Who Saw the Mandylion

and What was its Size?

by Dr. Mario Latendresse

latendre@iro.umontreal.ca

Pasco, July 20, 2017

 Overview

Introduction to the Mandylion

Researchers against Mandylion = Shroud of Turin
Introduction to the Legend of Abgar
The Mandylion in Constantinople
The Mandylion at the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris
 Introduction to the Mandylion

A cloth impressed with a miraculous image of Christ (although

some researchers claim that it could have been a wooden icon)

The term “Mandylion” mostly applies after it arrived in

Constantinople in 944. Before that, it is known as the “Image of
Edessa.”

Most researchers stated that the Mandylion was brought to the

Sainte-Chapelle of Paris in 1241 and that it was destroyed during the
French Revolution around 1793
 Researchers Against the Identity
Mandylion = Shroud of Turin

Averil Cameron at her inaugural lecture as Professor of Ancient History at

King’s College, in 1980, was highly critical of the hypothesis that the
Mandylion could be the Shroud of Turin

Andrea Nicolotti: his entire publication addresses the issue of this identity to
entirely reject it [From the Mandylion of Edessa to the Shroud of Turin, Brill, 2014].

And many others: Sebastian Brock, Jannic Durand, Bernard Flusin, Steven
Runciman, Gerhard Wolf, and more
 The Mandylion Disappeared During
the French Revolution?

Many scholars stated that the Mandylion arrived at the Sainte-Chapelle and
disappeared during the French Revolution:

“The end came in 1792, when the godless revolutionaries sacked the Sainte
Chapelle and destroyed or lost all its contents.” [Steven Runciman, Some Remarks on the
Image of Edessa, Cambridge Historical Journal, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 238–252, 1931]

“It [Mandylion] is named in the list [..] of relics ceded [..] to Saint Louis of
France [..] from where it disappeared in 1792.” [Sysse Gudrun Engberg, Romanos
Lekapenos and the Mandilion of Edessa, In Byzance et les reliques du Christ, p. 127.]
 The Evolution of the Legend of Abgar

The Legend of Abgar evolved from Christ’s letter to Christ’s miraculous self-imprint on a
cloth: no image in (A), painted image in (B), miraculous image in (C)

(A) Legend of Abgar

by Eusebius of Caesarea
in Historia Ecclesiastica Crusaders take controls
(300s) Image of Edessa of Constantinople (1204)
is transferred to
(B) Legend of Abgar Constantinople (944)
in Doctrina Addaï Twenty-two relics
(300-400s) are transferred from
Narratio is Constantinople to Paris
(C) Legend of Abgar
composed (945) (1239-1242)
in Acts of Thaddeus (500s)

300s 400s 500s 600s 700s 800s 900s 1000s 1100s 1200s 1300s
 The Evolution of the Legend of Abgar

The Legend of Abgar evolved from Christ’s letter to Christ’s miraculous self-imprint on a
cloth: no image in (A), painted image in (B), miraculous image in (C)

(A) Eusebius relates the Legend of Abgar, a letter

(A) Legend of Abgar exchange with Christ. No image is mentioned.
by Eusebius of Caesarea Dated in the 4th century.
in Historia Ecclesiastica Crusaders take controls
(300s) Image of Edessa of Constantinople (1204)
is transferred to
(B) Legend of Abgar Constantinople (944)
in Doctrina Addaï Twenty-two relics
(300-400s) are transferred from
Narratio is Constantinople to Paris
(C) Legend of Abgar
composed (945) (1239-1242)
in Acts of Thaddeus (500s)

300s 400s 500s 600s 700s 800s 900s 1000s 1100s 1200s 1300s
 The Evolution of the Legend of Abgar

The Legend of Abgar evolved from Christ’s letter to Christ’s miraculous self-imprint on a
cloth: no image in (A), painted image in (B), miraculous image in (C)

(A) Legend of Abgar

by Eusebius of Caesarea
in Historia Ecclesiastica Crusaders take controls
(300s) Image of Edessa of Constantinople (1204)
is transferred to
(B) Legend of Abgar Constantinople (944)
in Doctrina Addaï Twenty-two relics
(300-400s) are transferred from
Narratio is Constantinople to Paris
(C) Legend of Abgar
composed (945) (1239-1242)
in Acts of Thaddeus (500s)

