Caiphas (Joseph), the High Priest
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The portrait that Maria Valtorta draws of the acting High Priest (Cf. Matthew 26,3) is unflattering:
"Sly and hateful face.".[1] "Figure and body like a toad", obese and mean.[2] Short and ugly, "a true criminal figure."[3]
Caiphas, nickname of Joseph, is the son-in-law of Anne the High Priest, known like him from the Gospels.
He appears especially towards the end of the public life of Jesus: during the plot that leads to his arrest (Cf. Matthew 26,3-4; John 11,47-53) and the trial that leads to his death (Cf. Matthew 26,57-66).
The business relations that Caiphas maintains with Zebedee*, allow his son John, the apostle, to enter the court of the High Priest (Cf. John 18,16) located in the Temple Salton Maria Valtorta.[4]
In the same hall of the Temple where Jesus has just been condemned, Caiphas immediately receives the thirty pieces of silver from the betrayal thrown by Judas (Cf. Matthew 27,3-5 - GRM 605).
The traitor then goes and hangs himself in a field located a few hundred meters from Caiphas's country house, near the Dung Gate, where the Sanhedrin was plotting.[5]
The condemnation of Caiphas is predicted by Jesus.[6] Even if his father-in-law, Anne, exercised a predominant influence testified by the Acts of the Apostles, it is Caiphas the High Priest of Jesus's Public Life who is the architect of his condemnation as well as that of Stephen.
His name
Caiphas (Caiaiphas) is the nickname of Yosef Bar Kayafa. The origin of Caiphas varies Salton the Aramaic or Chaldean languages as "hollow rock" or "depression". Joseph means "may God add" from the Hebrew verb yasaph, to add. - Historical: Eleventh son of Jacob and Rachel: "May the Lord add me another son."
Where is he mentioned in the work?
End of the shepherds cycle: GRM 114 GRM 115 GRM 123Apostolic journey to Judea: GRM 70 GRM 334 GRM 342
The Feast of Dedication: GRM 535
The resurrection of Lazarus: GRM 546 GRM 549 The return to Jerusalem: GRM 581 GRM 585 GRM 588 GRM 598 The Passion: GRM 604 GRM 639 GRM 643 GRM 645
Learn more about this character
It is supposed that Caiphas belonged to the Family priestly line of the Kathros, a collateral branch of the powerful Family of the Boethos, originating from Alexandria in Egypt and promoted to the high priesthood by Herod the Great. He was a Sadducee.
He married a daughter of Hanna the former High Priest. Appointed by Valerius Gratus, he became High Priest himself from 18 to 36/37 AD, the date at which he was removed by Vitellius. This dismissal by the Roman authority that had appointed him follows the recall to Rome of Pontius Pilate to whom he seems linked.
His son Elyehoeanay (Elionaeus ben Kantheras) would be one of the last high priests.
The tomb of Caiphas was discovered in 1990 in Jerusalem south of the valley of Gehenna. The burial contained the bones of a man of about 60 years, a woman of 40 years, and two very young children.
Notes and references
Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.