From the Mandylion of Edessa to the Shroud of Turin
The and Metamorphosis Manipulation ofa Legend
By
Andrea Nicolotti
V s ' ' 1 6 8 T>
BRILL
LEIDEN | BOSTON Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Illustrations xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Origins and Traditions 7 and the King Abgar Origins of the Legend 7 The of Apparition the Image in Edessa 9 The of Development Traditions about the Image 12 The Siege of Edessa 14
A Later Genesis? 17 An Older Genesis? 18
Silence in Syria and Traditions in Armenia 22 The Iconoclastic Era 26
3 Shifting Perspectives? 29 Acts ofThaddaeus 29 The Term tetradiplon and the Reliquary of the Image 34 The Question of the Folds 39 The Letter ofthe Three Patriarchs and Jesus' Height 47
4 The Translation of the Image of Edessa 53 Gregory Referendarius and the Translation of the Image 53 The Narratio de Imagine Edessena 66 The Keramion 72
The Edessean Cult of the Image 77 The Synaxarium 80 The Liturgical Odes 84
5 The Mandylion in Constantinople 89 The Name "Mandylion" 89 Persistence of Converging and Different Traditions 91 An Elusive Vision 96
The Preservation of the Mandylion in Byzantium 99 The Revolt of the Palace 106 Robert de Clari 109
Latin Sermon 112
An Overview of Iconography 120 The Holy Face of Lucca 120 Orderic Vitalis 126 Iconography of the Mandylion 128 Flowers or Holes? 148 Miniatures of the Mandylion 152 The Georgian Icon of Ancha 159 The Madrid's Skylitzes 162
A Russian Icon 170 Byzantine Coins 173 Two Copies of the Mandylion of Edessa 182
The End 188 The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and the Disappearance of the Mandylion 188
Conclusions 202
Index of Names 205 List of Illustrations
FIGURE CAPTION
1 The Shroud folded as a tetradiplon 35 2 The face of the man of the Shroud (color contrast has been digitally enhanced) 37
3 Alleged folding creases of the Shroud 40
4 Maiorina of Vetranio featuring two Roman labarum, Sisak, Croatia 41 5 Alleged traces of the folding of the Shroud, according to John Jack¬
son 42
6 Surface of the Shroud 43 8 Walls of the Partian palace of Hatra, Turkey (third century) 75 7 A head of Medusa, Sagalassos, Turkey, Antonine Nymphaeum (161- 180 ce) 75 9 A representation of the Edessean niche according to Ian Wilson 76
10 The Holy Face of Lucca, St Martin's Cathedral 121
11 Fragment of an Edessean mosaic, §anliurfa Museum (sixth century) 129 12 Face of Christ. Telovani, Georgia, Church of the Holy Cross (from the turn
of the eighth century and the beginnings of the ninth ce ) 129 13 King Abgar with the Edessean image, detail. Dayr al-Suryan, Egypt (tenth century ce) 130
14 King Abgar. Detail from a diptych. Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount
Sinai, Egypt (tenth century c e ) 131 15 Mandylion. Lagoudera, Cyprus, Church of the Panagia tou Arakou (1192 ce) 133 16 Mandylion. Kato Lefkara, Cyprus, Church of Archangel Michael (end of
twelfth century c e ) 133
17 Mandylion. Pskov, Russia, Transfiguration Church of the Mirozh Monas¬
tery (c. 1140 ce) 134 18 Precious linen textile in the Museo Sacro Vaticano, inv. 1256 (eighth-tenth
centuries ce) 135 20 Mandylion. Spas-Nereditsa, Russia, Church of the Savior (1199 ce) 136 21 Pattern of the folding of the Shroud and distribution of the nails that fixed it to the board, according to Ian Wilson (1978) 137
22 Lamentation over the Dead Christ. Gomo Nerezi, Macedonia, Church of St.Panteleimon(u64CE) 138
23 Last Supper fresco. Goreme, Turkey, Karanhk kilise (eleventh century ce) 138 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Mandylion and Keramion. Codex ofJohn Climacus' Scala Paradisi, Vatican Library, codex Ross. 251, f. 12V (eleventh-early twelfth century ce) 139 Statue of Uthal, king of Hatra (from Temple III). Mosul Museum, Iraq
(second century ce) 141 Cosmas Indicopleustes, pattern of the universe. Monastery of St.
