18:28-19:16).

"And having bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pontius Pilate the governor" — From the time of the subjugation of Judea to the Romans, the Sanhedrin was deprived of the right to punish criminals with death, which is also evident from John. 18:31. The stoning of Stephen was an arbitrary act. According to the law, those accused of blasphemy were stoned, but the Jews, unconsciously fulfilling the will of God, wanted to give the Lord Jesus Christ a more shameful death – crucifixion – and for this purpose, after the death sentence had been pronounced by the Sanhedrin, they took Him to the Pontius Pilate hegemon, that is, the governor.

Pontius, nicknamed Pilate, was the fifth procurator, or governor of Judea. He was appointed to this position in 26 A.D. From the Roman Emperor. Tiberias. A proud, haughty and cruel man, but at the same time cowardly and cowardly, he hated the Jews and, in turn, was hated by them. Soon after the crucifixion of Christ, he was summoned to Rome for trial, imprisoned in Vienna (in southern Galina) and there committed suicide. Procurators usually lived in Caesarea, but on the feast of Passover they moved to Jerusalem to observe order.

The most detailed account of Pilate's trial is given by the Holy Evangelist John. He says that the Jews took Jesus to the praetorium, that is, the court chamber of the Roman governor, probably in the fortress or near the fortress of Antonieva, northwest of the temple, in which the Roman garrison was stationed. Touching anything pagan was considered a defilement, and therefore they did not enter inside, so as not to prevent the eating of Passover (a clear indication that the Passover came on that day in the evening, and that Christ ate the Passover on the eve of the feast, but sacrificed Himself, as the true Lamb of the Passover, on the very day of the coming of the Old Testament Passover, which was the prototype of His suffering). Pilate, making in this case a concession to Jewish customs (it is known that the Romans tried to spare the habits and customs of the conquered peoples, so as not to turn them too much against themselves), himself went out to them on the lithostroton — an open elevated place in front of the procurator's dwelling (stone platform from the Greek lithos, lithos — stone) — and asked: "What do you accuse Him of?" the third with the accusations of the Lord on the part of those who brought Him, and St. John with Pilate's question to those who brought the Lord: thus, St. John begins from the very beginning and then, in the entire description, adheres to a more detailed and consistent order of legal proceedings, supplementing the narratives of the first three Evangelists.

"What evil has He done? I found nothing worthy of death in Him" – the Jews did not want a new trial of the case of Jesus: they hoped that Pilate would only be the executor of the sentence they had pronounced. Pilate understood well what kind of people he was dealing with, and therefore immediately put the accusers in the proper position in relation to himself as a representative of the Roman authorities: I cannot condemn without hearing the case, and therefore, "Take Him, and judge Him according to your law." The Sanhedrin was indeed granted the right to condemn and carry out certain punishments without the approval of the Roman authorities: it was impossible only to punish with death. Pilate also offers them to use their right. Changing their proud tone to a submissive one, the Jews confess that their rights are limited, and they cannot put to death a criminal worthy of death: "It is not fit for us to kill anyone, "that the word of Jesus may come to pass, as He said, by what death He wanted to die." The Lord indeed prophesied more than once that He would be delivered up to the Gentiles (Matt. 20:19), that He would be lifted up from the earth, that is, crucified (Matt. 26:2; John 12:32). The enemies of Christ were then compelled to expound their accusations against Christ, which we find in St. Luke: "We found that He corrupts our people, and forbids us to give tribute to Caesar, calling Himself Christ the King" (Luke 23:2)—the crafty hypocrites, who hate the Romans themselves, invent this slanderous accusation of a purely political nature in order to more easily obtain the confirmation of the death sentence for Jesus. To this accusation, as St. John relates (John 18:33), Pilate privately, inside the praetorium, asked Jesus: "Are you the King of the Jews?" – "Do you say this on your own behalf, or have others told you about Me?" the Lord asked to this: it was necessary to know what the origin of this question was – if Pilate himself came to him, then it was necessary to answer "no", because Christ was not a king in the sense of Pilate; if Pilate's question is only a repetition of what the Jews said, then the answer should have been in the affirmative, for Christ was indeed the King of Truth.

