DOI Artikel:
Ratkowska, Paulina: Intelligens diabolus se per Christum spolia amissurum [...], Christ before Pilate: the Panel of the Toruń Polyptych
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18949#0044
divest the devil of “spoils of the mankind”, “spoils of death”, that he would
be “deprived of these spoils”,20 on the previous night the devil sent to
Pilate’s wife a dream, known only from the reference in the Gospel of
St. Matthew. Under the impact of this dream, Pilate’s wife tried to dissuade
her husband from sentencing Jesus to death.21 Her words testify that she was
deeply moved and did not hesitate to reveal her dream in public22 23 and cali
Jesus the just one. At the same time, she wanted to assure everyone (including
Pilate himself) that her husband had nothing to do with sentencing Jesus to
death. The words of Pilate’s wife were an obvious testimony of the innocence
of Jesus.25 This way the devil wanted to tear Christ away from the Jews,
however, not in order to save him but to prevent his death becoming even
morę dangerous for the devil than his whole life until that moment.24 Thus,
the devil acted in such a manner for not to lose his empire, “the empire of
death”. He used a woman as an instrument of communication in the same way
as he had done with Eve in the past.2' Why, then, did the devil not send the
dream to Pilate himself?26
The answer to this ąuestion was given by St. John Chrysostom who
enjoyed great authority throughout the Middle Ages:2 “Either the wife was
morę worthy, or because Pilate, upon seeing the dream, would fail to believe
it or would not tell anybody about it.” On the other hand, St. John of
Damascus closes his argument with the words: “Not only did she see (the
dream) but she suffered a lot, so that Pilate, moved by compassion for his
wife, would postpone the sentence.” In Mediaeval art Pilate’s wife is rarely
represented in the scene Christ before Pilate earlier than in the 15th century.24
One of the older representations is a fresco in Sant’Angelo in Formis from
20 Cf. Hrabanus Maurus, op. cit.: “Hanc enim vice, non antę, se intellexit diabolus per Christi
mortem nudandum et spolia humanigeneris sive in mundo, sive apud tartara amissurum. Et
ideo satagebat per mulierem, per quam spolia mortis invaserat, Christum eripere de manibus
Judaeorum, ne per illius mortem ipse amitteret mortis imperium.”
21 St. John of Damascus, Homilia LXXXVI al LXKXVII in Matthaeum, cap. XXVII, v. 11, in
Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Graeca, ed. by J.P. Mignę, vol. LVIII, col. 764: “Nec modo
videt, sed etiam multa patitur, ut uxori condolens ipse tardior ad caedem veniret.”
22 Ibid.: “Idcirco providetur ut uxor videat quo res est omnibus nota.”
23 Christianus Druthmarus, op. cit.: “Ecce uxor Pilati et Pilatus iustum pronunciant Dominum.”
24 Paschasius Radbertus, op. cit.: “[...] non quod de morte ejus curaret, sed ut reos quos tenebat
captivos in mortem, per mortem Christi ne amitteret.”
2> Hrabanus Maurus, op. cit.: “[...] per mulierem, per quam spolia mortis invaserat.”
26 St. John of Damascus, op. cit.: “Et cur non ipse Pilatus vidit?”
2 St. John of Damascus, op. cit.: “[...] vel quia illa dignior erat, vel quia si ipse vidisset, creditum
ipsi non fuisset, aut ut visum fuerat dixisset. Idcirco providetur ut uxor videat, quo res sit
omnibus nota.”
_s The following works of art may serve as examples: the paintings from private collections in
Sarnen, cf. Stange, op. cit., vol. VII, 1955, fig. 194; in Museum in Mainz, ibid., fig. 72-73;
Bearing the Cross in Nuremberg, Germanisches Museum, cf. Schiller, op. cit., fig. 295; Crowning
with Tborns, the panel of the reverse of the wing of a retable in the Franciscan church in
Bamberg, cf. Strieder, op. cit., fig. 223, p. 173, cat. no. 12; Flagellation from St. John’s church
in Toruń, ca. 1500, cf. Dobrzeniecki, op. cit., cat. no. 36.
