Pontius Pilate Pilate was "astonished". Pilate appears to have been reluctant to allow the crucifixion of Jesus, finding no fault with him. According to Matthew 27:19, even Pilate's wife spoke to him on Jesus' behalf. According to the gospels, it was the custom of the Roman governor to release one prisoner at Passover, and Pilate brought out Barabbas, identified by Matthew as a "notorious prisoner" and by Mark as a murderer, and told the crowd to choose between releasing Barabbas or Jesus as per the custom, in the hopes of getting them to request the release of Jesus. However, the crowd demanded
Pontius Pilate an "Epistle of Herod to Pilate", and an "Epistle of Pilate to Herod", spurious texts that are no older than the 5th century. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church recognized Pilate as a saint in the 6th century, based on the account in the "Acts of Pilate", as it does his wife, named Procla, whose strange dream of Jesus Christ induced her to try to stop his crucifixion. There are many other legends about Pilate in the folklore of Germany, particularly about his birth, according to which Pilate was born in the Franconian city of Forchheim or the small village of