300s 400s 500s 600s 700s 800s 900s 1000s 1100s 1200s 1300s
 The Evolution of the Legend of Abgar

The Legend of Abgar evolved from Christ’s letter to Christ’s miraculous self-imprint on a
cloth: no image in (A), painted image in (B), miraculous image in (C)

(A) Legend of Abgar

by Eusebius of Caesarea
in Historia Ecclesiastica Crusaders take controls
(300s) Image of Edessa of Constantinople (1204)
(B) The Doctrina Addaiismentions a painted
transferred to image.
(B) Legend of Abgar A Syriac text of the 4th or 5th century.
Constantinople (944)
in Doctrina Addaï Twenty-two relics
(300-400s) are transferred from
Narratio is Constantinople to Paris
(C) Legend of Abgar
composed (945) (1239-1242)
in Acts of Thaddeus (500s)

300s 400s 500s 600s 700s 800s 900s 1000s 1100s 1200s 1300s
 The Evolution of the Legend of Abgar

The Legend of Abgar evolved from Christ’s letter to Christ’s miraculous self-imprint on a
cloth: no image in (A), painted image in (B), miraculous image in (C)

(A) Legend of Abgar

by Eusebius of Caesarea
in Historia Ecclesiastica Crusaders take controls
(300s) Image of Edessa of Constantinople (1204)
is transferred to
(B) Legend of Abgar Constantinople (944)
in Doctrina Addaï Twenty-two relics
(300-400s) are transferred from
Narratio is Constantinople to Paris
(C) Legend of Abgar
composed (945) (1239-1242)
in Acts of Thaddeus (500s)

300s 400s 500s 600s 700s 800s 900s 1000s 1100s 1200s 1300s
 The Evolution of the Legend of Abgar

The Legend of Abgar evolved from Christ’s letter to Christ’s miraculous self-imprint on a
cloth: no image in (A), painted image in (B), miraculous image in (C)

(A) Legend of Abgar

by Eusebius of Caesarea
in Historia Ecclesiastica Crusaders take controls
(300s) Image of Edessa of Constantinople (1204)
is transferred to
(B) Legend of Abgar Constantinople (944)
in Doctrina Addaï Twenty-two relics
(C) Acts of Thaddaeus (Addai),are
(300-400s) transferred from
miraculous
Narratio is
(C) Legend of Abgar picture on a cloth. Dated 6thConstantinople
century. Theto Paris
composed (945) (1239-1242)
in Acts of Thaddeus (500s) word tetradiplon is used to describe the
cloth.

300s 400s 500s 600s 700s 800s 900s 1000s 1100s 1200s 1300s
 The Evolution of the Legend of Abgar

The Legend of Abgar evolved from Christ’s letter to Christ’s miraculous self-imprint on a
cloth: no image in (A), painted image in (B), miraculous image in (C)

(A) Legend of Abgar

by Eusebius of Caesarea
in Historia Ecclesiastica Crusaders take controls
(300s) Image of Edessa of Constantinople (1204)
is transferred to
(B) Legend of Abgar Constantinople (944)
in Doctrina Addaï Twenty-two relics
(300-400s) are transferred from
Narratio is Constantinople to Paris
(C) Legend of Abgar
composed (945) (1239-1242)
in Acts of Thaddeus (500s)

300s 400s 500s 600s 700s 800s 900s 1000s 1100s 1200s 1300s
M 499
 King Abgar Sending Ananias
with a Letter Addressed to Christ

Abgar gives a letter to Ananias

Ananias is departing for Jerusalem

The letter says:

“Abgar Uchama (the Black), to Jesus the good Savior who

has appeared in the region of Jerusalem, greeting. The
reports about you and your cures have reached me, how
they are effected by you without drugs and herbs. For, as
the story goes, you make the blind to see, the lame to
walk, and you cleanse lepers, and you cast out unclean
spirits and demons, and you cure those who are tortured in
lingering disease, and you raise the dead. When I heard all
this about you, I decided that either one of two things is
true, either that you are God, and having come down from
heaven are doing these things, or you are a Son of God,
who does these things. On this account, then, I have
written to beg you to hasten to me and to cure me of
the suffering which I have. For I have heard also that the
Jews murmur against you and wish to harm you. But I
have a very small and venerable city which is enough for
us both.”
Christ Receiving the Letter of Abgar
from Ananias

