FAQ

The prophecies of the Old Testament said that coming into the world, the Holy God will be betrayed to death by men living in evil. But, as any prophecy, it could not come true, if each person made choice in favor of God. However, this did not occur. It does not mean that Judas was designed concretely for this role. He chose it himself. If nobody chose to betray Christ, it would also have been a way of the salvation.

The reasons that incited Judas to betray Christ are unknown and are not discussed in the New Testament. In general, it is not very important – everyone has the possibility of betraying Christ, the problem is what everyone choices for himself.

The Lord says to Judas : "what thou doest, do quickly". There is no order here, there is the knowledge of the Lord about the betrayal. He offers Judas a free choice (as each of us) - to betray or not.

Nobody is predestined to become a traitor. Every person has a free choice, everyone makes this choice himself – just as Judas made his choice.

So, the betrayal of Judas was his free choice; as for the forgiveness, the Gospel already tells us that the Lord is ready to forgive even the one who betrayed Him to death. Pay once again attention to the same text. To give somebody at the table a piece of bread dipped into wine was a sign of peace, of reconciliation and forgiveness. This is how enemies became reconciled and forgave the deepest resentments. The Lord showed to Judas that He forgives him. What Judas did, when the execution came true? The scene with money was not his last action: he committed suicide. He thought he knows what the Lord will say to him; he thought that he can measure and evaluate God's mercy; thought that he can measure the size of his sin and reach a verdict - and the only exit that he found for himself in this situation was suicide. He decided for himself that his soul cannot be saved.

It is in particular this fact that having betrayed, he did not turn to God for forgiveness, which leaves us no possibility of believing that Judas repented, in this sense of which the Lord puts in this word. Here is Peter, having betrayed, repented, cried - and was forgiven and became the head of the Church.