Claudia Procula

According to tradition, Claudia Procula was the wife of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and, according to legend, also the daughter of Emperor Tiberius .

Biblical mention and interpretation of the figure

Greek Orthodox icon of "St. Procula" (Αγία Πρόκλα)

The wife of the Prefect of Judea , Samaria and Idumea, Pontius Pilate (AD 26–36), was first referred to as Procula in some versions of the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus . Only in the chronicle of the pseudo-Dexter , a forgery of the early 17th century, the first name Claudia is added.

The wife of the governor Pontius Pilate is mentioned in only one place in the New Testament without her name being mentioned:

“While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife had him say: Keep your hands off this man, he is innocent. I had a terrible dream about him tonight. "

- Mt 27.19  EU

Pilate's wife was apparently in Jerusalem with her husband when a delegation from the Sanhedrin brought Jesus to the prefect's seat and demanded that he be tried as a rebel. The scene is traditionally located in the fortress Antonia , but according to today's assumption it was more likely to take place in the Praetorium , the former palace of Herod the Great, where Pilate resided during his stay in the city. When his wife heard of the request of the priests and the assembled crowd to crucify Jesus, she sent the news to her husband that she had suffered greatly in a dream because of Jesus. Nothing is said about the content of the dream. The interpreters of the text passage from Matthew's Gospel assumed that the dream was either from God (so inter alia John Chrysostom , † 407; Ambrosius of Milan , † 397; Johannes Calvin , 1509–1564) or from Satan (so inter alia Beda Venerabilis , † 735; Anselm von Laon , † 1117; Martin Luther , 1483–1546) was sent. The interpreters, who thought of Satan as the originator of the dream, believed that the devil had recognized that with the crucifixion of Jesus God's plan of salvation was moving towards its realization. Satan wanted to prevent the death of Jesus in order to make the redemption of the people, brought about by Christian belief, impossible and thus to destroy God's plan of salvation.

Origen already considered Pilate's wife to be "saved" and "blessed" because of her suffering in the first half of the 3rd century. In the Gospel of Nicodemus ( Acta Pilati 2,1) Procula is referred to as "God-fearing" (i.e. proselytine ). Later Procula was considered a Christian in the Greek Church and made a saint.

Procula's feast day in the Greek Orthodox saint calendar is October 27th.

Fiction

• Gertrud von le Fort : The wife of Pilate . Story, 1955
• Selma Lagerlöf The Handkerchief of St. Veronica , short story, 1899–1904

filming

Claudia, played by Edwige Feuillère, plays an important role in Julien Duvivier's Golgotha (1935) . In George Stevens ' The Greatest Story of All Time (1965) her appearance is only hinted at, the dream sequence and a dialogue between Pilate and his wife were filmed, but these scenes fell victim to the scissors, reported Angela Lansbury who played Claudia. In Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ , Claudia's request and kindness is at the center of a scene. Claudia Gerini portrays Pilate's wife. She is also given an important role in the French-Italian film Pontius Pilatus - Governor of Horror , played here by Jeanne Crain . Claudia also played a central role in the 2004 film adaptation of Judas and Jesus .

literature

• A. Oepke: Once again Pilate's wife, fragment of a demonology. In: Theological literary newspaper. 73rd Volume, No. 12, 1948, pp. 734-746.
• Erich Fascher : Pilate's wife. (Matthew 27:19). Two studies on the history of scripture interpretation. Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1951. (Hallische Monographien. No. 20. Ed. Otto Eißfeldt.)
• R. Kany: Pilate's wife and her name. In: ZNW. 86, 1995, pp. 104-110.
• R. Kany: Claudia Procula and the great Pan. In: Arcadia . 30, 1995, pp. 62-70.