Pontius Pilate brief description. Analysis of the chapter "Pontius Pilate" from the novel by M.A.

"The Master and Margarita Chapter 02. Pontius Pilate"

In the early morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan, in a white cloak with a bloody lining, shuffling with a cavalry gait, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, entered the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great.

More than anything in the world, the Procurator hated the smell of rose oil, and everything now foreshadowed a bad day, since this smell began to haunt the Procurator from dawn. It seemed to the procurator that the cypresses and palms in the garden exuded a pink smell, that the accursed pink stream was mixed with the smell of leather and guards. From the wings in the rear of the palace, where the first cohort of the twelfth lightning-fast legion, which had come with the procurator to Yershalaim, was located, smoke was drifting into the colonnade through the upper platform of the garden, and the same greasy pink spirit. Oh gods, gods, why are you punishing me?

"Yes, no doubt! It's her, her again, the invincible, terrible disease of hemicrania, which hurts half the head. There is no cure for it, there is no escape. I'll try not to move my head."

An armchair had already been prepared on the mosaic floor near the fountain, and the procurator, without looking at anyone, sat down in it and held out his hand to the side.

The secretary respectfully placed a piece of parchment in that hand. Unable to restrain himself from a painful grimace, the procurator glanced sideways at what had been written, returned the parchment to the secretary, and said with difficulty:

Under investigation from Galilee? Did they send a case to the tetrarch?

Yes, Procurator, replied the secretary.

What is he?

He refused to give an opinion on the case and sent the death sentence of the Sanhedrin for your approval, - the secretary explained.

The procurator twitched his cheek and said quietly:

Bring the accused.

And immediately, from the garden platform under the columns to the balcony, two legionnaires brought in and placed a man of about twenty-seven in front of the chair of the procurator. This man was dressed in an old and tattered blue tunic. His head was covered with a white bandage with a strap around his forehead, and his hands were tied behind his back. The man had a large bruise under his left eye, and an abrasion with dried blood in the corner of his mouth. The man brought in looked at the procurator with anxious curiosity.

He paused, then quietly asked in Aramaic:

So it was you who persuaded the people to destroy the Yershalaim temple?

At the same time, the procurator sat like a stone, and only his lips moved a little as he uttered the words. The procurator was like a stone, because he was afraid to shake his head, burning with hellish pain.

The man with his hands tied leaned forward a little and began to speak:

Kind person! Believe me...

But the procurator, still not moving and not raising his voice in the least, immediately interrupted him:

Are you calling me a good person? You're wrong. In Yershalaim everyone whispers about me that I am a ferocious monster, and this is absolutely true, - and he added in the same monotone: - Centurion Ratslayer to me.

It seemed to everyone that it had darkened on the balcony when the centurion, the commander of a special centurion, Mark, nicknamed the Ratslayer, appeared before the procurator.

Ratslayer was a head taller than the tallest soldier in the Legion, and so broad-shouldered that he completely blocked out the low sun.

The procurator addressed the centurion in Latin:

The criminal calls me "good man". Get him out of here for a minute, explain to him how to talk to me. But don't hurt.

And everyone, except for the motionless procurator, looked after Mark Ratslayer, who waved his hand to the arrested man, indicating that he should follow him.

In general, everyone watched the Ratslayer, wherever he appeared, because of his height, and those who saw him for the first time, because of the fact that the face of the centurion was disfigured: his nose had once been broken by a blow from a German club.

Mark's heavy boots tapped on the mosaic, the bound man followed him noiselessly, complete silence fell in the colonnade, and one could hear the cooing of pigeons on the garden platform near the balcony, and the water sang an intricate pleasant song in the fountain.

The procurator wanted to get up, put his temple under the jet, and freeze like that. But he knew that this would not help him either.

Taking the arrested person out from under the columns into the garden. Ratslayer took a whip from the hands of the legionnaire, who was standing at the foot of the bronze statue, and, swinging slightly, struck the arrested man on the shoulders. The movement of the centurion was careless and light, but the bound one instantly collapsed to the ground, as if his legs had been cut off, he choked on air, the color fled from his face and his eyes became meaningless. Mark, with one left hand, lightly, like an empty bag, lifted the fallen man into the air, put him on his feet and spoke in a nasal voice, pronouncing the Aramaic words poorly:

The Roman procurator is called hegemon. Do not say any other words. Stand still. Do you understand me or hit you?

The arrested man staggered, but controlled himself, the color returned, he took a breath and answered hoarsely:

I understood you. Do not hit me.

A minute later he was again standing in front of the procurator.

My? the arrested man hastily responded, expressing with his whole being his readiness to answer sensibly, not to arouse more anger.

The procurator said quietly:

Mine - I know. Don't pretend to be more stupid than you are. Your.

Yeshua, - the prisoner hastily answered.

Is there a nickname?

Ha-Notsri.

Where you're from?

From the city of Gamala, - the prisoner answered, showing with his head that there, somewhere far away, to his right, in the north, there is the city of Gamala.

Who are you by blood?

I don't know for sure, - the prisoner replied briskly, - I don't remember my parents. I was told that my father was a Syrian...

Where do you live permanently?

I don’t have a permanent home,” the prisoner answered shyly, “I travel from city to city.

This can be expressed briefly, in one word - a vagabond, - said the procurator and asked: - Do you have any relatives?

There is no one. I am alone in the world.

Do you know grammar?

Do you know any language other than Aramaic?

I know. Greek.

The swollen eyelid lifted, the eye veiled in a haze of suffering stared at the prisoner. The other eye remained closed.

Pilate spoke in Greek:

So you were going to destroy the temple building and called the people to this?

Here the prisoner perked up again, his eyes ceased to express fear, and he spoke in Greek:

I, dob ... - here horror flashed in the eyes of the prisoner because he almost misspoke, - I, hegemon, never in my life was going to destroy the building of the temple and did not incite anyone to this senseless action.

Surprise showed on the face of the secretary, hunched over a low table and taking down his testimony. He raised his head, but immediately bowed it again to the parchment.

Many different people flock to this city for the holiday. There are magicians, astrologers, soothsayers and murderers among them,” the procurator said in a monotone, “but there are also liars. For example, you are a liar. It is written clearly: he incited to destroy the temple. This is what people testify.

These good people,” the prisoner began and, hastily adding: “hegemon,” he continued: “they didn’t learn anything and everyone mixed up what I said. In general, I begin to fear that this confusion will continue for a very long time. And all because he incorrectly writes down after me.

There was silence. Now both diseased eyes looked hard at the prisoner.

I repeat to you, but for the last time: stop pretending to be crazy, robber, - Pilate said softly and monotonously, - there is not much written down for you, but enough written down to hang you.

No, no, hegemon,” the prisoner began, straining to convince, “walks, walks alone with goat parchment and writes incessantly. But once I looked into this parchment and was horrified. Absolutely nothing of what is written there, I did not say. I begged him: burn your parchment for God's sake! But he snatched it from me and ran away.

Who it? Pilate asked with disgust and touched his temple with his hand.

Levi Matthew, - the prisoner eagerly explained, - he was a tax collector, and I met him for the first time on the road to Bethphage, where the fig garden comes out at the corner, and talked with him. Initially, he treated me with hostility and even insulted me, that is, he thought that he was insulting me by calling me a dog, - then the prisoner grinned, - I personally don’t see anything wrong in this beast to be offended by this word ...

The secretary stopped taking notes and surreptitiously threw a surprised look, not at the arrested man, but at the procurator.

However, after listening to me, he began to soften, - continued Yeshua, - finally threw money on the road and said that he would go traveling with me ...

Pilate grinned on one cheek, showing his yellow teeth, and said, turning his whole body towards the secretary:

Oh, the city of Yershalaim! What can you not hear in it. Tax collector, you hear, threw money on the road!

Not knowing how to answer this, the secretary found it necessary to repeat Pilate's smile.

Still grinning, the procurator looked at the arrested man, then at the sun steadily rising above the equestrian statues of the hippodrome, which lay far below to the right, and suddenly, in some kind of nauseating torment, he thought that it would be easiest to drive this strange robber from the balcony, uttering only two words: "Hang him." Expel the convoy as well, leave the colonnade inside the palace, order the room to be darkened, lie down on the couch, demand cold water, call Bang's dog in a plaintive voice, complain to her about hemicrania. And the thought of poison suddenly flashed seductively into the procurator's sick head.

He looked with dull eyes at the prisoner and was silent for some time, painfully remembering why, in the merciless morning sun of Yershalaim, the prisoner was standing in front of him with a face disfigured by beatings, and what other useless questions he would have to ask.

Yes, Matvey Levi, - a high, tormenting voice reached him.

But what did you say about the temple to the crowd in the bazaar?

I, hegemon, said that the temple of the old faith would collapse and a new temple of truth would be created. I said it so it would be clearer.

Why did you, vagabond, embarrass the people in the bazaar, telling about the truth about which you have no idea? What is truth?

And then the procurator thought: "Oh, my gods! I'm asking him about something unnecessary at the trial ... My mind does not serve me anymore ..." And again he imagined a bowl with a dark liquid. "Poison me, poison!"

The truth is, first of all, that your head hurts, and it hurts so badly that you cowardly think about death. Not only are you unable to speak to me, but it is difficult for you to even look at me. And now I am unwittingly your executioner, which saddens me. You can't even think of anything and only dream of your dog coming, apparently the only creature to which you are attached. But your torment will now end, your head will pass.

The secretary widened his eyes at the prisoner and did not finish the word.

Pilate raised martyr eyes at the prisoner and saw that the sun was already quite high above the hippodrome, that a ray had penetrated the colonnade and was crawling up to Yeshua's worn-out sandals, that he was shunning the sun.

Here the procurator got up from his chair, clasped his head in his hands, and horror was expressed on his yellowish, shaven face. But he immediately suppressed it with his will and sank back into his chair.

Meanwhile, the prisoner continued his speech, but the secretary did not write down anything else, but only, stretching his neck like a goose, tried not to utter a single word.

Well, it's all over, - said the prisoner, looking benevolently at Pilate, - and I am extremely glad about this. I would advise you, hegemon, to leave the palace for a while and take a walk somewhere in the vicinity, well, at least in the gardens on the Mount of Olives. A thunderstorm will begin, - the prisoner turned, squinted at the sun, - later, towards evening. A walk would be of great benefit to you, and I would gladly accompany you. Some new ideas have occurred to me which I think you might find interesting, and I would gladly share them with you, the more so since you seem to be a very intelligent person.

The secretary turned deathly pale and dropped the scroll to the floor.

The trouble is, - continued the unstoppable bound man, - that you are too closed off and have finally lost faith in people. After all, you must admit, you can’t put all your affection in a dog. Your life is poor, hegemon, - and then the speaker allowed himself to smile.

The secretary now thought of only one thing, whether to believe his ears or not. I had to believe. Then he tried to imagine what kind of bizarre form the anger of the hot-tempered procurator would take at this unheard-of impudence of the arrested person. And the secretary could not imagine this, although he knew the procurator well.

Untie his hands.

One of the escort legionnaires rapped his spear, handed it to another, approached and removed the ropes from the prisoner. The secretary held up the scroll and decided not to write anything down for the time being and not to be surprised at anything.

Confess, - Pilate asked softly in Greek, - are you a great doctor?

No, procurator, I'm not a doctor,' replied the prisoner, rubbing his crumpled and swollen crimson hand with pleasure.

