Atkinson, The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac (1887) — translated from the Irish. The file contains the enlarged Passion: first, the hearings before Pilate from the Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus); secondly, the Passion according to Matthew with homiletic glosses.

Part One — The hearings before Pilate #

¹ In the nineteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor, high king of the whole world — and in the same year that Theodbairt son of Herod was king over the Jewish people and over the children of Israel besides — on the twentieth day of the month of March of that year, there came innumerable companies of the Jews to accuse and revile Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, with many diverse accusations, in the presence of the man whose name was Pilate: a judge he was, a justice and administrator of law and keeper of right over the Jewish people on behalf of the Roman king, Tiberius Caesar.

² These were the high chiefs over the party that came to that accusation: Annas and Caiaphas, the two chief leaders of the Jewish priests, and Nicodemus, Abimedathan, Gamaliel, Judas, Levi, Nephthalim, Alexander, Cyrus, and the Jewish people besides. And this is what they said to Pilate: “There is,” said they, “a notorious man in this land leading the people astray with perverse teachings: a son of Joseph the carpenter, and Mary is his mother’s name, and Jesus is his own name; and he says he is a king, and that he is God’s son — and not only that, but he keeps not our sabbath, and he annuls the law of our fathers.”

³ Said Pilate: “Show me in what way he breaks the law.” They said: “It is one of the great requirements of the law to do no work on the sabbath; and on that day Jesus healed some of the deaf, some of the lame, some of the blind, some of the crooked, some of the leprous, some that were possessed by demons, and some of various other diseases.” “It seems to us,” said Pilate, “that it would be fitter to praise the man of such deeds than to blame him.” “No,” said they, “but he is a man of devils, and it is through a demon that he heals everyone.”

⁴ “It is not likely,” said Pilate, “that it is through an unclean spirit that he casts out the spirits from the places where they are accustomed to dwell — but rather that it is through God’s virtue he commands the demons to leave the places where they dwell.” “We beseech you, O lord,” said they, “by your honour and your lordship, that that man be brought into your presence and questioned.”

⁵ Then Pilate sent a runner — a travelling servant — for Jesus, to come to speak with him. The runner went to where Jesus was, and reverenced him, and bowed to him, and spread the cloak he had about him in Jesus’ presence; and said: “O lord, go to the judge’s house, for Pilate is asking for you.”

⁶ When the Jews saw the honour the messenger did to the Saviour, they cried out and said: “O lord Pilate, why did you not send word to there deceiver by the voice of a crier or a herald to come into your presence — or why did you send an honourable runner for him?” And they told the honour the messenger had done him. Then Pilate called the messenger and asked him: “Why did you reverence Jesus, and why did you do him honour?”

⁷ The messenger said: “O lord, when you did send me to Jerusalem on another occasion, I saw Jesus there riding on a little donkey, and the children of the Hebrews spreading their garments beneath his feet, and branches of palm in their hands; and they were bowing and honouring and worshipping Jesus, and saying to him: ‘Save us, O lord and Son of the living God, who have come to help us.’”

⁸ Then the Jews cried out again against the messenger, and said: “How did you understand the Hebrew speech from them, being yourself a Greek?” The messenger said: “I had a Hebrew comrade; it was he who used to interpret for me everything I asked him in his own tongue.” Pilate said: “The messenger has done no wrong at all in worshipping Jesus, from the day he saw a company of the Jews themselves worshipping him.” Pilate said to the messenger: “Go, and bring the same man to speak with us.” The messenger did as he had been told, and called Jesus honourably to Pilate, as he had done before.

⁹ Now Pilate was thus at that time: with standards upon poles in the hands of the warrior-soldiers in his presence in the house of the court. And when Jesus came into the palace, the poles with their standards bowed down worshipfully in the hands of the warriors, through God’s miracles, before the face of Jesus; and the Jewish soldiers who held the poles bowed down no less, and said that it was with the soldiers’ own will the standards had bowed. “Now then,” said Pilate, “as the standards bowed of their own will and worshipped Jesus — " “It was not they that worshipped,” said the Jews, “but those who held them.” “Let Jesus go out of the house again,” said Pilate, “and let twelve of the boldest soldiers go, and hold the standards to see whether they will bow again as they did before.” The soldiers who held the standards went out, and Jesus came in the second time into the palace; and the standards bowed again beneath the warriors’ han perforce, and worshipped Jesus.

¹⁰ When Pilate saw that great miracle, he dared not rise from his lordly seat, nor seat Jesus in it — for fear and awe of Jesus had filled him. At that hour a messenger from Pilate’s wife came to speak with her husband — Procula was her name — and this is what she said to him: “Work just judgement upon the holy man who is in your presence; for much of affliction and torment has been wrought upon me in the night past for his sake.”

¹¹ Now a demon had come to hinder that question, for he knew what would come of it — Christ’s resurrection from death, and his own defeat, and the plundering of hell round Adam and his righteous children.

