“As evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.”

Gospel of Mark – Chapter 15: 42-47 (NIV)

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him! So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.”

Gospel of John – Chapter 20: Verses 1-9 (NIV)

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.”

Galatians 3:1 (NIV)

The Galatians did not witness the crucifixion of Jesus, which took place at least 15 years earlier and hundreds of miles away. Bible scholars have struggled to interpret this statement from Paul. How could the Galatians have seen the crucified Jesus “clearly portrayed” with their own eyes? What had Paul shown them?

“When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments”

2 Timothy 4:13 (NIV)

Why would Paul want Timothy to bring a cloak 1,600km when he had friends in Rome who could get him one immediately? The Greek word used here “phailonen” doesn’t actually mean a cloak, coat, or warm garment, and doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Bible. The word means a long covering which displays (or carries) information on it. Was Paul using this obscure word to hide the true nature of the item he was requesting?

“Two years before Titus and Vespasian sacked Jerusalem, the faithful and disciples of Christ were warned by the Holy Spirit to depart from the city and go to the kingdom of King Agrippa (Syria). Leaving the city, they went to his regions and carried everything relating to our faith. At that time even the icon (image) with certain other important church items were moved and they today still remain in Syria. I possess this information as handed down to me from my migrating parents and by hereditary right. It is plain and certain why the icon (image) of our holy Lord and Saviour came from Judaea to Syria.”

Bishop Athanasius

“Suddenly I saw my garment reflected as in a mirror, I perceived in it my whole self as well and through it I knew and saw myself. For though we originated from the one and the same we were partially divided, then again we were one, with a single form… One royal symbol consisting of two halves…And the image of the King of Kings was all over it”.

“So, Tobais rose up early the next day and taking Thaddaeus came to Abgar. Now as he went up, while the king’s grandees were standing present, as soon as he entered a great vision appeared to Abgar on the face of the Apostle Thaddaeus. And when Abgar saw this, he did reverence to Thaddaeus, and wonder held all who were standing by, for they had not seen the vision which appeared only to Abgar.”

Bishop Eusebius

The enemy, Chosroes, built a large mound of timber and earth against the city walls from which he could launch an attack.  The Edessans tried to tunnel under the mound and use fire to destroy it but were unable to set it alight.

“In this state of utter perplexity, they bring the divinely wrought image, which the hands of men did not form, but Christ our God sent to Abgarus on his desiring to see Him. Accordingly, having introduced this holy image into the mine, and washed it over with water, they sprinkled some upon the timber; and the divine power forthwith being present to the faith of those who had so done, the result was accomplished which had previously been impossible: for the timber immediately caught the flame, and being in an instant reduced to cinders, communicated with that above, and the fire spread in all directions.”

Evagrius Scholasticus

“In those times there was a governor of the city of Edessa, Abgarus by name. And there having gone abroad the fame of Christ, of the wonders which He did, and of His teaching, Abgarus having heard of it, was astonished, and desired to see Christ, and could not leave his city and government. And about the days of the Passion and the plots of the Jews, Abgarus, being seized by an incurable disease, sent a letter to Christ by Ananias the courier, to the following effect:— To Jesus called Christ, Abgarus the governor of the country of the Edessenes, an unworthy slave. The multitude of the wonders done by you has been heard of by me, that you heal the blind, the lame, and the paralytic, and cure all the demoniacs; and on this account I entreat your goodness to come even to us, and escape from the plottings of the wicked Jews, which through envy they set in motion against you. My city is small, but large enough for both. Abgarus enjoined Ananias to take accurate account of Christ, of what appearance He was, and His stature, and His hair, and in a word everything.

And Ananias, having gone and given the letter, was carefully looking at Christ, but was unable to fix Him in his mind. And He knew as knowing the heart, and asked to wash Himself; and a towel was given Him; and when He had washed Himself, He wiped His face with it. And His image having been imprinted upon the linen, He gave it to Ananias, saying: Give this, and take back this message, to him that sent you: Peace to you and your city! For because of this I have come, to suffer for the world, and to rise again, and to raise up the forefathers. And after I have been taken up into the heavens I shall send you my disciple Thadaeus, who shall enlighten you, and guide you into all the truth, both you and your city.

And having received Ananias, and fallen down and adored the likeness, Abgarus was cured of his disease before Thadaeus came.”

An extract from the Acts of Thadaeus

“It is said that King Abgarus of Edessa had sent a painter to make a portrait of Christ.  But he was not able to do it because of the light that shone out of the Lord’s Face. So, taking a himation and placing it before his holy and life-giving face, Jesus impressed his image on it and sent it to King Abgarus, thus satisfying his desire.”

St. John Damascene

“But Jesus, undergoing the passion of his own free will, believing that human nature fears death – indeed death comes upon the very nature that was made to live – taking this linen cloth he wiped the sweat that was falling down his face like drops of blood in his agony. And miraculously, just as he made everything from nothing in his divine strength, he imprinted the reflection of his form on the linen.”

“You wiped clean the sweat of the nature you had taken on and what was wiped clean was transformed into an image of your unchanging form. This reflection, however – let everyone be inspired with the explanation – has been imprinted only by the sweat from the face of the originator of life, falling like drops of blood, and by the finger of God. For these are the beauties that have made up the true imprint of Christ, since after the drops fell, it was embellished by drops from his own side. Both are highly instructive – blood and water there, here sweat and image”.

Gregory Referendarius

The earliest coins were produced by engraving the design directly onto two metal dies. A metal disc would be heated to make it soft and then placed between the two dies before being struck sharply with a hammer to make the coin. To see what the engraver actually engraved onto the die to produce the image, one must flip the image that appears on the coin.    

Within Byzantine Art there is a curious tradition of depicting the crucified Jesus with his arms folded emerging out of a box. Is this how people like Robert de Clari would have seen the mysterious image on the cloth rising up before them in Constantinople? 

“In April last year, a crusading army, having falsely set out to liberate the Holy Land, instead laid waste the City of Constantine. During that sack, troops of Venice and France looted even the Holy Sanctuaries. The Venetians appropriated the treasures of gold, silver, and ivory, while the French did the same thing with the relics of the Saints and most sacred of all, the linen in which our Lord Jesus Christ was wrapped after his death and before the resurrection. We know that the secret objects are preserved by their predators, in Venice, in France, and other places, the sacred linen in Athens.”

Theodore Angelos, 1205