Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

Doctrine of Addai

Another Syrian manuscript, the Doctrine of Addai, fills in some gaps. According to this document, which also mentions Abgar’s letter, Ananias painted a portrait of Jesus “with choice pigments.” A later document, the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus, written in the early part of the 6^th century, adds more detail. It suggests that the image was formed when Jesus wiped his face on the linen cloth and it refers to the cloth as a tetradiplon, meaning it was folded into eight equal sections. Daniel Scavone writes:

In the 6th c. the Greek apocryphal book called the Acts of Thaddeus (=Greek for Addai) retold the Abgar legend with two important alterations.  First, the image was heralded as miraculously imprinted on a cloth by Jesus himself (acheiropoietos) but still during his ministry.  Second, the cloth is described as much larger than needed for a cheiromaktron or a face-towel.  In this version, Abgar’s agent, in Greek named Ananias, could not capture the likeness of the Lord because of its dazzling brilliance, so Jesus compliantly washed his face and wiped off on a cloth which was oddly called a tetradiplon, (“four-doubled” = eight layered).  Then, “having imprinted his image on the sindon he gave it to Ananias.” The operative word sindon is the N.T. synoptics’ word for large burial shroud.  A sindon folded in eight layers, a single exposed panel of which could present a life-sized face, is large indeed. (18) 

We can only safely assume that the story of Abgar is legendary. Taking such a position given the absence of evidence that stands up to scrutiny is the only historically responsible thing to do. However, we should recognize that legends often develop as attempts to give a historical explanation when one is needed. Two very famous German linguists and collectors of folklore, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known to us as the Brothers Grimm, pointed out that legends, unlike other forms of folklore and fiction were historically grounded to a particular place. A “legend cannot, like a fairy tale, find its home anywhere.” (19)