¹² The Jews answered, and said to Pilate: “Did we not tell you that there man is a demon-ridden man? And his evil deeds are plain now — how he has sent a demon to afflict your wife.”

¹³ Then Pilate called Jesus to him, and said to him: “Hear you the great accusations these folk bring against you? And why give you no answer to them?” Jesus answered and said gently: “Unless they had the power of speech, they would not speak; and from the day God gave them the power of governing their tongues, they can speak good and ill; and let us see how it shall be in the end.”

¹⁴ Then the elders of the priests and of the Jews besides answered and said: “We see and we know first, that it was through fornication you were made — for your father and your mother were not wed to each other; and we know secondly that it was in Bethlehem you were born, and that a great destruction came on the land through your birth in it — the slaying of the children by Herod in seeking you, from a child of two years to a child of one night’s age; and we know also the third thing — that your father and mother fled with you into the country of Egypt, for they dared not be in their own land for you.”

¹⁵ Then a company of the Jews who had not joined in accusing Jesus said: “We say not that it was through fornication he was made — for we know that Mary and Joseph were wed.” Then Pilate said to the Jews who accused Christ: “It seems to us that those tales of there man are not true; for there is a company of your own race denying them and saying that Jesus is the son of a lawful wedding.”

¹⁶ Then Annas and Caiaphas and all the people who accused Christ together with them said to Pilate: “It is we who have the truth; and the folk who speak against us are disciples of Jesus, and strangers in our land; and it is not lawful to take their word in our presence.”

¹⁷ Then Pilate asked Annas and Caiaphas: “Who are those folk who helped Jesus?” “They are pagan men,” said they, “with Jewish mothers; and they themselves say they are Jews.” These are the names of the twelve men who proved that Jesus was the son of a wedded mother: Lazarus, Aster, Antonius, Jacob, Tetus, Samuel, Isaac, Phineas, Crispus, Agrippa, Ames, and Judas; and they said: “We are not strangers — our stock is of the Jews; and we speak truth, for we were present at the wedding of Mary and Joseph.”

¹⁸ Then Pilate said to the aforementioned twelve men: “I adjure you, swear in the presence of Caesar that Jesus is the son of a wedded mother.” They said: “We have a law — that no oath be taken for the world’s judgment; and let the rest swear that what we say is false, and we consent to suffer death for it.” Then Christ’s accusers answered: “We believe those twelve men that Jesus is the son of a wedded mother; but even so, he is a demon-ridden man — for he himself says “I am God’s son and a king” — and we do not believe him.”

¹⁹ Then Pilate commanded the Jewish people to be put out of the palace, save the twelve men who bore witness with Jesus, and Jesus himself; and he asked “why the Jews were seeking Jesus’ deaf.” They said: “Through envy and malice, because of the greatness of the miracles he does among the people.” “It seems to me,” said Pilate, “that it is for his good deeds they wish him ill.”

²⁰ Pilate went out of the palace in anger, and said: “I take the sun to witness upon me that I find no cause of death in the world, nor fault nor sin in there holy man.” The Jews answered and said: “Were he not an evil man, we would not have delivered him to you.” Then Pilate said in anger and wrath: “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your own law!” One of the Jews said: “We dare not put a man to death unless you give him judgement, that he deserves death.”

²¹ Then Pilate went back into the palace, and called Jesus to him, and said to him: “are you the king of the Hebrews [or Jews]?” Jesus answered and said: “Say you that of yourself, or has another told you?” Pilate answered and said: “See you not that I am no Jew? Your own Jewish people have delivered you into my hands — what have you done to them?” Jesus answered and said: “My kingdom is not founded upon this world; and if it were, my household would fight for me, and the Jews would not have delivered me.” Pilate answered and said: “Then you are a king?” “you say however,” said Jesus, “I am a king; and you say truth — to this end was I born, and to this end came I into this world; and everyone who is on truth’s side hears me.”

²² Pilate said: “The law says there is no truth on earth.” “That is not true,” said Jesus, “there will be truth on earth as long as I am in it.” Then Jesus left the palace, and himself went out; and Pilate said to the Jews that he found no fault nor sin in Jesus to be done to him, and that he deserved no ill to be done him.

²³ One of the Jews said: “Jesus has done an evil for which he deserves death; for he said he could cast down God’s temple and rebuild it in three days.” Pilate asked: “What temple did Jesus speak of thus?” “None but the temple that Solomon son of David built in forty-seven years; and Jesus said he could build it in three days only.” Now it was not of Solomon’s temple Jesus was speaking when he said that, but of the temple of his own body — when he said: “Destroy this temple of my body, and I will rebuild it after three days.”

²⁴ Then Pilate said again: “I take heaven and earth to witness upon me that I am innocent of the blood of this holy man.” One of the Jews said: “Let his blood and his vengeance be upon us and upon our children after us!” — and they all consented to that curse.