Steeply, frowningly, Pilate bored into the eyes of the prisoner, and in these eyes there was no longer any turbidity, the familiar sparks appeared in them.

I didn't ask you, - said Pilate, - maybe you also know Latin?

Yes, I know, - the prisoner answered.

The color came out on the yellowish cheeks of Pilate, and he asked in Latin:

How did you know that I wanted to call the dog?

It’s very simple,” the prisoner answered in Latin, “you moved your hand through the air,” the prisoner repeated Pilate’s gesture, “as if you wanted to stroke, and lips ...

Yes, Pilate said.

There was a pause, then Pilate asked a question in Greek:

So, are you a doctor?

No, no, - the prisoner answered briskly, - believe me, I am not a doctor.

OK then. If you want to keep it a secret, keep it. This has nothing to do with the case. So you're saying you didn't call for the temple to be destroyed... or set on fire or otherwise destroyed in any way?

I, hegemon, did not call anyone to such actions, I repeat. Do I look like an idiot?

Oh, yes, you don't look like an idiot," the procurator replied quietly and smiled with some kind of terrible smile, "so swear that it didn't happen.

What do you want me to swear? - He asked, very animated, unleashed.

Well, at least by your life, - answered the procurator, - it's time to swear by it, as it hangs by a thread, know that!

Don't you think you hung her, hegemon? - asked the prisoner, - if so, you are very mistaken.

Pilate shuddered and answered through his teeth:

I can cut this hair.

And in this you are mistaken, - the prisoner objected, smiling brightly and shielding himself from the sun with his hand, - agree that only the one who hung it up can probably cut the hair?

So, so, - Pilate said with a smile, - now I have no doubt that idle onlookers in Yershalaim followed you on your heels. I don't know who hung your tongue, but it is hung well. By the way, tell me: is it true that you came to Yershalaim through the Susa gate on a donkey, accompanied by a crowd of mob, shouting greetings to you as if to some kind of prophet? - Here the procurator pointed to a scroll of parchment.

The prisoner looked at the procurator in bewilderment.

I don’t even have a donkey, hegemon,” he said. - I came to Yershalaim exactly through the Susa Gate, but on foot, accompanied by one Levi Matvey, and no one shouted anything at me, since no one knew me then in Yershalaim.

Don't you know such people, - continued Pilate, without taking his eyes off the prisoner, - a certain Dismas, another - Gestas, and a third - Bar-Rabban?

I don’t know these good people,” the prisoner replied.

Now tell me, why are you always using the words "good people"? Is that what you call everyone?

Everyone, - the prisoner answered, - there are no evil people in the world.

This is the first time I hear about it,” Pilate said, smiling, “but perhaps I know little about life! You don’t have to write down the rest,” he turned to the secretary, although he didn’t write anything anyway, and continued to say to the prisoner: “Did you read about this in any of the Greek books?

No, I came up with this on my own.

And you preach it?

But, for example, the centurion Mark, he was nicknamed the Ratslayer, - is he kind?

Yes, - answered the prisoner, - it is true, he is an unhappy person. Since the good people have mutilated him, he has become cruel and callous. It would be interesting to know who crippled him.

I can gladly report this,” Pilate replied, “for I was a witness to this. Kind people rushed at him like dogs at a bear. The Germans clung to his neck, arms, legs. The infantry maniple got into the bag, and if the cavalry turma had not cut in from the flank, and I commanded it, you, philosopher, would not have had to talk with Ratslayer. It was in the battle of Idistaviso, in the valley of the Devas.

If I could talk to him, - the prisoner suddenly said dreamily, - I am sure that he would change dramatically.

I believe, - Pilate replied, - that you would bring little joy to the legate of the legion if you thought of talking to one of his officers or soldiers. However, this will not happen, fortunately for everyone, and the first person to take care of this will be me.

At this time, a swallow swiftly flew into the colonnade, made a circle under the golden ceiling, descended, almost touched the face of the copper statue in the niche with its sharp wing, and disappeared behind the capital of the column. Perhaps the idea came to her, to make a nest there.

In the course of her flight, a formula formed in the procurator's now bright and light head. It was as follows: the hegemon examined the case of the wandering philosopher Yeshua, nicknamed Ha-Notsri, and did not find corpus delicti in it. In particular, I did not find the slightest connection between the actions of Yeshua and the riots that took place in Yershalaim recently. The wandering philosopher turned out to be mentally ill. As a result of this, the procurator does not approve the death sentence of Ha-Notsri, pronounced by the Small Sanhedrin. But in view of the fact that the insane, utopian speeches of Ga-Nozri can be the cause of unrest in Yershalaim, the procurator removes Yeshua from Yershalaim and subjects him to imprisonment in Caesarea Stratonova on the Mediterranean Sea, that is, exactly where the residence of the procurator is.

It remained to dictate to the secretary.

The swallow's wings snorted just above the hegemon's head, the bird rushed to the bowl of the fountain and flew free. The procurator raised his eyes to the prisoner and saw that the dust had caught fire near him.

Everything about him? Pilate asked the secretary.

No, unfortunately, - the secretary unexpectedly answered and handed Pilate another piece of parchment.

What else is there? Pilate asked and frowned.

After reading the filed, he changed even more in his face. Whether dark blood rushed to his neck and face, or something else happened, but only his skin lost its yellowness, turned brown, and his eyes seemed to have failed.

Again, it was probably the blood that rushed to the temples and pounded in them, only something happened to the procurator's eyesight. So, it seemed to him that the head of the prisoner floated away somewhere, and another appeared instead of it. On this bald head sat a rare-toothed golden crown; there was a round ulcer on the forehead, corroding the skin and smeared with ointment; a sunken, toothless mouth with a drooping, capricious lower lip. It seemed to Pilate that the pink columns of the balcony and the roofs of Yershalaim had disappeared in the distance, below behind the garden, and everything around him was drowned in the thickest greenery of the Kaprian gardens. And something strange happened to the ear, as if in the distance trumpets were playing softly and menacingly, and a nasal voice was very clearly heard, arrogantly drawing out the words: "The law of lèse majesté ..."

Thoughts rushed short, incoherent and unusual: "Dead!", then: "Dead! .." And some completely absurd among them about some one who must certainly be - and with whom ?! - immortality, and immortality for some reason caused unbearable longing.

Pilate tensed up, banished the vision, returned his gaze to the balcony, and again the prisoner's eyes appeared before him.

Listen, Ga-Notsri, - the procurator spoke, looking at Yeshua in a strange way: the procurator's face was menacing, but his eyes were anxious, - did you ever say anything about the great Caesar? Answer! Spoke?.. Or... didn't... speak? - Pilate stretched out the word "not" a little more than it should be in court, and sent Yeshua in his gaze some thought that he seemed to want to inspire the prisoner.

It is easy and pleasant to tell the truth, - the prisoner noted.

I don't need to know, - Pilate replied in a strangled, angry voice, - whether it is pleasant or unpleasant for you to tell the truth. But you have to say it. But when speaking, weigh every word, if you do not want not only inevitable, but also painful death.

No one knows what happened to the procurator of Judea, but he allowed himself to raise his hand, as if shielding himself from the sunbeam, and behind this hand, as if behind a shield, send some allusive glance to the prisoner.

So, - he said, - answer, do you know a certain Judas from Kiriath, and what exactly did you say to him, if you said, about Caesar?

It happened like this, - the prisoner began to tell willingly, - the day before yesterday, near the temple, I met a young man who called himself Judas from the city of Kiriath. He invited me to his house in the Lower City and treated me to...

Kind person? Pilate asked, and a devilish fire flashed in his eyes.

A very kind and inquisitive person, - the prisoner confirmed, - he expressed the greatest interest in my thoughts, received me very cordially ...

I lit the lamps... - Pilate said through his teeth in tone to the prisoner, and his eyes twinkled at the same time.

Yes, - Yeshua continued, a little surprised at the knowledge of the procurator, - he asked me to express my opinion on state power. This question interested him greatly.

And what did you say? - Pilate asked, - or will you answer that you forgot what you said? - but there was already hopelessness in Pilate's tone.

Among other things, I said, - said the prisoner, - that any power is violence against people and that the time will come when there will be no power of either Caesars or any other power. Man will pass into the realm of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all.

The secretary, trying not to utter a word, quickly drew words on the parchment.

There was not, is not and will never be a greater and more beautiful power for people than the power of Emperor Tiberius! - Pilate's torn and sick voice grew.

For some reason the procurator looked with hatred at the secretary and the escort.

The escort raised their spears and, rhythmically clattering their shod boots, went out of the balcony into the garden, and the secretary followed the escort.

The silence on the balcony was broken for some time only by the song of the water in the fountain. Pilate saw how the water plate swelled above the tube, how its edges broke off, how it fell in streams.

The prisoner spoke first:

I see that some trouble is being done because I spoke to this young man from Kiriath. I, hegemon, have a premonition that misfortune will happen to him, and I feel very sorry for him.

I think,” the procurator replied with a strange smile, “that there is someone else in the world whom you should pity more than Judas of Kiriath, and who will have to do much worse than Judas! So, Mark Ratslayer, a cold and convinced executioner, people who, as I see, - the procurator pointed to the mutilated face of Yeshua, - you were beaten for your sermons, the robbers Dismas and Gestas, who killed four soldiers with their relatives, and, finally, dirty traitor Judas - are they all good people?

Yes, the prisoner replied.

And the kingdom of truth will come?

It will come, Hegemon, Yeshua replied with conviction.

It will never come! Pilate suddenly shouted in such a terrible voice that Yeshua recoiled. So many years ago, in the valley of maidens, Pilate shouted to his riders the words: "Cut them down! Cut them down! The giant Ratslayer has been caught!" He still raised his voice, torn by the commands, calling out the words so that they could be heard in the garden: - Criminal! Criminal! Criminal!

Yeshua Ha-Nozri, do you believe in any gods?

There is only one God, Yeshua answered, in him I believe.

So pray to him! Pray harder! However, - here Pilate's voice sat down, - this will not help. No wife? - for some reason Pilate asked sadly, not understanding what was happening to him.

No, I am alone.

Hated city,” the procurator suddenly muttered for some reason and shrugged his shoulders, as if he were cold, and rubbed his hands, as if washing them, “if you had been stabbed to death before your meeting with Judas of Kiriath, really, that would have been better.

Would you let me go, hegemon, - the prisoner suddenly asked, and his voice became anxious, - I see that they want to kill me.

Pilate's face was distorted by a spasm, he turned to Yeshua the inflamed, red-veined whites of his eyes and said:

Do you think, unfortunate man, that the Roman procurator will release a man who said what you said? Oh gods, gods! Or do you think I'm ready to take your place? I do not share your thoughts! And listen to me: if from this moment you utter even one word, speak to someone, beware of me! I repeat to you: beware.

Hegemon...

Be silent! cried Pilate, and with a furious gaze followed the swallow, which again fluttered onto the balcony. - To me! Pilate shouted.

And when the secretary and the escort returned to their places, Pilate announced that he approved the death sentence passed in the meeting of the Small Sanhedrin on the criminal Yeshua Ha-Nozri, and the secretary wrote down what Pilate said.

A minute later, Mark Krysoboy stood in front of the procurator. The procurator ordered him to hand over the criminal to the head of the secret service and, at the same time, convey to him the order of the procurator that Yeshua Ha-Notsri be separated from the other convicts, and also that the secret service team be prohibited from doing anything under pain of heavy punishment talk to Yeshua or answer any of his questions.

