Holy Face
There are two main versions of the legend about the Holy Mandylion.
According to “Historia Ecclesiastica” (Book I, Chapter 13) by Eusebius of Caesarea, the King of Edessa, Abgar, was gravely ill. Having heard of Christ’s miracles, he wrote a letter to Jesus, asking Him to heal him. Abgar entrusted his servant, Ananias, with painting a portrait of Jesus. Upon receiving the letter, Jesus replied that the king, who had not seen Him but believed, would not only be healed but also granted eternal life, and his city, Edessa, would be protected and impregnable. Then, “having washed His face with water, and wiping it with a cloth given to Him, He wished to imprint His divine and ineffable features upon it.” Ananias received the letter and the Image Not Made by Hands and set off to deliver them to the king, who was subsequently healed.
On his way from Jerusalem, Ananias stopped overnight near the walls of Hierapolis, where he hid the relic among a stack of fresh tiles. That night, a fire rose above the Mandylion, and an imprint of the image appeared on the nearest tile — the Keramion. The townspeople kept it as their own relic. In 967, the Keramion was transferred to Constantinople.
Later, Abgar’s grandson, a pagan, ascended the throne. To protect the Mandylion from desecration, the bishop of Edessa ordered it to be bricked into a semicircular niche covered with tiles, placing a lamp in front of the image. For several centuries, it was forgotten. However, in 544, during the siege of the city by the Persian army of King Khosrow, the Bishop of Edessa, Eulalius, had a vision of an armed woman who pointed out the location of the lost relic. When the townspeople dismantled the masonry, they found the Mandylion miraculously imprinted on the tile covering it. Moreover, the lamp had remained lit all those years.
After the Mandylion performed miracles, the attackers withdrew. The image remained in Edessa until 944 when the Byzantine Emperor Romanos Lekapenos transferred it to Constantinople. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the Mandylion was lost — it was stolen by crusaders and sent away by ship, but the ship sank.
The Western version of the legend emerged between the 13th and 15th centuries. According to it, a pious woman named Veronica, who accompanied Jesus on His way to Golgotha, offered Him a linen cloth to wipe the blood and sweat from His face. From this, an image of Christ’s face appeared on the cloth. This relic is housed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
The name “Veronica” originated from the phrase “vera icon”, meaning “true icon.” The key distinction in this version is the presence of Christ’s crown of thorns and blood. This iconographic type, more prevalent in Western tradition, appeared in Ukrainian iconography only from the second half of the 17th century.
In Ukrainian tradition, the Mandylion is placed above the Royal Doors of the iconostasis, stemming from the custom of placing the image of the Savior above the main city gates. This gives it a notably elongated form. Until the 16th century, it was part of the festal row. Later, its place was taken by the Last Supper, and the Mandylion was moved lower. From the second half of the 15th century, depictions of two angels holding the cloth became more common.
Mykhailo Skop