²⁵ Then Pilate called the elders and priests and deacons and elders of the Jews, and said to them: “I find no fault nor guilt in this man whom you accuse before me that he should deserve death or destruction.” Then the elders of the Jewish priests said to Pilate: “We have a law from Caesar — that everyone who lies deserves death. He has lied against his Lord — saying that he is God’s son, and that he is a king.”

²⁶ Pilate commanded the Jews to go out of the palace; and he called Jesus to him, and said: “What shall I do with you?” Jesus answered and said: “Moses son of Amram prophesied, and David son of Jesse, and all the other prophets, my passion and my resurrection from the beginning of life and time.” The Jews cried out against Jesus, and said that that was a lie, and that they could prove it against him. “If what he says to me is a lie,” said Pilate, “take him yourselves, and judge him according to your own law.”

²⁷ “The law says,” said Judas, “if a man sins against his neighbour, he must pay forty talents save one talent, which is the least he may give to the neighbour; but if he sins against God, he must be stoned at once.” Then Pilate looked at the Jewish people, and saw a company of the people in heavy grief at Jesus being brought bound before them, and he said: “It is not the whole people that is accusing Jesus or seeking his destruction.”

²⁸ The Jewish people answered, and one of them said: “It is for this we have come — that he should get death, and that his name be blotted out of the people.” Pilate said: “For what cause does he deserve death?” They answered and said: “He says he is God’s son — and that is why it is right to destroy him without delay.”

²⁹ Then a famous Jewish man arose — Nicodemus was his name — in Pilate’s presence, and said: “Hear me, O lord Pilate, that I may speak a little.” “Speak to me,” said Pilate. “This I say,” said Nicodemus to the famous nobles and to all the Jewish people: “for what cause are you seeking Jesus’ death? For there has not come and there will not come to the Jewish people anyone who has done or will do the mighty signs and the miracles that Jesus has done. Therefore I give pure counsel to the aforementioned people — to let Jesus go at his own command; and if it is from God he is, his works will endure for ever; and if it is from a demon, they will melt away as every other falsehood melts.”

³⁰ The Jews answered and said to Nicodemus, angrily and wrathfully: “We think you are a disciple of Jesus, for you speak somewhat on his behalf.” Nicodemus said: “Then Pilate is a disciple of his too, for he speaks somewhat on his behalf — and it is he whom Caesar ordained in his own place as judge over you.” The Jews gnashed and ground their teeth and their pride against Nicodemus for that, and said: “May His truth and His power serve you and your soul in the land there!” Nicodemus answered and said: “May it be true as you have said!”

³¹ Then a famous Jewish man leapt up and begged Pilate to hear him. “It shall be done,” said Pilate. “I lay,” said he, “a whole year on one bed, and could not rise; and I commanded my servants to bear me to Jesus; and when he saw me his mercy came upon me, and he said to me: “Arise and go!” I rose at once at Jesus’ word, and I have been free of sickness from then till today,” said he.

³² The Jews said: “On what day did he heal you?” He answered and said: “On the sabbath.” “Is not that what we told you, O lord Pilate,” said the Jews, “that it is on the sabbath he works every healing he does?”

³³ Then another Jewish man arose and said: “I was born blind, and Jesus came, and I did not see him, and I begged him to have mercy on me — and he put his fingers on my eyes, and I saw at once.” Then another man arose and said: “I was hunchbacked from my birth, and Jesus healed me with a single word.” Then another man arose and said: “I was a leper, and Jesus healed me with a single word.” Then a Jewish woman arose and said: “I had,” said she, “an issue of blood for twelve years, and I took hold of the hem of Jesus’ garment and touched it to me — and the issue of blood stopped at once.” Then the Jews said: “It is in the law that a woman may not be taken as a witness.”

³⁴ Then a great company of the Jews, both women and men, cried out and said: “No prophet like Jesus has come, and all demons are subject to him.” Pilate said to the Jews: “Why are the demons not subject to your teachers, as they are to Jesus?” “We know not,” said they. Then a company of the Jews said that Jesus had raised Lazarus, who was four days in his grave. Then Pilate trembled from head to foot, and said: “O miserable men, what profit to you to spill the guiltless blood without cause?”

³⁵ And he called to him Nicodemus, the second man who had helped Jesus, and said: “What shall I do? For I am in the stress of a great counsel about the people.” Nicodemus said: “We know that, O lord — and you will see how they shall be requited for it.”

³⁶ And Pilate called all the Jewish people to him, and said: “You know that you have an ancient custom at every high festival — that a prisoner doomed to death is released to you freely by law’s judgement without price or torment; and I have now two in hand: Barabbas for manslaughter, and Jesus without fault or sin. Choose which of them you wish me to free from my hands.”

³⁷ The Jews cried out and said: “Release Barabbas to us, and let Jesus be crucified!” and they said again: “If you release Jesus, you are no friend to Caesar — for everyone who calls himself a king is no friend to Caesar; and since Jesus says he is God’s son and a king, it is not right to release him, you being Caesar’s warrior.”

