Gate of the Cherubim
Gate of the Cherubim
The shroud, according to Markwardt’s theory, was then returned to Antioch where it remained until the 6th century. It was concealed in a niche above the city’s Gate of the Cherubim in 362 where it remained until about 540. The Gate of the Cherubim was so named because, reportedly, according to the biographer of St. Saint Symeon Stylites, the column sitter, the Roman Titus placed the Cherubim he took from the Temple in Jerusalem above this gate. In 540, the Christ icon was again moved to Edessa, this time to safeguard it from Persian armies. This may not have been a good idea given that Edessa was attacked by the Persians four years later. Then again, it may have been prescient, for Edessa survived the attack. Antioch, on the other hand was nearly destroyed by the Persians under Khosrau I.
Credence for Markwardt’s theory comes from the account of Sister Egeria’s travels to Edessa in 384. Egeria was possibly a nun, a detail that historians stay up at night debating. A nun, some argue would never have taken such a pilgrimage. It was too far from her home in Gaul or Spain, and certainly it would have been expensive. But she did address her letters to her sisters. But then again, it was common in those days to address fellow Christian lay people as sister or brother. But then again would she write only to sisters in the plural. But then again maybe they were familial sisters. And does it matter.