Painting Illustrating the Finding of the Cloth of the Legend in
544
Somehow, and at sometime, a cloth,
with what was believed to be the image of Jesus, turned up in
Edessa. Legend tells us it was brought to King Abgar Vof Edessa by
one of Jesus' disciples, perhaps Thaddeus Jude (Addai), or by the
king's messenger. But that is legend. What is certain is that,
somehow, a cloth bearing what was believed to be an image of Jesus
came to be in Edessa and was hidden away in a gate in the city
walls.
See:
The Mozarabic Rite and Ancient
History of the Shroud of Turin
We don't know from extant records
when or why the cloth was hidden away. It could well have been
because of floods to which Edessa was prone, because of the threat
of invasion, or because of Christian persecutions. What is not
legend is that the cloth, with an image thought to be Jesus, was
discovered in the walls of the city in the sixth century, almost
certainly in 544 CE during a Persian invasion of the city. The
cloth of a great legend was placed in a church built especially
for it.
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