At a sign from Mark, a convoy closed around Yeshua and led him out of the balcony.

Then a handsome, slender, fair-bearded man with lion muzzles sparkling on his chest, with eagle feathers on the crest of his helmet, with gold plaques on the sword belt, in triple-soled shoes laced up to the knees, in a crimson cloak thrown over his left shoulder, appeared before the procurator. It was the commander of the legion, the legate. His procurator asked where the Sebastian cohort was now. The legate reported that the Sebastians were cordoning off the square in front of the hippodrome, where the verdict on the criminals would be announced to the people.

Then the procurator ordered that the legate single out two centuries from the Roman cohort. One of them, under the command of Ratslayer, will have to escort criminals, wagons with devices for execution and executioners when leaving for Lysaya Gora, and upon arrival at it, enter the upper cordon. The other must be immediately sent to Lysaya Gora and begin the cordon immediately. For the same purpose, that is, to protect the Mountain, the procurator asked the legate to send an auxiliary cavalry regiment - the Syrian ala.

When the legate left the balcony, the procurator ordered the secretary to invite the president of the Sanhedrin, two of its members and the head of the temple guard, Yershalaim, to the palace, but at the same time he added that he asked to arrange so that before the meeting with all these people he could speak with the president earlier and in private.

The orders of the procurator were carried out quickly and accurately, and the sun, which was burning Yershalaim with some unusual fury these days, had not yet had time to approach its highest point, when on the upper terrace of the garden, near two white marble lions guarding the stairs, the procurator and the executor met. the duties of the president of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high priest Joseph Kaifa.

The garden was quiet. But, coming out from under the colonnade onto the sun-drenched upper square of the garden with palm trees on monstrous elephant legs, the square from which the whole hated Yershalaim unfolded in front of the procurator with suspension bridges, fortresses and - most importantly - with an indescribable block of marble with gold dragon scales instead of a roof - the temple of Yershalaim - with a sharp ear the procurator caught far and below, where the stone wall separated the lower terraces of the palace garden from the city square, a low grumbling, over which at times weak, thin, either groans, or cries soared.

The procurator realized that there had already gathered in the square a huge crowd of residents of Yershalaim, agitated by the latest riots, that this crowd was impatiently waiting for the verdict, and that restless water sellers were shouting in it.

The procurator began by inviting the high priest to the balcony in order to hide from the merciless heat, but Kaifa politely apologized and explained that he could not do this. Pilate threw a hood over his slightly balding head and started talking. This conversation was in Greek.

Pilate said that he examined the case of Yeshua Ha-Nozri and approved the death sentence.

Thus, three thieves are sentenced to death, which is to be carried out today: Dismas, Gestas, Bar-Rabban and, in addition, this Yeshua Ha-Nozri. The first two, who decided to incite the people to revolt against Caesar, were taken with a fight by the Roman authorities, are registered with the procurator, and, therefore, we will not talk about them here. The latter, Bar-Rabban and Ha-Nozri, were seized by the local authorities and condemned by the Sanhedrin. According to the law, according to custom, one of these two criminals will have to be set free in honor of the great Easter holiday that is coming today.

So, the procurator wishes to know which of the two criminals the Sanhedrin intends to release: Bar-Rabban or Ha-Notzri? Kaifa bowed his head as a sign that the question was clear to him, and answered:

The Sanhedrin asks to release Bar-Rabban.

The procurator knew very well that this was exactly how the high priest would answer him, but his task was to show that such an answer aroused his amazement.

Pilate did this with great skill. The eyebrows on his haughty face rose, the procurator looked directly into the eyes of the high priest in amazement.

I confess that this answer surprised me,” the procurator spoke softly, “I’m afraid there might be a misunderstanding here.

Pilate explained. The Roman authorities in no way encroach on the rights of the spiritual local authorities, the high priest is well aware of this, but in this case there is an obvious mistake. And the Roman authorities, of course, are interested in correcting this mistake.

Indeed, the crimes of Bar-Rabban and Ha-Nozri are completely incomparable in severity. If the second, obviously insane person, is guilty of uttering absurd speeches that embarrassed the people in Yershalaim and some other places, then the first is burdened much more significantly. Not only did he allow himself direct calls to mutiny, but he also killed a guard while trying to take him. Bar-Rabban is much more dangerous than Ha-Nozri.

In view of the foregoing, the procurator asks the high priest to reconsider the decision and leave at large the one of the two condemned who is less harmful, and such, without a doubt, is Ha-Notsri. So?

Kaifa looked Pilate straight in the eyes and said in a quiet but firm voice that the Sanhedrin had carefully read the case and for the second time reported that he intended to release Bar-Rabban.

How? Even after my petition? The intercessions of the one in whose person the Roman power speaks? High Priest, repeat a third time.

And for the third time, we announce that we are releasing Bar-Rabban,” Kaifa said quietly.

It was all over, and there was nothing more to talk about. Ha-Notsri was leaving forever, and there was no one to heal the terrible, evil pains of the procurator; there is no remedy for them but death. But it was not this thought that struck Pilate now. All the same incomprehensible longing that had already come on the balcony permeated his entire being. He immediately tried to explain it, and the explanation was strange: it seemed vaguely to the procurator that he did not finish something with the convict, or perhaps he did not hear something out.

Pilate banished this thought, and it flew away in an instant, just as it had flown in. She flew away, and the melancholy remained unexplained, because it could not be explained by some short other thought that flashed like lightning and immediately extinguished: "Immortality ... immortality has come ..." Whose immortality has come? The procurator did not understand this, but the thought of this mysterious immortality made him go cold in the sun.

Well, - said Pilate, - so be it.

Then he looked back, took in the world he saw, and was surprised at the change that had taken place. Gone was the bush laden with roses, gone were the cypresses that bordered the upper terrace, and the pomegranate tree, and the white statue in the greenery, and the greenery itself. Instead, only some kind of crimson thick swam, algae swayed in it and moved somewhere, and Pilate himself moved along with them. Now he was carried away, suffocating and burning, by the most terrible anger, the anger of impotence.

It's too tight for me, - Pilate said, - it's too tight for me!

With a cold damp hand he tore the buckle from the collar of his cloak, and it fell to the sand.

It’s stuffy today, there’s a thunderstorm somewhere,” Kaifa replied, not taking his eyes off the procurator’s reddened face and foreseeing all the torments that still lay ahead. "Oh, what a terrible month of Nisan this year!"

The high priest's dark eyes flashed, and, no worse than the procurator before, he expressed surprise on his face.

What do I hear, procurator? - proudly and calmly answered Kaifa, - you threaten me after the sentence passed, approved by you yourself? Could it be? We are accustomed to the fact that the Roman procurator chooses words before saying anything. Wouldn't someone hear us, hegemon?

Pilate looked at the high priest with dead eyes and, baring his teeth, feigned a smile.

What are you, high priest! Who can hear us here now? Do I look like a young vagrant holy fool who is being executed today? Am I a boy, Kaifa? I know what I'm talking about and where I'm talking. The garden is cordoned off, the palace is cordoned off, so that even a mouse cannot get through any gap! Yes, not only a mouse, even this one, like his ... from the city of Kiriath, will not penetrate. By the way, do you know someone like that, High Priest? Yes... if such a man got in here, he would bitterly pity himself, in this you will believe me, of course? So know that there will be no rest for you, High Priest! Not to you, not to your people, - and Pilate pointed into the distance to the right, to where the temple burned high up, - I'm telling you - Pilate of Pontius, horseman of the Golden Spear!

I know I know! - the black-bearded Kaifa answered fearlessly, and his eyes sparkled. He raised his hand to heaven and continued: “The Jewish people know that you hate them with a fierce hatred and you will inflict much torment on them, but you will not destroy them at all!” God protect him! Hear us, hear the almighty Caesar, protect us from the destroyer Pilate!

Oh no! exclaimed Pilate, and with every word he felt lighter and lighter: there was no need to pretend anymore. There was no need for words. - Too much you complained to Caesar about me, and now my hour has come, Kaifa! Now the news will fly from me, but not to the governor in Antioch and not to Rome, but directly to Capreia, to the emperor himself, the news of how you hide the notorious rebels in Yershalaim from death. And not with water from Solomon's pond, as I wanted for your benefit, then I will drink Yershalaim! No, not water! Remember how, because of you, I had to remove the shields with the emperor's monograms from the walls, move the troops, you see, I had to come myself, to see what was happening here! Mark my word, high priest. You will see more than one cohort in Yershalaim, no! The full legion of Fulminata will come under the walls of the city, the Arab cavalry will approach, then you will hear bitter weeping and groaning. Then you will remember the saved Bar-Rabban and regret that you sent the philosopher to his death with his peaceful preaching!

The high priest's face was covered with spots, his eyes burned. He, like a procurator, smiled, grinning, and answered:

Do you believe, Procurator, yourself what you are saying now? No, you don't! Not peace, not peace, the deceiver of the people brought us to Yershalaim, and you, the horseman, understand this very well. You wanted to release him so that he would embarrass the people, outrage over the faith and bring the people under the Roman swords! But I, the high priest of the Jews, as long as I live, will not let the faith be mocked and will defend the people! Do you hear, Pilate? - And then Kaifa raised his hand menacingly: - Listen, procurator!

Caifa was silent, and the procurator again heard, as it were, the sound of the sea, rolling up to the very walls of the garden of Herod the Great. This noise rose from below to the feet and in the face of the procurator. And behind him, there, behind the wings of the palace, alarming trumpet signals were heard, the heavy crunch of hundreds of legs, iron rattling - then the procurator realized that the Roman infantry was already leaving, according to his order, striving for the death parade, terrible for rebels and robbers.

Do you hear, procurator? - quietly repeated the high priest, - can you really tell me what all this is, - then the high priest raised both hands, and the dark hood fell off Kaifa's head, - called the miserable robber Bar-Rabban?

The procurator wiped his wet, cold forehead with the back of his hand, looked at the ground, then, squinting up at the sky, saw that the red-hot ball was almost above his very head, and the shadow of Kaifa had completely shrunk at the lion's tail, and said quietly and indifferently:

It's getting to noon. We got carried away by the conversation, but meanwhile we must continue.

After apologizing to the high priest in elegant terms, he asked him to sit on a pew in the shade of a magnolia tree and wait while he summoned the rest of the persons needed for the last brief conference and gave another order related to the execution.

Kaifa bowed politely, putting his hand to his heart, and remained in the garden, while Pilate returned to the balcony. There he ordered the secretary who was waiting for him to invite into the garden the legate of the legion, the tribune of the cohort, as well as two members of the Sanhedrin and the head of the temple guard, who were waiting for a call on the next lower terrace of the garden in a round arbor with a fountain. To this Pilate added that he would immediately come out himself, and withdrew inside the palace.

While the secretary was holding a meeting, the procurator, in a room shaded from the sun by dark curtains, had an appointment with a man whose face was half-covered by a hood, although the rays of the sun in the room could not disturb him. The meeting was extremely short. The procurator quietly said a few words to the man, after which he left, and Pilate went through the colonnade into the garden.

