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

Many Images of Edessa?

The fact of the matter is that there is more than one image claiming to be the Image of Edessa, even claiming to be the image of the Abgar legend. And this causes no end of confusion. One is The Holy Face of Genoa, kept in the Church of St. Bartholomew of the Armenians in Genoa. Another is the Mandylion of Edessa, once kept in the Church of Saint Silvestro in Rome and now kept in the Matilda chapel in the Vatican.

These two images look remarkably alike. And they do have some similarities to the facial image on the shroud; at least the long thin nose and the long hair. But the eyes are not owlish and the beard is apparently not forked. I say apparently because outline frames may be obscuring part of the beard. Unlike the shroud, these images are not negative images, are not monochromatic and appear to have been painted. There is a sense of photorealism to them and yet they seem primitive as well. Whether or not they are what the claim to be, authentic acheiropoieta is beyond our scope here.