Christ was not the political king of the Jews, but was the theocratic king of the universe. The Lord wanted to force Pilate to express himself in what sense he used the word "king" in relation to him, that is, whether he himself accused Him of arrogating this title to Himself or only repeated the accusation of the Jews. Pilate's answer breathes contempt for Judaism: "Am I a Jew? Thy people and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?" — that is, he does not admit any royal dignity in Christ, but only wants to know why the people and the chief priests betrayed him, accusing him of arrogating to himself the title of king. Jesus answers: "My kingdom is not of this world" – the Lord affirms that He is indeed a king, but not in the political, but in the spiritual sense of the word, not such a king as you imagine. "And Pilate said to him, 'Are you therefore a king?'" – realizing that Jesus is not a political pretender to an earthly kingdom, Pilate expresses doubts about the possibility of the existence of any other spiritual kingdom. Then the Lord confirms that He is indeed the King, the King of the spiritual Kingdom of Truth, and came to earth in order to bear witness to the Truth, meaning by "Truth," of course, the religious truth of His Divine teaching. His subjects are those who are able to listen to this Truth. Pilate, of course, as a rude pagan, could not understand these words of the Lord and disdainfully said: "What is truth?", but he understood that the Kingdom of Jesus was not political and did not threaten Roman rule in any way.

The pagan Greco-Roman world at that time had reached such mental and moral corruption that it lost faith in the possibility of the existence of truth in general and did not believe that there was truth. An expression of this desperate disbelief in the truth is Pilate's historical question: "What is the truth?", the answer to which he did not even want to hear, but simply went out to the Jews and declared that he did not find any guilt in Jesus. This statement deeply wounded the pride of the members of the Sanhedrin, and they, as the first three Evangelists relate, began to persistently accuse the Lord of many things, wishing at all costs to achieve His condemnation.

The Lord kept a continuous silence at this, "so that the governor was greatly amazed" (Matt. 27:14). Then they mentioned that He was stirring up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning with Galilee (Luke 23:5), and Pilate, then asking: "Is He a Galilean?", sent Him to King Herod, who was also living in Jerusalem on the occasion of the feasts. The Lord's judgment before Herod is reported only by the Evangelist Luke in 23:7-12. Pilate probably hoped to obtain from Herod more definite information about the person and case of the accused, which was not entirely clear to him. From the further remark of St. Luke that Pilate and Herod became friends from that time, we can conclude that Pilate deliberately sent the Lord to Herod, wishing in this way to put an end to the enmity that existed between them. Perhaps he hoped to get a favorable opinion of Jesus from Herod in order to deliver the Lord from the hands of His persistent accusers. It is not without reason that he later points out that Herod did not find in Him anything worthy of death (Luke 23:15).

Herod was very happy to see Jesus. This was the same Herod Antipas who killed John the Baptist, and when he heard about the works of Christ, he thought that this was John who had risen from the dead. Herod hoped to see a miracle from the Lord: not in order to believe in Him, but to satiate his eyesight, just as we look at the spectacles as sorcerers imagine that they swallow a serpent, swords, etc., and are amazed (Bl. Theophylact). Herod, apparently, considered the Lord to be something like a magician. He also asked Him many questions, hoping to hear something interesting, but the Lord kept complete silence to all his questions. The chief priests and scribes incessantly accused the Lord, probably proving that His preaching was as dangerous for Herod as it was for Caesar. Having mocked the Lord, Herod clothed Him in a white robe and sent Him back to Pilate. The Romans wore white (light) clothes for candidates for any managerial or honorable position (the word "candidate" itself comes from the Latin "candidus", which means white, light). By dressing the Lord in such a garment, Herod wanted to express that he looked upon Jesus only as an amusing pretender to the Jewish throne and did not consider Him a serious and dangerous criminal. That is how Pilate understood it.

Referring to the fact that Herod did not find in Jesus anything worthy of death, Pilate proposes to the chief priests, scribes and people, having punished Him, to release Him. Pilate thought to satisfy them with a light punishment. He remembered that it was the custom of the Jews to appear before the Passover before the Passover with a request to release one of the criminals condemned to death, and he himself suggested to them: "Whom do you want me to release to you: Baraeva, or Jesus, who is called Christ?" (Matt. 27:17). To this the first two Evangelists add: "For he knew that they had betrayed Him out of envy" (Matt. 27:18). Pilate apparently hoped that he would find other feelings for Jesus among the common people, and the people would ask for Jesus' release. It was to this numerous crowd of people, who had gathered in front of the procurator's house, that Pilate turned with the question: "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" As he sat in his judgment seat, open and lofty, called in Greek "lithostrone" and in Hebrew "gabbatha," a messenger from his wife appeared to him, who relayed to him her words: "Do nothing to that Righteous One, for I have suffered much this day in a dream for His sake." Some ancient Christian writers call her name: Claudia Procula. It is assumed that she professed the Jewish faith, or at least was disposed to it, and tradition says that she later became a Christian. Probably, she had heard a lot about the Lord Jesus Christ and was afraid that her husband would bring God's punishment upon himself for condemning Him. It is not known what kind of dream she had, but it can be assumed that Jesus of Galilee appeared to her in a dream as an innocently tormented Righteous One, and she was tormented in her sleep by the thought, tormented by her conscience that it was her own husband who was His executioner. But while the messenger was relaying to Pilate the words of his wife, the Jewish leaders began to exhort the people to ask Pilate to release Barabbas, and the people yielded to their impious suggestions. When Pilate asked a second question, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" they answered, "Barabbas." "What shall I do to Jesus, who is called Christ?" asked Pilate. And they answered, "Let him be crucified"; according to St. Luke, they cried out: "Death to Him!" (Slavs, "take this one").