There, in the presence of all whom he wished to see, the procurator solemnly and dryly confirmed that he approved the death sentence of Yeshua Ha-Nozri, and officially inquired from the members of the Sanhedrin about which of the criminals it was desirable to keep alive. Having received the answer that this is Bar-rabvan, the procurator said:

Very good, - and ordered the secretary to immediately enter this into the protocol, squeezed in his hand the buckle raised by the secretary from the sand and solemnly said: - It's time!

Here all those present started down the wide marble staircase between the walls of roses, exuding an intoxicating aroma, descending lower and lower to the palace wall, to the gate overlooking a large, smoothly paved square, at the end of which one could see the columns and statues of the Yershalaim stadium.

As soon as the group, leaving the garden to the square, climbed the vast stone platform that dominated the square, Pilate, looking around through narrowed eyelids, figured out the situation. The space that he had just passed, that is, the space from the palace wall to the platform, was empty, but on the other hand, Pilate did not see the square ahead of him - the crowd ate it up. It would have flooded both the platform itself and that cleared space, if the triple row of Sebastian soldiers on the left hand of Pilate and soldiers of the Iturean auxiliary cohort on the right did not hold her.

So, Pilate climbed onto the platform, mechanically clutching an unnecessary buckle in his fist and screwing up his eyes. The procurator screwed up his eyes not because the sun burned his eyes, no! For some reason, he did not want to see a group of convicts, whom, as he knew very well, were now being erected after him onto the platform.

As soon as a white cloak with crimson padding appeared at a height on a stone cliff above the edge of the human sea, a sound wave struck the blind Pilate in his ears: "Ha-a-a ..." It began quietly, originating somewhere far away near the hippodrome, then it became thunderous and, holding out for a few seconds, began to subside. "They saw me," thought the procurator. The wave did not reach its lowest point and suddenly began to grow again and, swaying, rose higher than the first, and on the second wave, like foam boils on the sea shaft, a whistle boiled up and separate, distinguishable through the thunder, female moans. "It was they who were brought onto the platform... - thought Pilate, - and the groans are from the crushing of several women when the crowd leaned forward."

He waited for some time, knowing that no force could be used to silence the crowd until it exhaled everything that had accumulated inside it and fell silent itself.

And when that moment came, the procurator threw up his right hand, and the last noise was blown away from the crowd.

Then Pilate drew as much hot air as he could into his chest and shouted, and his broken voice was carried over thousands of heads:

In the name of Caesar the Emperor!

Then an iron chopped cry hit him several times in the ears - in cohorts, throwing up spears and badges, the soldiers shouted terribly:

Long live Caesar!

Pilate lifted his head and thrust it straight into the sun. A green fire flashed under his eyelids, his brain caught fire, and hoarse Aramaic words flew over the crowd:

Four criminals arrested in Yershalaim for murder, incitement to rebellion and insulting the laws and faith, were sentenced to a shameful execution - hanging on poles! And this execution will now take place on Bald Mountain! The names of the criminals are Dismas, Gestas, Bar-Rabban and Ha-Nozri. Here they are in front of you!

Pilate pointed to the right with his hand, not seeing any criminals, but knowing that they were there, in the place where they needed to be.

The crowd responded with a long roar of surprise or relief. When it died out, Pilate continued:

But only three of them will be executed, because, according to the law and custom, in honor of the Easter holiday, one of the condemned, by the choice of the Small Sanhedrin and by the approval of the Roman authorities, the generous Caesar Emperor returns his contemptible life!

Pilate shouted out the words and at the same time listened to how the hum was replaced by a great silence. Now neither a sigh nor a rustle reached his ears, and there even came a moment when it seemed to Pilate that everything around him had completely disappeared. The city he hated has died, and he alone stands, burned by sheer rays, with his face up to the sky. Pilate still kept silence, and then began to shout out:

The name of the one who will now be set free in your presence...

He paused again, holding the name, checking to make sure he had said everything, because he knew that the dead city would be resurrected after the name of the lucky one was pronounced and no further words could be heard.

"Everything?" Pilate whispered silently to himself, "everything. Name!"

And, rolling the letter "r" over the silent city, he shouted:

Bar-Rabban!

Then it seemed to him that the sun, ringing, burst over him and flooded his ears with fire. Roars, squeals, groans, laughter and whistles raged in this fire.

Pilate turned around and walked across the bridge back to the steps, not looking at anything but the multi-colored blocks of flooring under his feet so as not to stumble. He knew that now bronze coins and dates were flying behind him onto the platform in a hail, that in the howling crowd people, crushing each other, climbed on their shoulders to see with their own eyes a miracle - how a man who was already in the hands of death, escaped from those hands! How the legionnaires remove the ropes from him, involuntarily causing him burning pain in his arms dislocated during interrogation, how he, grimacing and groaning, nevertheless smiles a meaningless crazy smile.

He knew that at the same time, the convoy was leading three people with their hands tied to the side steps to take them to the road leading west, out of the city, to Lysa Gora. Only when he was behind the platform, in the rear of it, did Pilate open his eyes, knowing that he was now safe - he could no longer see the condemned.

The moaning of the crowd, which was beginning to subside, was now mixed in, and the piercing cries of the heralds were discernible, repeating some in Aramaic, others in Greek, everything that the procurator shouted from the platform. In addition, a fractional, chirring and approaching horse stomp and a trumpet, shouting something briefly and cheerfully, reached the ear. These sounds were answered by the drilling whistle of the boys from the roofs of the houses of the street leading from the bazaar to the hippodrome square, and the cries of "beware!".

The soldier, standing alone in the cleared space of the square with the badge in his hand, waved it anxiously, and then the procurator, the legate of the legion, the secretary and the convoy stopped.

The cavalry ala, taking the lynx wider and wider, flew out to the square in order to cross it on the side, bypassing the crowd of people, and along the alley under the stone wall, along which the grapes were spreading, by the shortest road to ride to Bald Mountain.

Flying at a trot, small as a boy, dark as a mulatto, the Syrian commander of the ala, equaling Pilate, shouted something subtly and drew his sword from its scabbard. The angry black, sweaty horse shied away, reared up. Throwing his sword into its scabbard, the commander hit the horse on the neck with a whip, straightened it and galloped into the alley, moving into a gallop. Behind him, riders flew three in a row in a cloud of dust, the tips of light bamboo lances jumped, and faces that seemed especially swarthy under white turbans with merrily bared, sparkling teeth rushed past the procurator.

Raising dust to the sky, the ala rushed into the lane, and the last soldier galloped past Pilate with a trumpet blazing in the sun behind his back.

Covering himself from the dust with his hand and wrinkling his face with displeasure, Pilate moved on, rushing towards the gates of the palace garden, followed by the legate, the secretary and the escort.

It was about ten o'clock in the morning.

Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita Chapter 02. Pontius Pilate, read text

See also Mikhail Bulgakov - Prose (stories, poems, novels ...):

The Master and Margarita Chapter 03. The Seventh Proof
- Yes, it was about ten o'clock in the morning, venerable Ivan Nikolaevich, - said ...

The Master and Margarita Chapter 04. Pursuit
The hysterical female cries subsided, police whistles were drilled, two san...

Pontius Pilate in the novel by M. A. Bulgakov. The Roman horseman, the ruler of Judea, Pontius Pilate, the hero of the novel by M. A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" is a real historical figure, whose reign was cruel, accompanied by numerous executions without trial. According to the New Testament, Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus Christ to death, and then ritually washed his hands, showing his innocence.

This image appears in the novel in close connection with the image of Yeshua Ha-Notsri: “Now we will always be together ... Once one, then there is another! If they remember me, they will immediately remember you too! Me - a foundling, the son of unknown parents, and you - the son of the king of the astrologer and the miller's daughter, the beautiful Pila, ”Yeshua says to Pilate in a dream.

Thus, for Bulgakov, Pilate, to whom not much time is given in the Gospel, is one of the main characters of the novel. He is occupied with the question of the reality of the events that took place, the biblical chapters in the novel turn out to be a confirmation of the existence of Christ for Ivan Bezdomny.

In the process of creating the novel, the writer got acquainted with G. Petrovsky's poem "Pilate". The author of the poem also portrays Pilate as sympathetic to Jesus, rather than perceiving his actions as a threat to overthrow the government. The cowardly procurator could not fight for Jesus against the Sanhedrin - just as in Bulgakov's novel, in Petrovsky's poem this vice is recognized for Pilate.

The writer's view of events, "the gospel of Bulgakov" is not just a dispute between the characters about the existence of Christ. The author raises eternal themes - the theme of cowardice, betrayal, relations between man and power, unjust judgment.

The image of Pilate, by the will of the author, is endowed with numerous small details that make it more prominent, more understandable to the reader. Thanks to Bulgakov, the hero of his novel is seen as more humane than in the New Testament. He has weaknesses - he has doubts, hesitations, he, a cruel procurator, feels great affection for his dog, he is worried not only by the fate of Yeshua, but also by the fate of his disciple Levi Matthew. After all, Pilate has a conscience and it torments him. Pilate does not consider Yeshua guilty, because he sees that this man simply does not know how to lie, his soul is pure. He gives Yeshua to execution against his will, having approved the death sentence of the Sanhedrin, becoming an unwitting executioner.

The author emphasizes the smallest shades of the mood of the hero in the process of making a difficult decision, which is very difficult for him. He cannot sacrifice his career to save Yeshua, but there is still something human left in him. The figure of Pilate in the novel is ambiguous. First, we see the horseman Golden Spear, a cruel procurator "in a white cloak with a bloody lining", which symbolizes his bloody deeds. Then we see in him a person subject to weaknesses and illnesses, and later suffering. The reader sees how the procurator changes in a conversation with Yeshua. At first, only one thought occupies him - that the interrogation should end as soon as possible. At this moment, the arrested and doomed Yeshua pities him and sympathizes, accurately defining his condition: “The truth, first of all, is that your head hurts, and it hurts so badly that you cowardly think about death. Not only are you unable to speak to me, but it is difficult for you to even look at me. And now I am unwittingly your executioner, which saddens me. You can't even think of anything and only dream of your dog coming, apparently the only creature to which you are attached. But your torment will now end, your head will pass.

This execution becomes a turning point in the life of Pontius Pilate, it haunts him all his life, because he executed an innocent person whose crime did not deserve such punishment. To atone for his guilt, Pilate orders Judas to be killed, but this does not bring Yeshua back, and the procurator suffers for twelve thousand moons...

Woland tells what is happening to Pilate: “He says the same thing, he says that even in the moonlight he has no peace, and that he has a bad position. He always says this when he is awake, and when he sleeps, he sees the same thing - the lunar road and wants to go along it and talk with the prisoner Ha-Notsri, because, as he claims, he did not say something then, long ago on the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan. But, alas, for some reason he fails to get out on this road and no one comes to him. Then what can you do, he has to talk to himself. However, some variety is needed, and to his speech about the moon, he often adds that, more than anything in the world, he is not - | sees his immortality and unheard-of glory. An attempt to justify oneself with one's "bad position", the same as that of the centurion Mark Ratslayer, cannot drown out the voices of conscience. Even the washing of hands does not allow him to remove this grave sin from his conscience. Immortality is the heaviest punishment Pilate receives. Yeshua comes to him in visions until Pilate, freed by the master, joins Ga-Nozri on the lunar path, not only in vision, but in reality. Then Pilate finds peace, assured by Yeshua that there was no execution. The finale brings Pilate forgiveness.