³⁸ Then madness leapt into Pilate, and he said to the Jews: “It is true — a foolish, hateful, thankless race is the people that helps you,” said he. The Jews answered and said: “Against whom have we made that turn?” “You have made it against your own God,” said Pilate, “who saved you from the foul Egyptian slavery, and brought you with dry feet through the Red Sea as if you went through dry land; and who fed you in the wilderness with heavenly manna — the bread of angels — and gave you drink of the water He drew from the rocky flint with the taste of honey and the drunkenness of wine; and who gave you the law of your fathers to put faith in you and to guide you in every way. After all those benefits, you betrayed your Lord and made him vile by worshipping the golden calf that was fashioned by men’s hands — and forsook your own God, so that He nearly slew you all for that deed, had not Moses son of Amram interceded for you, lest you should all perish together. And from the day you did that, it is no wonder for you to say to me that my king and my Lord is hateful to me.”

³⁹ Then Pilate rose from his royal seat to go out; and the Jews cried out and said: “It is Caesar who is king over us, and not Jesus; and that is why Herod slew the children in Bethlehem — when he heard that the eastern druids had brought gifts to him as to a king.”

⁴⁰ When Pilate heard those words, fear and terror seized him; and after all the people had listened to him, he said in a loud voice: “If so, this is the Jesus whom Herod sought!” and they all said it was he. Then Pilate took water and washed his hands in the people’s presence, and said: “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man.” The Jews answered and said: “Let his blood and his vengeance be upon us and upon our children after us!”

⁴¹ Then Pilate commanded Jesus to be brought into his own presence, and gave judgement upon him out of those words there: “O Jesus,” said he, “your own people have accused you before me, and have proved against you that you say you are a king and God’s son; therefore I deliver you, according to law’s judgement, into the hands of these guilty men — to be scourged first, and to be beaten and broken and crucified at last.”

The Crucifixion #

⁴² Then Jesus was led out of the palace, and two thieves with him — whose names were Dismus and Iesmus. And when they reached the place of the crucifixion, Jesus was stripped of his garment — a purple tunic that Mary had made for him, and no one knew of what wool it was; and a crown of thorns was set about his head, and the two thieves were crucified on either side of him — Dismus on his right, Iesmus on his left.

⁴³ Then Jesus said: “O heavenly Father, spare and forgive these poor men what they do — for they know not what they do!” And then the Jews divided Jesus’ garments among them by right of casting lots.

⁴⁴ Now Pilate — the tunic of Jesus which Mary had made for Christ had fallen to him — purple was the colour of that tunic, purpur its name; there was no joining or seam of thread in that tunic; it was a wondrous wonderful thing, and it still remains.

⁴⁵ Now the Jewish people were around the cross mocking Jesus, saying to him: “If you are God’s son, save yourself now!” The leaders and judges of the people said among themselves: “He saved other men, and he cannot save himself; and if he is God’s son, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him.”

⁴⁶ Then Jesus said on the cross: “I thirst”; and the Jews filled a vessel with sour wine and gall of the liver, and gave it to Jesus on the end of a rod. It is said in the Scripture that this is why Jesus asked for that drink on the cross — that he might be tormented in all his members, for there was not a member of him without its own torment save his tongue only; and that it should be tormented by the sour wine.

⁴⁷ Then a certain soldier arose, whose name was Longinus, and gave a blow of a soldier’s lance into Jesus’ side — and at once two waves ran out of his side: a wave of blood and a wave of water.

⁴⁸ Then Pilate said a title should be written over Jesus’ head on the cross in the letters of Hebrew and Greek and Latin — the cause for which Jesus was crucified; and this is what is understood by it: Iesus Nazarenus rex Iudaeorum — this is Jesus of Nazars, the king of the Jews. The Jews cried out then, and said: “Why did you write that he is the king of the Jews?” Pilate answered and said: “What I have written, I have written.”

⁴⁹ Then one of the two robbers who hung with Jesus spoke, and said: “If you are Christ the Son of God, save us, and save yourself from the great peril we are in!” The other robber answered and said: “Fear you not God — you who are like the folk who torment Christ? For the same doom is upon them; for we deservedly receive our punishment for being in Jesus’ company — for great is every evil we have done; but Jesus has done no ill, for he is crucified without guilt.” And he spoke afterwards to Jesus, saying: “O lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom!” Jesus answered and said: “I tell you truly — today you shall be with me in paradise.”

⁵⁰ It was then the sixth hour of the day, and a mighty darkness came over the land and the earth until the ninth hour; and gloom came over the sun; and the veil of the temple was rent in two parts, from top to bottom; and a great earthquake was made in the land and the earth. Then Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said: “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum — O lord,” said he, “I commit my spirit into your hands”; and he bowed his head then, and sent forth his spirit.

⁵¹ Then a mighty man of the Jews, whose name was Centurio, saw those great miracles, and was ravished by the King-God, and said: “A righteous man was that man who was crucified and tortured there.” And the people who were around him struck their breasts, and a great fear and terror seized them.

