The Three Faces of the Savior Not-Made-by-Hands

On August 16, the Orthodox Church commemorates the transfer of the Image of Christ Not-Made-by-Hands from Edessa to Constantinople

The origin of this image is as follows

During the lifetime of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Syrian city of Edessa, ruled Prince Abgarus, who was ill with leprosy. Local doctors could not help him in any way. Hearing about the miraculous healings performed by Christ, he sent a letter to Him with an invitation to come to Edessa: "I humbly beseech You, wrote Augarus, "take the trouble to come to me and heal the incurable illness from which I have been suffering for several years"

This letter was brought by the painter Ananias, who was commissioned to paint His image in case Christ could not come.

Often and with all attention Ananias peered into the face of Christ, but all efforts to depict it with colors remained in vain. Then the Savior Himself came to his aid: having washed Himself, He wiped Himself with a towel. And a great miracle took place: the face of Christ was miraculously reflected on the towel. Ananias took this miraculous face of Christ to his prince in Edessa. Prince Abgarus received this sacred image with the greatest joy and kissed it; At the same time, he received considerable relief from his illness.

After the Ascension of the Lord, one of the 70 apostles, Thaddeus, came to Edessa and completely healed Prince Thaddeus. Abgarus from leprosy, after which both the prince and all his people accepted holy baptism. The Not-Made-by-Hands Face of Christ was placed in a niche above the main gate of the city wall, where it remained until 944, when, by order of Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, it was transferred to Constantinople. And we can easily imagine with what reverence the inhabitants of Constantinople reacted to this holy payment!

But two and a half centuries pass. Constantinople was taken in the Fourth Crusade by the Crusaders. The altar in the church of St. Sophia, overlaid with gold and precious stones, was broken into pieces and taken away; the temples were similarly plundered. It can be thought that it was at this time that the miraculous face of Christ was taken away by the crusaders from Constantinople. Only some legends say that while traveling on the Sea of Marmara, he died in a shipwreck; on the contrary, according to Roman tradition, it was safely brought to Italy and is now kept in the church of St. Sylvester in Rome. The marble inscription in this church seems to confirm this legend. It reads: "The sacred image of Jesus Christ, miraculously impressed before the hour of suffering and sent to Emperor Augarus, was brought to Rome by Greek refugees and is venerated in this church of St. Sylvester with universal reverence."

The only thing that can surprise us is that in the Catholic world this image is nowhere repeated. But in almost every church there is an image of the face of Christ not made by hands - the so-called veil of Veronica.

The origin of this face is as follows.

When Christ the Saviour was led to be crucified, mocked, wounded, and bloodied, then a certain woman, a native of Gaul, who was in the crowd, in a fit of pity for the Sufferer, who was exhausted under the weight of the cross, rushed to Him and wiped His face with a damp towel. And lo and behold! Instead of bloody footprints, it depicted the suffering face of Christ, with a crown of thorns on his head. This is Veronica's veil.

Roman tradition says that the emperor Tiberius, having received from Pontius Pilate an account of all the events of Christ's life and His crucifixion, sent a confidant to Palestine for more accurate information and, perhaps, with the secret hope of receiving healing from his illness.

Veronica, keeping the holy image as an invaluable treasure, from which flowed numerous healings, arrived in Rome and appeared before Tiberius. At one glance at the face of Christ, the emperor received healing. It is very likely that this miracle prompted him to submit to the Senate a proposal to consider Jesus Christ among the Roman gods. The senate rejected this wish, and then Tiberius, as a sign of his gratitude to Christ, placed a statue of Him among his household gods.

The following data are kept in the Roman Church about the holy veil of Veronica. In 608, Pope Boniface IV placed it, together with other holy relics, in the Pantheon, once a pagan pagan temple, and now the temple of the true God. In 705, Pope John VII ordered the construction of a new reliquary to store the image not made by hands. When in 845 the holy cloth was transferred to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, only a casket remained in the Pantheon, the inscription on which read: "In this casket was transferred from Jerusalem to Tiberius Augustus the veil of the passion of G. n. Jesus Christ."