Bulgakov neglects many gospel facts in order to reveal the image of Pilate. Unlike Yeshua, the author condemns his hero. It is important for him to draw a parallel between that time and Moscow in the 1920s, as proof that people have remained the same, and cowardice always remains the most serious vice.

“In the early morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan, in a white cloak with a bloody lining, shuffling with a cavalry gait, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, entered the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great.” . M. A. Bulgakov recreated the image of a living person, with an individual character, torn apart by conflicting feelings and passions. In Pontius Pilate we see a formidable ruler before whom everything trembles. He is gloomy, lonely, the burden of life burdens him. The Roman procurator personifies authoritarian power. The type of power embodied in the image of Pontius Pilate turns out to be more humane than Bulgakov's contemporary reality, which assumed complete subordination of the personality, required merging with it, faith in all its dogmas and myths.

In Pilate, Bulgakov leaves the features of the traditional image. But his Pilate only outwardly resembles this image. “We feel all the time how Pilate is overwhelmed, drowned in his passions.” “More than anything in the world, the procurator hated the smell of rose oil ... It seemed to the procurator that the cypresses and palm trees in the garden exuded a pink smell, that a pink stream was mixed with the smell of leather and convoy.” With special attention and interest, Bulgakov explores the causes of the tragedy that manifest themselves in his thought. Bulgakov deliberately presents Pilate's condition as a debilitating disease. But he takes the morbid state of the procurator beyond the bounds of an attack of hemicrania to a feeling of accumulated weariness from life and the occupation of a business that bored him. “Immersion in the meaninglessness of existence, Pilate’s boundless loneliness is comprehended as a natural consequence of submission to a transpersonal idea that turns a person into a function of power and the state.”

Bulgakov tests him with an act that requires free expression of will. Bulgakov considers the problem of freedom and non-freedom of the human person to be the most important. V. V. Khimich notes that “Bulgakov’s decision is artistically represented by the picture of Pilate’s psychological experience of the internal movement from bondage to freedom that unfolds in the work. Pilate “morning (definition by A. Zerkenov) rules over personal truth, his lack of freedom, clearly not realized by him, is as if marked by a tragic sign both on his outward appearance and the type of forced introduction into the world that rejects him” The writer notes the “bloody lining” Pilate's cloak and his "shuffling gait". Bulgakov collects from individual strokes a psychological portrait of a man destroyed by lack of freedom.

The writer showed that the contradictions of Pontius Pilate manifest themselves differently in each situation. Every time he reveals himself from an unexpected side. One artistic idea that is always felt when revealing the image of Pontius Pilate is “the idea of ​​determinism, the complete dependence of the actions of heroes, including Pontius Pilate, on the circumstances of life.”

In 1968, the American literary critic L. Rzhevsky published an article “Pilates' sin: about cryptography in M. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita”. In an effort to decipher the historical concept of the "most ancient chapters". Rzhevsky came to the conclusion that their structural core is the theme of Pilate's guilt, "Pilates' sin." The "existential cowardice" of the procurator is placed at the center of the secret writing of the entire novel, penetrating all its components.

The Roman procurator is the first, albeit unwitting, opponent of Christian teaching. “Here he is similar,” as B.V. Sokolov notes, “to his functional twin Satan, i.e., the Antichrist, Woland, with whom he is related and common to both Germanic origins” And although the text of the novel talks about this, it turns out to be significant in the development of the image of Pilate. The procurator of Judea had already betrayed his people once. “And the memory of this betrayal, the first cowardice that Pilate’s subsequent courage in the ranks of the Roman troops could not cover, comes to life again when Pilate has to betray Yeshua, having become cowardly for the second time in his life, subconsciously intensifying the pangs of conscience, the spiritual anguish of the procurator” Pilate and Woland they understand the justice of Yeshua's teachings and begin to act in his interests (Pilate organizes the murder of Judas, and before that he tries to save Ha-Nozri; Woland, on behalf of Yeshua, gives the Master a well-deserved reward).

In connection with the question of parallels to the image of Pontius Pilate in the novel, the opinion of V. V. Novikov is interesting, who claims that he does not have “doubles and heroes with a similar psychology and behavior”. However, the persuasiveness of the above arguments of V. V. Sokolov does not allow us to agree with the position of V. V. Novikov.

So, Pilate - the bearer and personification of "the strangest vice" - cowardice, as it becomes clear already to the first critics - is the central character of the novel, present not only in the "Yershalaim" chapters, but - invisibly both in the narrative of Soviet reality and in history. Masters and Margaritas.

In the collection of reviews of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR IKION, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of M. Bulgakov, the point of view of one of the authors is presented, according to which “The Master and Margarita” is a novel about the life of Pilate and in terms of composition represents two crosswise intersecting axes. One axis - vertical, on one pole of which is Christ, on the other - the devil, and between them a man rushes about - typical of the European novel. However, in Bulgakov it is crossed by another, horizontal one, and at one end of it is a person endowed with the gift of creativity, the Master. On his right hand is Christ, that is, the principle of goodness, which allows him to create. On the left hand of the Master is the devil, for "only the devilish beginning gives a person - the creator of the Master the opportunity to penetrate the heaviest, most terrible, darkest secrets of the human soul." At the opposite pole of this axis, according to the critic, is “human rubbish”. In the center of this compositional cross is the protagonist of the novel, Pontius Pilate, “hopelessly, hopelessly” reaching out to all four poles. Pilate fell in love, but did not save Christ, fearing for his well-being, succumbing to the devil's obsession. He is between fear and love, duty and meanness. On the other hand, he is a major official, smart and strong-willed - not a nonentity, but also not a talented person, not a creator. He performs a good deed twice - a feat not with a capital letter, but not in quotation marks, not of Christ and not of the devils - a feat worthy of the position of an administrator - a soldier that he occupies: "In both cases, he gives the order to kill" sending a person to following Judas and commanding to hasten the death of Yeshua. For "Pilatism" - "that is, the inability to perform a real, full-fledged feat, in which there would be no question of oneself, of one's fate" (p. 168), "Pilatism", dissolved in the air of the era contemporary to the writer, and crucifies the fifth procurator of Judea in the very center of the compositional cross M. Bulgakov.

In the Row of contemporary writers, Bulgakov stands as the deepest researcher who focused his attention on the phenomenon of “breakage” in human destiny and the psyche. Biographical, historical, eternal time are taken by the writer under the sign of strange displacements and destructive processes. M. Bulgakov concentrated the action of the novel around two characters - Yeshua and Pilate.

The official duties of Pontius Pilate brought him together with the accused from Galilee, Yeshua Ha-Nozri. The procurator of Judea is ill with a debilitating disease, and the vagabond is beaten by the people to whom he preached sermons. The physical suffering of each is proportional to their social position. Almighty Pilate unreasonably suffers from such headaches that he is even ready to take poison: “The thought of poison suddenly flashed temptingly in the sick head of the procurator.” And the poor Yeshua, although beaten by people in whose kindness he is convinced and to whom he carries his teaching about goodness, nevertheless does not suffer from this at all, for physical teachings only test and strengthen his faith. Yeshua is at first entirely in the power of Pilate, but then, during the interrogation, as V. I. Nemtsev notes, “itself revealed the spiritual and intellectual superiority of the prisoner and the initiative of the conversation easily passes to him”: “Some new ideas came to my mind” thoughts that could, of course, seem liberal to you, and I would gladly share them with you, especially since you give the impression of a very intelligent person. The procurator's first interest in the tramp was revealed when it turned out that he knew the Greek language, which only educated people of that time knew: “The swollen eyelid (of the procurator - T. L.) lifted, the eye covered with a haze of suffering stared at the arrested person.”

Throughout the "historical" part of the novel "The Master and Margarita" Pontius Pilate is shown as the bearer of practical reason. Morality in him is suppressed by an evil principle; in the life of the procurator, apparently, there was little good (only Judas can fall below Pilate, but the conversation about him in the novel is short and contemptuous, as, incidentally, about Baron Meigel). Yeshua Ha-Nozri personifies the triumph of the moral law. It was he who awakened a good beginning in Pilate. And this kindness induces Pilate to take a spiritual part in the fate of the wandering philosopher.

Yeshua demonstrates an extraordinary ability to foresee and understand everything - thanks to his high intellectual abilities and ability to make logical conclusions, as well as boundless faith in the high mission of his teaching: “The truth is, first of all, that your head hurts, and it hurts so much that you faint-heartedly think about death. Not only are you unable to speak to me, but it is difficult for you to even look at me.<...>You can't even think of anything and only dream of your dog coming, apparently the only creature to which you are attached.

V. I. Nemtsev draws our attention to a very important point: “... Almighty Pilate recognized Yeshua as his equal (underlined by the author). And became interested in his teachings. What follows is no longer an interrogation, not a trial, but a misfortune of equals, during which Pilate pursues an intention that is practically sound in this situation to save the philosopher who has become sympathetic to him: “... A formula has developed in the now bright and light head of the procurator. It was as follows: Hegemon examined the case of the vagrant philosopher Yeshua, nicknamed Ha-Notsri, and did not find corpus delicti in it.<...>The wandering philosopher turned out to be mentally ill. As a result of this, the death sentence of Ha-Notsri ... the procurator does not approve.

But he is unable to overcome the fear of Kaifa's debt. At the same time, the procurator is seized with a vague foreboding that the condemnation and execution of the wandering preacher Yeshua Ha-Nozri will bring him great misfortune in the future: “Thoughts rushed short, incoherent and unusual: “Perished!”, Then: “Perished! ..” And what a then completely obscure among them about some must certainly be - and with whom ?! - immortality, and immortality for some reason caused unbearable longing.

However, the philosopher constantly exacerbates the situation. Apparently, oaths for him, always speaking only the truth, do not make sense. That is why, when Pilate invites him to swear, no more, no less, as for the interrogation protocol, Yeshua is very animated ”: he foresees a dispute - his element, where it will be possible to speak more fully.

Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri are discussing human nature. Yeshua believes in the presence of goodness in the world, in the predestination of historical development leading to a single truth. Pilate is convinced of the inviolability of evil, its ineradicability in man. Both are wrong. At the end of the novel, they continue their two-thousand-year dispute, not on the moonlit road, which brought them together forever; so evil and good merged together in human life. This unity of theirs is personified by Woland - "the embodiment of the tragic inconsistency of life."

Pilate reveals himself as an antagonist to Yeshua. Firstly, he shows even more whiter the worst, “according to the “author” of the novel ... than laziness, and even multiplied either by fear, natural for every living being, or by a false desire to justify a moral mistake, mainly to oneself , crime” Besides, secondly, Pilate lies simply out of habit, also manipulating the word “truth”: “I don’t need to know whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant for you to tell the truth. But you will have to tell it, although he knows that Yeshua has already told the truth, and he also feels that Yeshua will tell the rest, disastrous for himself, the truth in a minute. And Yeshua passes judgment on himself, revealing to Pilate his impudent utopia: the end of imperial dominion, of Caesar's power, will come. The conscience of an evil and cruel person is awakened. Yeshua's dream to speak with Ratslayer in order to stir up a kind heart in them has surpassed itself: an even more formidable and evil person succumbed to the influence of goodness.

