TRANSLATION OF THE IMAGE NOT MADE BY HANDS

The Edessa Icon of Christ the Savior is the greatest relic of all times and peoples in the history of Christianity. But it does not have its own celebration. Only its transfer from Edessa to Constantinople is celebrated. Why did the Emir of Edessa give up the icon, and what did this transfer mean for the Byzantines?

1 On August 29, the Orthodox Church celebrates the translation of the image of Christ from Edessa to Constantinople. This event took place in 944. The basis of the holiday is most likely a political celebration of thanksgiving to God for the revival of the Byzantine Empire at the end of the first millennium. One example is the Baptism of Rus. Prince Vladimir, impressed by the liturgical splendor and cultural power of the Orthodox Empire, converted to Orthodox Christianity.

2 The city of Edessa still exists today under the name Şanliurfa, but is known only for its Urfa kebab, an alternative to the globally popular Turkish doner kebab. But at that time, it was an important metropolis. Why did the people of Edessa, under the leadership of the Emir, donate the famous icon of Christ to the Byzantines?

3 Perhaps it was bought. But in the Middle Ages, relics were neither sold nor bought. It was considered appropriate to either steal relics or leave them untouched. “If God blessed such a ’translation,’” people believed at the time, “then the transfer would be successful.” Otherwise, the undertaking would fail." An example of this is the transfer of the relics of Mark the Evangelist to Venice, of St. Nicholas to Bari, and many others. Of course, there were exceptions. For example, the body of St. Augustine was purchased from Sardinia by the Lombard kings for its weight in gold and rests safely to this day in Pavia, Italy, where, according to the words of the Apostles’ Creed, it awaits the “resurrection of the flesh.”

4 The second possible reason is the dependence of Edessa and its emir on Byzantium. The transfer of the image would then be a kind of gesture of reconciliation. This possible reason is diplomatic.

5 However, there is another possible explanation of the celebration, which is very revealing. The fact is that the image had been kept in Edessa since time immemorial. But at some point, it literally began to instill fear in the locals. Then it was simply walled up. Subsequent generations interpreted this differently, as the hand of God, who saved the icon from the Persians, on whose border Edessa lay. For a long time, the city belonged to the Byzantine Empire and Iran and changed hands.

6 Later, at the turn of the first and second millennia, most Edessa’s population ceased to be Christian. And the remaining Christian population of the city ceased to be truly Christian. As a result, the city’s inhabitants, together with the emir, decided to simply remove the image. Legends also say that earthquakes and other natural disasters would occur whenever someone approached the relic or attempted to open, uncover, display, or even venerate it. In this case, the icon was simply sent to Constantinople. As our contemporary Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk writes in one of his works: “If there is a holy book in the house, its place is ‘in reverence’ upstairs in the storeroom.”

7 If we think of ourselves, we will realize that this is very typical for us as well. One must eat prosphora, the blessed bread, on an empty stomach and with prayer. But since we have usually already eaten, we don’t touch it at all. The same applies to Communion. If we haven’t “read” all the numerous prayers down to the last letter, we forgo Communion and figuratively send it “to spiritual Constantinople.” Thus, a thousand years after the transfer of the image from Edessa, we, as people today, recognize ourselves as if in a mirror. According to the words of the Apostle John, “there is no fear in love” (1 John 4:18). May the Lord deliver us from such a pagan attitude toward Him.