Passion of Jesus

The Passion (from Latin patior, "to suffer, bear, endure")[1] is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels.

[2] The Passion may include, among other events, Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his cleansing of the Temple, his anointing, the Last Supper, his agony, his arrest, his trials before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate, his crucifixion and death, and his burial.

The word passion has taken on a more general application and now may also apply to accounts of the suffering and death of Christian martyrs, sometimes using the Latin form passio.

[5] Others such as Matson and Richardson (2014) take a broader approach and consider the triumphal entry, the last supper, the trial before Pilate, the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection collectively as constituting the so-called "Passion Week".

Taking an inclusive approach, the "Passion" may include:The Gospel of Luke states that Pilate sends Jesus to be judged by Herod Antipas because as a Galilean he is under his jurisdiction.

According to the Gospel of John, Pilate has Jesus brought out a second time, wearing the purple robe and the crown of thorns, in order to appeal his innocence before the crowd, saying Ecce homo, ("Behold the man").

The Synoptic Gospels state that on arrival at Golgotha, Jesus is offered wine laced with myrrh to lessen the pain, but he refuses it.

Another passion narrative is found in the fragmentary Gospel of Peter, long known to scholars through references, and of which a fragment was discovered in Cairo in 1884.

Herod then turns Jesus over to the people who drag him, give him a purple robe, crown him with thorns, and beat and flog him.

Mark describes two separate proceedings, one involving Jewish leaders and one in which the Roman prefect for Judea, Pontius Pilate, plays the key role.

The non-canonical Gospel of Peter describes a single trial scene involving Jewish, Roman, and Herodian officials.

...Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots" (Psalm 22:7–19).

In addition to the above, it deserves to be mentioned that at least three other, less elaborate messianic prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus' crucifixion, namely, the following Old Testament passages: "Many are the afflictions of the just man; but the Lord delivers him from all of them.

[36] In the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, the Matins service for Good Friday is called Matins of the Twelve Passion Gospels, and is notable for the interspersal of twelve readings from the Gospel Book detailing chronologically the events of the Passion – from the Last Supper to the burial in the tomb – during the course of the service.

[38][39] The tradition of moving around the Stations to commemorate the Passion of Christ began with Francis of Assisi and extended throughout the Catholic Church in the medieval period.

Having then attributed these to hours of the Divine Office, he arrived at this schema:[41] The Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as "acts of reparation" for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during his Passion.

[46] Pope John Paul II referred to acts of reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified".

Veronica's Veil is also often counted among the Instruments of the Passion; like the Shroud of Turin and Sudarium of Oviedo it is a cloth relic supposed to have touched Jesus.

The practice of using recitative for the Evangelist (rather than plainsong) was a development of court composers in northern Germany and only crept into church compositions at the end of the 17th century.

A famous musical reflection on the Passion is Part II of Messiah, an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, though the text here draws from Old Testament prophecies rather than from the gospels themselves.

The Passion continued to be very popular in Protestant Germany in the 18th century, with Bach's second son Carl Philipp Emanuel composing over twenty settings.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar (book and lyrics by Tim Rice) and Stephen Schwartz's Godspell both contain elements of the traditional passion accounts.

Choral meditations on aspects of the suffering of Jesus on the cross include arrangements such as Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri, a 1680 set of seven Passion cantatas, and the first such Lutheran treatment, incorporating lyrics excerpted from a medieval Latin poem and featuring Old Testament verses that prefigure the Messiah as suffering servant.

One famous cycle is performed at intervals at Oberammergau Germany, another in Sordevolo one of the most important in Italy, and another in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco uses what is considered the largest open-air theater in the world.

In the Chester Mystery Plays' portrayal of Christ's Passion, specifically his humiliation before his sentence to crucifixion, the accounts of the Gospels concerning the physical violence visited on Jesus during his trial before the Sanhedrin, and the humiliating crowning of thorns visited upon him in Pilate's palace (or by Herod's soldiers, according to Luke), is further confused by showing both actions as being carried out by jeering Jews.

[49] Processions on Palm Sunday commonly re-enact to some degree the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, traditional ones often using special wooden donkeys on wheels.

Holy Week in Spain retains more traditional public processions than other countries, with the most famous, in Seville, featuring floats with carved tableaux showing scenes from the story.

It was most likely written by Thomas à Kempis, whose Imitation of Christ mentions the Passion a few times, uniquely when talking about the Eucharist.

The tropical plant passiflora, introduced to Europe in the 16th century, got its name from the Jesuit F B Ferrari, who saw in its flower an emblem containing the instruments of the Passion of Christ.

The 3 stigmas represent three nails, a circle of radial filaments - a bloody crown of thorns, a stalk fruit grower - the Holy Grail, five anthers - five wounds of the Savior, a three-bladed leaf - holy Lance, the tendrils represent the whips used in the flagellation of Christ, attachments (antennae) - lashes, white - the Savior's innocence, etc.