In the novel, the image of Pontius, the dictator, is decomposed and transformed into a suffering person. The power in his person loses the stern and faithful executor of the law, the image acquires a humanistic connotation. However, it is quickly replaced by Woland's judgments about divine power. Pilate does not conduct divine providence, but chance (headache). The dual life of Pilate is the inevitable behavior of a man squeezed in the grip of power, his post. During the trial of Yeshua, Pilate, with greater force than before, feels in himself a lack of harmony and a strange loneliness. From the very collision of Pontius Pilate with Yeshua, in a dramatic multidimensional way - Bulgakov's idea clearly follows from the fact that tragic circumstances are stronger than people's intentions. Even such rulers as the Roman procurator are not in a position to act according to their own will.

“The all-powerful Roman procurator Pontius Pilate,” says V. V. Novikov, “is forced to submit to circumstances, to agree with the decision of the Jewish high priest, to send Yeshua to execution.” T. M. Vakhitova adheres to the opposite point of view: “Pontius is only concerned about Yeshua, there is no person who could so easily relieve an attack of a headache and with whom it would be possible to talk with such freedom and mutual understanding about philosophical and abstract questions.

There is an element of truth in each of these points of view. On the one hand, one should not overly idealize the image of Pilate, justify him, and on the other, one should not underestimate him unnecessarily. This is indicated by the text of the novel: “The same incomprehensible longing ... permeated his being. He immediately tried to explain it, and the explanation was strange: it seemed vaguely to the procurator that he did not finish something with the convict, or maybe he did not listen to something.

The feeling of guilt, responsibility for some critical moments of his own life, constantly tormented Bulgakov, served as the most important impulse in his work from early stories and The White Guard to The Theatrical Novel. This autobiographical motif leads to Pilate with many threads - here is fear, and the “wrath of impotence”, and the motive of the defeated, and the Jewish theme, and the rushing cavalry, and, finally, tormenting dreams and hope for final forgiveness, for a desired and joyful dream, in in which the tormenting past will be crossed out, everything is forgiven and forgotten.

The moral position of the individual is constantly in the center of Bulgakov's attention. Cowardice, combined with lies as a source of betrayal, envy, malice and other vices that a moral person is able to keep under control, is the breeding ground for despotism and unreasonable power. “So, the flaws of a great society, obviously, lied and Bulgakov, depend on the degree of fear that owns citizens.” “He (fear) is able to turn a smart, courageous and benevolent person into a miserable rag, to weaken and defame. The only thing that can save him is inner steadfastness, trust in his own mind and the voice of his conscience. ” Bulgakov uncompromisingly leads the idea of ​​the irreparability of what happened: Pilate, already aware of the wrongness of his judgment, he carries away along the wrong path to the end, forcing him to take a step that finally tightens him into the abyss: contrary to his desire, contrary to his already maturing knowledge that he would destroy himself, "the procurator solemnly and dryly confirmed that he approved the death sentence of Yeshua Ha-Nozri." Bulgakov forces Pilate, already aware of the injustice of his trial, to read the death sentence himself. This episode is made in truly tragic colors. The scaffold on which the procurator ascends is like a place of execution on which the “blind Pilate” executes himself, most of all afraid to look at the condemned. Poetic contrasts: high and low, scream and dead silence of the human sea, confrontation between the invisible city and the lonely Pilate. “... The moment came when it seemed to Pilate that everything around him had completely disappeared. The city he hated has died, and only he stands, burned by sheer rays, resting his face on the sky. And further: “Here it seemed to him that the sun, ringing, burst over him and flooded his ears with fire. A roar, squeals, groans, laughter and whistles raged in this fire. All this forms the ultimate psychological tension, scenes in which Pilate is rapidly moving towards the terrible moment, carefully trying to delay its approach. The scene, interpreted by the author as a crash, a catastrophe, an apocalypse, is accompanied by an emotional decline, a kind of measured narration associated with the exhaustion of the conflict.

“The fateful act that resolves the situation of choice introduces the hero into the zone of experiencing tragic guilt, into the circle of his most terrible contradiction with the human in himself.” It is the “existential aspect of guilt” that is important in Bulgakov's psychological analysis.

Bulgakov includes psychological analysis in the process of "testing ideas". The picture of the mental anguish of Pontius Pilate, which became the result of the moral crime of the procurator, who overstepped the limit of humanity, unfolded in The Master and Margarita, is, in essence, a verification and confirmation of the truth of the thoughts expressed by the wandering philosopher, for which the hegemon sent him to execution: “... Procurator he struggled to understand the cause of his mental anguish. And he quickly realized this, but tried to deceive himself. It was clear to him that this afternoon he had irretrievably missed something, and now he wants to correct what he missed by some petty and insignificant, and most importantly, belated actions. The deception of himself lies in the fact that the procurator tried to convince himself that these actions ... were no less important than the morning sentence. But the procurator was very bad at it.”

Yeshua's assertion, far removed from the everyday life of a procurator, that "it is easy and pleasant to speak the truth" unexpectedly turns into truth, outside of which the existence of the enlightened Pilate becomes unthinkable. In Yeshua there is no contradiction between the temporal and the eternal - that's what makes the image absolute. Pilate's complex consists in the gap between the temporal (the power of the emperor Tiberius and commitment to him) and the eternal (immortality). "Cowardice" - this is the name of this complex in everyday terms, it is also comprehended by the author in terms of ontology. “Sacrifice of the eternal to the temporal, universal to the momentary - the most general meaning of “pilatism”

By killing Judas, Pilate not only cannot atone for his sin, but he is not even able to tear out the roots of Caifa's conspiracy, and in the end the wives of the Sanhedrin achieve, as you know, a change of procurator. Pilate and Aphranius are likened to the first followers of the new religion in a parody. The planned or murder of a traitor is so far the first and only consequence of the preaching and the most tragic fate of Yeshua, as if demonstrating the failure of his calls for good. The death of Judas does not remove the burden from the conscience of the procurator. Yeshua was right. Not a new murder, but deep, sincere repentance for what he had done, finally brings Pilate forgiveness. Making a decision and thus denying endless internal questions, Pilate plunges into the abyss of atrocities. Bulgakov is merciless to his hero: he cruelly forces him to go through his criminal path to the end. Pilate seeks to mitigate his guilt before himself or to transfer it outside. Pilate will make senseless attempts to nullify the strange meaning of his decision, but each time he will be thrown back.

Pilate revealed to the Master the “secret” of the “devilish nature of reality” and a particle of his own inner life connected with it: can he resist this reality, relying on an inner sense of truth, and if so, how? How good should act, for action as a means in the accessible physical world is of a diabolical nature and in the process of its implementation surely destroys the goal that is being sought. And here it turns out that it is impossible to protect the good, it has not developed its own mode of action, and this is felt by Bulgakov as “washing hands”, “bad pilatching” (cowardice), betrayal. The feeling of personal guilt for some specific actions, having dissolved in creativity, was replaced by a more general feeling of guilt of the artist who made a deal with Satan; this shift in the consciousness of a person is clearly revealed in the novel in the fact that it is the Master who releases Pilate, declaring him free, and himself remains in the “eternal shelter”. B. M. Gasparov writes: “A person who silently allowed a murder to take place before his very eyes is forced out by an artist who silently looks at everything that is happening around him from a “beautiful distance” (another one is Gogol’s version of the Faustian theme, which is very significant for Bulgakov), - Pilate gives way to the Master. The guilt of the latter is less tangible and concrete, it does not torment, it does not rise constantly with obsessive dreams, but this guilt is more general and irreversible - eternal.

By repentance and suffering, Pilate atones for his guilt and receives forgiveness. It is hinted that Pontius Pilate is himself a victim. Such an observation was made in this regard by B. M. Gasparov: the appearance before Pilate's eyes of a vision - the head of the emperor Tiberius, covered with ulcers, perhaps, is a reference to the apocryphal story, according to which the sick Tiberius learns about the miraculous doctor - Jesus, demands him to himself and , having heard that Jesus was executed by Pilate, becomes furious and orders the execution of Pilate himself. This version contains a very important motive for Bulgakov - betrayal as the immediate cause of death, turning the traitor into a victim and allowing these roles to be synthesized.

V. V. Potelin notes “two plans in the development of the action, which reflects the struggle of the two principles living in Pilate. And that which can be defined as spiritual automatism acquires fatal power over him for some time, subordinating all his actions, thoughts and feelings. He's losing control of himself." We see the fall of the human, but then we also see the rebirth in his soul of the genes of humanity, compassion, in a word, a good start. Pontius Pilate commits a merciless judgment on himself. His soul is overflowing with good and evil, leading an inevitable struggle between themselves. He is sinful. But it is not sin itself that attracts Bulgakov's attention, but what follows - suffering, remorse, sincere pain.

Pilate lives in a state of tragic catharsis, bringing together immeasurable suffering and enlightenment from gaining the desired truth: “... he immediately set off along the bright road and went up it straight to the moon. He even laughed in his sleep with happiness, before that everything turned out perfectly and uniquely on the ghostly blue road. He was accompanied by Bungui, and next to him was a wandering philosopher.<...>And, of course, it would be absolutely terrible even to think that such a person could be executed. There was no punishment!<...>

We will always be together now, a tattered vagabond philosopher told him in a dream, who, no one knows how, stood on the road of a rider with a golden spear. Once one - then, then, there and then another! If they remember me, they will immediately remember you too! Me - a foundling, the son of unknown parents, and you - the son of the king - the astrologer and the miller's daughter, the beautiful Pila. “Yes, don’t forget, remember me, the son of an astrologer,” Pilate asked in a dream. And, enlisting the nod of the beggar from En-Sarid walking next to him, the cruel procurator of Judea wept and laughed in his sleep with joy.

Bulgakov forgives Pilate, assigning him the same role in his philosophical concept as the Master. Pilate, as a Master, deserves rest for his suffering. Let this peace be expressed in different ways, but its essence is in one 0, everyone gets what he aspires to. Pilate, Yeshua and other characters think and act like people of antiquity, and at the same time turn out to be no less close and understandable to us than our contemporaries. In the finale of the novel, when Yeshua and Pilate continue their thousand-year dispute on the lunar road, it is as if good and evil merge into one in human life. This unity of theirs is personified by Bulgakov's Woland. Evil and good are not generated from above, but by the people themselves, so a person is free in his choice. He is free from fate and from surrounding circumstances. And if he is free to choose, then he is fully responsible for his actions. This is, according to Bulgakov, a moral choice. And it is the theme of moral choice, the theme of personality in "eternity" that determine the philosophical orientation and depth of the novel.

V.V. Khimich calls the long-awaited walk along the “lunar road” the apotheosis of a man’s courageous victory over himself. The Master “released the hero he had created. This hero has gone into the abyss, gone forever, forgiven on Sunday night, the son of the astrologer king, the cruel fifth procurator of Judea, the equestrian Pontius Pilate.

It is impossible not to note the similarity of the events taking place in the "internal" and "external" novel, the history of the main characters of both these sections - Yeshua and the Master. This is, in particular, the situation of the city, which did not accept and destroyed the new prophet. However, against the backdrop of this parallelism, there is an important difference. Yeshua in the novel is opposed by one, and moreover, a large personality - Pilate. In the "Moscow" version, this function turns out to be dispersed, as it were, fragmented into many "little" Pilates, insignificant characters - from Berlioz and the critics of Lavrovich and Latunsky to Styopa Likhodeev and that character completely without a name and face (we see only his "blunt-toed shoes "and" weighty ass "in the basement window), which instantly disappears upon the news of the arrest of Aloisy Mogarych"

The line Pilate - Berlioz passes through malevolent heroes, in whom, according to V. I. Nemtsev, practical reason suppresses moral potential. True, Archibald Archibaldovich, Poplavsky, partly Rimsky, still had intuition, but others have outlived it in themselves. And the line Judas - Meigel is very short. The enemies of Yeshua and the Master form a triad: Judas from Cariath, who works in a shop with relatives, - Baron Meigel, who serves in a spectacular company "in the position of acquainting foreigners with the sights of the capital." - Aloisy Magarych, journalist. All three are traitors. Judas betrays Yeshua, Mogarych betrays the Master, Meigel betrays Woland and his entourage, including the Master and Margarita (though unsuccessfully): “Yes, by the way, baron,” Woland said, suddenly lowering his voice intimately, “rumors spread about your extraordinary curiosity.<...>moreover, evil tongues have already dropped the word earphone and spy.”

