The Gospel Libel Volume I: The Cause of 2,000 Years of Holocaust

By Xlibris US

NOTE: This is Vol.I of II

PURPOSE/NEED FOR THIS PUBLICATION

The early Christians said to the Jews, "You have no right to live among us as Jews," and sought to make them Christians. Then, political Christendom said, "You have no right to live among us," and created the ghettos of physical separation. Finally, the Nazis said, "You have no right to live," and the world remained silent.

Anti-Semitism, past and present, is a natural concomitant of the Gospel libel, which was causal and manifest in the Holocaust. As anti-Semitism is again on the rise, and, as ignorance is not only prevalent, but also rampant, inculcating the uneducated and misinformed masses with the truth may possibly and hopefully result in a diminution, if not a culmination of anti-Jewish hostility.

This treatise is a depiction of the most important trial in the annals of history - a trial dealing with the most tragic libel in the history of the human race - a libel that was causal in crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, Holocausts, and other crimes against an innocent people for more than nineteen centuries. Rectifying this ongoing injustice is the primary purpose of this publication!

A CHALLENGE

For more than nineteen centuries, Christians have been accusing Jews of having shed innocent blood, the blood of their lord Jesus Christ. They claim that almost two thousand years ago, the Great Sanhedrin, the highest tribunal in the land of Judea, unjustly convicted Jesus of the capital offense of blasphemy, and delivered him to the Roman Procurator to be crucified.

This accusation based solely upon the testimony of the Four Gospels, has never been brought to trial in any court of law. No verdict and no decision of guilt against the Jews has ever been handed down by a competent tribunal. Yet, Christians have ever since been depriving the Jews of their legal and natural rights without due process of law.

The Jews cannot forever stand accused of this heinous crime by a unilateral opinion and suffer untold misery. They are entitled, at long last, to have their day in court and to refute this long-standing accusation. It is for this reason this case is being brought to the attention of the world.

Your first impression, as Christians, of course, will be that this is a special pleading; that the author, as a Jew, was prejudiced and biased in presenting his case, and that it is therefore nothing more than a one-sided affair. You will naturally say, that the author, as a Jew, based his contentions on arguments, which are necessarily anti-Christian and faulty.

Hence, worthy Christians, this thesis is presented to you, proving that the Jews cannot be held guilty of having shed the blood of Jesus, and you are challenged to refute it.

If you are unable to disprove this contention, or if you conveniently choose to ignore it, and thus tacitly admit that it is irrefutable and true, then we demand of you, in the name of justice, and of humanity, and of the very tenets of your religion, that you openly admit and proclaim henceforth in all your houses of worship and in your parochial schools, that the Jews are innocent. We demand that you cease indoctrinating the tender minds of your children with the false accusation against the Jews that they were instrumental in causing the crucifixion of Jesus. We demand that you cease inciting your followers against the Jews with your Passion Plays before the approach of Easter. We demand in the name of justice that you begin now to right the deadly wrong committed against the Jews, by revising those chapters in the Four Gospels that tell of the trial of Jesus, and by deleting from the New Testament texts all accusations against the Jews. We demand in the name of all that is decent in Christianity and in the name of the conscience of mankind that, y

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 29, 2000
• ISBN: 9781465327475

Book preview

THE GOSPEL

LIBEL

Volume I

Anonymous

Copyright © 2000 by Anonymous.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author‘s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-7-XLIBRIS

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

Contents

FOREWORD

CAST OF CHARACTERS

FOREWORD

I can vividly recall, a particular day, approximately sixty-six years ago, when I was a young child living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the City of New York. My mother had sent me to the grocery store to purchase a bottle of milk. On the way, I passed by a church, where a nun was sweeping the sidewalk. She grasped my arm, called me a Christ-killer and spit in my face. This was the first time I heard the Gospel libel, but not the last. At times, I was taunted and physically assaulted by drunken (and sober) Poles while they accused me of being a Christos killing Zhyd. I suppose, I should be grateful that these acts occurred in the United States and not in Poland. The millions of Zhyds who were murdered in Poland weren‘t as fortunate. Years later, the libelous epithet was again directed at me by a self-described „Pentecostal redneck" while I was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. We had been buddies until he learned that I was a Jew. He said (in anger and in all seriousness) that he could forgive me for being a New Yorker, but could never forgive me for killing Christ.

