Caiphas

CAIPHAS. - Better Joseph C., high priest, son-in-law of Annas (v.) or Ananus. The surname C. is of uncertain origin and meaning, and is explained as "interpreter." His father's name is also unknown. Appointed high priest by the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus in the year 18 A.D., he held the office for 18 years, until 36 A.D., a thing extraordinary at that time. This long duration is explained by the baseness of his soul and his servility toward the Romans. Indeed, nothing is found in Flavius Josephus concerning any activity of C. on behalf of the religious interests of his people before the Roman procurators. Like almost all the high priests of his time, he was a Sadducee and a man without feeling for justice and religion. He was deposed by the legate of Syria, Vitellius. Of him we know only what the few notices of Fl. Josephus and the Evangelists report. Under the pontificate of C., St. John the Baptist began his ministry (Lk. 3:2). After the raising of Lazarus, C. advised the Sanhedrin to kill Jesus (Jn. 11:47-54; 18:14). In noting, in the account of this episode, that C. "was the high priest of that year," the Fourth Gospel does not mean to say that the office of high priest lasted only one year, since the appointments and depositions of the high priests were well known, which for C. Fl. Josephus recounts in detail (Antiq. Iud., II, 2; XVIII, 4, 3), but gives the term ἐκῶνος an emphatic sense ("in this fateful year") or the broad sense of "at that time." Shortly before the feast of Passover at which Jesus died, the members of the Sanhedrin gathered in the house of C. to deliberate on how Jesus might be put to death (Mt. 26:3; Mk. 14:1, 2; Lk. 22:2), and they decided not to kill him during the Passover. In the same house of C., Jesus, after his capture, appeared before him as president of the Sanhedrin. And, since the depositions of the witnesses did not agree, C. adjured Jesus to say whether he was the Messiah and the son of God. Having Jesus answered yes, C., to show that he considered the statement a blasphemy, tore his garments and cried out: "He has blasphemed! what further need have we of witnesses?" (Mt. 26:57-65; Mk. 14:53-64). Thus Jesus was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, and then handed over to Pilate, to whom he was led from the house of C. (Jn. 18:28). When, after the healing of a lame man, Peter and John proclaimed Jesus to the people, they were brought before the Sanhedrin, of which C. was also a member (Acts 4:6), but no longer in the president's seat, which was occupied by Annas.

Arduino Kleinhans