Narratio de imagine Edessena A narration of Constantine, in Christ eternal king, emperor of the Romans, gathered from various histories, concerning the divine, not-made-by-hand image of Jesus Christ our God, sent to Abgar, and how it was transferred from Edessa to this all-blessed queen of cities, Constantinople. 1 Not only, then, was he himself incomprehensible, the God Logos co-eternal with the Father, but also most, or rather nearly all, of his works are shrouded in the same gloom of incomprehensibility; not only those things which he created in fashioning this universe, but also those things which he, in his assumption of our substance for the sake of the economy, having conversed with us, accomplished by that first and single power of his divinity. And it is altogether necessary for the one who does not ignore himself and knows that he does not know the things beyond him not to boast in immeasurable things nor to tread on empty ground in ignorance and either to contend to know all things, or that those things which he himself has not comprehended do not even exist. 2 Therefore, concerning the impression of his theandric form, which was impressed without being painted by the supernatural will of the one who made it upon the receiving cloth, and was then sent to Abgar for healing, but has now been transferred from Edessa to this ruling city of cities, certainly by the economy of God, for its salvation and protection, so that it might not seem to be lacking in any good thing, as it ought to prevail over all things in all matters, I think that the pious and just listener and beholder ought on the one hand to demand to learn the history of the details accurately and to wish to receive an uncorrupted knowledge of the antiquity, but on the other hand, knowing to concede to the unattainable wisdom of God the reason of how the form of the face was imprinted on the linen cloth from a moist fluid without colors and the art of painting, and how the thing made from such perishable material did not suffer corruption through time, and whatever else one who supposedly investigates things by natural principles loves to examine with curiosity; since if anyone should strive to comprehend all things precisely with the mind, being thrust into complete ignorance and having fallen into an abyss of incomprehensibility, he will risk being grievously harmed in the most vital matters, so that he might not seem to concede the small ones. 3 As many of you, therefore, who are orthodox in faith and more fervent in zeal, have gathered here, come, listen, and I shall narrate to you those things which, having investigated each matter with due examination and having conducted the search for the truth not without toil, both from those who have written histories and from those who have come to us from there, things which they said were preserved among them in memory as through secret traditions, I have been able to ascertain. 4 When our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ had come to us for the restoration of our race, there was, according to the voice of the prophet, an abundance of peace on earth and the rule of many was scattered, as if the whole inhabited world were girded by a single belt, the rule of the Romans, and was ordered under one commander, and because of this all associations of all men with all others took place without fear, and men seemed not to inhabit the earth dividedly, but as if it were the possession of one master, just as the whole world is of one creator, having bowed their servile necks to the first, they were at peace with one another. 5 Wherefore also the toparch of Edessa at that time, Abgar, was a friend and acquaintance of the governor of Egypt, and the ministers of each visited one another. Whence also at that time, during which our Lord and God, fulfilling the Father's will, was setting forth the teaching of salvation to men and through supernatural and wondrous miracles was turning men to faith in him, it happened that one of Abgar's servants, named Ananias, going to Egypt through Palestine, came upon and saw from afar Christ drawing the multitudes out from the words of error and

