 |
Help us reach our target! Mail a check to or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com |
|
SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC |
|
Posted on 04/09/2004 12:31:52 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
"The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch."
– Mark 14: 34
"You look at it and you cannot escape it: His body was horribly, horribly wounded. I choked up," said one visitor to the millennium Shroud of Turin exhibit.
Another viewer summed up his experience, "I realized that this image is a message that was left for us. The resurrection truly happened. The man they tried to extinguish, lives. And we will too, no matter what the world tries to do to us, we will rise again with Him."
Experts – the gurus of science and medicine, the professors of history and art – cannot agree on the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, a 14-foot length of linen that many believe is the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Skeptics have tried, unsuccessfully, to recreate the image they insist is a "pious fake." Most who reject the Shroud put their faith in the carbon-14 testing results that date the linen as from the 14th century. Others respond that the storage conditions over the years and at least one fire forestall any accurate dating using carbon-14 tests.
Believers point to the growing body of scientific and historical evidence that bolster the authenticity of the Shroud.
How, ask Shroud supporters, is it possible that a clever fake shroud could be made in the 1300s as a perfect photographic negative that would not be properly "seen" until modern photography was invented? And what of the incredible fact that the fabric areas on the Shroud where the image is contained are only one fiber deep? No paint or stain would remain on the top surface of the first layer of the fibrils.
And how was a fraudulent relic-monger to know the truths that recent medical science has just learned? The medical details of crucifixion are so complex that no modern artist has – and no medieval artist could have – duplicated the precise geometry of the body in extremis.
And most compelling, why has no copy been achieved, given the vast science and technology at our command?
Skeptics have a difficult time, say Shroud proponents, with the mounting scientific and historical corroboration that should force an open-minded investigator to reconsider his objections.
One historian of the Shroud mused, "Their refusal to believe the evidence is itself not a scientific attitude." The real problem, claim Shroud supporters, is not that an ancient cloth that covered a crucified victim still exists after two thousand years. Said one researcher: "Do you think that if the ancient burial sheet of a sandal maker had been discovered with a scroll that read, 'here lies Benjamin the Sandal Maker,' that the scientific world fall all over itself to prove that it could not be Benjamin the Sandal Maker?"
"No. They only compromise their scientific witness because the peculiarities of the wounds of this victim reveal him to be no sandal maker, but the Son of God. If they could, they would get rid of all the physical evidence of Christianity – that Jesus lived, died and was buried. And then Christians would have nothing to believe in. Then, after two thousand years, Christians would finally die out."
In every age, Christians have preserved relics of the persecution of the saints. What to others are mere rags, wooden boards, rusty chains – all are treasures. These serve as a testimony for each new generation of Christians – physical records of unshakable faith left behind to strengthen the age to come.
Relics were never meant to validate history, but to serve faith. Yet, it is for this harrowing moment in the history of Christian persecution that the relics of Christ's passion confront an unbelieving age.
Despite the derision of skeptical scientists and the fast-buck authors who would cash in on a supposed debunking of the Shroud, history, science, medicine and art present a providential reality that is difficult to dismiss for those who must answer the question: "Who do you say that I am?"
The evidence mounts
A few miles beyond the ancient city of Oviedo in northern Spain, there lies a high valley hidden between the jagged peaks of the Asturian mountains. The last cart road up the mountain gives way to a rocky path tramped in modern times only by goats and shepherds. At the summit of Mon Sacro there stands today a rare octagonal church built by the Knights Templar after northern Spain had been liberated from the Moslems. The warrior monks built their secret church over the cave that once held the Sudarium of Christ, described in the Gospel of John as "the cloth which had been around Jesus' head." (John 20: 6-7)
Four hundred years before the triumphant Templars commemorated the hallowed ground, Alphonso the Chaste, king of Asturias, huddled there with the remnants of his army. Below him to the south on the Castillian plain he watched the advancing enemy. Spain lay under Moorish domination; the terrified Christians had all fled or been subjugated. Only Alphonso's weary band remained to fight for Christian Spain. The king, a devout man, understood that he guarded more than the last scrap of Christian Spain – he guarded the Sudarium Domini, the linen that had covered the face of his crucified Savior.