The iniquitous invective continues to be disseminated.

NBC recently aired a blatantly anti-Semitic „Saturday Night Live sketch in which an actress says: „Christians have forgiven Jews—for having killed our lord. Both of these statements are untrue and proving it (to a potential audience of more than one-billion misinformed Christians) is the objective of this book and proposed film.

At this point, I want to make an offer, which hopefully won’t be refused. The script will be made available gratis along with collaboration to NBC, Spielberg, Oprah (champion of the oppressed), or anyone else with the will and means to produce the mega-series drama. For the producer, it could mean big bucks. For the Jew, it could mean the prevention of another possible Holocaust. For the Christian, it could mean the truth shall set you free from unjustifiable hatred.

Josef Goebbels, Hitler‘s Propaganda Minister, said: „If a lie is repeated often enough, it will come to be perceived as truth." And so, unfortunately, most Jews and Gentiles are under an illusion that the Declaration on the Jews (Nostra Aetate) issued in 1965 by Vatican Council II officially repudiated the Christ-killer doctrine. (Note: Repudiation had been the intent of the righteous Pope John XXIII, but after his death on June 3, 1963, Cardinal Bea counter-acted to his wishes).

During the past thirty-five years, clergy of the interfaith persuasion have met with representatives of the Catholic Church, extolling the virtues of Nostra Aetate, which purportedly exonerated the Jews of deicide. This specious document, actually a hoax, has lulled Jews into a false sense of security under the guise of an expression and a contribution toward mutual respect between Catholics and Jews.

An analysis of the writings of Cardinal Bea (The Church and the Jewish People—N.Y. Harper and Row 1966) by Dr. Trude Weiss-Rosmarin follows: In it, you will discover that the only Jews the Vatican exonerates are those who are willing to violate the Second Commandment of the Decalogue, You shall not recognize the gods of others before My presence (Exodus 20:3) and become Christians.

NOSTRA AETATE

The fact that the eminent theologians who constituted Vatican Council II spent many months studying the problem of Jewish guilt in Jesus’ death and finally issued a Declaration that is far from being an unequivocal exoneration of the Jewish sin of decide proves that there is a need for apologetics.

The Council Declaration on Judaism states:

The Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in his passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of G-d, the Jews should not be represented as rejected by G-d or accursed, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work and in the preaching of the word of G-d they teach nothing save what conforms to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ.

This is the text. But there is also to be considered its exposition on what conforms to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ.

An authoritative commentary on the Council Declaration on Judaism was provided by Augustine Cardinal Bea, president of the Council’s Secretariat for Christian Unity and principal spokesman on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions at Vatican Council II. It was he who worded with the advice and counsel of the other fathers of the Council—the Declaration on Judaism. One may therefore conclude that Bea’s commentary is not mere personal opinion but expresses Catholic doctrine and therefore it deserves careful study.

Let us commence with his commentary on: still what happened in his passion cannot be charged against all Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. According to Bea this means that: The guilt is in the personal order and falls upon anyone who in some way associates himself with the ‘perverse generation’ which is primarily guilty, or who directly cooperated in the condemnation of Jesus, as did the Sanhedrin and the crowd which cried out before Pilate’s judgment seat.

Association with the ‘perverse generation which is primarily guilty’ (it should be noted that Bea draws a distinction between primary guilt and guilt by association) means to be guilty by not believing in Jesus as the Christ.

In the section entitled The Cultivated Olive Tree and the Wild Olive Branches, Bea noted that the Jews were the cultivated olive tree, cultivated by G-d. However, they refused to accept the Gospel and therefore remained excluded from the new people of G-d because of their refusal to believe. The gentiles on the other hand, the wild olive shoot, who till then had been excluded … are now grafted onto the good olive, the new people of G-d," that is, the Church.

But what about the Jews of today? Do they share in the guilt which is in the personal order? Bea’s opinion is as follows: Generally speaking, refusal to believe in the Gospel and in Jesus is a factor in this judgment, and so, in one way or another, is a free decision to ally oneself with the ‘perverse generation’ with the powers opposed to G-d.

