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Chapter
XIII.—Narrative concerning the Prince
of the Edessenes.
1. The
divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ being noised abroad among
all men on account of his wonder-working power, he attracted countless
numbers from foreign countries lying far away from Judea, who had the
hope of being cured of their diseases and of all kinds of
sufferings.
2. For instance the King
Abgarus,214
214 Abgarus was the name of several kings of Edessa, who reigned at
various periods from b.c. 99 to a.d. 217. The Abgar contemporary with Christ was called
Abgar Ucomo, or “the Black.” He was the fifteenth king, and
reigned, according to Gutschmid, from a.d. 13
to a.d. 50. A great many ecclesiastical
fictions have grown up around his name, the story, contained in its
simplest form in the present chapter, being embellished with many
marvelous additions. A starting-point for this tradition of the
correspondence with Christ,—from which in turn grew all the later
legends,—may be found in the fact that in the latter part of the
second century there was a Christian Abgar, King of Edessa, at whose
court Bardesanes, the Syrian Gnostic, enjoyed high favor, and it is
certain that Christianity had found a foothold in this region at a much
earlier period. Soon after the time of this Abgar the pretended
correspondence was very likely forged, and foisted back upon the Abgar
who was contemporary with Christ. Compare Cureton’s Anc.
Syriac Documents relative go the Earliest Establishment of Christianity
in Edessa, London, 1864. | who ruled with great glory the
nations beyond the Euphrates, being afflicted with a terrible disease
which it was beyond the power of human skill to cure, when he heard of
the name of Jesus, and of his miracles, which were attested by all with
one accord sent a message to him by a courier and begged him to heal
his disease.
3. But he did not at that time
comply with his request; yet he deemed him worthy of a personal letter
in which he said that he would send one of his disciples to cure his
disease, and at the same time promised salvation to himself and all his
house.
4. Not long afterward his
promise was fulfilled. For after his resurrection from the dead and his
ascent into heaven, Thomas,215 one of the twelve
apostles, under divine impulse sent Thaddeus, who was also numbered
among the seventy disciples of Christ,216
216 See
chap. 12, note 11. | to
Edessa,217
217 Edessa, the capital of Abgar’s dominions, was a city of
Northern Mesopotamia, near the river Euphrates. History knows nothing
of the city before the time of the Seleucidæ, though tradition
puts its origin back into distant antiquity, and some even identify it
with Abraham’s original home, Ur of the Chaldees. In the history
of the Christian Church it played an important part as a centre of
Syrian learning. Ephraem, the Syrian, founded a seminary there in the
fourth century, which after his death fell into the hands of the
Arians. | as a preacher and evangelist of the
teaching of Christ.
5. And all that our Saviour had
promised received through him its fulfillment. You have written
evidence of these things taken from the archives of Edessa,218
218 We
have no reason to doubt that Eusebius, who is the first to mention
these apocryphal epistles, really found them in the public archives at
Edessa. Moses Chorenensis, the celebrated Armenian historian of the
fifth century, who studied a long time in Edessa, is an independent
witness to their existence in the Edessene archives. Eusebius has been
accused of forging this correspondence himself; but this unworthy
suspicion has been refuted by the discovery and publication of the
original Syriac (The Doct. of Addai the Apostle, with an English
Translation and Notes, by G. Phillips, London, 1876; compare also
Contemp. Rev., May, 1877, p. 1137). The epistles were forged
probably long before his day, and were supposed by him to be genuine.
His critical insight, but not his honesty, was at fault. The apocryphal
character of these letters is no longer a matter of dispute, though
Cave and Grabe defended their genuineness (so that Eusebius is in good
company), and even in the present century Rinck (Ueber die Echtheit
des Briefwechsels des Königs Abgars mit Jesu, Zeitschrift für
Hist. Theol., 1843, II. p. 326) has had the hardihood to enter the
lists in their defense; but we know of no one else who values his
critical reputation so little as to venture upon the task. | which was at that time a royal city. For
in the public registers there, which contain accounts of ancient times
and the acts of Abgarus, these things have been found preserved down to
the present time. But there is no better way than to hear the epistles
themselves which we have taken from the archives and have literally
translated from the Syriac language219
219 Eusebius does not say directly that he translated these documents
himself, but this seems to be the natural conclusion to be drawn from
his words. ῾Ημῖν is used only
with ἀναληφθεισῶν, and not with μεταβληθεισῶν. It is impossible, therefore, to decide with certainty;
but the documents must have been in Syriac in the Edessene archives,
and Eusebius’ words imply that, if he did not translate them
himself, he at least employed some one else to do it. At the end of
this chapter he again uses an indefinite expression, where perhaps it
might be expected that he would tell us directly if he had himself
translated the documents. | in the
following manner.
Copy of an epistle written by
Abgarus the ruler to Jesus, and sent to him at Jerusalem by
Ananias220
220 In the
greatly embellished narrative of Cedrenus (Hist. Compendium, p.
