Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Apocrypha of the New Testament/Acts of Pilate: Second Greek Form/Chapter 13

Chapter 13.

And upon this there came up one of the soldiers guarding the tomb, and he said in the synagogue:&#160; Learn that Jesus has risen.&#160; The Jews say:&#160; How?&#160; And he said:&#160; First there was an earthquake; then an angel of the Lord, clothed with lightning, came from heaven, and rolled the stone from the tomb, and sat upon it.&#160; And from fear of him, all of us soldiers became as dead, and were able neither to flee nor speak.&#160; And we heard the angels saying to the women who came there to see the tomb:&#160; Be not you afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus.&#160; He is not here, but is risen, as He told you before.&#160; Bend down and see the tomb where His body lay; but go and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and let them go into Galilee, for there shall they find Him.&#160; For this reason I tell you this first.

The Jews say to the soldiers:&#160; What sort of women were they who came to the tomb? and why did you not lay hold of them?&#160; The soldiers say:&#160; From the fear and the mere sight of the angel, we were able neither to speak nor move.&#160; The Jews said:&#160; As the God of Israel liveth, we do not believe a word you say.&#160; The soldiers say:&#160; Jesus did so great wonders, and you believed not, and are you going to believe us?&#160; You say truly that God liveth; and certainly he whom you crucified truly liveth.&#160; But we have heard that you had Joseph shut up in the prison, and that you afterwards opened the doors, and did not find him.&#160; Do you then present Joseph, and so we also shall present Jesus.&#160; The Jews say:&#160; Joseph, that fled from the prison, you will find in Arimath&#230;a, his own country.&#160; And the soldiers say:&#160; Go you too into Galilee, and you will find Jesus, as the angel said to the women.

At these words the Jews were afraid, and said to the soldiers:&#160; See that you tell this story to nobody, or all will believe in Jesus.&#160; And for this reason they gave them also much money.&#160; And the soldiers said:&#160; We are afraid lest by any chance Pilate hear that we have taken money, and he will kill us.&#160; And the Jews said:&#160; Take it; and we pledge ourselves that we shall speak to Pilate in your defence.&#160; Only say that you were asleep, and in your slumber the disciples of Jesus came and stole him from the tomb.&#160; The soldiers therefore took the money, and said as they were bid.&#160; And up to this day this same lying tale is told among the Jews.