42
be “deprived of these spoils”,20 on the previous night the devil sent to
Pilate’s wife a dream, known only from the reference in the Gospel of
St. Matthew. Under the impact of this dream, Pilate’s wife tried to dissuade
her husband from sentencing Jesus to death.21 Her words testify that she was
deeply moved and did not hesitate to reveal her dream in public22 23 and cali
Jesus the just one. At the same time, she wanted to assure everyone (including
Pilate himself) that her husband had nothing to do with sentencing Jesus to
death. The words of Pilate’s wife were an obvious testimony of the innocence
of Jesus.25 This way the devil wanted to tear Christ away from the Jews,
however, not in order to save him but to prevent his death becoming even
morę dangerous for the devil than his whole life until that moment.24 Thus,
the devil acted in such a manner for not to lose his empire, “the empire of
death”. He used a woman as an instrument of communication in the same way
as he had done with Eve in the past.2' Why, then, did the devil not send the
dream to Pilate himself?26
The answer to this ąuestion was given by St. John Chrysostom who
enjoyed great authority throughout the Middle Ages:2 “Either the wife was
morę worthy, or because Pilate, upon seeing the dream, would fail to believe
it or would not tell anybody about it.” On the other hand, St. John of
Damascus closes his argument with the words: “Not only did she see (the
dream) but she suffered a lot, so that Pilate, moved by compassion for his
wife, would postpone the sentence.” In Mediaeval art Pilate’s wife is rarely
represented in the scene Christ before Pilate earlier than in the 15th century.24
One of the older representations is a fresco in Sant’Angelo in Formis from
20 Cf. Hrabanus Maurus, op. cit.: “Hanc enim vice, non antę, se intellexit diabolus per Christi
mortem nudandum et spolia humanigeneris sive in mundo, sive apud tartara amissurum. Et
ideo satagebat per mulierem, per quam spolia mortis invaserat, Christum eripere de manibus
Judaeorum, ne per illius mortem ipse amitteret mortis imperium.”
21 St. John of Damascus, Homilia LXXXVI al LXKXVII in Matthaeum, cap. XXVII, v. 11, in
Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Graeca, ed. by J.P. Mignę, vol. LVIII, col. 764: “Nec modo
videt, sed etiam multa patitur, ut uxori condolens ipse tardior ad caedem veniret.”
22 Ibid.: “Idcirco providetur ut uxor videat quo res est omnibus nota.”
23 Christianus Druthmarus, op. cit.: “Ecce uxor Pilati et Pilatus iustum pronunciant Dominum.”
24 Paschasius Radbertus, op. cit.: “[...] non quod de morte ejus curaret, sed ut reos quos tenebat
captivos in mortem, per mortem Christi ne amitteret.”
2> Hrabanus Maurus, op. cit.: “[...] per mulierem, per quam spolia mortis invaserat.”
26 St. John of Damascus, op. cit.: “Et cur non ipse Pilatus vidit?”
2 St. John of Damascus, op. cit.: “[...] vel quia illa dignior erat, vel quia si ipse vidisset, creditum
ipsi non fuisset, aut ut visum fuerat dixisset. Idcirco providetur ut uxor videat, quo res sit
omnibus nota.”
_s The following works of art may serve as examples: the paintings from private collections in
Sarnen, cf. Stange, op. cit., vol. VII, 1955, fig. 194; in Museum in Mainz, ibid., fig. 72-73;
Bearing the Cross in Nuremberg, Germanisches Museum, cf. Schiller, op. cit., fig. 295; Crowning
with Tborns, the panel of the reverse of the wing of a retable in the Franciscan church in
Bamberg, cf. Strieder, op. cit., fig. 223, p. 173, cat. no. 12; Flagellation from St. John’s church
in Toruń, ca. 1500, cf. Dobrzeniecki, op. cit., cat. no. 36.
42