Yet the Jews were not collectively condemned and punished. Christ directly offers the possibility of escaping the judgment visited on Jerusalem to those who have segregated themselves from the ‘perverse generation’ and submitted to the Gospel.

The guilt, as the Declaration points out, is not imputed to all Jews. Again and again Cardinal Bea stresses: In these passages of the Gospels responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus is never founded on the membership of the people of Israel but on concurrence with the attitude of the mind of the leaders of the people in Jerusalem.

The Council Declaration that the Jews should not be represented as rejected by G-d means, therefore, that salvation is still available to the Jews. Even after the condemnation of Jesus, G-d did not in any way reject the people He had chosen. On the contrary, He continued to offer them the Gospel of salvation.

However, they do not avail themselves of the offer, and thus the inevitable conclusion is: It is not G-d who rejects and, suddenly without more ado, sends down the lightning of his punishments. He continues to hold out the good news of salvation … but through an unhappy chain of circumstance, strains and stresses and social influences, the members of the Jewish people again and again reject the Gospel until at last, respecting man’s freedom of choice, G-d sends His messengers elsewhere.

G-d has not rejected, and does not reject, the Jews, because the freedom of accepting the Gospel is theirs.

THE GOSPELS: TRUTH OR FICTION

The Gospels are not historical records but documents of faith. Nevertheless, the preponderant majority of Christians believe that the Gospels are history. There are no less than 250 forms of Christianity, of which many accuse the others as being creations of Satan. When a missionary of one sect approaches a Jew, the Jew could inquire: What do the other 249 sects say about your religion?

Christian missionaries alter the text of the Bible when it suits their nefarious needs. They offer evidence on detached Biblical passages, without regard to the leading idea, and with preceding and subsequent words of the text, nor do they make unbiased comparisons with the parallel sayings of the prophets, for their object is not to expose the absolute truth, but to confirm by means of subtleties and sophistry, their preconceived notions. They have been deceiving gullible people by preaching what they call the Gospel truth. However, no one, dead or alive, has ever proved the Gospels to be true. Blind faith is no substitute for true facts. For instance, take the resurrection story that is accepted as true by those who have not read the narration carefully. Since the claim of the resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith, it behooves us to examine the credibility of the story. What is the evidence for the belief that Jesus rose from the grave? There were no witnesses to the alleged event. Aside from the accounts in the so-called New Testament, there is no independent supportive documentation, nor is there any circumstantial evidence. The entire claim hangs exclusively on the New Testament texts. Is this testimony reliable? As a seeker of truth, you be the judge. Obviously, a judge must be impartial, and objectively weigh all the relevant evidence. You will not be swayed by conjecture or hearsay, but will demand clear proof. The stories in the New Testament are so inconsistent and contradictory, that the resurrection story collapses under careful scrutiny. The conflicting testimony of the evangelists is so unreliable, that it would not stand up to critical cross-examination in any court of law. Yet, the entire Christian faith is based upon this story. The fact is, there is no reliable proof of the resurrection. Of course, this does not invalidate belief, because belief is not in need of evidence or proof. The idea of a savior who suffers a brutal death and then ascends to heaven was very common among Pagan Gnostic religions at the time of Paul. (Paul (Saul) of Tarsus, who in essence founded the distinct Christian religion, never knew Jesus personally). Roman mythology had a widespread belief that notable mortals returned from the dead.

According to Paul: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain (I Corinthians 15:17)

PURPOSE/NEED FOR THIS PUBLICATION

The early Christians said to the Jews, You have no right to live among us as Jews, and sought to make them Christians. Then political Christendom said, You have no right to live among us, and created the ghettos of physical separation. Finally, the Nazis said, You have no right to live, and the world remained silent.

Anti-Semitism, past and present, is a natural concomitant of the Gospel libel, which was causal and manifest in the Holocaust. As anti-Semitism is again on the rise, and, as ignorance is not only prevalent, but also rampant, inculcating the uneducated and misinformed masses with the truth may possibly and hopefully result in a diminution, if not a culmination of anti-Jewish hostility.

This treatise is a depiction of the most important trial in the annals of history—a trial dealing with the most tragic libel in the history of the human race—a libel that was causal in crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, Holocausts, and other crimes against an innocent people for more than nineteen centuries. Rectifying this ongoing injustice is the primary purpose of this publication!

