The Image of Edessa, also called the Mandylion

Several sources written in the second century say that Jesus gave his burial shroud to one of several individuals. While these accounts are inconsistent, the fact that Jesus burial shroud is mentioned at all indicates an awareness of its existence. [Jones2016, 2nd Century]
Eusebius [313], the early Christian historian, in his Church History, tells the story of king Abgar of Edessa, who corresponds with Jesus, asks for his healing, and eventually is healed by Thaddeus who brings a cloth with the image of Jesus on it. Edessa, on and off, becomes a Christian community.

10th century painting of Abgar legend, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai (public domain)

Several other sources contend that Jesus’ burial cloth was taken to King Abgar of Edessa (now Urfa, Turkey) by either disciple Thaddeus or by a messenger of Abgar. [Antonacci 2000, p 189] This story gets embellished over the centuries. This cloth is called the Mandylion, also known as the Image of Edessa.
In the 7th century, the Acts of Thaddaeus, a Greek update of the Abgar V legend described Jesus' image as having been imprinted on a tetradiplon (Greek for "four-doubled") sheet. Interestingly, doubling the Shroud four times places the face centered in landscape aspect, exactly as it is in artistic renderings of the Mandylion (Image of Edessa). This source claims that the image was in Edessa at this time. [Jones2016, SEVENTH CENTURY].
About 730, St John of Damascus referred to the Edessa Image as "the miraculously imprinted image" that it "has been preserved up to the present time".
In 787 the Second Council of Nicaea debated the veneration of holy images, particularly the Image of Edessa. Leo of Constantinople's Hagia Sophia Cathedral reported to the Council that he had visited Edessa and seen there "the holy image made without hands and adored by the faithful". [Jones2016, EIGHTH CENTURY].
On 944 August 15 the Image of Edessa (Mandylion) arrives in Constantinople. In commemoration of its arrival, a painting of the event shows Emperor Constantine VII receiving it. The depiction of it shows only Jesus’ face in landscape aspect, just as in other tetradiplon paintings of the Mandylion (and maybe the Shroud if “doubled in fours”). The rendering of it is in St Catherines Monastery at Sinai. [Jones2016, TENTH CENTURY]. This suggests that the Mandylion is the Shroud of Turin.
Some accounts of the Mandylion do not explicitly mention an image, but its alternative name (Image of Edessa) implies that an image was present on it.
From 544 to 944, the Mandylion seems to have been in Edessa. [Jones2016, 6th c]
It was described as the “divinely made image not made by the hands of man”.
One problematic part of the Mandylion scenario is that the Mandylion was putatively hidden in a niche in the city gate of Edessa for 5 centuries, then rediscovered in the sixth century, and in 544 employed as a palladium when the city was being invaded by the Persians. Then in 944, the Byzantine army confiscated it and took it to Constantinople. [Markwardt 2014, 5]
In 1978 Ian Wilson [2010] became a strong proponent of a version of the Mandylion scenario. Subsequently, scholars have disputed it. [Markwardt 2014, 5-16]

An Alternative Scenario: The Image of God Incarnate

An icon of Jesus was in Antioch (an early center of Christianity) around AD 35-540. [Markwardt 2014, 16]
Around 330, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, affirmed that a Christ icon, traceable to Jerusalem in 68, was present in Syria. [Jones 2016, FOURTH CENTURY] Because of the Roman threat to quell the Jerusalem resistance, before AD 70 the icon would have likely been taken to Antioch, a center of Christianity.
Around 540 the “Image of God Incarnate” (the Shroud?) was taken from Antioch to Anatolia (present day Turkey) for safer keeping. [Markwardt 2014, 21]
550 …: various “Pantocrator” depictions (portraits, illuminations, and coins) of Jesus Christ originate in Byzantium. All bear resemblance to the facial image on the Shroud, strongly suggesting the Shroud was in Anatolia or even Constantinople. [Jones 2016, SIXTH CENTURY]
Some accounts suggest that the Shroud was in Constantinople in 574. [Markwardt 2014, 32]
Since various legends of the Mandylion over the centuries became embellished, it is possible that the Mandylion was the Image of God Incarnate but with differing claims written in different centuries by persons with biased, self-serving interests. Clearly, an artifact of this significance in Christendom would vie for legendary claims by various cities and by various religious and political factions.

Constantinople

12th century: several documents reference an image on the Mandylion. Also, a liturgical cloth for this period shows characteristics of the Shroud [Antonacci 2015, 214]
1195: The Hungarian Pray Manuscript uncharacteristically depicts Jesus’ body naked on a cloth. Also, of significance relative to the Shroud: (1) his thumbs are not showing, (2) four (burn) holes are shown in the shape of an L, and (3) the cloth’s weave pattern is herring bone. [Antonacci 2015, 215] All these details are present on the Shroud. [Jones 2016, Twelfth Century (2)]
1201: Nicholas Mesarites defended the Pharos Chapel in Constantinople and described the Shroud, which was kept there then. [Jones 2016, Thirteenth Century]
1203-1204: during Fourth Crusade, Robert de Clari describes the Shroud as having "the figure of Our Lord on it". It was in the Church of My Lady St. Mary of Blanchernae, Constantinople. [Fanti 2015, 57]
1204: The Shroud is removed from Constantinople by an unknown person (likely a soldier of the Fourth Crusade) and with an unknown destination. [Whanger 1998, 7]
Some references suggest that the Knights Templar possessed the Shroud thereafter until its appearance in France about 1350. [Whanger 1998, 7]

§Next §Previous §Subtopics §References