Helkai the Pharisee
This is at his house that Jesus utters the famous apostrophe: "Woe to you, Pharisees!"[1]
He is a powerful figure in the Sanhedrin: he is the treasurer of the Temple. His religious practice is strict.
"I believe that even nails have been placed in number and position as prescribed by one of the six hundred and thirteen precepts. There is no design on the cloths, not one ornament on the walls, not a knick-knack… not one of the little things, which in the houses of Joseph and Nicodemus and of the very Pharisees in Capernaum, are present to decorate them.", observes Maria Valtorta.[2]
"See, Master, how observant I am? Everything says so. Look: curtains without any design, unadorned furniture, no sculptured vases or chandeliers imitating flowers. There is everything, but everything complies with the precept [...] And it is so in the house and also with regards to my garments and those of the household", says Helkai.[2]
The portrait painted by Maria Valtorta is unsympathetic: "ice-cold calmness of a poisonous snake",[3] "laughing malingnantl".[4] He pretends to be eager for the words of Jesus to better trap him. Jesus is not fooled and warns him:
"You, Helkai, and your friends have also another unavowed appetite. But you will be given also that food… which is even more acid than figs. And it will contaminate your hearts as sour figs infect bowels."[5]
To trap Jesus, he invites him to a banquet, but rushes him to the table without allowing him the ritual ablutions. The banquet, cold and brief, ends quickly: Jesus utters his great condemnation of Phariseeism and leaves. The Sanhedrin then decides to get rid of Jesus.[6]
From this banquet, hostility turns into conspiracy. It remains only to spy on every move: Judas takes charge, promised glory and money.[7]
Helkai is absolute in his pursuit: he does not hesitate to recommend murder - not only for Jesus, but for anyone who bothers him, like Simon, the parricide turned mad.[8]
He sets another trap with Judas' complicity: that of Sidonia, the naturally mute who was healed on a Shabbat.[9] The trap fails, Sidonia did not see the one who healed him, nor did his parents: he cannot testify.[10] Helkai increasingly pressures Judas to find an opportunity to bring Jesus down.[11]
Jesus goes to Beth-Horon, a priestly town of Ephraim where Helkai is native. He heals a member of his family but receives no recognition. He warns the inhabitants of the woes that hardened hearts attract.[12]
As treasurer, it is Helkai who gives the thirty pieces of silver to Judas, the paltry price of a day's laborer's wage for a month.[13]
Amid the chaos following the earthquake accompanying the death of Jesus,[14] he crosses paths with Joseph of Arimathea returning from the holy sepulcher. He threatens him:
"[...] don’t think that you can take the Corpse away. We have taken the necessary steps to ensure that the story comes to an end."[15]
Joseph replies:
"A moment ago you were running away, a prey to terror. Are you recovering already? Is what you had not sufficient yet? Was your house not burnt down? Tremble! The punishment is not over, on the contrary it is coming."[15]
Helkai soon meets the Virgin Mary supported by John. He utters "a horrible insult." John lunges at his throat threatening:
"Ask Her to forgive you or I will strangle you, you demon!"[16]
Helkai complies before being arrested by the Romans for disturbing public order.
He is probably the one spreading the rumor about the theft of the body of the Christ by his apostles at the Resurrection.[17]
This active and cunning architect of Jesus' condemnation has his condemnation confirmed by Daniel, his relative, to whom Jesus appears on Easter day.[18]
His name
Helkias or Hilqyiyya means "God (Ya') is my portion" - Historical reference: many characters bear this name.
Where is he mentioned in the work?
GRM 378 GRM 413 GRM 414 GRM 415 GRM 418 GRM 442 GRM 487 GRM 510 GRM 514 GRM 529 GRM 532 GRM 535 GRM 542 GRM 545 GRM 546 GRM 548 GRM 549 GRM 550 GRM 566 GRM 581 GRM 588 GRM 598 GRM 611 GRM 630 GRM 632
Learn more about this character
Extracts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, according to Maria Valtorta (Msgr. René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Éditions Salvator, 2012):
Helchias was of the Phiabi family from which several Sanhedrists and High Priests originated. He was the keeper of the Temple treasury. Flavius Josephus calls him Helcias the Great. He and other important men of his family met Petronius, legate of Syria, to dissuade Emperor Caligula from placing his own statue in the Temple.[19]
He could be one of the brothers of Ismael ben Phiabi II with whom he took part in the delegation sent to Nero in 62 AD to arbitrate the maintenance of a Temple wall regarded as sacred.[20]
This family left traces of its harshness: "Woe to me because of the house of Ishmael ben Piakhi (Phiabi), woe to me because of their fists. For all were high priests, their sons were treasurers, their grandsons were chamberlains, and their servants struck us with their staffs".[21]
Notes and references
- ↑ Matthew 23:1-36; Luke 11:37-52.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 GRM 414.1.
- ↑ GRM 535.10.
- ↑ GRM 549.10.
- ↑ GRM 413.4.
- ↑ GRM 414
- ↑ GRM 442
- ↑ GRM 632
- ↑ John 9:1-34
- ↑ GRM 510
- ↑ GRM 528
- ↑ GRM 514
- ↑ Matthew 26:14-15
- ↑ Matthew 27:51-52
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 GRM 611.9.
- ↑ GRM 611.10.
- ↑ Matthew 28:11-15
- ↑ GRM 632
- ↑ Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XX, 8, 4-11.
- ↑ Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XX, 7.
- ↑ Mishna, Tractate Pessahim 57a.