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there was another Geoffrey de
Charny. This o ther Geoffrey is not
provably related, but shroudists sus–
pect that he was. This man was a
famous knight of the Templa r orga–
nization, which King Philip the Fa ir
of France charged with secret "idol"
worship of a disembodied head- the
image on the shroud, says Wilson–
and G eoffrey was martyred, all the
while denying there was any idol.
The Templars had sacked Con–
sta nt inople (Byzantium) in 1204,
which, as capital of the Byzant ine
Empire and center of its religion,
had become glutted with relics and
icons innumerable. Among the rel–
ics, according to extant records, was
something called a buria l cloth of
Christ, which apparently bore a full–
length image, and also the famous
Edessa image, the
Mandylion,
which
had been taken by force from the
Moslem rulers of its city in A.D.
944. These both disappeared in the
looting- possibly taken to the Tem–
plars' Pa lestine headquarters.
Ian Wilson speculates th at both
cloths were one and the same. He
explains the double listing as possi–
bly referring to copies of the o rigi–
nal. A flourishing industry existed in
Byzantium of making cloth and
other images of "Christ." Many of
these were, like the
Mandylion
itself.
regarded as miraculously produced.
The problem for Wilson's theory
is that the Edessa image is specifi–
cally described as a
Jace only.
ap–
pea ring on a towel , a veronica–
napkin, while on the Turin shroud is
undeniably a double full -length fig–
ure. Wilson suggests the reason was
that the shroud had always
been
kept folded in such a way that only
the face was sbowing.
In any event, the image on the
shroud has a long, sad face and long
hair. A writer for the London
Tabler
was moved to observe: "The first
thought likely to occur is: ' But how
very
strongly the figure resembles
the Christ of any number of old
masters [painters of the fifth century
on)'" (quoted from Wilcox, p. 26).
What the Earlier Paintings
Looked Llke
There is more to tha t statement than
meets the eye.
34
Tbe oldest pictures of Christ are
paintings on the walls of the cata–
combs of Rome. Most date from the
second and third centuries.
It
was
against the teachi ngs of the church
to have such pi.ctures (see box:
-The
Early Church and Jmages).
Never–
theless, those who sketched them–
only about
roo
years after the apos–
tles- were undoubtedly acquainted
with individuals who were familiar
with th e general appearance of
Christ that carne by word of mouth
from His own generation.
" ... There is a painting of the
Resurrection of Lazarus in whicb
C hris t is shown - yo uthful and
beardless, with short ha ir and large
eyes.... Although it is now only
barely recognizable, this picture is
of great interest since it is the oldest
representation of Jesus that is pre–
served anywhere" (Roderic Dun–
kerley.
Beyond rhe Gospels.
p. 57).
In all of these early portrayals,
" He is almost invariably boyish....
His hair is short" (Frederic William
Farrar,
The Lije of Chrisr as Repre–
sented in Art,
1894, p. 43). Short hair
was the predominan! style among
men in
the
Hellenized areas of the
eastern Mediterranean (including
Pa lestine) in Christ's time.
Edessa not Hellenlzed
The Hellenized arcas around the
eastern Medi terra nean included
Pales tine. They were lands where
men had short ha ir. The apostle
Paul appealed to this fact when he
wrote to the Greeks (Hellenes) of
Corinth: " Does no t na ture itself
teach you that for a ma n to wear
long hair is degrading to him"?
(I
Cor. ll : 14.) But Edessa was beyond
the Euphrates River- in the realm
of the ancient Assyrians where long
hair on men was considered noble.
Long a fte r the Persians had taken
over the Assyrian kingdom. and into
Christian times, it was still true that
"the popula tion of Edessa was pre–
dominantly Semitic and had closer
a ffinities with its lranian tha n with
its more He llenized western neigh–
bours"
(Oxford Classical Dicrionary,
2nd ed. , "Edessa" ).
Other pictorial evidence found
near Pa lestine corresponds to
the
evidence from Rome. " Refe rence
may be made to another portrayal
of Christ. dating from early in the
third century.
lt
was found on the
wall of a house-chapel at Dura-Eu–
ropos in the Syrian Desert in 1931-2
during excavations of Yale Univer–
si ty and the French Academy of Jn–
scriptions and Le tters.... Here, too,
He is young and without a beard
and wearing the ordina ry costume
of the time.... It is not until the
fourth century that the familiar
bearded face appears" (Dunkerley,
p. 58).
" During the first four hundred
years there is probably no represen–
tation of Christ as bearded, or as a
worn and weary sufferer" (Fa rra r, p.
52).
lt
took almost 400 years to evolve
the "Christ" we have been brought
up to envision!
It
is a false Christ
portrayed on the shroud, not the
Christ of the Bible. (See the box:
Could J esus Have Worn Long Hair?)
l..e t's consider the Edessa image
fur ther.
The Abgar Legends
The original Edessa image was a
portrait on cloth, a llegedly discov–
ered at the city now called Urfa in
or slightly before A.D. 544, and rec–
ognized to be the same as an earlier
image of Christ of the Abgar leg–
ends.
The original Abgar legend cen–
tered around, not a shroud. but a
totally different yet equally fantast ic
and unique artifact relating to
Christ.
It
was a letter allegedly writ–
ten by the Savior Himself. Eusebius,
the fourth-century church historian,
tells the story in his
Ecclesiasrica/
History,
book
l.
chapter XIII : "Ag–
barus [a common al terna te spelling
of Abgar], therefore. who reigned
over the nations beyond the Eu–
phra tes with great glory, and who
had been wasted away with a dis–
ease. both dreadful and incurable
by human means, when he hea rd
the name of Jesus frequently men–
tioned, a nd his miracles unani–
mously attes ted by all , sent a
supplian t message to him, by a let–
ter-carrier, ent reatjng a deliverance
from his disease. But, though he
[Jesus) did not yield to his call at
tha t tirne, he never th e less con-
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1978