Sunday, June 27, 2021

Founding of Christendom,--St. Jude, the King and the Shroud of Turin-- post 6

See the source image
St. Jude, carrying the image of Christ

 St. Judas-Thaddaeus

Tradition has changed his name to Jude, if you remember there were two Judases in the Apostles, so as not to be confused with Judas who betrayed Jesus, it was thought better to make a distinction, thus Jude.  If you ever see an Icon or picture of St. Jude he is usually carrying a portrait of Jesus. We will answer here  why.


We begin St. Jude's story in  Edessa in Arminia Mesopotemia. The modern name of the city is Urfa and it is located in  the Southeast  Region of Turkey.

File:Map County of Edessa 1098-1131-en.svg


There is a strong tradition that King Abgar, king of Edessa sent a message to Jesus. Speaking Aramaic in Edessa, the stories of Jesus' miracles most likely reached him. He needed a miracle. This story traces back as far as the 3rd century when it was first written down.

King Abgar suffered from a severe illness, probably leprosy. Hoping for a cure he wrote to Jesus. Unfortunately we do not have this letter. Most likely the Apostles received this contact after the baptism of Cornelius---and the apostolate to the Gentiles. Seeing an opportunity to convert a king --a major figure; they sent St. Jude.

Not only Jude but a picture of Jesus--- most likely his shroud. Why the Shroud?

The Gospels of Matthew [27:59–60], Mark [15:46] and Luke [23:53] state that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Jesus in a piece of linen cloth and placed it in a new tomb.  After the resurrection, the Gospel of John [20:6]

        Aramaic Bible in Plain English

    "Then Shimeon [Peter] came after him [John] and entered the tomb, gazing at the linens where they were lying,"



It is made clear in the Gospels that the shroud was there  and left in the tomb, after the resurrection. There is much debate about the Shroud. Atheists hate it, because it is such a mystery--miraculous in fact, and a challenge to the unbeliever. It can't be duplicated and no one knows how it was done.

NASA studied it and was left mystified. It was claimed to be a fraud after carbon dating, except one of the scientists who did the dating retracted his claim. He said that the sample that  was taken for carbon dating, was from one of the parts of the Shroud that was repaired over the centuries --so it gave a false reading.

Unfortunately, there cannot be another dating because the Shroud was treated with chemicals to preserve it, and would give another false reading.  

But there are other things in its favor. One of them is pollen found on the shroud, that are only found in certain areas-- one pollen is only found in Jerusalem and the other only found in Edessa, where St. Jude brought it.  The shocking thing is the image was a negative as seen in these images.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Shroud_of_Turin_001.jpg



This was not discovered until some time in the 1800's by a photographer.


Who would have thought to create an image in reverse before photography was even invented? Unless it was the result of what happens when a man rises from the dead by the power of God?

If you are interested in more legitimate, detailed information, it is a contentious topic. One of the men who worked with the NASA team on the study, has an extensive website. I will put a link down below. He is Jewish, and has dedicated half his life to the study.

website

https://www.shroud.com/menu.htm

short version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=fzovPd-YCDM

detailed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_fSgPQYxkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14y_VIJ2ZbM

New Physics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbl4EmoH_jg

The Apostles had the Shroud with an image of Jesus on it. But what to do with it?

Jews would be appalled by it. First because it is an image of a human, which by Mosaic Law was forbidden, and it was a linen from a former dead person--making it unclean.

So  they may have seen an opportunity to use it with King Abgar of Edessa. He being a pagan wouldn't have a problem with an image. But he may have had a problem with it being from a former dead person. This would explain the odd way the Shroud is folded--"doubled in fours" so to show only the face.

St. Simone the Zealot may have also traveled with St. Jude, since they share  their feast day, October 28th. But we don't have any reliable information for this.

One of the oldest traditions is from a document around the 3rd century called the "Doctrine of Addai." This document says that an image of Jesus was brought to King Abgar by a man called Addai, who cured the king, and baptized him, and established the Christian Church in Edessa. The first Christian kingdom.

Ancient historian Eusebius, the first Christian historian, calls this man Thaddaeus. Both accounts report the man Addai was one of the 70 sent to the world to evangelize. Later, St. Jerome, who had access to documents and information now lost, identified Addai as Thaddaeus--- Tha-Addae--us. It seems that Thaddaeus is just the Latinization of Addai.

Christianity flourished under the rule of King Abgar, until about 57 AD. In 57 Abgar's son, Manu VI, took the throne and rejected the new faith. He started a persecution that almost completely wiped it out. It is at this time that  someone hid the image of the Shroud in one of the walls of the city gates. It's hiding place was forgotten or those who knew where it was; were killed. Christianity would not return until about a 100 years later.

The Shroud will be rediscovered about 500 years after being hidden in the walls of the city, because of a flood damaging the city wall; they found a box, a box containing the shroud.

Creating a mystery of where it came from. Now we are able to form a trail from Jerusalem to Edessa, then to Constantinople, traveling to Malta and finally to Turin, where the shroud now rests.

While all this evangelization was going on--- King Herod Agrippa , the first, was becoming extremely popular in Israel. Pagans thought he was a god and Jews thought he was possibly the savior. He suddenly died in 44 AD at a celebration for the new Emperor Claudius, who supplanted Caligula. By 45 AD normal Rome law once again controlled Judea.

This is about the time of the council of Jerusalem in 50 AD. Thomas and the other Apostles returned to consult on their activities. It is also the time of the Blessed Virgin's Dormition  and Assumption. We will cover this later.


continue to next chapter

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