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Barabbas

Barabbas was a convicted murderer from Jerusalem who was freed by Pontius Pilate at the Passover feast instead of Jesus due to popular demand.

Biography[]

Barabbas was born in Jerusalem, Judea, the orphaned illegitimate son of a prostitute. He became a brigand and insurrectionary against Roman rule before being convicted of murder and sentenced to death. However, in 33 AD, he was the recipient of a Passover pardon from prefect Pontius Pilate by popular demand; however, this was done because of the Jewish crowd's hatred of the other prisoner, the prophet Jesus, and the criminal Barabbas walked free as the innocent Jesus was crucified.

Barabbas freed

Barabbas celebrating his freedom

Barabbas, confused by his release, and awed at the flash of light which temporarily blinded him when he looked up at the captive Jesus, then returned to his depraved friends at their hovel and asked for his lover, Rachel. His friends told him that Rachel had changed since he had been imprisoned, and that she had since chosen to follow a "young prophet from Nazareth". Barabbas and his friends then celebrated his freedom over food and laughs at Jesus and Rachel's expense, with his friends hailing him as "King Barabbas" and suggesting a crowning, as the crowd had chosen Barabbas over a man who was called "the King of the Jews". His friends then praised Barabbas for having "more wives than King Solomon" as they carried him on their arms and his female friends belly-danced.

Barabbas Rachel

Barabbas talking with Rachel

At the sight, through a window, of Jesus carrying his cross down the street, Barabbas jumped up from his "throne", threw off his crown and threw down his scepter, and found Rachel in the doorway. While he roughly tried to make her kiss him and asked why she wasn't looking at him, she pushed him away and ran to her room, saying that she had changed. Barabbas followed her into her room and shut the door, and he tried to "get the cramp out of his bones" by having sex with her, but she pushed him off her when she said that Jesus had come from God. Barabbas stopped kissing her and asked her if she thought he ought to be dead instead of Jesus, and he ultimately decided to sleep. As the light disappeared from the sky during the afternoon - an unusual occurrence - Barabbas woke up and told Rachel that something was wrong, as he could not see; his sight was "black as death". Barabbas then walked downstairs and asked what was happening, and Rachel said that they knew what was happening - "Even the light has left us, now that we've killed him."

Barabbas Jesus cross

Barabbas watching Jesus being taken down from the cross

Barabbas then walked outside and watched as Jesus was crucified, and, when Jesus died, the solar eclipse lifted, amazing everyone in attendance. He stayed and watched as Jesus was taken down from the cross, and he briefly met eyes with a speechless Mary before turning away as she and Jesus' other followers left. He and Rachel then watched as Jesus was entombed, and he said that Jesus was as dead as any other man; however, Rachel said that Jesus said that he would come back, and said that they should stay and watch that in two days as well. On the morning of the third day, Barabbas left his other lover and joined Rachel at the tomb, which he found to be opened and empty. Rachel told him that God had opened the tomb with a spear's leverage, and that her dazzled eyes made out the shadows of a man and a woman in the garden. Barabbas said that all she had seen were light and shadows, and that his followers must have taken his body. Rachel told Barabbas that Jesus spoke the truth, and asked why he would lie if he knew he would be executed as a result. Barabbas said that the priests knew more than her, and they called Jesus a "blasphemer"; Rachel said that Jesus' teaching was "Love one another," and she told him that he should visit a house on the pottery street to talk with men who knew more about Jesus than she did. Barabbas then walked off, and he ultimately decided to attend the meeting.

