of the procurators, an old high priest, who had
preserved the secret of the traditions, who had seen many younger than
himself succeed each other, and who had retained sufficient influence
to get the office delegated to persons who were subordinate to him in
family rank, must have been a very important personage. Like all the
aristocracy of the temple,[8] he was a Sadducee, "a sect," says
Josephus, "particularly severe in its judgments." All his sons also
were violent persecutors.[9] One of them, named like his father,
Hanan, caused James, the brother of the Lord, to be stoned, under
circumstances not unlike those which surrounded the death of Jesus.
The spirit of the family was haughty, bold, and cruel;[10] it had that
particular kind of proud and sullen wickedness which characterizes
Jewish politicians. Therefore, upon this Hanan and his family must
rest the responsibility of all the acts which followed. It was Hanan
(or the party he represented) who killed Jesus. Hanan was the
principal actor in the terrible drama, and far more than Kaiapha, far
more than Pilate, ought to bear the weight of the maledictions of
mankind.

[Footnote 1: The _Ananus_ of Josephus. It is thus that the Hebrew name
_Johanan_ became in Greek _Joannes_ or _Joannas_.]

[Footnote 2: John xviii. 15-23; _Acts_ iv. 6.]

[Footnote 3: Jos., _Ant._, XX. ix. 1.]

[Footnote 4: Jos., _Ant._, XV. iii. 1; _B.J._, IV. v. 6 and 7; _Acts_
iv. 6.]

[Footnote 5: Jos., _Ant._, XX. ix. 3.]

[Footnote 6: Jos., _Ant._, XV. ix. 3, XIX. vi. 2, viii. 1.]

[Footnote 7: Luke iii. 2.]

[Footnote 8: _Acts_ v. 17.]

[Footnote 9: Jos., _Ant._, XX. ix. 1.]

[Footnote 10: Jos., _Ant._, XX. ix. 1.]

It is in the mouth of Kaiapha that the evangelist places the decisive
words which led to the death of Jesus.[1] It was supposed that the
high priest possessed a certain gift of prophecy; his declaration thus
became an oracle full of profound meaning to the Christian community.
But such an expression, whoever he might be that pronounced it, was
the feeling of the whole sacerdotal party. This party was much opposed
to popular seditions. It sought to put down religious enthusiasts,
rightly foreseeing that by their excited preachings they would lead to
the total ruin of the nation. Although the excitement created by Jesus
was in nowise temporal, the priests saw, as an ultimate consequence of
this agitation, an aggravation of the Roman yoke and the overturning
of the temp