The Miraculous Portrait of Jesus Christ: Parts 1-3 (By Andrea Schmidt and Tamara Pataridze)

The Miraculous Portrait of Jesus Christ. A Christian Legend and its Variations in the Near East and in the Caucasus - Parts 1-3
By Andrea Schmidt and Tamara Pataridze

Our story begins in the ancient village of Edessa. Today Edessa is called Urfa. It is a small town in Southern Turkey near the border with Syria. But in early Christian and Medieval times, Edessa-Urfa was the capital of a wealthy Aramaic kingdom in Syria. Syriac Christians of Edessa were proud to speak Aramaic, a language similar to Jesus’s mother tongue.
Aramaic Christians of Edessa also took pride in a story, which belonged to their ancient literature. This story is about Jesus’s portrait. It tells us about Abgar, the Syriac king of Edessa. He ruled at the time when Jesus was still alive. Abgar was very ill. Hearing about the miracles Jesus was performing in Jerusalem, he sent his secretary named Hannan. Hannan - this is the Syriac name for John - carried a letter of invitation to Jesus requesting him to come to Edessa to cure King Abgar and to preach among his people. Jesus received Abgar’s message with joy but declined the invitation. He said that he first had to fulfil his mission of salvation on earth. However, he promised to send, after his resurrection, the apostle Addai who would heal King Abgar and convert the people in Edessa to Christian belief. And then our old Syriac story records:
“When Hannan saw that Jesus spoke thus to him, by virtue of being the king's painter,
he took and painted a likeness of Jesus with choice pigments, and he brought it with him to Abgar the king, his master. King Abgar received the portrait of Jesus with joy, and placed it with great honour in one of the rooms of his palace”.

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