A CHALLENGE

For more than nineteen centuries, Christians have been accusing Jews of having shed innocent blood, the blood of their lord Jesus Christ. They claim that almost two thousand years ago, the Great Sanhedrin, the highest tribunal in the land of Judea, unjustly convicted Jesus of the capital offense of blasphemy, and delivered him to the Roman Procurator to be crucified.

This accusation based solely upon the testimony of the Four Gospels, has never been brought to trial in any court of law. No verdict and no decision of guilt against the Jews has ever been handed down by a competent tribunal. Yet, Christians have ever since been depriving the Jews of their legal and natural rights without due process of law.

The Jews cannot forever stand accused of this heinous crime by a unilateral opinion and suffer untold misery. They are entitled, at long last, to have their day in court and to refute this long-standing accusation. It is for this reason this case is being brought to the attention of the world.

Your first impression, as Christians, of course, will be that this is a special pleading, that the author, as a Jew, was prejudiced and biased in presenting his case, and that it is therefore nothing more than a one-sided affair. You will naturally say, that the author, as a Jew, based his contentions on arguments, which are necessarily anti-Christian and faulty.

Hence, worthy Christians, this thesis is presented to you, proving that the Jews cannot be held guilty of having shed the blood of Jesus, and you are challenged to refute it.

If you are unable to disprove this contention, or if you conveniently choose to ignore it, and thus tacitly admit that it is irrefutable and true, then we demand of you, in the name of justice, and of humanity, and of the very tenets of your religion, that you openly admit and proclaim henceforth in all your houses of worship and in your parochial schools, that the Jews are innocent. We demand that you cease indoctrinating the tender minds of your children with the false accusation against the Jews that they were instrumental in causing the crucifixion of Jesus. We demand that you cease inciting your followers against the Jews with your Passion Plays before the approach of Easter. We demand in the name of justice that you begin now to right the deadly wrong committed against the Jews, by revising those chapters in the Four Gospels that tell of the trial of Jesus, and by deleting from the New Testament texts all accusations against the Jews. We demand in the name of all that is decent in Christianity and in the name of the conscience of mankind that, you forever exonerate the Jewish people of a crime they never committed.

The kingdom of heaven upon earth cannot be built on a foundation of hatred, of man’s inhumanity to man.

Based on THE CASE OF THE NAZARENE REOPENED by Hyman E. Goldin.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

EXAMINATION AND CROSS-EXAMINATION

Attorney for the Plaintiffs: Mr. Pablo Christiani

Attorney for the Defendants: Mr. Hayyim Eliyahu Ben-Yehuda

Direct and Cross-Examination of St. Matthew

Direct and Cross-Examination of St. Peter

Direct and Cross-Examination of St. Luke

Direct and Cross-Examination of St. John

THE DEFENSE: EXPERT TESTIMONY

Direct and Cross-Examination of Dr. Abraham Ibn-Daud (11101180), Expert in Jewish History

Direct and Cross-Examination of Dr. Judah Ha-Levi (1075-1140), Expert in Jewish Religion

Direct and Cross-Examination of Dr. Akiba Ben-Joseph (110), Expert in Jewish Jurisprudence

Direct and Cross-Examination of Dr. Cocceius Nerva (98), Expert in Roman Law

Direct and Cross-Examination of Dr. David Kimhi (1160-1235), Expert in Exegesis

Direct and Cross-Examination of Dr. Judah Leb Bensew (1764-1811), Expert in Hebrew and Aramaic Languages

SUMMATIONS AND JUDGE’S CHARGE TO THE JURY

Summation by the Defense

Summation by the Prosecution

The Judge’s Charge to the Jury

FADE IN

INT. COURTROOM—DAY

We begin with a L.S. of the courtroom. PROSECUTING and DEFENSE ATTORNEYS are seated shuffling papers. The JURORS are (being) seated in the jury box. The JUDGE enters.

COURT CLERK

All rise.

Judge approaches his seat at the bench and sits.

COURT CLERK (CONT’D)

Be seated.

Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! The Supreme Court of Justice is now in session. Christendom as Plaintiffs against Jewry as Defendants. On indictment for murder in the first degree. Accusation filed either on Friday, the fifteenth day of Nisan, that is, April 7, 30 C.E. or Friday, the fourteenth day of Nisan, that is, April 3, 33 C.E. Attorney for the Plaintiffs: Mr. Pablo Christiani. Attorney for the Defendants: Mr. Hayyim Eliyahu Ben Yehuda.

JUDGE

Are the defendants ready to enter a plea to this indictment?

BEN YEHUDA

Yes, Your Honor. The defendants plead not guilty.

JUDGE

Is the Prosecution prepared to present its evidence and witnesses?

CHRISTIANI

We are, Your Honor.

JUDGE

You may proceed.

CHRISTIANI

May it please the Court and the ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

The Grand Jury of the Christian World has indicted Jewry, the defendants in this action, for the crime of murder in the first degree. Jewry has been charged with having abetted and conspired in the brutal killing of our lord Jesus Christ.

The facts of the case will show that our lord Jesus Christ came to his compatriots, the Jews, the defendants in this case, and by the performance of many miracles proved to them, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he was, even as he had claimed to be, the only begotten son of his Father.

Our lord Jesus Christ came to his fellow Jews to cleanse them of their sins, to save them and their souls from everlasting perdition, and to bring them into the kingdom of G-d. But the ungrateful Jews, following the advice of their envious spiritual leaders, spitefully rejected their Savior, and ignored his impassioned pleas.

Not satisfied, however, with merely rejecting and ignoring our lord Jesus Christ, these evil rulers of Judea on several occasions conspired to kill him. Finally, a few days before the Jewish Festival, commonly known as Passover, either in the year 30 or 33 C.E., the Jewish jurists, composing the Great Sanhedrin, the highest tribunal in the land of Judea, assembled in the palace of their high priest Caiaphas, and made final plans for the execution of their vile conspiracy against the life of our lord Jesus Christ.

Thereafter, either on Thursday, the fourteenth day of Nisan, April 6, 30 C.E., or on Thursday, the thirteenth day of Nisan, April 2, 33 C.E., after midnight, led by the mercenary traitor Judas Iscariot, and accompanied by a Roman cohort and a rabble armed with swords and staves, the Jewish leaders caused the arrest of our lord Jesus Christ in the dark of night as though he were a thief, and led him to the palace of their high priest Caiphas, where the members of the Great Sanhedrin had convened for the purpose of holding court against our lord.

Relying partly upon the testimony of false witnesses and partly on his own admission, the court unanimously convicted our lord of the capital offense of blasphemy, an offense against the Jewish religion. This speedy, unjust trial and conviction was motivated by envy on the part of the Jewish jurists who feared the loss of their own power and of their extremely lucrative incomes as a result of the great popularity and following that our lord had gained among the Jews.

Early in the morning of the fourteenth or fifteenth of Nisan, that is, on the day preceding, or on the first day of the Festival of Passover, the Jewish representatives bound our convicted lord and led him to the judgment hall of the Roman Procurator Lucius Pontius Pilate who was then in Jerusalem.

Pilate was well aware of the motives of the Jewish representatives. Several times he stated emphatically in open court that our lord Jesus Christ was innocent of any crime, and he protested against his prosecution by the Jewish leaders.

The Jews, however, were insistent and loudly demanded that our lord be crucified. Pilate, merely to satisfy the clamor of the infuriated mob, delivered the innocent Christ to suffer the most disgraceful and most horrible of deaths—crucifixion—together with two common thieves who were crucified on either side of him

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if you find these charges proven beyond a reasonable doubt—and I am certain that you will find them so proven—Christendom demands of you a verdict against the Great Sanhedrin as a body, and against each and every member that composed that Sanhedrin. But, Christendom demands more than that. It demands that you find guilty of murder in the first degree not only the Sanhedrin of nineteen hundred years ago together with the Jewish people of that time, but all Jews of all lands, and of all ages and generations.

BEN YEHUDA

If it please the Court and the ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

I speak in behalf of Jews everywhere, living and dead and still unborn, to prove them innocent of the heinous charge made by Christendom. The Defense will prove beyond all reasonable doubt that this accusation by Christendom stands as the most tragic libel in the history of the human race.

