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

Alexios Komnenos to Robert of Flanders

There are many references to it after 944, some more reliable than others. For instance, when you read about the shroud you will sometimes encounter references to a written appeal by the emperor Alexios Komnenos to Robert of Flanders asking for help to protect Constantinople’s valuable relics including the cloth found in the sepulcher after the resurrection. This letter is suspect.

In 1081, Constantinople found itself threatened by Seljuk Turks in the east and the Normans in the west led by Robert Guiscard who had already conquered Palermo in Sicily. Faced with these threats and the political problems of an empire in decline, the army declared one of its own, Alexios Komnenos, the new emperor.  While he did have some successes in reducing threats to the empire, the threats remained very real and he made appeals to Pope Urban II and others in Europe for help. These appeals are generally seen as significant cause for the Crusades.

So, for the love of God and piety of all Greek Christians, we beg you to bring here whatever warriors true to Christ you can find in your lands, the powerful, the less powerful and the insignificant, to help me and the Greek Christians; just as you largely free Galicia and the other kingdoms of the West from pagan rule last year, now let your warriors try to free the kingdom of the Greeks for the salvation of their souls. Although I am Emperor I still do not know how to find any recourse or suitable way forward; I constantly flee the Turks and Petchenegs and stay in each city in turn until I know they are on their way. I would much rather bow down to your Latin shrines that those of pagans.

Therefore, you should make every effort to stop them capturing Constantinople, thus ensuring that you will gain the joy of glorious and ineffable mercy in Heaven. Given the immensely precious relics of the Lord to be found in Constantinople, better that you should have it than the pagans. (24)

“Here is a list,” he then wrote in the letter. The list was long. “The cloth found in the sepulcher after the resurrection,” was one of the items in the letter.