“ | If you say Jehovah once more!... | „ |
~ The High Priest yelling at Matthias before being hit by a stone. |
“ | Now look, no-one is to stone anyone until I blow this whistle, do you understand?! EVEN, and I want to make this absolutely clear, even if they do say Jehovah! | „ |
~ The High Priest's ill-chosen last words. |
The High Priest is a minor antagonist in the film Monty Python's Life Of Brian. He orders the stoning of Matthias, the son of Deuteronomy Of Gath for saying Jehovah.
He was played by John Cleese, who also portrayed Monty Python villains Mr. Hilter, French Taunter, The Robber, The Black Knight and The Narrator Of "How Not To Be Seen".
Biography[]
The High Priest appears in the famous stoning scene where he states that Matthias, the son of Deuteronomy of Gath, has been sentenced to death by stoning for "blasphemy" (in reality telling his wife that "that piece of Halibut was good enough for Jehovah"). The priest becomes suspicious that the men at the stoning may actually be women (women aren't allowed to come to stonings) due to their feminine voices but they get away with it by saying that they're men in deep voices.
When Matthias tells his story, the priest tells him that he's making things worse by saying Jehovah, prompting him to start yelling "Jehovah, Jehovah" to taunt the priest, causing one of the women to throw a stone at him. The priest gets annoyed and tells her to "go to the back".
Matthias then says "Jehovah" again, causing the priest to say "if you say Jehovah once more..." and get a stone thrown at him by one of the women. The irate priest gets the others to tell him who did it, and when she tries to explain herself she says "Jehovah" and is stoned by the rest of the women. The priest then yells at them to stop and instructs them not to stone anyone until he blows his whistle, even if they do say Jehovah.
Unfortunately for the priest, the crowd stone him for saying Jehovah, knocking him to the ground. A group of women then drop a large boulder on the priest, killing him.