Footnote

b The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says concerning the main Sanhedrin in Jerusalem: “At the head of the body, which convened in the boule [council chamber] . . . stood the high-priest. He was the leader of the Jewish people; he alone could preside in the Sanhedrin. Around him were the archiereis [chief priests], the priestly aristocracy, Sadducean in sympathy. By virtue of their office the chief priests in the temple had a seat and voice in the Sanhedrin and they formed a solid faction. The elders were a second group. It is true that originally all members of the gerousia [assembly of older men] were called elders. Gradually, however, this term acquired a more restricted sense, so that only readers of the influential lay families in Jerusalem were called presbyteroi [elders]. Without exception these patricians, too, were Sadducean in persuasion. The Pharisees managed to get into the High Council in the days of Queen Alexandra [76-67 B.C.E]. From then on the power and influence of the grammateis [scribes] grew steadily in the Sanhedrin. In the Roman period the archiereis [chief priests] were still first in rank, but in fact decisions could not be taken or executed without the agreement of the Pharisaic scribes.”