Catherine on Mount Sinai, Egypt, codex Sin. gr. 1186, f. 69r. (eleventh century ce) 143 Cosmas Indicopleustes, Heavens with enthroned Christ. Vatican Library, codex Vat. gr. 699, f. 8gr (ninth century c e ) 144 Cosmas Indicopleustes, the curtains of the Mosaic Tabernacle. Florence,
Italy, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, cod. Laur. Med. PI. 9.28, f. i09r
(eleventh century ce) 144 Sainte Face, Laon Cathedral, France (first half of the thirteenth century ce) 145
Apse of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey (between 867 and 1356 ce), in an engraving by Guillaume Grelot, Relation nouvelle d'un voyage de
Constantinople, Paris, Rocolet, 1680, p. 148 147 of Apse Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey (between 867 and 1356 c e ) 147 Apse of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey (between 867 and 1356 ce), in an engraving by Cornelius Loos (1710 c E) 148
Burnt holes on the Shroud 149
Mandylion. Goreme, Turkey, Sakli kilise (eleventh century ce) 150
Mandylion. Goreme, Turkey, Karanlikkilise (eleventh century ce) 150 of the Alleged reliquary Shroud (reconstruction by Mario Moroni) 152 Mandylion. Alaverdi Tetraevangelion, Tbilisi, Georgia, National Centre of Manuscripts, ms. A484, f. 320V (1054 ce ) 153 Christ Writing Letter. Alaverdi Tetraevangelion, Tbilisi, Georgia, National Centre of Manuscripts, ms. A484, f. 3i8r (1054 ce) 154 Ananias with the Mandylion and Abgar 155 Ananias with the Mandylion. Amulet-roll of New York, U.S.A., Pierpont Morgan Library, cod. M499, section 12 (1374 ce) 156 Triumph of the Mandylion. Lobkov's Prologue, Moscow, Russia, State Historical cod. Museum, Chludov 187, f. 1 (1282 ce) 157 Miniature featuring the Mandylion being retrieved from a well. Paris, Nationale de cod. Bibliotheque France, Par. Lat. 2688, f. 82r (c. 1270 ce) 158 Mandylion. Manuscript of Michael Glycas' Chronicle, Venice, Italy, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, cod. Marc. gr. Z402, f. 2o8r (1289 ce ) 158 Miniature featuring Abgar receiving the Mandylion. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, cod. Par. fr. fol. 2810, 23or (1410-1412 ce) 159 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XIII
45 Painting by Lluis Borrassa, Abgar receives the Mandylion and the letter from Jesus. Retaule d'advocacio franciscana, Museu Episcopal de Vic, Spain (1414-1415 c e ) 160 46 Anchiskhati, detail. Tbilisi, Georgia, Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts, inv. Tb33i (sixth-seventh century c e ) 161
47 Madrid Skylitzes, reception of the Mandylion. Madrid, Spain, Biblioteca
Nacional, cod. Vitr/26/2, f. 131J (late eleventh century ce) 163 48 Madrid Skylitzes, Constantine Phagitzes receives and delivers the relics.
Madrid, Spain, Biblioteca Nacional, cod. Vitr/26/2, f. 207V (late eleventh century ce) 165
49 Madrid Skylitzes, translation ofJesus' epistle. Madrid, Spain, Biblioteca
Nacional, cod. Vitr/26/2, f. 205r (late eleventh century ce) 166
50 Madrid Skylitzes, procession to the Blachernae carrying the relics 169
51 Stefan Arefev, Savior acheiropoieton and "Weep not for me, oh
mother" 171
52 Moscow School, Savior acheiropoieton and "Weep not for me, oh
mother" 172 with 53 Popov Petr Ivanov Kostromitin, Icon of the Savior acheiropoieton
scenes of the cycle of Abgar 174
54 Solidus ofJustinian 11 (first reign), Constantinople (692-695 ce) 176
on Mount 55 Icon of the Christ Pantokrator, Monastery of St. Catherine Sinai, Egypt (sixth century c e ) 177 56 Solidus of Basil I, Constantinople (868-879 ce) 178 180 57 Copy of the face of Zeus of Olympia 58 Solidus ofJustinian 11 (second reign), Constantinople (705-711 ce) 181
59 Mandylion of Genoa, detail. San Bartolomeo degli Armeni, Genoa, Italy (second half of the thirteenth century ce) 183 the frame. San Bartolomeo Armeni, 6 o Mandylion of Genoa, detail of degli Genoa, Italy (second half of title thirteenth century ce) 184 61 Mandylion of Rome. Vatican City, Pontifical Sacristy (second half of the thirteenth century ce) 185 62 Miniature of Giovanni Todeschino, Book of Hours of the Sainte-Chapelle
of Paris, f. 137V, detail 95 63 Grande chasse of the Sainte-Chapelle, engraving dating from 1649 197 64 Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, France. Upper chapel, apse 199 France. Grande of Sauveur- 6 5 Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, Chasse, engraving Clousier Jerome Morand, Histoire de La Ste-Chapelle Royale du Palais, Paris,
- Prault, 1790, p. 40 200 6 6 Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, France. Detail of the Grande Chasse, engraving of Sauveur-Jerome Morand, Histoire de la Ste-Chapelle Royale du Palais,
cit., ibidem 201