Prehistory of the Shroud (6) #49: The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!

PREHISTORY OF THE SHROUD (6) #49

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

This is the fourth installment of #49, "Prehistory of the Shroud (6)," of my series, "The evidence is overwhelming that the Turin Shroud is Jesus' burial sheet!" This post is based on my "Chronology of the Turin Shroud: Eleventh century." For more information about this "overwhelming" series, see the "Main index #1."

Newcomers start with: "The Turin Shroud in a nutshell"

[Main index #1] [Previous: Prehistory of the Shroud (5) #48] [Next: Prehistory of the Shroud (7) #50]

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Prehistory of the Shroud (AD 30-1354).

c. 1000 Assumed appearance of the Russian Orthodox cross, with its angled footrest, or suppedaneum[BW57, 47], with the left side higher than the right[BA34, 65]. This

[Right (enlarge[TDC]): Russian cross with angled footrest, late 12th century.]

followed the conversion to Christianity in 988 of Vladimir the Great (978-1015)[VGW] and the subsequent Christianisation of Russia, when missionaries came from Constantinople[BA34, 65-66] bringing a copy of the full-length Shroud, in `icon evangelism'[WI10, 184]. This matches the Shroud, in that the man on the Shroud's left leg (which when facing the Shroud appears to be his right leg because of left-right reversal[BA34, 64]), appears to be shorter than the other[PM96, 196]. This is due

[Left (enlarge[LM10]): The man on the Shroud's apparent right leg (left leg because of left-right reversal) appears to be shorter than his right.]

to his left foot having been superimposed over his right[PM96, 196], and both feet fixed by a single nail[BA34, 64]. The man's left leg was therefore bent more and remained fixed in that position after death by rigor mortis[PM96, 196]. This presumably is the source of the 11th century Byzantine legend that Jesus actually had one leg shorter than the other and therefore was lame[RC99, 111].

c. 1000b Closely related to the Russian cross is the "Byzantine curve"

[Right (enlarge): "Byzantine Crucifix of Pisa," ca. 1230[BMW]. Note that Christ's right leg (corresponding to the Shroud's left leg) is shorter than the other leg and His body is curved (the "Byzantine curve") to compensate.]

in Byzantine Christian iconography[BA34, 66]. After the year 1000, a striking change occurred in Byzantine depictions of Christ on the Cross[BA34, 66-67]. Christ's two feet were nailed separately at the same level but his left leg is bent which meant that Jesus' body needed to curve to His right to compensate[BA34, 67]. This "Byzantine curve" became the established form of Eastern depictions of Christ at the beginning of the eleventh century and made its way also into the West and became the recognized form in Italy in the early mediaeval period[BA34, 67-68]. As with the strange design of the Russian cross, so this strange belief that Jesus had to have a curved body on the Shroud because one leg was shorter than the other[BA34, 68], has its most likely common origin in the Shroud[PM96, 195]. But then that means the full-length Shroud was known in the Byzantine world (the centre of which was Constantinople), soon after the year 1000, nearly three centuries before 1260, the earliest radiocarbon date of the Shroud[WI98, 141], and and more than three and a half centuries before the Shroud first appeared in c. 1355, in undisputed history at Lirey, France[DT12, 181-182; OM10, 52; WI10, 222, 228]!

c. 1050a The mid-eleventh-century Old French "Life of Saint Alexis"[ARW], the first masterpiece of French literature, contains the passage:

"Then he [St. Alexius (-417)] went off to the city of Edessa Because of an image he had heard tell of, which the angels made at God's commandment" (my emphasis)[WI87, 14]

[Left (enlarge[TCF]): Miniature and text of the "Chanson de St Alexis" or "Vie de St Alexis," in the St. Albans Psalter (c. 1120-1145)[SLB].]

As philologist Linda Cooper has shown in a scholarly paper[CL86], the "image" referred to is the Image of Edessa, and from the various versions of St. Alexis's life it is clear that this was the Shroud (my emphasis)[WI87, 14]. See "977" for a 10th century "Life of St. Alexis" which used the word "sindon," the same word used in the Gospels for Jesus' burial shroud[WI98, 269] (Mt 27:59; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53)!

c. 1050b Eleventh-century mosaic bust of Christ Pantocrator, i.e. "Ruler of all"[RC99, 110; ZS92, 1093-94], in the narthex of the Katholicon church (c. 1010) within the Hosios Loukas monastery[HL24] near the town of Distomo, Greece[HLW].