It is our intention to prove that the Jewish court at Jerusalem did not and could not have accused and convicted the Nazarene of the capital offense of blasphemy as has been alleged by Christendom. It shall be proven, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that this accusation of murder against the Jewish people sprang solely from a warped imagination twisted by the bitter hatred and malice that the plaintiff Christendom bore against the defendants for having rejected the Nazarene as their Messiah

I will further prove, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that the sole object in the Prosecution’s attempt to exonerate the Roman Procurator Lucius Pontius Pilate was to curry favor with the mighty Romans whom Christendom wished to convert from paganism. Absolving the strong, they placed the blame upon the subjugated and defenseless people of Judea.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask only that you put aside all prejudice, that you face the facts that will be presented to you with courage and candor. Then I shall have no reason to fear your verdict. Whatever the verdict may be, it comes to late to succor those who perished in the fires of the Inquisitions, the pogroms, the furnaces of Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Majdanek, Treblinka and Auschwitz. It comes too late to alter the tragedy of the past nineteen hundred years. But there is still time for tomorrow—time to prevent new wrongs if not to right the old ones—time to staunch the flow of blood, which for the Jews, has been the measure of time itself. I ask a verdict of Innocent. Thank you.

JUDGE

The Prosecution may now call its witnesses.

CHRISTIANI

I call St. Matthew of the Province of Galilee as the first witness.

INT. COURTROOM—DAY—DIRECT EXAMINATION OF ST. MATTHEW

St. Matthew (of the Province of Galilee, Land of Israel) called as a witness on behalf of the Prosecution, being duly sworn, testifies as follows:

CHRISTIANI

What is your name, please?

ST. MATTHEW

Levi, or Levi, the son of Alphaeus, commonly known as St. Matthew.

CHRISTIANI

Where do you reside?

ST. MATTHEW

I am generally to be found at the place of toll near Capernum, in Galilee, on the road from Damascus to the Mediterranean.

CHRISTIANI

Now, St. Matthew, I show you this document, bearing the title, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and ask you to examine it carefully and state whether you can identify it as a document written by you.

ST. MATTHEW

(after examining the document)

Yes, sir. I recognize this document and identify it as an authentic record written by me.

CHRISTIANI

Your Honor, I offer in evidence this document, known as The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and ask Counsel for the Defense whether he will concede that this is an authentic copy.

BEN YEHUDA

(after examining the document) I so concede, Your Honor.

(The Gospel According to St. Matthew is received in evidence and marked „Plaintiffs‘ Exhibit 1.")

CHRISTIANI

Now, St. Matthew, I show you this document marked Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 1, and ask you whether the statements made by you therein are based upon what you personally saw and heard, or are they wholly or partly based on tradition or hearsay?

ST. MATTHEW

What I have stated in this document is the Gospel truth, sir; it is based chiefly upon what I personally heard and saw.

CHRISTIANI

Can you recall accurately what you have written in this document, or do you wish to refer to the text in order to refresh your recollection?

ST. MATTHEW

I would prefer to read from the text.

CHRISTIANI

Very well, sir. Please tell the Court and the ladies and gentlemen of the jury about the events that occurred two days before the alleged murder of our lord Jesus Christ.

ST. MATTHEW

(reads from XXVI: 1-2)

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples: Ye know that after two days is the Feast of Passover, and the son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

CHRISTIANI

Now, St. Matthew, when you state that Jesus spoke to his disciples, to whom do you refer?

ST. MATTHEW

I mean the twelve disciples chosen by our lord, known as the Twelve Apostles.

CHRISTIANI

And were you one of the chosen twelve?

ST. MATTHEW

Yes, sir, I was.

CHRISTIANI

Did you, then, hear Jesus make this prediction of betrayal?

ST. MATTHEW I did.

CHRISTIANI

Please proceed.

ST. MATTHEW

(reads from XXVI: 3-5)

Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiphas. And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.

CHRISTIANI

Who were those chief priests, and scribes, and elders of whom you spoke?

ST. MATTHEW

They were the seventy-one jurists who compose the Great Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, the Supreme Council in the land of Judea.

CHRISTIANI

Now, St. Matthew, did any significant incident occur immediately after this conspiracy of the Sanhedrists?

ST. MATTHEW

Yes, sir, a woman anointed the head of our lord with a costly vial of oil.

(reads XXVI:6-13)

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as