Ananias is standing as if meeting Christ

Ananias gives the letter of Abgar to Christ

Christ Giving a Letter to Ananias
Addressed to King Abgar

Christ answered:

“Blessed are you who have believed although you

have not seen me. For it is written concerning me that
those who have seen me will not believe in me, and
that those who have not seen me will themselves
believe and shall be saved. But regarding what you
wrote me, to come to you, I must fulfill all things for
which I was sent, and, after thus fulfilling them, be
taken up to Him who sent me. And when I have been
taken up, I shall send you one of my disciples to
heal your suffering and to give life to you and
those with you.”
 Abgar Receiving the Letter of Christ
and Sending a Painter to Draw Christ’s Portrait
 Christ Giving the Cloth
Impressed with his Face, the Mandylion
Abgar is Healed after Receiving the Mandylion
 From the Legend of Abgar can we infer
the Size of the Image of Edessa, the Mandylion?

“A number of later Byzantine and Latin sources have survived that give a
description of the image. These often differ from each other, and instead of
shedding additional light on the issue, they present an even more
complicated picture. The majority of early Syriac or Syriac-based sources do
not provide any description of the image and mainly refer to it simply as the
“image/icon of Christ in Edessa” without any reference to its form.” [Irma
Karaulashvili, The Abgar Legend Illustrated, 2007, p. 222]
 The Ambiguous Appearance of the Mandylion
(Irma Karaulashvili)

The Abgar Legend Illustrated: Interrelation of the Narrative Cycles and Iconography in
Byzantine, Georgian and Latin Traditions, 2007.

1. “[..]as is evident from the iconographic material, a universally accepted

representation of the relic never seems to have existed.” [p. 221-222]

2.“it was entirely a pictorial construct that had nothing to do with the Edessa relic
itself.” [p. 222]

3.“Herbert Kessler has indicated that the “clipeata portrait, a device used since antiquity
for representing protagonists not visible to the actors in an imagined drama, was
well-known in the decades following Iconoclasm.” as a symbol for the true icon.” [p. 222]

4.“Any attempt to reconstruct the plausible original features of the Edessan image
seems to be an impossible task.” [conclusion, p. 242]
 The Image of Edessa is Taken by Force
and Brought to Constantinople

The Byzantine Emperor Romanos Lecapenos sends a military expedition to

Edessa lead by general John Curcuas

After negotiation, the leaders of Edessa accepted the offer and the Image of
Edessa was brought to Constantinople on August 15, 944
 The Mandylion is Transferred to
Constantinople in 944 AD

The arrival of the Image of Edessa in Constantinople. Romanos Lecapenos receiving the Image
of Edessa. Chronicle of John Skylitzes, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Ms. 5.3 N 2, f 131r.
The Abgar Icon is the Oldest Known Artistic
Representation of the Mandylion (~945)

Is the cloth thin or thick?

Is the image on or inside the cloth?
The Abgar Icon is the Oldest Known Artistic
Representation of the Mandylion (~945)

Is the cloth thin or thick?

Is the image on or inside the cloth?
The Abgar Icon is the Oldest Known Artistic
Representation of the Mandylion (~945)

Is the cloth thin or thick?

Is the image on or inside the cloth?
The Abgar Icon is the Oldest Known Artistic
Representation of the Mandylion (~945)

Is the cloth thin or thick?

Is the image on or inside the cloth?
“Unaffected by the wrinkled surface and overlapping
the cloth’s upper contour, the face is independent of
its physical matrix and hence makes the essential
point that it is not part of the material.” [Herbert Kessler,
Configuring the Invisible by Copying the Holy Face, p. 143]
 The Image of Edessa at the
Ritual of Lent According to the Narratio

“[..] on the first Sunday of the first week of the Lent the image was brought to the
sacristy of the Church. The acheiropoietos image, wrapped in white linen, was
placed in honour on a throne that had been prepared for it. The throne was
carried out in a solemn procession. Then, the image was placed on a small elevated
table east of the holy altar. After the celebration of the holy liturgy only the high
priest was allowed to approach the divine image, to revere and to kiss it, then,
to exchange the white linen that was covering it into a purple one and return It to the
sacristy. On the fourth day of the middle week of the Lent the high priest went there,
opened the chest in which the image was kept, wiped the icon with an unused sponge
that was soaked with water, first gave the water that he squeezed out to the people then
sprinkled the water over them. Ordinarily the chest with the image was kept behind the
doors of the sacristy, which were opened on Wednesday and Friday. Everybody was
able to see the chest from a distance but nobody was allowed to approach and
touch It.”

