Editing Image of Edessa (section)

{{Short description|A painting of Jesus Christ's face}}
{{Redirect|Mandylion|the album by The Gathering|Mandylion (album)}}
[[File:Abgarwithimageofedessa10thcentury.jpg|thumb|right|According to the account, King [[Abgar V of Edessa|Abgar]] received the Image of Edessa, a likeness of [[Jesus]].]]

According to [[Christianity|Christian]] tradition, the '''Image of Edessa''' was a holy [[relic]] consisting of a square or rectangle of cloth upon which a miraculous image of the face of [[Jesus Christ]] had been imprinted—the first [[icon]] ({{lit|image}}). The image is also known as the '''Mandylion''' ({{langx|el|μανδύλιον}}, 'cloth' or 'towel'),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSX5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|title=The Tradition of the Image of Edessa|last=Guscin|first=Mark|date=2016-02-08|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=9781443888752|pages=137|language=en}}</ref> in Eastern Orthodoxy, it is also known as [[Acheiropoieta|Acheiropoieton]] ({{langx|el|Εἰκόν' ἀχειροποίητη}}, {{lit|icon not made by hand}}).

In the tradition recorded in the early 4th century by [[Eusebius of Caesarea]],<ref>Eusebius, ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Historia Ecclesiae]]'' 1.13.5 and .22.</ref> King [[Abgar V|Abgar of Edessa]] wrote to Jesus, asking him to come cure him of an illness. Abgar received a reply letter from Jesus, declining the invitation, but promising a future visit by one of his disciples.  One of the [[seventy disciples]], [[Thaddeus of Edessa]], is said to have come to [[Edessa]], bearing the words of Jesus, by the virtues of which the king was miraculously healed.
Eusebius said that he had transcribed and translated the actual letter in the Syriac [[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]] documents of the king of Edessa, but who makes no mention of an image.<ref>Steven Runciman, "Some Remarks on the Image of Edessa", ''Cambridge Historical Journal'' '''3'''.3 (1931:238-252), p. 240</ref> The report of an image, which accrued to the legendarium of Abgar, first appears in the [[Syriac language|Syriac]] work the ''[[Doctrine of Addai]]'': according to it, the messenger, here called Ananias, was also a painter, and he painted the portrait, which was brought back to Edessa and conserved in the royal palace.<ref>Runciman 1931, ''loc. cit.''.</ref>

The first record of the existence of a physical image in the ancient city of [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]] (now [[Urfa]]) was by [[Evagrius Scholasticus]], writing about 593, who reports a portrait of Christ of divine origin (θεότευκτος), which effected the miraculous aid in the [[Siege of Edessa (544)|defence of Edessa]] against the Persians in 544.<ref>Evagrius, in [[Migne]], ''Patrologia Graeca''lxxxvi, 2, cols. 2748f, noted by Runciman 1931, p. 240, note 5; remarking that "the portrait of Christ has entered the class of [[Acheiropoieta|αχειροποίητοι]] icons".</ref> The image was moved to [[Constantinople]] in the 10th century. The cloth disappeared when Constantinople was [[Sack of Constantinople|sacked]] in 1204 during the [[Fourth Crusade]], and is believed by some to have reappeared as a relic in King [[Louis IX of France]]'s [[Sainte-Chapelle]] in [[Paris]]. This relic disappeared in the [[French Revolution]].<ref name="artnet1931">Two documentary inventories: year 1534 (Gerard of St. Quentin de l'Isle, Paris) and year 1740. See [http://www.artnet.com/library/05/0537/T053734.asp Grove Dictionary of Art], [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020741 Steven Runciman, Some Remarks on the Image of Edessa, Cambridge Historical Journal 1931], and [http://www.shroud.com/pdfs/n56part5.pdf Shroud.com] for a list of the group of relics. See also [http://histor.ws/grabtuch/bild/saintchapel.gif an image of the Gothic reliquary dating from the 13th century], in [http://histor.ws/grabtuch/geschichte02.htm Histor.ws] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207004416/http://histor.ws/grabtuch/geschichte02.htm |date=2012-02-07 }}.</ref>

The [[provenance]] of the Edessa letter between the 1st century and its location in his own time are not reported by Eusebius. The materials, according to the scholar [[Robert Eisenman]], "are very widespread in the Syriac sources with so many multiple developments and divergences that it is hard to believe they could all be based on Eusebius' poor efforts".<ref>{{cite book |last=Eisenman |first=Robert |date=1997 |title=James, Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls |location=New York |publisher=Viking Penguin |page=862 |isbn=0670869325}}</ref>

The Eastern Orthodox Church observes a feast for this icon on August 16, which commemorates its [[Translation (relic)|translation]] from Edessa to Constantinople.