The Latin "sudarium" is translated "face cloth." The Revised Standard Version of the Bible translates it as "napkin," a clear indication that this smaller remnant is not identical to the longer burial shroud referred to as sindon in Greek. Such a cloth was used to cover the face of the body immediately following death, a customary practice of respect and compassion for the family of the dead. Today the 84 x 53-cm relic, often called "The Cloth of Oviedo," is scarcely known outside of Spain. But its history and scientific secrets are now unfolding as another testimony to the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.
Unlike the Shroud, the Sudarium covered the face of Christ for a short time before the body was wrapped in the longer burial cloth. It does not carry an image of a man. Instead, the cloth, held against the face of a man who had been beaten about the head, shows a distinct facial impression in the pattern of stains. The cloth is impregnated with blood and lymph stains.
A simple cloth of no value when seen as a rectangle of stained linen – minus any of the dramatic images associated with the Shroud of Turin – the Sudarium is of inestimable worth to those who believe the stains are the Blood of Christ.
Deeply human distress
The mind recoils at the brutality inflicted on this victim – whomever one believes him to have been. Blood first fell from his brow in the garden at Gethsemane. In deeply human distress, Christ experienced the rare phenomenon of hematidrosis, when capillaries burst and blood and sweat mix. During interrogation by Caiaphas, the high priest, Jesus was spat upon and repeatedly struck on the head and face. (Mark 15: 65)
The lacerations on the lower neck, back, buttocks and legs from the scourging left torn muscles gaping open and his flesh weeping blood. Medical evidence indicates two soldiers standing on opposite sides of their victim, beat Christ. The patterns of the scourge marks are visible on the Shroud of Turin. The whips, a flagrum with lead balls or sheep bone tied to the tips of the leather thongs, slashed into the subcutaneous tissue.
Crowning with thorns was not a typical practice – it seems to have been reserved for this singular victim – as no record exists that reports its use before or after Christ. Descriptions of the crown of thorns – more, a helmet of thorns – cause one to cringe in sympathy with such agony. Spikes an inch or more in length were hammered into the scalp.
Passionate study
Today, new investigations of the two burial cloths are comparing blood type, congruency in the pattern of stains, facial geometry and pollen trapped in the fibers. The riveting question is: Does recent scientific evidence from the Cloth of Oviedo prove that it covered the same man whose tortured image is preserved on the Shroud of Turin?
Shroud debates center on two factors: the fact that Carbon-14 (C-14) dating places the Shroud's origin in the 14th century, and, the scarcity of documented Shroud chronology after the resurrection. Detractors reject any further evidence, insisting that the C-14 results coincide with the date of the first proven exhibit of the Shroud in 1357 in Lirey, France. Clearly, if it is a 14th-century article, it cannot be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth.
However, C-14 studies are by no means a complete investigative analysis. In fact, the artistic studies, textile and forensic pathology research on the Shroud overwhelmingly favor its origin as having been first century Palestine, thus invalidating the C-14 results. The various disciplines conflict, and the mystery remains.
That conflict over the Shroud is the reason for the passionate study of the Sudarium.
If it can be proved that the Sudarium and the Shroud covered the same victim, then a new date must be assigned to the Shroud. Such an analysis is found in the "Book of Acts of First International Congress on the Sudarium of Oviedo," published in 1994.
The findings indicate that the Sudarium was held against the face of a man who had been beaten about the front and back of the head. It has a distinct facial impression and pattern of stains. The cloth is impregnated with blood and lymph – medical forensics confirm that they match the AB blood type on the Shroud of Turin. This was a crucial test, for had the blood types not matched, any subsequent testing would be pointless. The presence of aloe, myrrh and spices on both cloths is explained by Janice Bennett in "Sacred Blood, Sacred Image": "The Sudarium, because of the large amount of blood it contained, was similarly anointed, in order to preserve the blood as well as minimize its degree of impurity."