176; according to Wright, in his article on Abgar in the Dict. of
Christian Biog.) this Ananias is represented as an artist who
endeavored to take the portrait of Christ, but was dazzled by the
splendor of his countenance; whereupon Christ, having washed his face,
wiped it with a towel, which miraculously retained an image of his
features. The picture thus secured was carried back to Edessa, and
acted as a charm for the preservation of the city against its enemies.
The marvelous fortunes of the miraculous picture are traced by Cedrenus
through some centuries (see also Evagrius, H. E. IV.
27). | the swift courier.
6. “Abgarus, ruler of
Edessa, to Jesus the excellent Saviour who has appeared in the country
of Jerusalem, greeting. I have heard the reports of thee and of thy
cures as performed by thee without medicines or herbs. For it is said
that thou makest the blind to see and the lame to walk, that thou
cleansest lepers and castest out impure spirits and demons, and that
thou healest those afflicted with lingering disease, and raisest the
dead.
7. And having heard all these
things concerning thee, I have concluded that one of two things must be
true: either thou art God, and having come down from heaven thou doest
these things, or else thou, who doest these things, art the Son of
God.221
221 The
expression “Son of God” could not be used by a heathen
prince as it is used here. |
8. I have therefore written to
thee to ask thee that thou wouldest take the trouble to come to me and
heal the disease which I have. For I have heard that the Jews are
murmuring against thee and are plotting to injure thee. But I have a
very small yet noble city which is great enough for us
both.”
The answer of Jesus to the ruler Abgarus by the courier
Ananias.
9. “Blessed art thou who
hast believed in me without having seen me.222
For it is 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.223 But in regard to what thou hast written
me, that I should come to thee, it is necessary for me to fulfill 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 thine.”
10. To these epistles there was
added the following account in the Syriac language. “After the
ascension of Jesus, Judas,224
224 Thomas is not commonly known by the name of Judas, and it is
possible that Eusebius, or the translator of the document, made a
mistake, and applied to Thomas a name which in the original was given
to Thaddeus. But Thomas is called Judas Thomas in the Apocryphal Acts
of Thomas, and in the Syriac Doctrina Apostolorum, published by
Cureton. | who was also
called Thomas, sent to him Thaddeus, an apostle,225
225 The
word “apostle” is by no means confined to the twelve
apostles of Christ. The term was used very commonly in a much wider
sense, and yet the combination, “the apostle, one of the
Seventy,” in this passage, does not seem natural, and we cannot
avoid the conclusion that the original author of this account did not
thus describe Thaddeus. The designation, “one of the
Seventy,” carries the mind back to Christ’s own appointment
of them, recorded by Luke, and the term “apostle,” used in
the same connection, would naturally denote one of the Twelve appointed
by Christ,—that is, an apostle in the narrow sense. It might be
suggested as possible that the original Syriac connected the word
“apostle” with Thomas, reading, “Thomas the apostle
sent Judas, who is also called Thaddeus, one of the Seventy,”
&c. Such a happy confusion is not beyond the power of an ancient
translator, for most of whom little can be said in the way of praise.
That this can have been the case in the present instance, however, is
rendered extremely improbable by the fact that throughout this account
Thaddeus is called an apostle, and we should therefore expect the
designation upon the first mention of him. It seems to me much more
probable that the words, “one of the Seventy,” are an
addition of Eusebius, who has already, in two places (§4, above,
and chap. 12, §3), told us that Thaddeus was one of them. It is
probable that the original Syriac preserved the correct tradition of
Thaddeus as one of the Twelve; while Eusebius, with his false tradition
of him as one of the Seventy, takes pains to characterize him as such,
when he is first introduced, but allows the word “apostle,”
so common in its wider sense, to stand throughout. He does not intend
to correct the Syriac original; he simply defines Thaddeus, as he
understands him, more closely. | one of the Seventy. When he was come he
lodged with Tobias,226
226 Tobias was very likely a Jew, or of Jewish extraction, the name
being a familiar one among the Hebrews. This might have been the reason
that Thaddeus (if he went to Edessa at all) made his home with
him. | the son of Tobias.
When the report of him got abroad, it was told Abgarus that an apostle
of Jesus was come, as he had written him.
11. Thaddeus began then in the
power of God to heal every disease and infirmity, insomuch that all
wondered. And when Abgarus heard of the great and wonderful things
which he did and of the cures which he performed, he began to suspect
that he was the one of whom Jesus had written him, saying, ‘After
I have been taken up I will send to thee one of my disciples who will
heal thee.’
12. Therefore, summoning Tobias,
with whom Thaddeus lodged, he said, I have heard that a certain man of
power has come and is lodging in thy house. Bring him to me. And Tobias
coming to Thaddeus said to him, The ruler Abgarus summoned me and told
me to bring thee to him that thou mightest heal him. And Thaddeus said,
I will go, for I have been sent to him with power.
