art thou, who hast believed though thou hast not seen me; for it is written that they who see me shall not believe, but they who see me not shall believe. Concerning what thou hast written, that I should come to thee: I go back to my Father who sent me, because that for which I was sent is now finished. But when I have gone to my Father I will send thee one of my disciples, who shall heal thee of whatever sickness thou hast. He shall bring all who are with thee to eternal life; thy city shall be blessed, no enemy shall rule over it for ever."[1] Ḥannân then painted a portrait of our Lord "in choice colours,"[2] and brought the picture and the message to King Abgar. Abgar set up the picture in a place of honour.[3] After Pentecost, true to our Lord's promise, a disciple Addai comes to Edessa. He was one of the seventy-two, and was sent by the Apostles. He lodged at the house of Tobias, a Jew, who brings him to the king. Abgar is at once healed and converted, with a great number of his people, especially the Jews of Edessa. Here occurs an interlude. Addai tells the story of the true Cross, not quite in the form we know. He says that Protonice, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, being converted by St. Peter, came to Jerusalem. St. James was then bishop there. They find the true Cross, which restores life to a dead man. The Jews stole the Cross and mocked the Christians; that is why Claudius expelled Jews from Rome. But Abgar had already written to Tiberius demanding punishment on all who had killed our Lord. Tiberius grants what he asks, punishes Pontius Pilate and kills many Jews. Meanwhile, at Edessa
- ↑ This is the famous letter of our Lord to Abgar of Edessa, cherished all over Christendom in the Middle Ages. It has been found carved on a lintel at Ephesus, in Greek (Burkitt: op. cit. p. 15), and was worn as a charm in England before the Conquest (Dom A. Kuypers: The Book of Cerne, Cambridge, 1902, p. 205). The writer has, as usual, taken pains to reproduce Biblical language, and has found a very pretty antithesis: "they who see me shall not believe," etc. But the promise about the independence of Edessa was rash. It was sacked by Lucius Quietus in 116, and was finally taken by Rome in 216. However, this assertion seems evidence of the great antiquity of the document. A forger could hardly have written that after 116. Perhaps it was composed to give confidence to the Edessenes about the time when the Roman danger was imminent.
- ↑ A scribe was, of course, an artist.
- ↑ The portrait of our Lord was long the Eastern counterpart of our Western Veronica's veil.
