Images: Wikimedia Commons (Addai; Thaddaeus); Elpedia
Clavis number: ECMA 150
Other descriptors: none
Category: icon
Related literature: Acts of Thaddaeus, Epistles of Christ and Abgar, Story of the Image of Eddessa
Featured characters and locations: Thaddaeus, Abgar, Ananias, Edessa.
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: tempera on wood
Size: 34.5 × 25.2 cm
Image: the icon constitutes the left and right pieces of an original triptych. The missing central image may have been a larger depiction of the Mandylion. The upper left zone of the extant pieces depicts the apostle Thaddaeus seated on a throne. The upper right shows Abgar as he is handed the Mandylion by Ananias. The lower left zone features Paul of Thebes and Anonios (inscribed); on the right is Ephrem the Syrian holding a codex with Basil of Caesarea (both inscribed).
Date: 10th cent.
Provenance: St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
Abgar and Thaddaeus appear in the Epistles of Christ and Abgar. King Abgar writes to Jesus asking him to journey to his city to heal his affliction. Jesus responds that he is unable to do so but will send one of his apostles to him. In an epilogue to the letters, Thaddaeus journeys to Edessa, heals the king, and preaches to the city. Later versions of the story—such as the Acts of Thaddaeus, the Story of the Image of Edessa, and the Syriac Doctrine of Addai—include the character of Ananias, who brings Abgar’s letter to Jesus and paints his portrait. Some versions of the story have Jesus wipe his face with a cloth, thus imprinting his image, and give the cloth to Ananias.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cartlidge, David, and J. Keith Elliot. Art and the Christian Apocrypha. New York: Routledge, 2001 (pp. 47–49).
Karaulashvili. Irma. “Abgar Legend: Text and Iconography.” Kadmos 6 (2014): 164–240.
MacGregor, Neil, and Erika Langmuir. Seeing Salvation: Images of Christ in Art. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000 (pp. 85–115).
Sotiriou, George, and Maria Sotiriou. Icones du Mont Sinai. Athens: institu Français d’Athenes, 1956–1958 (first publication of the icon, vol. 1, pp. 34–36; vol. 2, pp. 49–51).
Weitzmann, Kurt. “The Mandylion and Constantine Porphyrogenennetos.” Cahiers Archéologiques 11 (1960): 163–84.
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“Addai of Edessa.” Wikipedia.
“Image of Edessa.” Wikipedia.
“Sinai Triptych of the 10th century: The Holy Mandylion.” Elpedia.
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 23 August 2023.
