Did the legend about a Christian Pilate precede the first gospel?

[Giuseppe]

The first Christian writer to mention Pilate, i.e. Justin, is also the first to mention the existence of Acts of Pilate.

Assuming Justin was one of the first people to read the first gospel, then the question is raised: was a legend about a Christian Pilate already diffused about the same time?

A reason to think so is the embarrassment behind Justin's claim that the Acts of Pilate can be found in the Roman archives: evidently someone was questioning the historicity of Jesus' crucifixion.

A reason against is that Justin follows the Lukan interpretation of Psalm 2:1–2:

“Why do the gentiles conspire, and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed.”

...and he offers this interpretation of the Psalmist’s words:

“[David] testifies of the conspiracy which was formed against Christ by Herod the King of the Jews, and the Jews themselves, and Pilate, who was your procurator among them, with his soldiers.”

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm

This indicates that he viewed Pilate as a co-conspirator with Herod and the Jews in the death of Jesus.

Hence, I wonder if the two thieves originally were not found in the first gospel. They were added to replace Pilate and Herod as the two true evildoers conspiring against Jesus.

In conclusion, I am inclined to think that it is not a coincidence that the first extra-Gospel Christian writer to talk about Pilate is also the same person who felt the need of mentioning fantomatic Acts of Pilate.

Obviously I am excluding a priori the forged Testimonium Taciteum as irrilevant to the discussion.

[Giuseppe]

Note the curious detail in Mark 15:

Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

"Mark" reported that detail some verses after the mention of the two crucified.

This seems to me as if "Mark" (author) was going to eclipse the fact that 'insults on him' were 'heaped' by Pilate and Herod.

Hence, the original story had:

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Herod and Pilate also heaped insults on him.

Note also the crescendo: "those who passed" (=people directed to Jerusalem), "the chief priests and the teachers of the law" and "Herod and Pilate": respectively: people who saw Jesus before in Galilee (=Diaspora), then in Jerusalem (religious elite and political elite).

[Giuseppe]

Now, what is interesting is that Acts of Pilate has this curious passage:

“It was the sixth hour; a darkness covered the entire world until the ninth hour. The sun was obscured: the veil of the temple went from on high to down below, and cut it in two. Jesus cried in a loud voice: My Father, Abi, Adasch, Ephkidron, Adonai, Sabel, Louel, Eloei, Elemas, Ablakanei, Orioth, Mioth, Ouaoth, Soun, Perineth, Jothat.”

What is in action here?

Clearly Jesus is invoking, one after the other, the list of his fathers, one for each Jesus descended in the lower heavens.

This is apelleanism, isn't it?

If I am correct, Apelles argued that for each heaven, the Spiritual Jesus assumed the relative body, more and more carnal insofar he descended down.

Mark (author) would have removed that list, evidently embarrassed by its corollary: that Jesus had to die also in the lower heavens, before his final death on the earth.

One of his fathers was Adonai, the god of the Jews: the evil demiurge.