⁵² When Pilate heard those things, a kind of great sorrow seized him, and he called the Jews to him, and said to them: “Do you mark now the miracles that are being wrought for you?” The Jews said: “It is no miracle at all, however small — only a darkness that has come over the sun in the usual way.”

⁵³ Then Jesus’ friends, and the women who had followed him from Galilee, were around the cross in sad grief at seeing everything that was done there; and then came a just, noble, prudent, devout man whose name was Joseph, from the city called Arimathaea — a man who had never consented to the Jews’ sinful deed. And that man asked Pilate for Jesus’ bowed to bury it; and Pilate granted it him, and he took Jesus’ bowed down from the cross, and wrapped it in white shining linen cloth, and buried it in a new tomb that Joseph himself had made — a place where no one had ever been buried before.

⁵⁴ When the Jews heard that Joseph had asked for Jesus’ body and buried it, they sent strong bands to seek Joseph, and to seek the twelve men who had witnessed that Jesus was no bastard’s son, and to seek Nicodemus and the rest of the company who had told of Jesus’ wonders and miracles and his other good deeds. All that company fled and hid themselves — save Nicodemus only; for he was a noble powerful man among the Jews, and he said to the Jews: “Why have you come into the church to pray, and yet do the greatest deed that has been done on earth — the torturing and crucifying of Jesus Christ?” “Why have you come thus,” said they, “being in union with Christ? And may your union be with him there in the life to come!” “True, true! as you have said,” said Nicodemus.

⁵⁵ Now there was another man of the Jewish people who was being sought in the same way — Joseph was his name; and he did not hide, but said to the Jews: “It was I who asked Pilate for Jesus’ bowed and buried it, and set a stone upon the door of his tomb. Evil is the thing you have done — to crucify the just one without guilt; and you not only crucified him but beat him and mocked him, and pierced his side with a lance.”

⁵⁶ When the Jews had heard all that, they seized Joseph and bade him be kept in prison under lock until the sabbath was past; and they said to him: “We know that your burial is not fitting when you get death; for you gav your own tomb to Christ — but we will give your body to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth to eat.” “That saying,” said Joseph, “is like the speech of proud Goliath against David on the day they fought — may his pride be brought down; and your pride shall be brought down likewise. For God Himself said through the mouth of the royal prophet David son of Jesse: “Leave the avenging to Me, and I will do it.” Pilate washed his hands in your presence,” said he, “and took the sun to witness that he was innocent of the blood of the righteous one you tortured; and you answered and said to him: “Let his blood and his vengeance be upon us and upon our children after us!” And I fear,” said he, “lest God’s wrath come upon you, and lest He scatter you utterly for the great misdeed you have done.”

⁵⁷ When the Jews heard those reproaches, anger and rage seized them, and they bound Joseph and cast him into a shut-up dark chamber with no light upon him at all; and they set a lock behind him upon the door of the chamber, and set two guards at the door — Annas and Caiaphas; and they took counsel with the priests and deacons of the people to gather in one place after the sabbath, to decide what manner of death they should give Joseph. And after the sabbath they gathered in one place — the elders and priests and leaders of the people; and they sent word to Annas and Caiaphas to bring Joseph to them to be tormented. They opened the door of the chamber — and found no Joseph in it. It was a great wonder to the people that the chamber door was left shut and Joseph was not in it.

⁵⁸ While they were in that perplexity, they saw coming to them a company of the soldiers of the guard of Jesus’ tomb, and they said: “Hear us a little, that we may tell you some news. We were guarding Jesus’ to, and a great earthquake came, and we saw God’s angel lifting the stone that was on the door of the tomb — his brightness like the sun, and his clothing shining like snow. We were beside ourselves, without life or strength, as if we were dead; and we heard the angel conversing with the women who were on the other side of the tomb, and this is what he said to them: ‘Fear not — for I know that you seek the crucified Jesus; he is not here, but go quickly to Galilee, and tell his apostles — Peter in particular — that Jesus has risen from death, and that it is you women who first tell life to the world: for it was through a woman that the world died in the death of sin and pain from Adam until today.’” So the soldiers of the tomb’s guard told those tidings of the angel in everyone’s presence. The Jews were silent then, and knew not what counsel they should take.

Part Two — The Lord’s Passion according to Matthew #

⁵⁹ “When Jesus had finished giving thanks with his apostles, they went into the Mount of Olives.” — Now Matthew son of Alpheus, the Hebrew sage and the twelfth apostle whom Jesus chose into the apostleship, the first evangelist who wrote the Lord’s gospel — it is he who relates the very great deed that the unbelieving Jews did on this day: that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the Saviour of heaven and earth and of all Adam’s seed, was crucified and tortured without guilt through envy and malice. And it was to commemorate that great deed in the churches of Christendom to the world’s end that Matthew wrote this holy passage, saying: “When He had finished this praise.” Now the unity and kinship of this passage with what went before — it is in accord with Matthew, where he had said above: “While they were on Olivet, Jesus took bread in His hand, and blessed it and broke it, and gave it then to His apostles, and said in giving it to them: ‘Take this bread from me, and eat it — for this is my body.’ And then He took a cup full of wine in His hand, and gave thanks, and gave it then to His apostles; and this is what He said to them: ‘Drink you all of this cup — for this is my blood, the Saviour’s blood that shall be poured out for many for the remission and forgiveness of sins. I tell you,’ said Jesus, ‘I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine save only this — until I drink the new wine with you in my Father’s kingdom’” — so that it is on the track of those words that Matthew said: “When He had finished the praise [or the thanksgiving].”

