from the mold of the building and the dampness of the plaster, and might be generated in the cloth receptacle of the image and receive damage from time. 29 Much time therefore flowed by, and both the setting up of this holy image and its concealment flowed away from the memory of men. So when in due course Chosroes, the king of the Persians, sacking the cities of Asia, also reached Edessa, and having pitched a camp before it, he set every device in motion and prepared every instrument suitable for the capture of the city; and he contrived all things for the shooting of missiles, the shaking of walls, the breaking through of gates. The Edessenes, being in so great a danger, devised for themselves what they could for resistance, and sent embassies for aid also to the Roman generals. But Ilion, who at that time was leading the Roman armies, being himself also hard-pressed by the enemy, was not able to send an alliance to those in Edessa, but he encouraged them by letters, reminding them of the Lord's epistle and of the infallible declaration in it, by which it is both said and believed that the city is kept unsackable. 30 But the Persians, along with the open attack, also devised things plotting in secret, and beginning to dig from afar, they contrived to get inside the city through tunnels. But when they were, as it were, underwater swimmers inside the wall under the ground, the plot became manifest to those inside from such a cause: it happened that in that part inside the wall a coppersmith lived, whose bronze vessels hanging in his house made a sound, as the Persians were striking and carrying out the earth underground. The people of the city, therefore, being at a loss and in utmost despair, flee for refuge to God and with pain of heart and tears they sought him out. 31 Therefore, there appears to the bishop by night (and he was Eulalius), a certain well-dressed and orderly woman, greater than human, suggesting to him to take the image of Christ not made by human hands and to make a procession with it; and that the Lord would surely show his wonders. But the bishop said he was completely ignorant whether such an image existed at all, either among them or among any others. Then she who appeared in female form says to him that above the gate of the city in this place and in this manner such an image has been hidden. 32 In the morning, therefore, the bishop, trusting in the clarity of the vision, came to the place with a prayer and having searched, he found this divine image unharmed and the wick not extinguished in so many years and on the tile placed before the lamp for protection another likeness of the likeness impressed upon it, which even to this day happens to be preserved in Edessa. 33 Taking therefore in his hands this divine representation of the God-man Christ and coming to a better hope, he comes to that place where the Persians, digging through, had been detected by the sound of the bronzes. And when the people of the city began to dig from inside, when they came near to one another, having dripped oil from that lamp into the fire prepared by them against the enemy, and having sent it against the Persians in the tunnel, they destroyed them all. And being delivered from the plot from there, they brought forth a similar attempt against the engines outside the wall and burned these up at once and consumed many of the enemies in them. And now, having taken courage, they made frequent hurlings of stones from the walls, by which it happened that even the general of the enemy army fell, and many others with him; 34 and not only this, but also the pyre kindled outside by the Persians against those within, which an immense amount of material from both olives and many other felled trees was feeding, the power of the allied divine image caused to turn against them; for as Eulalius from above, spreading it with his own hands from the wall, was travelling through the city, suddenly, as he came to this place, a violent wind rising up against