Another of these "pilatiks" - Nikanor Ivanovich Bogost - is also a "cross-cutting" hero who completes the gallery of Bulgakov's building managers: the "Baramkov chairman" from "Memories", Yegor Innushkin and Christ from "The House of Elps", Shvonder from "Heart of a Dog", Halleluey Harness from Zoya's apartment. Apparently, Bulgakov suffered from the building managers and chairmen of the housing association: each of Bosoy's predecessors, and even Nikanor Ivanovich himself, are sharply negative, satirical characters.

The story with the surrender of currency is not accidental and not invented. Such "golden nights" actually took place in the early 1930s. It was lawlessness, but an inevitable test, after which innocent people suffered. If the master is an incomplete likeness of Yeshua, then nameless editors, writers awarded “nowhere leading names (according to Florensky), officials like Styopa Likhodeev and Bosoy are all little procurators whose only content in life is cowardice and lies. There was nothing human left in Styopa Likhodeev. “His living space was therefore entirely occupied by shadow, negative, “impure” doubles. His "bottom".

The swindler - the bartender vdarte, Andrey Dokich Sokov, thinks day and night how to justify himself before the auditor, who will cover him, selling rotten meat under the guise of "second freshness". And he always has an excuse. Thinking thinks, but does not speak out loud. Here Woland pronounces his famous aphorism: “The second freshness is nonsense! There is only one freshness - the first, it is also the last.

All these people are trying to establish an orderly, hierarchically structured world, which rests on authorities, on regulations, they are trying to set stereotypes of behavior for the mass person. “But their strength is the strength of conformism, which does not penetrate into the depths of the human soul.” However, they understand the illusory nature of their reasons, they lie to others and themselves “out of office”, knowing that their “values” are conditional. Each of them has a headache in his own way, exhausted in conflict with the victorious, indomitable hostile; and each of them eventually submits to him. Pilate turns into a "Pilatiska" - a word invented by Levrovich during the campaign of persecution of the Master and characterizing as if (as Lavrovich thinks) exactly the Master (just as Yeshua in Yershalaim receives the "official" name "robber and rebel"). In reality, Lavrovich (like Berlioz before), without knowing it, utters a prophetic word about himself and his world.

1. Pilate in various literary sources.
2. The image of Pilate in Bulgakov's novel.
3. Punishment and forgiveness of the procurator.

This hero has gone into the abyss, gone forever, forgiven on Sunday night, the son of the astrologer king, the cruel fifth procurator of Judea, the equestrian Pontius Pilate.
M. A. Bulgakov

The Roman horseman, the ruler of Judea, Pontius Pilate, the hero of the novel by M. A. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita” is a real historical figure, whose reign was cruel, accompanied by numerous executions without trial. According to the New Testament, Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus Christ to death, and then ritually washed his hands, showing his innocence. This image appears in the novel in close connection with the image of Yeshua Ha-Nozri: “Now we will always be together ... Once one, then there is another! If they remember me, they will immediately remember you too! Me, a foundling, the son of unknown parents, and you, the son of the astrologer king and the miller’s daughter, the beautiful Pila,” Yeshua says to Pilate in a dream.

Thus, for Bulgakov, Pilate, to whom not much time is given in the Gospel, is one of the main characters of the novel. He is occupied with the question of the reality of the events that took place, the biblical chapters in the novel turn out to be a confirmation of the existence of Christ for Ivan Bezdomny.

In the process of creating the novel, the writer got acquainted with G. Petrovsky's poem "Pilate". The author of the poem also portrays Pilate as sympathetic to Jesus, rather than perceiving his actions as a threat to overthrow the government. The cowardly procurator was unable to fight for Jesus against the Sanhedrin - just as in Bulgakov's novel, in Petrovsky's poem this vice is recognized for Pilate.

The writer's view of events, "the gospel according to Bulgakov" is not just a dispute between the characters about the existence of Christ. The author raises eternal themes - the theme of cowardice, betrayal, relations between man and power, unjust judgment.

The image of Pilate, by the will of the author, is endowed with numerous small details that make it more prominent, more understandable to the reader. Thanks to Bulgakov, the hero of his novel is seen as more humane than in the New Testament. He has weaknesses - doubts and hesitations are inherent in him, he, a cruel procurator, feels great attachment to his dog, he is worried not only by the fate of Yeshua, but also by the fate of his disciple Levi Matthew. After all, Pilate has a conscience and it torments him. Pilate does not consider Yeshua guilty, because he sees that this man simply does not know how to lie, his soul is pure. He gives Yeshua to execution against his will, having approved the death sentence of the Sanhedrin, becoming an unwitting executioner.

The author emphasizes the smallest shades of the mood of the hero in the process of making a difficult decision, which is very difficult for him. He cannot sacrifice his career to save Yeshua, but there is still something human left in him. The figure of Pilate in the novel is ambiguous. First, we see the horseman Golden Spear, a cruel procurator "in a white cloak with a bloody lining", which symbolizes his bloody deeds. Then we see in him a person subject to weaknesses and illnesses, and later suffering. The reader sees how the procurator changes in a conversation with Yeshua. At first, only one thought occupies him - that the interrogation should end as soon as possible. At this moment, the arrested and doomed Yeshua pities him and sympathizes, accurately defining his condition: “The truth, first of all, is that your head hurts, and it hurts so badly that you cowardly think about death. Not only are you unable to speak to me, but it is difficult for you to even look at me. And now I am unwittingly your executioner, which saddens me. You can't even think of anything and only dream of your dog coming, apparently the only creature to which you are attached. But your torment will now end, your head will pass.

This execution becomes a turning point in the life of Pontius Pilate, it haunts him all his life, because he executed an innocent person whose crime did not deserve such punishment. To atone for his guilt, Pilate orders Judas to be killed, but this does not bring Yeshua back, and the procurator suffers for twelve thousand moons...

Woland tells what is happening to Pilate: “He says the same thing, he says that even in the moonlight he has no peace, and that he has a bad position. He always says this when he is awake, and when he sleeps, he sees the same thing - the lunar road and wants to go along it and talk with the prisoner Ha-Nozri, because, as he claims, he did not say something then, long ago on the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan. But, alas, for some reason he fails to get out on this road and no one comes to him. Then what can you do, he has to talk to himself. However, some variety is needed, and to his speech about the moon, he often adds that more than anything in the world he hates his immortality and unheard-of glory. An attempt to justify oneself with one's "bad position", the same as that of the centurion Mark Ratslayer, cannot drown out the voices of conscience. Even the washing of hands does not allow him to remove this grave sin from his conscience. Immortality is the heaviest punishment Pilate receives. Yeshua comes to him in visions until Pilate, freed by the master, joins Ga-Nozri on the lunar path, not only in vision, but in reality. Then Pilate finds peace, assured by Yeshua that there was no execution. The finale brings Pilate forgiveness.

Bulgakov neglects many gospel facts in order to reveal the image of Pilate. Unlike Yeshua, the author condemns his hero. It is important for him to draw a parallel between that time and Moscow in the 1920s, as proof that people have remained the same, and cowardice always remains the most serious vice.

Sections: Literature

(Slide #2)

Target: To observe the details of the literary text, at the same time analyzing their own feelings that arose as a response to the events happening to the characters.

(Slide #3)

Tasks:

• Explain the reasons for the actions of Pontius Pilate through the observation of his emotional experiences; notice all the subtleties in his behavior, speech, intonation, explain the inconsistency of his feelings.
• Analyze your own feelings that appear when reading the text.
• Make a psychological dictionary of your feelings.

Equipment: Microsoft Power Point presentation (Appendix 1), two sheets of whatman paper, felt-tip pens

During the classes

Introduction by the teacher.

So, today we are starting to analyze the 2nd chapter of the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita", which is based on the eternal problems of human existence: Good and Evil, Faith and Unbelief, Betrayal and Love, Power and Freedom, the problem of repentance and fair retribution.

A whole panorama of human mores unfolds before us, exposing questions as old as the world and eternal as life itself. What is a person? Is he responsible for his own affairs? Can even the harshest circumstances justify an immoral act? You know that a part of Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita", its separate chapters is the novel of its hero, the Master, turned by events into almost two thousand years of history, but having a direct connection with the events taking place in Moscow in the 30s. The plot of this novel is reminiscent of the biblical story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and gives the impression of a documentary accurate presentation of the events that really took place, since its heroes are almost historical figures. However, there is something that distinguishes the Master's novel.

The Gospel of Matthew says that, having gathered 12 disciples for the Last Supper on the eve of the Easter holiday, Jesus Christ predicted his death from the betrayal of one of them...

(Slide number 4)

Student's message about the biblical story of the crucifixion of Christ ( tells the legend of the crucifixion of Christ, supplementing the story with the following quotations from the Bible):

“Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me.

The disciples were saddened by this, and they began to ask one after another:

- Isn't it me, Lord?

Then Judas, who had previously betrayed Him, also asked:

“Of course not me, Master?”

Jesus replied:

“Yes, you…”

(Gospel of Matthew, ch.26 (20–22, 25, 46–52,) ch.27 (1–5)

Teacher: There is no doubt that Yeshua Ha-Nozri is a kind of double of Jesus Christ. Moreover, Yeshua in Aramaic means Lord (salvation), and Ha-Nozri - from Nazareth. Jesus Christ, who was born in Bethlehem, lived permanently in Nazareth before beginning his activity, which is why he is often called Jesus the Nazarene. What, in your opinion, is the peculiarity of the interpretation of the gospel story?

(The writer significantly deepened the biblical plot, conveyed a whole gamut of feelings and experiences of the characters, he “humanized” them, which causes empathy and compassion for the readers. He puts them before a moral choice, and it seems that Bulgakov addresses everyone: “I could are you just as courageously, meekly as Yeshua, to accept suffering in the name of your idea, to the end retaining faith in a good beginning in a person, not allowing a single iota of feeling of anger and resentment for your fate?”)

At the second lesson of studying the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" you received the task: to reread the 2nd chapter of "Pontius Pilate" and answer the questions:

1. Can we, sincerely sympathizing with Yeshua, understanding the injustice of his punishment, categorically condemn Pilate for his cruelty? What is Pilate's true fault?
2. Why were circumstances superior to the procurator's desire to save the preacher? Why was Yeshua above these circumstances?
3. Did Pilate have a choice, why did he still choose evil?

You can answer these questions by running through the content, but after all, M.A. describes for some reason. Bulgakov experiencing Pilate? Maybe it's not as simple as it seems?

Individual homework (report by 2 students presenting their slide)

1 student completed the task: to trace how the mood of Pontius Pilate changes. Make a dictionary of your feelings that arose while reading chapter 2.