Barabbas apostles

Barabbas meeting the Twelve Apostles

Barabbas followed one of the Twelve Apostles into their meeting house and barged into their meeting, causing many of them to worry; some of them had just suggested fleeing to Galilee, where it would be safer. Barabbas asked where Jesus was, so Saint Peter told him that Jesus had gone, and they were also unsure where he had gone. Barabbas said that he knew where Jesus had gone: the Apostles had stolen the body. Peter said that Jesus would only be among them if he walked in through the gate, just as Barabbas had done, and he said that, if Barabbas was certain that Jesus had died, he would not have come to them. Barabbas then noticed Peter weaving a fishing net, and he told him that he could not go fishing anywhere up to Galilee. Peter said that he was used to making fishing nets, and that, "The streets in the cities have to be the sea for me now." Peter said that Jesus had made a joke when he brought Peter and his brother Andrew away from their boats, saying that they would become fishers of men; Peter explained that it was a "serious joke", as it meant that Jesus had given them the word to draw men out of the "dark sea" into the light. Barabbas joked that the fish struggled, gasped, and died, and Peter said that the Apostles would indeed struggle and gasp, and he said that Barabbas had said something good. Peter then concluded, "I, too, must struggle and gasp...and die." As Barabbas walked out, Peter added, "And die in order to live. That's where men have the advantage over fish." Barabbas, at the door, asked what Peter meant, and Peter explained, "They die to the world, die to the dark sea, and begin to live again in the light. That's what he promised, and what he promised has happened. But what has happened, we still don't know." Thomas the Apostle expressed doubt that Jesus would come back, saying that he would know it when he could touch his robe, and, when the Apostles began to bicker, Barabbas said that Thomas of course had cause to doubt that a dead man could come back. Peter offered to take Barabbas to a dead man who had come back to life, whom Thomas himself knew.

Barabbas Lazarus

Barabbas meeting Lazarus

Peter then took Barabbas upstairs to see Lazarus, and left him alone to talk with him. Barabbas said that Peter had told him that he could make him believe that people could come back from the dead, and Lazarus said that he had, indeed, been brought back from the dead by Jesus. Lazarus then added, "And I know that he is Christ, the Son of God, who has power over life and death." Barabbas then asked about Lazarus' experience with death and resurrection, but Lazarus said, "I have experienced nothing, only death. And death is nothing." Barabbas then questioned Lazarus's statement that death was nothing, so Lazarus calmly asked him, "What should it be?" He also explained that he could not tell Barabbas about the realm of the dead, and asked Barabbas how he would tell an unborn child was life was. He explained that "it exists...but isn't anything. To those who've been there, nothing else is anything either." Lazarus then marvelled that no one else had asked him that before, as they all listened how life came back to him and went away praising. Lazarus said that only Barabbas had asked him about death, and Barabbas quipped, "And none the wiser." Lazarus then gave him a piece of bread and said that they could share in Christ's body, and, after praying, Lazarus dipped his piece of bread in salt and ate it, and Barabbas followed him in doing so before returning home.

Rachel martyrdom

Rachel's martyrdom

There, Barabbas and his friends had another drunken party, and he tried to get two of his friends to have sex, joking that they should "Love one another." He then drunkenly stumbled outside with his lover Sara, punching down a camel herder who got into a scuffle with him. Barabbas then came across a prayer meeting being held by Rachel and the other Jewish Christians. He then drunkenly approached and accused her, saying that she didn't know the difference between what was real and what she dreamed in her sleep. She decided to leave for the valley of the lepers to preach to the lepers there, causing the crowd to clamor to stop her from going. Just then, the temple guards approached, and one of the crowd members told them to stop her from going among the lepers. The guards decided to take Rachel to the temple to be tried, and she was then stoned to death as she longingly reached for a vision of the light.

Barabbas captured

Barabbas being captured

Barabbas, vengeful at Rachel's death, decided to rejoin his brigand friends for the robbery of a caravan accompanied by two of the Temple priests who had presided over Rachel's trial. He killed the leader of the brigand gang when they told Barabbas that he would find that things had altered in the gang, and he then led the brigand gang to attack the convoy. He was captured by Roman soldiers when he tried to chase down the two priests and stone them, and he was taken to Pontius Pilate, who said that several men were dying because of Barabbas. Barabbas said that several people were also dying because of the "other man" (Jesus), but Pilate assured him that it was a local matter which he hoped would soon be adjusted, and that "the shock and fear of unreasoning fanaticism" would pass.