The pattern and measurements of stains on the Sudarium indicated the placement of the cloth over the face. Measurements of facial features were made. These patterns were extensively mapped to enable researchers to compare the markings and measurements with those of the Shroud of Turin.
Dr. Alan Whanger, professor emeritus of Duke University, found similarities in the bloodstain patterns using his Polarized Image Overlay Technique. Whanger compared the Shroud face and the facial imprints on the Sudarium. He noted 70-odd congruent bloodstain patterns on the face and more than 50 on the back of the head and neck. Of particular note is that when the image on the Shroud is placed over the stains on the Sudarium, there is an exact fit of the stains with the beard on the man's face.
Pollen expert Dr. Max Frei of Switzerland also examined the Sudarium for botanical evidence. Frei's review found in the Sudarium fibers two species of pollen typical of Palestine, and significantly, these same pollens were found in the Shroud of Turin. However, he also found pollen from North Africa, consistent with the Sudarium's documented travels. This African pollen is not present in the Shroud, though it does contain pollen from species found in Turkey and France. Some historians have hypothesized that the Shroud is the long-missing "Image of Edessa," and that it reached France via Templars after the sack of Constantinople at the time of the Fourth Crusade. The French and Turkish pollen specimens were not found in the Cloth of Oviedo. Advocates of the Sudarium and the Shroud contend, then, that the two cloths exhibit the pollen evidence consistent with their differing routes into Europe.
But the strikingly significant factor tying the Sudarium to the Shroud lies in their history.
Venerated in its own right for centuries without any reference to the Shroud, the Cloth of Oviedo stirs little controversy over its origin. The documented whereabouts of the Sudarium, outlined in Mark Guscin's book, "The Oviedo Cloth," is undisputed since at least the year 718. This fact bolsters the authenticity claims for the Shroud – if forensic evidence proves that the two linens were in contact with the same body at the time of death – since it would definitively invalidate the 14th century C-14 date for the Shroud. For while the assumed chronology of the Shroud is veiled in the mists of the crusader history, the Sudarium is a revered relic preserved from the days of the crucifixion.
Precious cargo
Extant records detail the journey of one Philip "the presbyter," a leader of the remaining Christian community in Palestine, who fled Jerusalem with an oak chest when Chosroes II, king of Persia, sacked the holy city in 614. The chest contained the relics, including the Sudarium, preserved by the Christian community in Palestine. John the Almoner, a bishop in Egypt, welcomed Philip and the precious cargo. The pollen evidence from Dr. Frei confirms this route.
The Persian invasion continued into Egypt. The chest next accompanied the faithful into Spain where St. Fulgentius received it and sent it on to Seville. In 657, the ark traveled north to Toledo where it was protected. The bishop of Tuy wrote in his 13th century "Chronicum Mundi" that the Ark was taken north to Mon Sacro from Toledo in 711. "History and Description of Spain," a text completed in 977, corroborates this movement, at least obliquely, in its description of Christians fleeing to the mountains of Asturias and burying their relics underground.
From atop Mon Sacro, Alphonso II battled back the invaders and established his court at Oviedo. He built the Camara Santa (Holy Chamber) in 840 to shelter the holy relics. Later kings would build the cathedral of San Salvador around this tiny chapel.
A record from the year 1030 reports the chest was opened by Alphonso VI, his sister Dona Urraca and Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, popularly known as El Cid, only after days of fasting. At that time, a list of the contents was made and is on view in the Cathedral library today. The king, after examining the precious contents, ordered the chest to be encased in a resplendent silver coffer and the inscription on the outside lists the relics found inside. The inscription invites all Christians to kneel and revere the Holy Blood. The relic has been in the Cathedral of San Salvador since 840.
Changing image of Christ
Yet, even with this overwhelming scientific and medical evidence that demonstrates that the Sudarium covered the face and head of the same man whose image and blood remain on the Shroud of Turin, there are those who cling to the C-14 date for the Shroud. These skeptics want historical proof that the Shroud, which first surfaced in the records of medieval history in 1355 in Lirey, France, can be traced to an earlier date. Could the Shroud be the missing ancient representation of Christ, the "Image of Edessa" as many have postulated?