ἐκ τοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς εὐρῶτος καὶ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ τιτάνου νοτίδος ἐγγενέσθαι ἐν τῷ ὑποδοχεῖ τῆς εἰκόνος ὑφάσματι καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου βλάβην προσδέξηται. 29 ἔρρει τοίνυν ὁ χρόνος διὰ μέσου πολὺς καὶ τῆς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μνήμης ἀπερρύη καὶ ἡ ἀναστήλωσις τῆς ἱερᾶς ταύτης εἰκόνος καὶ ἡ ἀπόκρυψις. ὡς οὖν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις καιροῖς Χοσρόης ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς τὰς τῆς Ἀσίας πόλεις πορθῶν καὶ πρὸς τὴν Ἔδεσαν ἔφθασε καὶ πρὸ ταύτης πηξάμενος χάρακα πᾶσαν μηχανὴν ἐκίνει καὶ πᾶν τὸ πρὸς ἅλωσιν πόλεως ἐπιτήδειον ὄργανον ἐξηρτύετο, ἐτεκταίνετο δὲ πάντα τὰ πρὸς ἀφέσεις βελῶν, κατασείσεις τειχῶν, διαθραύσεις πυλῶν· ἐν τοσούτῳ κινδύνῳ οἱ Ἐδεσηνοὶ γεγονότες ἐπενόουν μὲν τὰ δυνατὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ πρὸς ἀντιπαράταξιν, διεπρεσβεύοντο δὲ περὶ βοηθείας καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Ῥωμαίων στρατηγούς. Ἰλίων δὲ ὁ τότε τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν στρατευμάτων ἡγούμενος, καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων πονούμενος, τοῖς ἐν Ἐδέσῃ συμμαχίαν πέμψαι οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν, διὰ γραμμάτων δὲ παρεθάρρυνε τῆς τοῦ κυρίου ἀναμιμνήσκων ἐπιστολῆς καὶ τῆς ἀψευδοῦς ἐν αὐτῇ ἀποφάσεως, δι' ἧς ἀπόρθητον τηρεῖσθαι τὴν πόλιν καὶ λέγεται καὶ πιστεύεται. 30 οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι μετὰ τῆς ἐμφανοῦς ἐπιθέσεως καὶ τὰ ἀφανῶς ἐπενόουν ἐπιβουλεύοντα καὶ πόρρωθεν ὀρύττειν ἀρξάμενοι δι' ὑπονόμων ἔνδον γενέσθαι τῆς πόλεως ἐτεχνάζοντο. ὡς δὲ ἦσαν οἷον ὕφυδροι κολυμβηταὶ τοῦ τείχους ἐντὸς ὑπὸ γῆν ἐκ τοιαύτης αἰτίας καταφανὴς τοῖς ἔνδον γέγονεν ἡ ἐπιβουλή· συνέβη κατ' ἐκεῖνο τὸ μέρος ἔνδον τοῦ τείχους χαλκέα οἰκεῖν, οὗ τὰ κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν αἰωρούμενα σκεύη χαλκᾶ ἦχον ἀπετέλει, τῶν Περσῶν ὑπὸ γῆν κοπτόντων καὶ ἐκφορούντων τὸν χοῦν. ἐν ἀμηχανίᾳ οὖν καὶ τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἀπογνώσει οἱ τῆς πόλεως καταστάντες πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καταφεύγουσι καὶ μετ' ὀδύνης καρδίας καὶ δακρύων ἐξεζήτουν αὐτόν. 31 φαίνεται τοίνυν διὰ νυκτὸς τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ, Εὐλάλιος δὲ οὗτος ἦν, γυνή τις εὐσταλὴς καὶ κοσμία κρεῖττον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ὑποτιθεμένη αὐτῷ τὴν ἀχειροποίητον εἰκόνα λαβεῖν τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ λιτανείαν μετ' αὐτῆς ποιήσασθαι· καὶ πάντως δεῖξαι τὸν κύριον τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ ἐπίσκοπος παντελῶς ἀγνοεῖν ἔλεγεν, εἰ ἔστιν ὅλως εἴτε παρ' αὐτοῖς εἴτε παρ' ἄλλοις τισὶν ἡ τοιαύτη εἰκών. τότε λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ ἐν γυναικείῳ φαινομένη τῷ σχήματι, ὅτι ἐπάνω τῆς πύλης τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῷδε τῷ τόπῳ διὰ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον ἡ τοιαύτη εἰκὼν ἀποκέκρυπται. 32 ἕωθεν οὖν ὁ ἐπίσκοπος τῷ ἐναργεῖ τῆς ὄψεως πεποιθὼς μετὰ λιτῆς πρὸς τὸν τόπον ἐλθὼν καὶ διερευνησάμενος εὗρε τὴν θείαν ταύτην εἰκόνα ἀδιαλώβητον καὶ τὴν θρυαλίδα ἐν τοῖς τοσούτοις μὴ ἀποσβεσθεῖσαν ἔτεσιν καὶ ἐν τῷ πρὸς φυλακὴν ἐπιτεθέντι πρὸ τοῦ λύχνου κεράμῳ ἐπεκτυπωθὲν ἕτερον ὁμοίωμα τοῦ ὁμοιώματος, ὃ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἐν Ἐδέσῃ τυγχάνει σωζόμενον. 33 λαβὼν οὖν μετὰ χεῖρας τὸ θεῖον τοῦτο τοῦ θεανθρώπου Χριστοῦ ἀπεικόνισμα καὶ ἐπὶ κρείττονος ἐλπίδος γενόμενος ἔρχεται κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν τόπον, καθ' ὃν οἱ Πέρσαι διορύττοντες ἀπὸ τοῦ τῶν χαλκωμάτων ἤχου κατάφωροι καθεστήκεσαν. καὶ ἀρξαμένων ἔνδοθεν ὀρύττειν τῶν τῆς πόλεως, ὡς ἐγγὺς ἀλλήλων ἐγένοντο ἀπὸ τῆς λυχνίας ἐκείνης ἔλαιον ἐπιστάξαντες εἰς τὸ κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων αὐτοῖς εὐτρεπισμένον πῦρ καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἐν τῷ ὑπονόμῳ Περσῶν ἀφέντες πάντας ἀπώλεσαν καὶ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ῥυσθέντες ἐπιβουλῆς πρὸς τὰς ἐκτὸς τοῦ τείχους μηχανὰς τὴν ὁμοίαν πεῖραν προήνεγκαν καὶ ταύτας ἀθρόως κατέφλεξαν καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς πολεμίων ἀνάλωσαν. ἤδη δὲ ἀνατεθαρρηκότες καὶ λίθων ἀφέσεις συχνῶν ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἐπεποίηντο, ὑφ' ὧν καὶ τὸν στρατοπεδάρχην τοῦ πολεμίου στρατεύματος συνέβη πεσεῖν καὶ ἄλλους πολλοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ· 34 οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἔξωθεν ὑπὸ τῶν Περσῶν ἀναφθεῖσαν κατὰ τῶν ἔνδον πυράν, ἣν ἄπειρος ὕλη ἐλαιῶν τε καὶ ἄλλων συχνῶν κατακοπέντων δένδρων ὑπέτρεφε, κατ' αὐτῶν γενέσθαι ἡ τῆς συμμάχου θείας εἰκόνος πεποίηκε δύναμις· ὡς γὰρ ἄνωθεν ὁ Εὐλάλιος ταῖς οἰκείαις τοῦ τείχους ἐφαπλώσας ταύτην παλάμαις τὴν πόλιν διώδευεν, ἐξαίφνης ὡς κατὰ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον ἐγένετο, βίαιος ἄνεμος ἐγερθεὶς κατὰ