Narratio de imagine Edessena Κωνσταντίνου ἐν Χριστῷ βασιλεῖ αἰωνίῳ βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων διήγησις ἀπὸ διαφόρων ἀθροισθεῖσα ἱστοριῶν περὶ τῆς πρὸς Αὔγαρον ἀποσταλείσης ἀχειροποιήτου θείας εἰκόνος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν, καὶ ὡς ἐξ Ἐδέσης μετεκομίσθη πρὸς τὴν πανευδαίμονα ταύτην καὶ βασιλίδα τῶν πόλεων Κωνσταντινούπολιν. 1 Οὐκ ἄρα μόνος αὐτὸς ἀκατάληπτος ἦν ὁ συναΐδιος τῷ πατρὶ θεὸς λόγος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ πλείω σχεδὸν ἢ καὶ πάντα τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ τῷ αὐτῷ τῆς ἀκαταληψίας γνόφῳ περικαλύπτεται· οὐ μόνον ὅσα τὸ πᾶν τοῦτο δημιουργῶν ὑπεστήσατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῷ δι' οἰκονομίαν προσλήμματι τοῦ ἡμετέρου φυράματος ὁμιλήσας ἡμῖν κατὰ τὴν πρώτην καὶ μίαν ἐκείνην ἐνήργει τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος δύναμιν. καὶ χρὴ πάντως τὸν ἑαυτὸν μὴ ἀγνοοῦντα καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν μὴ εἰδέναι γινώσκοντα μὴ εἰς τὰ ἄμετρα καυχᾶσθαι μηδὲ κενεμβατεῖν ἀμαθῶς καὶ ἢ πάντα εἰδέναι φιλονεικεῖν ἢ μηδὲ εἶναι ἅπερ αὐτὸς οὐ κατείληφε. 2 τοίνυν καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἐκτυπώματος τῆς θεανδρικῆς τούτου μορφῆς, ὃ ἀγράφως ἀνετυπώθη τῷ ὑπερφυεῖ τοῦ δρῶντος βουλήματι εἰς τὸ ὑποδεξάμενον ὕφασμα, καὶ τότε μὲν τῷ Αὐγάρῳ ἀπεστάλη πρὸς ἴασιν, νῦν δὲ ἐξ Ἐδέσης πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν ταύτην τῶν πόλεων οἰκονομίᾳ πάντως θεοῦ πρὸς σωτηρίαν αὐτῆς καὶ φυλακὴν μετενήνεκται, ὡς ἂν μηδενὸς τῶν καλῶν ἐνδεὴς δοκῇ, ἐν πᾶσιν ὀφείλουσα πάντων κρατεῖν, οἶμαι δεῖν τὸν εὐσεβῆ καὶ δίκαιον ἀκροατήν τε καὶ θεατὴν τὴν ἱστορίαν μὲν τῶν καθ' ἕκαστα ἀκριβῶς μαθεῖν ἀπαιτεῖν καὶ τῆς ἀρχαιολογίας ἐθέλειν ἀπαραποίητον τὴν γνῶσιν λαβεῖν, τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν τοῦ πῶς ἐξ ἰκμάδος ὑγρᾶς δίχα χρωμάτων καὶ τέχνης τῆς γραφικῆς ἐναπεμορφώθη τὸ τοῦ προσώπου εἶδος ἐν τῷ ἐκ λίνου ὑφάσματι καὶ πῶς τὸ ἐξ ὕλης οὕτως εὐφθάρτου τῷ χρόνῳ διαφθορὰν οὐκ ἐδέξατο καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ὁ φυσικῶς δῆθεν ἐπιβάλλων τοῖς πράγμασι φιλεῖ πολυπραγμόνως διερευνᾶν τῷ ἀνεφίκτῳ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας παραχωρεῖν εἰδώς, ὡς εἴ τις πάντα φιλονεικήσει τῷ νῷ διαλαβεῖν ἀκριβῶς, εἰς τὴν παντελῆ ἀγνωσίαν ὠσθεὶς καὶ εἰς ἄβυσσον ἀκαταληψίας ἀποπεσὼν κινδυνεύσει περὶ τὰ καίρια ζημιωθεὶς τὰ μεγάλα, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ τὰ μικρὰ συγχωρεῖν. 3 ὅσοι οὖν τῶν περὶ τὴν πίστιν ὀρθῶν καὶ θερμοτέρων περὶ τὸν ζῆλον ἐνταῦθα συνεληλύθατε, δεῦτε ἀκούσατε καὶ διηγήσομαι ὑμῖν, ἅπερ τῇ δεούσῃ βασάνῳ ἕκαστα πολυπραγμονήσας καὶ οὐκ ἀταλαιπώρως περὶ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας διαγενόμενος ζήτησιν, ἀπό τε τῶν ἱστορίας γραψάντων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ὡς ἡμᾶς ἐλθόντων, ἃ ὡς δι' ἀπορρήτων τῇ μνήμῃ παρ' αὐτοῖς διασώζεσθαι ἔλεγον, ἀκριβῶσαι ἐξίσχυσα. 4 τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν ἀνορθώσει πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐκδη μήσαντος, ἦν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν πλῆθος εἰρήνης ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τὸ πολύαρχον διεσκέδαστο, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ μιᾶς ζώνης τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς ἁπάσης διαζωσθείσης τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ ὑφ' ἑνὶ ταττομένης σημάντορι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πᾶσαι πάντων καὶ πρὸς πάντας ἐπιμιξίαι ἐγίνοντο ἀδεῶς καὶ οὐ μεμερισμένως τὴν γῆν οἰκεῖν ἐδόκουν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλ' ὡς ἑνὸς δεσπότου κτῆμα τυγχάνουσαν ὡς καὶ ἑνὸς τὴν πᾶσαν οὖσαν δημιουργοῦ, τῷ πρώτῳ τὸν αὐχένα δοῦλον ὑποκλίναντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰρήνευον. 5 διὸ καὶ ὁ τῆς Ἐδέσης τὸ τηνικαῦτα τοπάρχης Αὔγαρος τῷ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἐξηγουμένῳ φίλος καὶ γνώριμος ἦν καὶ παρ' ἀλλήλους οἱ ἑκατέρων ἐφοίτων διάκονοι. ὅθεν καὶ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον, καθ' ὃν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ θεὸς τὸ πατρικὸν βούλημα πληρῶν τὴν σωτήριον διδασκαλίαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προὐτίθετο καὶ διὰ τῶν ὑπερφυῶν καὶ παραδόξων θαυμάτων εἰς τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν πίστιν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐπέστρεφε, συνέβη τῶν τοῦ Αὐγάρου ὑπηρετῶν τινα Ἀνανίαν ὀνομαζόμενον πρὸς τὴν Αἴγυπτον διὰ τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἰόντα, περιτυχεῖν καὶ θεάσασθαι πόρρωθεν τὸν Χριστὸν τὰ πλήθη τοῖς λόγοις τῆς πλάνης ἐξέλκοντα καὶ