On the problem of Uncreated Images of Christ (about the Alexandrian Mandylion)

Abstract

The article is dedicated to a practically unknown subject — the so called Alexandrinian Mandylion, the message about which is contained in the Chronicle of John of Nikiou (†700). For the first time, the translation from Ge’ez of the fragment about Alexandrinian Mandylion is introduced in the scholarly life, and its whole analysis is made in the context of stories about acheiropoieta (non hand-made) icons — Edessa image, Camuleana icon, the Roman image, the Memphis icon, the Shroud of Turin. The story about the Alexandrinian Mandylion has a number of common points with tales about other non-hand made icons. The stories, dedicated to non-hand-made images are, to our opinion, not translation of literary common places, but witnesses of vivid faith of the Church in relics, connected with Christ and of the miracles, coming from them, which have a similar, but independent from each other character. These holy relics not only heated the faith of the Christian people, but they helped to form the sober dogmatic mentality, especially the idea about reality of Incarnation of Christ, about possibility to describe and conceive Him. At the turn of the VI–VII centuries a peculiar iconographic “revolution” takes place. The Church gives up images of Christ as Emmanuel, the Good Shepherd, and Christ the Philosopher and comes to the traditional historical image of Christ. The scholars justly see here the influence of Edessa non-hand-made image of Christ. But the situation was possibly even more complicated and other non-hand-made images of Christ, such as Turin Shroud and Alexandrinian Mandylion could influence the formation of traditional iconography of “historic” Christ. We deal with a whole spiritual movement, which identified itself with Apostolic epoch and with Christ Himself, His earthly Life, Passion, Death and Resurrection.