⁶⁰ That is what the prophet foresaw long ago, when he said: “The spiritual poor shall eat” — that is, the apostles and disciples shall eat the Lord’s body and blood — “and shall be satisfied, and shall make praise and confession of the Lord thereafter.”

⁶¹ Then Jesus made this prophecy to his apostles, saying: “You shall all deny me this night; for thus the prophet wrote — David son of Jesse — speaking in the person of the heavenly Father: ‘I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered’ — that is, ‘My counsel shall let Christ be crucified,’ said the heavenly Father, ‘and a scattering of the apostles on every side shall be made.’ ‘And after my resurrection from death, I will go before you into Galilee’ — as if Jesus had said to his apostles: ‘I will hold a meeting with you there at once.’”

⁶² Then Peter answered and said to Jesus: “Though all shall deny you, I shall never deny you nor forsake you.” — Perilous was that word of Peter’s to say, for he did not fulfil it afterwards. “I tell you truly,” said Jesus, “you shall deny me tonight thrice before the cock crows.” Peter said to Jesus: “Though it were for your sake that I am fit for cross and passion — it is safer for me to die than to deny you”; and all the apostles said the same at first.

⁶³ Then Jesus went with his apostles to the place called Gethsemane — a place in the foot of the Mount of Olives, and a garden it was in particular; and John relates that it was a garden that was there, and that it was there Jesus was taken. Now Judas the traitor knew that Jesus used to go often with his apostles to that garden. And indeed it was fitting that Jesus should be taken in a garden — for it was in a garden, in paradise, that Adam was taken; and it was for his sake and his race’s that Christ’s humanity was given to cross and passion.

⁶⁴ Jesus said to his apostles: “Stay here quietly while I go apart to pray”; and he took with him apart the two sons of Zebedee — James the Greater and John of the Breast — and began to be greatly sorrowful in their presence.

⁶⁵ Now the sorrow Jesus made here was not for his own fear — for it was for that he came, that he alone might be crucified — but it was for four things he made it: for Judas the impious betraying him, and for the scattering of the apostles, and for the casting-off of the Jewish people by God, and for the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman people afterwards in vengeance for his passion.

⁶⁶ Then Jesus said to his apostles: “My soul is sorrowful to death; stay here, and watch with me.” Now it was not bodily sleep that hindered Jesus’ followers then — for the time of sleep had not come when Jesus spoke those words; but what hindered them was a drowsiness of mind and spirit — lest they should die in despair of sin.

⁶⁷ When Jesus had gone a little way from them apart, he set his face to the ground and prayed, and said: “O heavenly Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!” — the cup of death. (Luke tells how far Jesus went apart from his apostles — a stone’s throw: there Jesus made genuflections and prayers in that place for the human race; and so great was his anguish that the bloody sweat that ran through his body was not drops of mere sweat but like drops of blood. And the same Luke tells that an angel came from heaven at that time to strengthen him and to urge him on to the passion.) “Nevertheless, let it not be my will that is done about the passion according to my flesh and my humanity,” said Jesus, “but your will, O heavenly Father!” — for his will is one in humanity and divinity.

⁶⁸ Then Jesus came to his apostles and found them asleep — for it was for the greatness of their grief that the apostles slept, since it is accustomed to sleep after great sorrow. And this is what he said to Peter: “It is plain that you could not watch even one hour with me. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation [and lest the devil overcome you].” Now the reason why Jesus spoke those words to Peter in particular was that it was he who had boasted that though all should deny him, he himself would not deny. For however bold the spirit is, the flesh is weak and fearful; and he knew not that he could not fulfil his promise to God without denying him.

⁶⁹ Then Jesus went a second time to pray, and this is what he said: “O heavenly Father, if this cup of the passion cannot pass from me, your will be done — for my soul is sorrowful to the hour of death.” Then Jesus came back to his apostles and found them asleep — for their eyes were heavy with sleep; and there was a great heaviness in the apostles’ eyes, for their Lord’s denial was near at hand for them.

⁷⁰ Again he left his apostles and prayed the third time — and the same thing he said: “O heavenly Father, if this cup of the passion cannot pass, your will be done.” Now by that threefold prayer that Jesus made here, we are taught to make a threefold prayer to God for the remission of the sins we have done and shall do.

⁷¹ Then Jesus came to his apostles, and this is what he said to them: “Sleep now and take your rest awhile; see,” said he, “the hour has drawn near, and the Son of Man shall be delivered into the sinners’ han to suffer.” Then Jesus said to his apostles: “Arise, let us go openly and calmly into the presence of him who will deliver me to cross and passion.”

