Mandylion

Similar to the veil of Saint Veronica, the Mandylion was a cloth upon which the image of the face of *Christ was miraculously imprinted. Numerous variations upon the tale exist, derived from late fourthcentury Syriac sources which follow and expand upon Eusebius’s description of written correspondence between Jesus and King Abgar of Edessa. Abgar wrote a letter to Jesus requesting that he visit Edessa to cure him of an illness; Page 162  some versions recount that Jesus replied via a letter delivered by the *apostle Thaddeus (Jude) who healed Abgar; other versions state that Jesus sent Abgar a painted portrait of himself or a cloth with which he had wiped his face and which miraculously bore his image (the Mandylion ). Abgar was healed and converted to Christianity. The *relic remained in Edessa until the tenth century. Some versions recount that when hidden for safekeeping in the city walls, the image of Christ’s face miraculously duplicated itself on a brick. It was rediscovered in the sixth century, then taken to Constantinople in 944 (when further documents concerning it were written); then it was captured by the Crusaders in 1207 and lost (or taken to Rome, Venice, or Genoa).