Barabbas before Pilate

Barabbas before Pontius Pilate

Barabbas said that, whatever side of the law they were on, he was the same as Pilate, as, what they had not got, they would go out and take. Barabbas asked Pilate how else he had lived but Barabbas' way, and said that, "Whoever's against us or gets in our way, we get rid of." He then said, "My knife may have bitten a few throats, but what about your weapons? They've spit at thousands upon thousands. If I've taken a passing woman to myself, your armies have looted and raped across continents. And have been called the glory of the Earth for doing it. You were born according to the law and raised according to the law. I was born by a girl thrown out of a brothel who gave birth and cursed me before she died. But I tell you, we belong to the same herd." Pilate responded that, unfortunately for Barabbas, the law was indispensable, saying that it was the pass and permit to life in the world. However, he said that a man released by the will of the people at a holy festival could not thereafter be given a capital punishment, causing Barabbas to question if he would live; Pilate said that it would be better for Barabbas if he didn't, and he then sentenced Barabbas to transportation for live - "whatever that's worth" - to the sulfur mines on the island of Sicily. Barabbas muttered, "I can't be killed...He meant for me to live," theorizing that God had saved him. He then declared, "No killing Barabbas. No death for Barabbas. He died in my place. The death has been paid! He...He's taken my death." Barabbas was then taken away by the guards for a life of slavery. As he was dragged out, he repeatedly bragged, "I've got my life!"

Barabbas slave

Barabbas as a slave

Barabbas was then shipped to Sicily, where he was made the slave numbered "564", and, when he was given a medallion with a god on it, he asked who it was; the Roman soldier processing the slaves told him that it was the Roman emperor Tiberius, and that Barabbas had the "privilege" of being his property. He was then sent into the packed mines, where an African slave told Barabbas that the Romans were moving the older slaves down another level, and that one could tell how long they had been in the mines by how deep they were down in the mine - "They break you in gradually to get used to the dark."

Sahak Barabbas

Sahak meeting an older Barabbas

Barabbas labored in the mines for twenty years. In 53 AD, he met the Syrian slave Sahak, who was friendly towards Barabbas; Barabbas had grown even more callous, grey-haired, and broken during his twenty years of slavery, and was cold towards Sahak. Sahak told Barabbas that he had made slavery even a worse hell than it was, and he decided to tell Barabbas how he had come to the mine. The ship he was serving on took on a cargo of slaves, but, during a storm, some of the slaves escaped during his watch, causing his captain to enslave him. He then demanded to know where Barabbas was from, and he decided to tell Sahak, as long as it kept him quiet. He revealed that his name was Barabbas, and Sahak asked him what town he had come from; Barabbas said that he had come from Jerusalem. Sahak then asked if Barabbas was the man the Romans had acquitted, and Barabbas angrily asked what it meant to Sahak. Sahak then began to strangulate Barabbas, and they tumbled back. After Sahak rolled on top of Barabbas, he cursed that he was chained to Barabbas, of all men on Earth. Barabbas tried to swing his pickaxe at Sahak, and they fought until their Roman foreman Hostus Horatius Orissus came to break up their fight with a whip. He then forced the two men to keep working, and, at mealtime, Barabbas later argued with Sahak about why he hated his name. Sahak asked Barabbas who died in his stead, and Barabbas revealed that Sahak was a Christian. He then asked Sahak if Jesus didn't tell his followers to love one another, giving Sahak pause to think about his hate for Barabbas.

Barabbas Sahak mine

Barabbas talking with Sahak in the mine

While working in a pit later on, Barabbas asked who had continued to perpetuate the rumors about Jesus. Sahak asked, "What could kill it?" He explained that he had seen the truth in God's sending of his son to the world to show it what he was, saying that it was the reason why the name of "the Master" continued on growing in the world. He said that he met it wherever he sailed: Phoenicia, Cyprus, Greece, and even at the port of Rome. Sahak explained that, during his travels, he began to understand what "the Word" meant. Sahak explained that the will of God was a tough demand, and confessed that he was a poor hand at it, evidenced by his slavery. He then revealed that he had the sign of the Cross scratched on the back of the Emperor's head on his slave's medallion, seeing it as meaning that he belonged to Christ rather than to the Emperor. He explained that it was the sign Jesus had put on all humanity, if they gave way enough to see it. Barabbas then demanded that Sahak keep his God to himself, asking him why he had to come down to the mine and "rake up old lies about killing God." Sahak explained that Barabbas was the only man he had met who had seen Jesus. Barabbas said that, suppose the world was dark when Jesus died, saying that he had died in a dust storm; he then supposed that the tomb was empty, and asked if a dead man couldn't be taken away. Just then, he noticed that Sahak began to stumble and that his body was giving out, and he warned Sahak that, if the guards saw that he couldn't work, they would take him, and there would be no coming back.