⁷² Now the reason Jesus went to meet the band that came to take him was that they should not see on him a look of grief and sorrow, but that a look of joy should be upon him. And while Jesus was speaking these words, there came one of the twelve apostles — Judas was his name: one indeed in number, but not one in worth; one in appearance and form, but not one in truth or in goodness; the worst that has been born or shall be born of Adam’s seed the wide world over.

⁷³ Thus then Judas came, and a great host with him with swords and staves and iron clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people, to take Jesus.

⁷⁴ Now the man who had betrayed him — Judas — had given them a sign against Jesus. This is why he gave them a sign: because Jesus could change his form, so that the folk who came to take him should not know him; or because Judas had heard of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor — how thousands of angels had come from heaven to meet Jesus on Mount Tabor, so that he might have escaped from his apostles’ and disciples’ hands into heaven, and heaven and earth were filled with the brightness and transfiguration that arose at Jesus’ going to heaven (from which it is called the Transfiguration of Mount Tabor): so Judas feared that Jesus would escape by transfiguration likewise out of the hands of the arresting party. Or again, he gave them a sign because there was one of Jesus’ household who resembled him — Thomas the apostle: brown hair and a long red beard on each of the two — lest it should be he who was taken instead of Jesus himself.

⁷⁵ Then Judas came near to Jesus and said to him: “Ave, Rabbi — God be with you, master!” and then kissed him. Jesus said to him: “Friend, what you have come to do, do it” — for they had been friends until today; or “you are a friend in face and form, but not in truth: from this time forth you are no friend.” Then they came to Jesus and laid hands on him and seized him.

⁷⁶ When Jesus knew the thing that was before him, he went to them boldly and said: “Whom seek?” The Jews answered him: “Jesus of Nazars,” said they. Jesus said to them: “I am that man.” They all went backward then and fell to the ground. And Jesus asked them again: “Whom seek?” They said: “Jesus of Nazars.” Jesus answered them and said: “I am he; go yourselves hence — if it is I you seek — and let my household go, that none of them be taken.” And it was done as Jesus had said, and not one of his household was taken.

⁷⁷ Then one of Jesus’ household — Peter was his name — drew his sword and struck a servant of the household of the chief of the Jewish priests, and cut a piece off his ear; Malchus was that servant’s name, as John tells. And Luke tells that it was a piece of his right ear that was cut off; and the same Luke tells that Jesus took the piece in his hand and set it to the ear, so that it was perfectly whole as a sign of forgiveness. Jesus said to Peter then: “Put your sword into its sheath — for everyone who trusts in the sword shall perish by the sword, and the sword shall be the cause of his death. Think you, Peter,” said Jesus, “that if I wished to beseech the heavenly Father, He would not give me more than twelve legions of angels to help me? And how would the holy Scriptures be fulfilled, and how would they be believed, if I did not go to cross and passion as the prophets foretold of us?”

⁷⁸ Jesus said to them then: “You have come out to take me with swords and clubs; was I not among you every day in the temple teaching, and you did not take me?” Now the reason Jesus said these words was to make plain to the arresting party that it was not by force they took him, but by his own will; and the reason this thing came to pass was that the Scriptures of the prophets concerning Christ’s crucifixion might be fulfilled.

⁷⁹ Then all the apostles left the Saviour — Jesus Christ the Son of the living God. And those who had bound Jesus took him to Caiaphas the chief of the Jewish priests, where the elders and the elders of all the people were in one place.

⁸⁰ Now Peter was following Jesus from far away, and came quietly into the court of the chief of the priests; and when Peter had come into the court, he sat with the attendants of the household to see what ordering should be given concerning Jesus — to know whether the priest would decree Jesus’ destruction and death, or whether he would release him or otherwise.

⁸¹ Now John tells that there was another disciple with Peter here, and that it was he who brought Peter into the court, being known to the priest and to his attendants: it was John himself that was that disciple, as the commentators tell.

⁸² The chief of the priests and the whole assembly were seeking false witness against Jesus to crucify him; and they found no guilt in Jesus, though many false witnesses stood against him. At last two false witnesses came, and said: “This man boasted that he could overthrow God’s temple and rebuild it after three days.” Now it was of the temple of Jerusalem they meant to accuse Jesus of speaking; and it was not of it Jesus spoke, but of the temple of his own body — for this is what Jesus said: “Destroy you this temple — the temple of my body — and I will raise it after three days”; from which it is plain that they were false witnesses, since they turned those words to fasten guilt on Jesus.

⁸³ Then the chief of the priests — Caiaphas — arose, and said to Jesus: “Give you no answer to those sayings?” And Caiaphas said again to Jesus: “I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are Christ the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him: “you say however, I am — as if he should say: ‘I do not deny it of you’; and from henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God the almighty Father in heaven, and coming in the clouds of heaven to judge the living and the dead.”