Then Pilate, wishing to let Christ go, lifted up his voice, saying: "What evil has He done?" They cried out even more loudly: let him be crucified!" Euthymius Zigaben emphasizes: "They do not say: Let him be killed, but let him be crucified, so that the very generation of death would show in Him a villain." Thus the prophecies about the very nature of Christ's death for us were to be fulfilled. The people, corrupted by their spiritual leaders, preferred Barabbas to the Lord Jesus Christ, about whom the Evangelists report that he was a well-known robber, who, with a gang of accomplices, stirred up a disturbance in the city for the purpose of robbery and committed murders (Matt. 27:16; John 18:40; Luke 23:19 and Mark 15:7).

Hearing this frantic cry of the people, which he apparently did not expect, Pilate was completely confused. He feared that his continued insistence on the defence of the Righteous One might cause a great agitation among the people, which would have to be quelled by armed force, and that the embittered chief priests might denounce him to Caesar, accusing him of having caused the tumult by defending the state criminal whom they were trying to make the Lord Jesus out to be. Under the pressure of such feelings, Pilate decided to try to satisfy the thirst for blood among the people by giving the Innocent One to be scourged. Probably, he hoped to make a concession to the people's fury and achieve the release of Jesus from death on the cross. "Then Pilate took Jesus and commanded Him to be beaten" (John 19:1). The story of scourging is found in all the Evangelists. According to the first two Evangelists, for scourging, the soldiers took Jesus to the praetorium (in Slavonic: "to the judgment"), that is, inside the courtyard, probably in order to have more space there, since there was no room in front of the court because of the crowd of people, and gathered against Him the entire regiment, or spira, or cohort. The soldiers undressed Jesus and began to scourge Him. Such scourging was prescribed among the Romans for serious crimes, and moreover, for the most part, for slaves. Whips were made of ropes and belts, and sharp bone and metal sticks were inserted into their ends. This torture was so painful that many died under the whips. The scourged was usually tied to a stake in an inclined position, and then the soldiers beat him with whips on the bare back, and the body was torn apart from the very first blows, and blood flowed profusely from the wounds. Pilate subjected Him to such a terrible punishment, in Whom he did not find any guilt, but it must be assumed that in the hope of satisfying the bloodthirstiness of the crowd and saving Him from death on the cross. Having finished the scourging, the hard-hearted soldiers began to mock the Sufferer: they put on Him a "scarlet chlamys" or scarlet robe, that is, a red military cloak, similar to those cloaks worn by kings and high military commanders. Such cloaks were sleeveless and were thrown over the shoulder so that the right hand remained free. This chlamys was supposed to represent the royal purple for the King of the Jews. A crown woven of thorns was placed on the head of the Lord, and a reed was given in His hands, which was supposed to represent the royal scepter. Having done all this in mockery of the Divine Sufferer, the soldiers began to kneel before Him and, cursing at Him, as if greeting Him, began to say: "Rejoice, King of the Jews," and they struck Him on the cheeks, spat on Him, took the reed from His hands and struck Him on the head with it, so that the needles of the crown of thorns would penetrate deeper and wound more severely.

All these actions are presented in the first two Evangelists as having taken place after the final condemnation of Jesus to death, but St. John, who set himself the goal of supplementing and clarifying the narrative of the first three Evangelists, points out that the scourging and these mockery of Christ took place earlier and, as can be assumed, were undertaken by Pilate precisely with the aim of achieving the deliverance of Jesus from the death penalty, at least in this way. Pilate ordered the Lord, who was thus tormented and tormented, to be taken out in order to arouse the pity of the Jews for Him. He hoped that their hearts would tremble at such a horrible sight, and they would no longer insist on putting the Lord to death. Such was the reasoning of the pagan, who did not know the true God and His commandment about love for one's neighbor, but, alas, this was not the reasoning of the spiritual leaders and rulers of the chosen people of God, who raged in their unquenchable malice. When the Lord was brought to the lithostroton, Pilate said: "Behold, I bring Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him," and at the same time, pointing to Him, he added: "Behold the Man?"

With this exclamation Pilate addressed the court of their consciences: "See how he would say to them,