A. H. M'Neile.
that thou
■ herbs. For it is said that
Mind to see and the lame t
' spi;
oil tL.jIrsi those afflicted with lingering di'seases', and also (li:il tli.ni i:i:-rsl the dead. And having hcivrd all these things roiir.rnini; tliic. I have concluded that one of two things must be true : either thou art God and hast come down from heaven to do these things, or else thou who doest these things art the Son of God. Wherefore I have written to thee to ask thee that thou wouldest take the trouble to come even to me and heal the disease which I have. For I have been informed th.at the Jews are murmuring against thee and are plotting to injure thee. But I have a city, small iudeed yet honourable, which may suffice for us both.'
The answer of Jesus runs—
'Blessed art thou who hast believed in me when thou thyself hast not seen me. For it stands written concerning me, that they who have seen me will not believe in me, and that they who have not seen me will believe and be saved. But in regarcl to what thou hast written me, that I should come to thee, it 13 necessarv for me to fulfil all things here for which I have been sent, and after I have fulfilled them thus to be taken up again to Him that sent me. But after I have been taken up I will send to thee one of my disciples, that he may heal thy disease and give life to thee and those who are with thee."
ABGAE
ABIATHAE
From an accompanying narrative in the Syriae language, giving an account of the fulfilment of Christ's promise, Eusebius quotes at considerable length. A brief sunmiary of the contents of this tlocument must here suffice. Judas, also called Thomas, is said to have sent Thaddtieus, one of the Seventy, to Edessa, soon after the ascension of Jesus. Arriving in Edessa he took lodgings, and without reporting himself at the court engaged extensively in works of healing. When the king heard thereof he suspected that he was the disciple promised by Jesus, and had him brought to court. On the appearance of Thaddaius 'a great vision appeared to Abgar in the countenance of Thad- dceus,' which led the former to prostrate himself before the latter, to the astonishment of the courtiers, who did not see the vision. Having become assured that his guest is the promised disciple of Jesus, and that he has come fully em- powered to heal and to save on condition of his exercise of faith, Abgar assures Thaddaius that his faith is so strong that, had it not been for the presence of the Romans, he would have sent an army to destroy the Jews that crucified Jesus. Thaddoeus assures him that in fulfilment of the Divine plan of redemption Jesus has been taken up to His Father, and, on a further profession of faith in Father and Son, Thaddaeus lays his hands upon the king and heals him. Many other healings follow, accompanied by the preaching of the gospel. At Thaddseus' suggestion tlie king summons the citizens as a body to hear the preacliing of the word, and afterwards offers him a rich reward, which is magnanimously refused. According to the Syriae document from which Eusebius quotes, the visit of Thaddaius occurred in the year 340 of the era of the Seleucidie (corresponding, according to K. Schmidt in PEI?, suh voc, to A.D. 29; according to others, A.D. 30, 31, or 32).
From the same Edessene materials Moses of Chorene, the Armenian historian of the middle of the 5th cent., prepared independently of Eusebius an account of the intercourse between Abgar and Christ and His disciples, which attests the general correctness of Eusebius' work. The fact that Moses was for several years a student in Edessa enhances the value of his account. He represents the reply of Jesus as having been written on His behalf by Thomas the Apostle. In Moses' account occurs the statement that after his conversion Abgarus wrote letters to the emperor Tiberius, to Narses, king of Assyria, to Ardaches, king of Persia, and others, recommending Christianity {Ilist. Arm. ii. 30-33). Here also appears the legend that Christ sent by Ananias, the courier of Abgar, a picture of Himself impressed upon a handkerchief. This part of the story was still further elaborated by Cedrenus {Hist. Comp. p. 176), who represents Ananias, the courier of Abgar, as himself an artist, and as so overcome by the splendour of the countenance of Jesus when attempting to depict it that he was obliged to desist ; whereupon Christ, having washed His face, wiped it with a towel which retained His likeness. This jncture was taken by Ananias to his master, and it became for the city a sort of talisman. This miraculously produced portrait, or what purported to be such, is said to have been transferred to the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople in the 10th cent., and later to have passed tlience to the church of St. Sylvester in llome, where it is still exhibited for the edification of the faithful. A church in Genoa makes a rival claim to the possession of the original handkerchief portrait.
Any suspicion that Eusebius fabricated the docu- ments that he professes to translate was set aside by the discovery and publication of what have been accepted as the original Syriae documents