⁸⁴ Then the chief of the priests rent his garments — which was a sign of grief with them, when they heard anything they thought wicked — and the priest said: “This man has committed blasphemy; what need have we to seek further witness against him? You have heard the blasphemy plainly now — what think of it?” And the Jews’ answer to the priest was: “Reus est mortis — he is a deadly enemy to us,” said they, “who has done the blasphemy.” — An unrighteous judgement was given there upon the king of righteousness!

⁸⁵ Then some of them spat their spittle upon his face; and this is what they did — they put their palms upon his face and said: “Prophesy to us, O Christ — who struck you?”

⁸⁶ Now Peter at that time was sitting outside in the court, and a servant-girl of the townsfolk came to him and said to him: “Art not you one of the household of the man of Galilee who is being crucified?” Now the reason it was a handmaid in particular who accused Peter — though men might have accused him — was that women should have their part in Christ’s crucifixion, and that its vengeance should reach their men and their women.

⁸⁷ Peter denied before them all, and said: “O woman, I know not who that man is.” Now the reason God counselled Peter to commit transgression was that he should not be seized by pride of mind nor trust in his own holiness, though he was chief of the apostles — so that Peter should know how it is right to show mercy to the folk who should commit transgression through despair in the Church; for there is no one without transgression.

⁸⁸ When Peter had gone out of the gate of the court, another handmaid saw him, and the handmaid said to the folk who were in that place: “This man is of the household of Jesus of Nazars.” Peter denied again with an oath, and said: “O woman, I know not the man you speak of.”

⁸⁹ Not long after, the company that was nearest to Peter in that place came and said: “We doubt not that you are of Jesus’ household; for it is plain from your speech that you are of Jesus’ people.” Now it was not that Peter’s tongue was unlike that of the Jews who spoke thus to him — but the speech of the people of Galilee had a peculiarity as against the dwellers of Jerusalem, and that is what was marked in Peter’s speech.

⁹⁰ Then Peter began to curse and to swear that he knew not Jesus at all — and the cock crew at once. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: “you shall deny me tonight thrice before the cock crows twice.” Peter went out of the court and wept bitterly.

⁹¹ And when Peter had thus wrought the denial, and the cock had crowed twice, the Saviour looked at Peter — and it was that look which sent Peter into earnest repentance: tears of blood Peter shed in that repentance, as the writings tell. Clement also tells in his history — Peter’s disciple — that Peter wept every night thereafter for the rest of his life.

⁹² Now the tale of yesternight is thus. When the morning of this day came, all the chiefs of the priests and the elders of the Jewish people took counsel against Jesus to crucify him; and they brought him bound and delivered him to Pilate the Pontic for the judgment. When Judas saw then the punishment that was inflicted on Jesus, a kind of repentance seized him, and he took the thirty pieces of silver he had received for betraying Jesus, and gave the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders of the people — that is, three ounces with gold: heavy was the price of the merchandise when the fourth part of the fourth ounce was wanting. The thirty pieces of silver the Jews gave Judas for betraying Christ — eight pence and a half each by common reckoning is what is in each silver piece of them as written by the Hebrew elders.

⁹³ “Great is the sin I have done,” said Judas, “in shedding the righteous blood without guilt.” The Jews said to Judas: “What is that to us — what business have you with us? We have made our own bargain with you: your was the taking, ours the giving!”

⁹⁴ And when Judas had cast the silver into the temple, he went from them then and put a halter about his own neck till he died of it — as was fitting for his desert. It was not on the day of Jesus’ hearing that Judas killed himself, but on the day of the Lord’s resurrection at any rate. Fitting indeed for heaven’s and earth’s household to mourn between heaven and earth! Now the reason Judas hanged himself was that his soul might quickly reach hell — for he expected his soul would be brought out of hell with the spoil. But Jesus did not let Judas’s soul into hell until he had brought the spoil out of hell — and the first soul for which hell was shut afterwards was Judas’s soul.

⁹⁵ Now the chief of the priests, when they took the silver, said: “It is not right for us to put this silver into the common treasury of the elders — for it is the price of blood and flesh.” Now this is a custom of the Jews: they mark the little sins they commit, and they mark not the great sins — as if it were a sin to them to put the silver and the price of blood into the elders’ treasury, while they never marked that it was guilt to them to destroy Christ and crucify him.

⁹⁶ And when they had taken counsel, they bought with that silver the potter’s field for the burial of pilgrims and strangers and wretched foreign folk — that they might leave after them an everlasting memorial of their wickedness and their ill devotion, though it was not for that they did it.

⁹⁷ Therefore was fulfilled the saying spoken through Zechariah the prophet; and this is the saying: “I took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was prized, whom the children of Israel bought of Judas; and they gave the silver for the potter’s land” — Acheldemach; therefore that land’s name is still Acheldemach, which is the same as “the field of blood” — land bought with the price of Christ’s blood; “and they gave the silver for the potter’s land,” etc.

[Here the next homily, In tres gné — The Three Forms — begins.]