[Right (enlarge[FHW]): Christ Pantocrator, c. 1050, Hosios Loukas monastery, Greece[HLW].]

The late art historian, Professor Kurt Weitzmann (1904-93), who specialised in Byzantine and medieval art[KWW], noted that this icon had facial "subtleties" similar to the sixth-century Christ Pantocrator icon portrait in St. Catherine's monastery, Sinai[WM86, 107] [see "550"]. In particular Prof. Weitzmann noted:

"...the pupils of the eyes are not at the same level; the eyebrow over Christ's left eye is arched higher than over his right ... one side of the mustache droops at a slightly different angle from the other, while the beard is combed in the opposite direction ... Many of these subtleties remain attached to this particular type of Christ image and can be seen in later copies, e.g. the mosaic bust in the narthex of Hosios Lukas over the entrance to the catholicon ... Here too the difference in the raising of the eyebrows is most noticeable ..." (my emphasis)[WK76].

Those facial "subtleties" that Prof. Weitzmann noted were "attached to this particular type of Christ image and can be seen in later copies" are Vignon markings (see 11Feb12) which are all found on the Shroud (see 27Jul17)!

To be continued in the fifth installment of this post.

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page. [return]

Bibliography
ARW. "Alexius of Rome," Wikipedia, 25 October 2024.
BA34. Barnes, A.S., 1934, "The Holy Shroud of Turin," Burns Oates & Washbourne: London.
BMW. "Byzantine Master of the Crucifix of Pisa," Wikipedia, 2 May 2024.
BW57. Bulst, W., 1957, "The Shroud of Turin," McKenna, S. & Galvin, J.J., transl., Bruce Publishing Co: Milwaukee WI.
CL86. Cooper, L., 1986, "The Old French Life of Saint Alexis and the Shroud of Turin," Modern Philology, Vol. 84, No. 1, August, 1-17.
DT12. de Wesselow, T., 2012, "The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection," Viking: London.
FHW. "File:Hosios Loukas (narthex) - East wall, central (Pantocrator) 01.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 2 February 2021.
HL24. "Hosios Loucas (Stiris)," Pausanias Project, 2024.
HLW. "Hosios Loukas," Wikipedia, 2 October 2024.
KWW. "Kurt Weitzmann," Wikipedia, 13 September 2024.
LM10. Latendresse, M., 2010, "Shroud Scope: Durante 2002 Vertical".
OM10. Oxley, M., 2010, "The Challenge of the Shroud: History, Science and the Shroud of Turin," AuthorHouse: Milton Keynes UK.
PM96. Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta.
RC99, Ruffin, C.B., 1999, "The Shroud of Turin: The Most Up-To-Date Analysis of All the Facts Regarding the Church's Controversial Relic," Our Sunday Visitor: Huntington IN.
SLB. "St. Albans Psalter," Wikipedia, 29 May 2024.
TCF. "The Chanson of St Alexis: Page 57 Commentary," The St Albans Psalter Project, University of Aberdeen, 2003.
TDC. The Adoration of the Cross," 1130-1200, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia, "Fine Art Images: Icons, Murals, Mosaics," n.d.
VGW. Vladimir the Great," Wikipedia, 4 November 2024.
WI87. Wilson, I., 1987, "Recent Publications," British Society for the Turin Shroud Newsletter 16, May.
WI98. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY.
WM86, Wilson, I. & Miller, V., 1986, "The Evidence of the Shroud," Guild Publishing: London.
WK76. Weitzmann, K., 1976, "The Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai: The Icons," Princeton University Press: Princeton NJ, 15, in WM86, 107].
ZS92. Zodhiates, S., 1992, "The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament," AMG Publishers: Chattanooga TN, Third printing, 1994.

Posted 9 November 2024. Updated 13 November 2024.