An October 2001 Shroud conference in Dallas, Texas, gathered together experts to discuss various lines of investigation. Current scientific investigations of the Shroud await new opportunities to examine the relic that is once again enclosed in its protective reliquary. (In 1997, an arsonist set fire to the Royal Chapel in Turin, presumably to destroy the venerated image.) The two primary avenues of study at present are artistic and historical.
The artistic focus includes analysis of icons and other early Christian art, such as the drawings found in the catacombs, or the coins of sixth century Turkey. The most famous Byzantine icons feature an image of Christ that is a remarkable, even eerie likeness of the Man of the Shroud. Rivulets of blood on the face of the Man of the Shroud are reproduced as locks of hair on the icons. Did early icon painters see the "Image of Edessa" as it was displayed during liturgies and misunderstand the trails of blood as strands of hair? Why is it that before the year 550, most drawings of Christ resemble a beardless European man, but afterwards the Byzantine icons portray Christ as the image on the Shroud?
Historical research, however, may hold the most promise. Historians are combing museums, documents and ancient diaries for clues that would validate the theory that the venerated "Image of Edessa," known to early Christian communities, but lost during the Crusades, is in fact the Shroud of Turin we know today. According to one history, King Abgar of Edessa sent a request to Jesus inviting Him to visit Edessa, "an honorable city." Though Jesus declined, Abgar was later visited by Thaddeus, a disciple of Jesus, who had come to satisfy the King's request. He brought with him the miraculous burial cloth that contained the famous "acheiropoietos," variously translated, "image not made by human hands " or "image divinely wrought."
Evagrius's sixth century "Ecclesiastical History" notes that the Persian attack was repelled by recourse to this Divine Image "that human hands have not made." A certain Leo the Lector is recorded as having said at the 787 Council of Nicea (Turkey) that he had come from Edessa where he had seen the "image made without human hands which the faithful adore." During the period of the iconoclasts, the Image was hidden and resurfaced in Constantinople before the Fourth Crusade of 1204. Thereafter its definite trail is lost. Some believe that a crusader family took the Image from Constantinople to Europe. The Shroud that appeared in France a century and a half later is that same ancient "image not made by human hands."
Author Mark Guscin is researching a second book based on the manuscripts he is studying at monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece. Guscin traces the liturgical and historical record in the 15,000 manuscripts maintained by the monks. Fascinating clues come from devotional texts still in use that date from before the Fourth Crusade. The entry in a Menaion (a type of Book of Days) for August 16th is a "Commemoration of the taking from Edessa of the Image of Our Lord Jesus Christ not made with Human Hands and of the Holy Martyr Diomedes."
Where will Shroud research be concentrated in the near future? Answered Guscin: "History – in spite of all the technological possibilities, because they are only possiblilities until the Shroud is available. History does not require the physical presence of the cloth, and as Alan Adler used to say, science can only corroborate history in the end. Science can suggest it. Only history can show the Shroud to have been used by Christ."
|
Help us reach our target! Mail a check to or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com |
|
SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC |
|
Suitable for posting here...
"But seeing your impress on the towel he cried out, ‘You are Lord and God’."
"It is, as it was", also applies. The Shroud is gradually unfolding Jesus as the capabilities of science grow.
Where is the proof that the image of the Shroud is that of Jesus? Why is the Shroud not mentioned in any of the biblical texts, and why is this not the most sanctified of all relics from the beginning of Christianity?
I believe the burial wrappings are mentioned.
Anyway, the mere absence of something being mentioned in the Bible is not proof that it cannot exist. I'm reminded again of the folks who refused to eat potatoes because they weren't mentioned in the Bible and grew beneath the ground.
Is there C-14 dating for the Sudatorium?
The questions is who was that man?
That is a question we will never answer in this life.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.