2 the student analyzes the behavior of Yeshua Ha-Nozri and makes a dictionary of his own feelings.

(Slide number 5)

Presentation by 1 student:

As soon as Bulgakov introduces us to the palace of Herod the Great and introduces us to Pontius Pilate, an atmosphere of some kind of unrest immediately catches our eye. Pilate's ill state confirms this (“an attack of hemicrania has begun again, when half of the head hurts”).

So, meeting with the procurator for the first time, we see him irritated. It is felt that the inhabitants of the palace and those close to him are accustomed to the cruelty and harshness of his character. Speaking with the prisoner brought to him, he interrupts him in mid-sentence, when Yeshua turned to him: “Good man…” Pilate declares that in Yershalaim everyone whispers about him: “fierce monster”, “and this is absolutely true” In support of his words Pilate calls the centurion, the formidable Mark Ratslayer: “The criminal calls me a “good man…” Explain to him how to talk to me. But don't hurt."

(There is some kind of terrible feeling of fear and bewilderment and the question: “For what?”)

But later, it seems, Pilate himself became interested in talking with this man. After all, “the easiest way would be to drive this strange robber from the balcony, uttering only two words:“ hang him. However, the procurator does not do this. And when Yeshua explains to the procurator the reason for his suffering (“the truth is, first of all, that your head hurts ... You are not only unable to talk to me, but it’s hard for you to even look at me ...”), Pilate is simply smitten.

The procurator calms down when Yeshua continues to talk about the fact that “there are no evil people in the world”, and a formula formed in his head: “the hegemon sorted out the case of the wandering philosopher Yeshua, nicknamed Ha-Nozri, and did not find corpus delicti in it. In particular, I did not find the slightest connection between the actions of Yeshua and the riots that took place in Yershalaim recently. The wandering philosopher turned out to be mentally ill. As a result, the death sentence ... the procurator does not approve ... "

(Here the reader involuntarily rejoices for the procurator and for Yeshua, and is already waiting for a happy ending.) And suddenly it turns out that everything is not so.

Everything about him? Pilate asked the secretary.

No, unfortunately,” the secretary unexpectedly answered and handed Pilate another piece of parchment.

– What else is there? Pilate asked and frowned.

(Here I really want this second parchment to not be, it becomes scary that it will ruin everything.)

The procurator himself feels the same, who is trying with all his being to avert the danger, even condescending to giving signs to Yeshua. (Therefore, the feeling of excitement and anxiety increases) especially since Pilate has a terrible hallucination, which seems to portend trouble: “So, it seemed to him that the prisoner’s head had floated away somewhere, and another appeared instead. On this bald head sat a rare-toothed golden crown; there was a round ulcer on the forehead, corroding the skin and smeared with ointment, ... in the distance, as if, trumpets played softly and menacingly, and a nasal voice was very clearly heard, arrogantly drawing the words: "The law of lèse majesté ..." Yeshua's story about what and how he spoke to Judas of Cariath, giving Pilate a mood of hopelessness. He feels that he is losing the chance of saving the naive prisoner. (Feeling of anxiety increases)

(Slide number 6)

Presentation by 2 students:

The cruel, unjust punishment, it seems, did not even arouse indignation in the arrested person. He simply, like a child, asks the centurion in response to his formidable tone: “I understand you. Do not hit me." (This causes interest in him and respect)

(Slide number 7)

In the future, the sincerity and ease of his conversation with Pilate is simply breathtaking.

(Slide number 8)

For this reason, the directness of the answer struck Pilate with its impudence: “Don't you think that you hung her, hegemon? If so, you are very wrong." (At this point there is a fear that Yeshua might hurt himself) Pilate "shuddered and answered through his teeth, 'I can cut this hair.'

“Would you let me go, hegemon,” the prisoner suddenly asked, and his voice became anxious, “I see that they want to kill me.”

(At the moment of the verdict, the reader has an acute feeling of disagreement with what is happening: the cruelty of the procurator and his impotence are so vividly shown.)

(Slide number 9)

“Do you think, unhappy, that the Roman procurator will release a man who said what you said? I don't share your thoughts!

It is interesting that Pilate does not calm down, but arranges a meeting with the President of Sendrion Kaifa. Talking to him was the last hope for Yeshua's salvation, and Pilate made every effort to do so.

After that, he is seized by longing, growing into a terrible anger of impotence. the procurator realizes his guilt and feels terrible pangs of conscience, and after that he feels almost fury towards him for trampling on his last hope. The procurator is seized with open indignation:

“You will then remember the saved Barravan and regret it.” But the high priest is adamant:

“... You wanted to release him so that he would embarrass the people, outrage over the faith and bring the people under the Roman swords! But I, the high priest of the Jews, as long as I live, will not let the faith be mocked and will defend the people!”

(Reading this scene, one feels such indignation at the fact that there was no force capable of preventing this ridiculous and monstrous injustice.)

Heading to the platform and pronouncing the words of the sentence, Pilate does not even look in the direction of the criminals. “He didn't see anything. He didn't need it. He already knew that behind him the convoy was already leading to Bald Mountain Ha-Notsri, to whom the procurator himself had pronounced a death sentence and whom he most wanted to see alive.

(When you read these lines, a feeling of indignation and horror seizes you. And more impotence. It remains only to watch what is happening.)

(Slide number 10)

A dictionary reflecting feelings and experiences when reading a chapter

Pontius Pilate	Yeshua
Fear (incomprehensible cruelty)	Sympathy (keep simple)
Bewilderment (for what they beat)	Interest (sincere as a child)
Curiosity (outcome of the conversation)	Respect (fortitude, fearlessness)
Excitement (foreboding)	Fear (may hurt yourself)
Anxiety (sentence)	Joy (waiting for a happy ending)
Despair (recorded testimony)	Fear (even if it doesn't ruin everything)
Powerlessness (no one will help)	Anxiety (the steadfastness of Yeshua)
Resentment (from injustice)	Disagreement (with the decision of the procurator)
Disgust (cowardice is the meanest trait)	Horror (death sentence)

Teacher: So, we see that the figure of Pontius Pilate is indeed complex and contradictory. He wanted to save Yeshua, realizing the groundlessness of the sentence passed by the Sanhedrin. But even the omnipotent procurator, a man whose mere glance plunges one into a stupor, turned out to be powerless to save Yeshua from death. Why were circumstances beyond Pilate's will? Why was Yeshua above these circumstances? Did the procurator have a choice? And why did he still choose evil?

group task(performed on computers or on Whatman sheets)

Group1 Compile a cluster of character traits of Yeshua Ha-Nozri that appeared in chapter 2 of the novel

Group 2 Compile a cluster of Pontius Pilate's character traits that appeared in chapter 2 of the novel

Speech by representatives from groups with the defense of their work.

(Slide number 11)

Comparison: the attention of students is offered to the attention of the color spectrum of the character traits of the characters, made by the teacher. Teacher's explanation:

Yeshua is the ideal of individual freedom. Its main feature is HUMANITY.

(Slide number 12)

The main goal on earth is the peaceful preaching of the kingdom of truth and justice. And therefore, no forces can force him to betray faith in goodness. (Recall the episode when he asks the executioner before his death not for himself, but for another: “Give him a drink”). He does not forever betray the accepted belief - his truth. He is internally surrounded by a halo of bright feelings: Love, Freedom, Goodness.

Pilate is always irritated, embittered, distrustful, cruel. In addition, he has to live in a city that he hates, he rules over a people that he does not like. His will cannot contradict the will of the higher authority of the clergy in the person of the Great Caesar, the high priests and the entire Sanhedrin. Therefore, Pilate turns out to be internally bound, dependent on his position.

He constantly experiences internal discord.

In Yeshua, Pilate felt what he himself lacked: understanding, sincerity, sensitivity, fortitude. In addition, this philosopher managed to guess not only his loneliness, suffering, but also removed his physical pain, awakened long-forgotten feelings. He wants to help Yeshua.

The procurator faces a choice face to face: either take a step towards the salvation of Yeshua and thus do Good; or destroy it and commit Evil.

Pilate understood perfectly well the injustice of the punishment of Yeshua and with all the strength of his soul wanted to choose Good

But on the other hand, the procurator is a powerful ruler. He cannot let go of a man who said about the authorities what he said, and what is recorded not only in the report of Judas, but also in the protocol of the secretary of the procurator. Then career and position will be ruined. He - servant of Caesar, his position and his career. Pilate chooses Evil, thereby betraying his conscience.

He was free to decide the fate of others, but he cannot, it turns out, control his own actions and deeds. And therefore Pilate is doomed to eternal spiritual torment, a guilt that for almost two thousand years he has not been able to expiate, since there is no greater vice than cowardice.

Output: Yeshua leaves, and the procurator remains for millennia in the chamber of his loneliness, where he dreams of the lunar road along which he walks and talks with the prisoner Ha-Nozri, because, as he claims, he did not say something then on the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan. And he waits and hopes that he will be forgiven and released.

The literary drawing completely coincides with the historical drawing, even in small things and subtleties. And the name of Pilate - both as a gospel person and as Bulgakov's character - will always go hand in hand with the name of Yeshua-Jesus, as a punishment for inaction. Immortality through the ages is his curse.

By the image of Pilate, his fate, his mental anguish, Bulgakov convinces us that a person is responsible for his deeds. As a living being, he can oppose the fulfillment of his civic duty with all his strength and find justification for himself - in the thirst for life, in habits, in the natural desire for peace, in fear of suffering or of superiors, of hunger, poverty, exile, death. But as a spiritual being, possessing a moral consciousness, he is always responsible to his conscience. Here he has no allies to whom he could shift at least part of his responsibility, and no external circumstances and conditions of choice can justify him.

You come to such conclusions by analyzing the contradictory feelings experienced by Pontius Pilate. In his words, eyes, voice, a wide variety of feelings are captured: hopelessness, longing, rage, despair. And it turns out that Pilate is a suffering man, hardened by illness and misunderstanding, shackled by his power. But the main thing is that he is lonely, intelligent, deeply feeling.

There is always a choice in life, even in the most hopeless situations, a person must make some kind of decision. And it depends only on him how he will live longer: in harmony or at odds with his conscience.

(Slides #13, 14)

Summing up the lesson: Why did Bulgakov need such an artistic device – in parallel with the narration about modernity, to also lead the line of a novel written by the Master and telling about events that took place two thousand years ago? ( The novel is dedicated to eternal problems, they exist in the present just like thousands of years ago. For a long time humanity has been moving towards the truth and whether it will come to its knowledge is unknown).

Lesson grades.

Homework: Select material relating to a) the history of the Master, b) the general atmosphere of life in the 30s of the 20th century, using chapters 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 27.

Literature:

1. “M.A. Bulgakov "Master and Margarita" Moscow "Olympus" 1997
2. Russian literature of the 20th century, part 2, edited by V.P. Zhuravleva Moscow "Enlightenment" 2006.
3. Russian literature of the 20th century. Reader” Compiled by A.V. Barannikov, T.A. Kalganova Moscow "Enlightenment" 1993 p.332.
4. M.P. Zhigalova "Russian literature of the 20th century in high school" M Bulgakov and his novel "The Master and Margarita" in scientific and methodological research pp. 10-9 Minsk 2003.
5. Journal "Literature at School" No. 7, 2002, pp. 11-20.
6. When creating the presentation, Internet resources were used.