St Matthew Passion – then the cock crows. In the morning (No. 41) Jesus is sent to Pontius Pilate while Judas is overcome by remorse and kills himself. Pilate interrogates Jesus (No. 43), is impressed and is inclined to release him, as it was customary to release one prisoner for the holiday, supported in this by his wife. But the crowd, given the choice to have Jesus released or Barabbas, a thief, insurrectionist and murderer, asks with one voice "Barrabam!". They vote to crucify Jesus, Pilate gives in, washing his hands claiming his innocence, and delivers Jesus to torture and crucifixion. On the
Pontius Pilate's wife Pontius Pilate's wife Pontius Pilate's wife, otherwise unnamed in the Bible, appears in a single verse of the Gospel of Matthew, where she tries to persuade her husband not to condemn Jesus to death. She is named as Procla or Procula in early Christian tradition (later also "Percula", "Claudia Procula" or "Claudia Procles"). She is considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. She is first named as Claudia in 1619, in the chronicle of "Pseudo-Dexter". In the New Testament, the only reference to Pontius Pilate's wife exists in a single sentence by Matthew: The