13 Apr. Jesus is brought before Annas
"Then the soldiers [of the High Priest] with their commander and the Jewish [Temple] guards arrested Jesus. They tied him and first led him to Annas [a former high priest], the father-in-law of Caiaphas [who was] the high priest that year..."
"The [former] high priest asked Jesus questions about his followers and his teaching. Jesus answered, 'I have spoken openly to everyone. I have always taught in synagogues and in the Temple, where all the Jews come together [in public]. I have never said anything in secret.'"
"'So why do you question me? Ask the people who heard my teaching. They know what I said.'"
"When Jesus said this, one of the [high priest's] guards standing there hit him. The guard said, 'Is that the way you answer the high priest?'"
"Jesus answered him, 'If I said something wrong, then say what it was. But if what I said is true, why do you hit me?'"
"Then [after their discussions] Annas sent Jesus, who was still tied, to Caiaphas the [current] high priest."
(John 18:12-14,19-24)
After a short scuffle in the olive groves at Gethsemane, Jesus was arrested, then led back across the Kidron Valley and up the steep slope into the old City of David (see 2 on the map on 10 Mar).
The Sacred Steps (the 'Scala Sacra'), which can be climbed today near the reputed site of the High Priest’s house, may well mark Jesus’s final route up into the old city (see 'steps' on the map).
Jesus was led before Annas, one of the chief priests (a former high priest and the father-in-law of the current high priest), to decide what charges should be brought against him when the Jewish Council (the Sanhedrin) met early the next morning.
The key question that vexed the Jewish chief priests was the exact nature of the charge to be brought against Jesus. In their eyes, Jesus was guilty of blasphemy (claiming to be God) (see John 7:37-49) and should be killed. But blasphemy wasn't a capital crime under Roman law.
So they tried desperately to work out how the evidence could be twisted in order to result in a conviction for treason against the Roman state, which WAS a capital offence (see John 11:45-50). They had time to come to a decision about this overnight, as the Sanhedrin (the Jewish council) could only meet legally during daylight hours (i.e. after dawn).
The present-day 'Church of the House of Annas', just inside the Zion Gate in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, was built in the 14th century on what was believed to be the site of the chief priest Annas’s house (see 2 on the map).
The photo shows the 'Scala Sacra' (the Sacred Steps) leading up from the Kidron Valley into the old city of Jerusalem.
You can read more about Jesus's arrest and trial @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/6-jesu…/jesus-is-arrested/