Barabbas Sahak earthquake

Barabbas and Sahak surviving the earthquake

The next morning, the foreman noticed that Sahak could not stand properly when calling on the workers to get out of their cots, and he decided to take him away from Barabbas. Just then, an earthquake broke out and the mine began to collapse, killing everyone but Barabbas and Sahak. The two men narrowly survived the collapsing rubble and the floods of water, and they were later rescued as the Roman soldiers checked for survivors.

Barabbas Sahak fields

Barabbas and Sahak toiling in the fields

The Prefect Rufio then arrived and inspected the survivors, and he then ordered the guard captain to put the two slaves to work in the fields. Barabbas then marvelled that he could taste the salt in the air, and Sahak said that every breath of the air was full of the sea. When a gleeful Sahak asked if Barabbas was also glad to live, Barabbas pessimistically asked if he would be glad to live "like a damned ox." Sahak told Barabbas, "Salt me down and I'd praise God even for this." Barabbas then asked how many times Sahak had been swindled in the foreign ports, saying that he must have been the easiest game they ever got their hands on, as he would fall for any trick. Sahak said that he felt that life's troubles gave humans the strength God wanted them to have, and that it must be Barabbas who was swindled, as, every time God came near, Barabbas refused to believe it. He also said that Jesus' death was never out of Barabbas' death, and asked what other man's death could have troubled him for so long. When they rested as two other slaves cleared a rock from their plough's path, Barabbas gave Sahak his medallion so that he could carve a cross onto the reverse side, and, when he took it back, he asked if Sahak would leave him in peace.

Julia Rufia meeting Sahak and Barabbas

Julia Rufia meeting Sahak and Barabbas

Prefect Rufio then rode past with his wife, Julia Rufia, who asked if she could meet the two men Rufio had told her about. Rufio had the two men brought to him, remarking how, despite spending 20 years in the mines, the old man was indestructible. Julia then touched the two men's shoulders for luck, with Rufio explaining that his wife was superstitious. He then had the two men return to work, but, moments later, riders arrived with a message for Rufio, who found out that he was to be named to the Roman Senate. Julia's superstitions were seemingly confirmed, so she asked Rufio to bring Barabbas and Sahak with him to Rome for good luck.

Sahak Barabbas Rome

Sahak and Barabbas arriving in Rome

Sahak and Barabbas were thus brought along with the patrician couple as they entered Rome. They were then handed over to Flacus, the commander of the barracks at the Colisseum, for sale as gladiators. They then watched the patricians be introduced to the champion Torvald, who had thrice won his freedom, but preferred to live as a gladiator. Barabbas told Sahak that he would one day kill Torvald; Sahak asked if a man could ever become sickened with violence, and Barabbas explained that only a man could understand.

Barabbas training

Barabbas training as a gladiator

Barabbas was then trained as a gladiator, casting a net at his opponents. Torvald was amused at how the old man was a great warrior, so he approached Barabbas from behind and tripped him by stepping on his net as he was about to cast it. Torvald then asked Barabbas to show him his skills, but Torvald jumped over the net when Barabbas attempted to swing it at him. He ultimately trapped Barabbas in his own net and asked, "What do we do with aging fish, grandfather?" He then joked to the others that it was time Barabbas was thrown to the gulls.

Over the next several months, Barabbas, Sahak, and the other gladiators were trained in combat. During a meal, the fellow gladiator Lucius purposely spilled his jug of wine while serving some to Sahak, allowing him to draw a cross with the wine and signal to Sahak that he was a fellow Christian.

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