1.10.1
X. Ἐπὶ τούτων δὴ οὖν, κατὰ τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν ἔτος πεντεκαιδέκατον Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἄγοντος τέταρτον δὲ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Ποντίου Πιλάτου, τῆς τε λοιπῆς Ἰουδαίας τετραρχούντων Ἡρῴδου καὶ Λυσανίου καὶ Φιλίππου, ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀρχόμενος ὡς εἰ ἐτῶν τριάκοντα, ἐπὶ τὸ Ἰωάννου βάπτισμα παραγίνεται, καταρχήν τε ποιεῖται τηνικαῦτα τοῦ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κηρύγματος. Φησὶν δὲ αὐτὸν ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὸν πάντα τῆς διδασκαλίας διατεΛέσαι χρόνον ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως Ἄννα καὶ Καϊάφα, δηλοῦσα ὅτι δὴ ἐν τοῖς μεταξὺ τῆς τούτων ἔτεαιν λειτουργίας ὁ πᾶς τῆς διδασκαλίας συνεπεράνθη χρόνος. ἀρξαμένου μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἄννα παραμείναντος μέχρι δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ Καϊάφα παραμείναντος οὐδ’ ὅλος ὁ μεταξὺ τετραέτης παρίσταται χρόνος. τῶν γάρ τοι κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἤδη πως καθαιρουμένων ἐξ ἐκείνου θεσμῶν, λέλυτο μὲν ᾧ διὰ βίου καὶ ἐκ προγόνων διαδοχῆς τὰ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ θεραπείας προσήκοντα ἢν, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ἡγεμόνων ἄλλοτε ἄλλοι τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην ἐπιτρεπόμενοι, οὐ πλεῖον ἔτους ἑνὸς ἐπὶ ταύτης ἴ’ διετέλουν. ἱστορεῖ δ’ οὖν ὁ Ἰώσηπος τεσσαρας κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἐπὶ Καϊάφαν ἀρχιερεῖς μετὰ τὸν Ἄνναν διαγενέαθαι, κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς Ἀρχαιολογίας γραφὴν ὧδέ πως λέγων “ Οὐαλέριος Γρᾶτος, παύσας ἱερᾶσθαι Ἄνανον, Ἰσμάηλον ἀρχιερέα ἀποφαίνει τὸν τοῦ Φαβι, καὶ τοῦτον δὲ μετ’ οὐ πολὺ μεταστήσας, Ἐλεάζαρον τὸν Ἀνάνου τοῦ ἀρχιερέως υἱὸν ἀποδείκνυσιν ἀρχιερέα. ἐνιαυτοῦ δὲ διαγενομένου καὶ τόνδε παύσας, Σίμωνι τῷ Καμίθου τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην παραδίδωσιν. οὐ πλέον δὲ καὶ τῶδε ἐνιαυτοῦ τὴν τιμὴν ἔχοντι διεγένετο χρόνος, καὶ Ἰώσηπος, ὁ καὶ Καϊάφας, διάδοχος ἦν αὐτῷ.” οὐκοῦν ὁ σύμπας οὐδ’ ὅλος τετραέτης ἀποδείκνυται τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν διδασκαλίας χρόνος, τεσσάρων ἐπὶ τέσσαρσιν ἔτεσιν ἀρχιερέων ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἄννα καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Καϊάφα κατάστασιν ἐνιαύσιον λειτουργίαν ἐκτετελεκότων. τόν γέ τοι Καϊάφαν ἀρχιερέα εἰκότως τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, καθ’ ὃν τὰ τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους ἐπετελεῖτο, ἡ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου παρεσημήνατο γραφή, ἐξ ἦς καὶ αὐτῆς οὐκ ἀπᾴδων τῆς προκειμένης ἀποδείκνυται ὁ τῆς τοῦ χριστοῦ διδαακαλίας ἀποδείκνυται χρόνος. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν οὐ μετὰ πλεῖστον τῆς καταρχῆς τοῦ κηρύγματος τοὺς δώδεκα ἀποστόλους ἀνακαλεῖται, οὕς καὶ μόνους τῶν λοιπῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν κατά τι γέρας ἐξαίρετον ἀποστόλους ὠνόμασεν, καὶ αὖθις ἀναδείκνυσιν ἑτέρους ἑβδομήκοντα, οὓς καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπέστειλεν ἀνὰ δύο δύο πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ εἰς πάντα τόπον καὶ πόλιν οὗ ἤμελλεν αὐτὸς ἔρχεσθαι.
X. In the time of these rulers, then, according to the evangelist, when Tiberius Caesar was in the fifteenth year of his reign and Pontius Pilate the fourth of his governorship, and Herod, Lysanias, and Philip were tetrarchs of the rest of Judaea, our Saviour and Lord, Jesus the Christ, “beginning to be about thirty years old,” came to the baptism of John and there began the proclamation of the gospel. The divine Scripture says that he completed the whole time of his teaching while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, showing that the whole time of his teaching was bounded by the years which covered their administration. Since, then, he began in the high priesthood of Annas and continued to the reign of Caiaphas, the intervening time does not amount to a full four years. For since the regulations of the law were at that time already in process of destruction, the rule had been relaxed by which the duties of the service of God were held for life and by inherited succession, and the Roman governors entrusted the high priesthood at different times to different men, who did not hold this office for more than one year. Moreover Josephus relates that four high priests intervened in succession between Annas and Caiaphas, and speaks as follows in the text of the Antiquities: