Annas was the High Priest of Israel during Jesus’ Time.
They bound [Jesus] and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-inlaw of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. JOHN 18:12–13
Annas appears to have been astute, wealthy, powerful, and politically influential, yet in the end, he will always be known among Christians as the man who, together with his son-in-law Caiaphas, presided over Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin and handed Him over to be crucified by the Romans.
Annas, a prominent Sadducee, had been appointed as high priest by the Romans in AD 6, and he held that post for ten years until they deposed him. For the next few decades, his sons and one son-in-law occupied the office of high priest, but Annas wielded so much influence over them that he continued to be referred to as high priest as well (see Luke 3:2; Acts 4:6).
Annas accrued much of his vast wealth from sales of sacrificial animals, oil, and other required items in the temple area. It was almost certainly his business dealings in the temple that prompted Jesus to denounce those who made the temple a “den of robbers” (Mark 11:15–19).
When Jesus was first arrested, He was brought to the house of Annas, and then He was sent to Caiaphas, Annas’s son-in-law. Later Jesus would be handed over to the Romans, who would crucify Him just as the Jewish leaders had requested (John 18)
Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas were also present during the trial of Peter and John, who had been arrested for preaching about Jesus in the temple area (Acts 4).