[Irma Karaulashvili, Abgar Legend: text and Iconography, 2014, p. 205]

In Constantinople, the Mandylion was locked in his reliquary, not to be shown

to anybody and accessed only by the Emperor
 The Ambiguous Appearance of the Mandylion
(Kurt Weitzmann)

“This image [Mandylion] exists in a considerable number of copies, but

what did it look like? Dobschütz assumed that the various
representations of the Mandylion, which differ considerably from each
other, are ultimately not based on an autopsy of the famous relic, which
apparently was very rarely to be seen without its protective cover, but were
made on the basis of the legendary texts for the illustration of which the
artists, while using earlier models, at the same time depended on the ideal of
the Christ head that prevailed in their own time.” [The mandylion and Constantine
Porphyrogennetos, 1960, p. 228]
 The Relics of Constantinople Ceded
to Saint Louis in 1239-1242

The relics ceded by Baudoin II, emperor of Constantinople, to Saint Louis:

1. praedictam sacro sanctam spineam coronam

2. et crucem sanctam;
3. item de sanguine domini nostri Jesu Christi;
4. pannos infantie Salvatoris, quibus fuit in cunabulis involutus;
5. aliam magnam partem de ligno sancte crucis;
6. sanguinem qui de quadam imagine Domini ab infideli percussa, stupendo miraculo, distillavit;
7. catenam etiam, sive vinculum ferreum, quasi in modum annuli factum, quo creditur idem Dominus
fuisse ligatus;
8.sanctam toellam, tabulae insertam;
9. magnam partem de lapide sepulcri domini nostri Jesu Christi;
10. de lacte beatae Mariae Virginis;
11. item ferrum sacrae lanceae quo perforatum fuit in cruce latus domini nostri Jesu Christi;
12. crucem aliam mediocrem, quam crucem triumphalem veteres appellabant, quia ipsam in
spemvictoriae consueverant imperatores ad bella deferre;
13. clamidem coccineam quam circumdederunt milites domino nostro Jesu Christo in illusionem ipsius;
14. arundinem quam pro sceptro posuerunt in manu ipsius;
15. spongiam quam porrexerunt ei sitienti in cruce, aceto plenam;
16. partem sudarii quo involutum fuit corpus ejus in sepulchro;
17. linteum etiam quo praecinxit se quando lavit pedes discipulorum, et quo eorum pedes extersit;
18. virgam Moysi;
19. superiorem partem capitis beati Johannis Baptiste;
 The Reliquary of the Holy Cloth (Mandylion)
at the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris
is Well Suited to Contain the Shroud of Turin

The reliquary of the Holy Cloth is 60 x 40 cm (exterior

measurements) as given by inventory R of 1740 of the relics of the
Grande Châsse. The reliquary is approximately 5 to 8 cm deep as can
be inferred from a drawing published by Morand.

Typically, a reliquary tightly contain its relic. This reliquary is too

deep to preserve a small thin cloth.

This reliquary can easily contain the Shroud of Turin (430 x 113 cm)
 The Mandylion was Unlikely Shown “Face Only”

Ian Wilson also proposed that the Mandylion was stored showing only a face

This appears to answer the lack of description of the image on the Mandylion
as a full body and only as a face

This lack of description as a full body is rather due to the secrecy kept about
the real image and that the image was not shown publicly

The face only display is contradicted by the documents describing the arrival
of the relics in Paris and the document ceding the relics of Constantinople to
Saint Louis

Indeed, the document ceding the relics of Constantinople, describes the

Mandylion as a Holy Cloth with no image mentioned. Similarly for the
Hymns of the Sainte-Chapelle.

The face only description of the Mandylion might also have been created by
the portrait painted on the inside bottom of its reliquary
 The End

Thank You
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