13. Tobias therefore arose early
on the following day, and taking Thaddeus came to Abgarus. And when he
came, the nobles were present and stood about Abgarus. And immediately
upon his entrance a great vision appeared to Abgarus in the countenance
of the apostle Thaddeus. When Abgarus saw it he prostrated himself
before Thaddeus, while all those who stood about were astonished; for
they did not see the vision, which appeared to Abgarus
alone.
14. He then asked Thaddeus if he
were in truth a disciple of Jesus the Son of God, who had said to him,
‘I will send thee one of my disciples, who shall heal thee and
give thee life.’ And Thaddeus said, Because thou hast mightily
believed in him that sent me, therefore have I been sent unto thee. And
still further, if thou believest in him, the petitions of thy heart
shall be granted thee as thou believest.
15. And Abgarus said to him, So
much have I believed in him that I wished to take an army and destroy
those Jews who crucified him, had I not been deterred from it by reason
of the dominion of the Romans. And Thaddeus said, Our Lord has
fulfilled the will of his Father, and having fulfilled it has been
taken up to his Father. And Abgarus said to him, I too have believed in
him and in his Father.
16. And Thaddeus said to him,
Therefore I place my hand upon thee in his name. And when he had done
it, immediately Abgarus was cured of the disease and of the suffering
which he had.
17. And Abgarus marvelled, that
as he had heard concerning Jesus, so he had received in very deed
through his disciple Thaddeus, who healed him without medicines and
herbs, and not only him, but also Abdus227
227 Moses Chorenensis reads instead (according to Rinck),
“Potagrus, the son of Abdas.” Rinck thinks it probable that
Eusebius or the translator made a mistake, confusing the Syrian name
Potagrus with the Greek word ποδ€γρα, “a sort of gout,” and then inserting a second Abdas.
The word “Podagra” is Greek and could not have occurred in
the Armenian original, and therefore Eusebius is to be corrected at
this point by Moses Chorenensis (Rinck, ibid. p. 18). The Greek
reads ῎Αβδον τὸν
τοῦ ῎Αβδου
ποδ€γραν
žχοντα. |
the son of Abdus, who was afflicted with the gout; for he too came to
him and fell at his feet, and having received a benediction by the
imposition of his hands, he was healed. The same Thaddeus cured also
many other inhabitants of the city, and did wonders and marvelous
works, and preached the word of God.
18. And afterward Abgarus said,
Thou, O Thaddeus, doest these things with the power of God, and we
marvel. But, in addition to these things, I pray thee to inform me in
regard to the coming of Jesus, how he was born; and in regard to his
power, by what power he performed those deeds of which I have
heard.
19. And Thaddeus said, Now
indeed will I keep silence, since I have been sent to proclaim the word
publicly. But tomorrow assemble for me all thy citizens, and I will
preach in their presence and sow among them the word of God, concerning
the coming of Jesus, how he was born; and concerning his mission, for
what purpose he was sent by the Father; and concerning the power of his
works, and the mysteries which he proclaimed in the world, and by what
power he did these things; and concerning his new preaching, and his
abasement and humiliation, and how he humbled himself, and died and
debased his divinity and was crucified, and descended into Hades,228
228 This is probably the earliest distinct and formal statement of the
descent into Hades; but no special stress is laid upon it as a new
doctrine, and it is stated so much as a matter of course as to show
that it was commonly accepted at Edessa at the time of the writing of
these records, that is certainly as early as the third century. Justin,
Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, &c., all
witness to the belief of the Church in this doctrine, though it did not
form an article in any of the older creeds, and appeared in the East
first in certain Arian confessions at about 360 a.d. In the West it appeared first in the Aquileian creed,
from which it was transferred to the Apostles’ creed in the fifth
century or later.
The doctrine is stated
in a very fantastic shape in the Gospel of Nicodemus, part II.
(Ante-Nicene Fathers, Am. ed. VIII. p. 435 sq.), which is based
upon an apocryphal gospel of the second century, according to
Tischendorf. In it the descent of Christ into Hades and his ascent with
a great multitude are dwelt upon at length. Compare Pearson, On the
Creed, p. 340 sq.; Schaff’s Creeds of Christendom, I.
p. 46; and especially, Plumptre’s Spirits in Prison, p. 77
sq. | and burst the bars which from eternity
had not been broken,229 and raised the
dead; for he descended alone, but rose with many, and thus ascended to
his Father.230
230 καταβὰς γὰρ
μόνος
συνήγειρεν
πολλοὺς, ειθ᾽
οὕτως ἀνέβη
πρὸς τὸν
πατέρα
αὐτοῦ. Other mss. read κατέβη
μόνος, ἀνέβη
δὲ μετὰ
πολλοῦ ὀχλοῦ
πρὸς τὸν
πατέρα
αὐτοῦ. Rufinus
translates Qui descendit quidem solus, ascendit autem cum grandi
multitudine ad patrem suum. Compare the words of Cyril of Jerusalem
(Catech. IV. 11): κατῆλθεν
εἰς τὰ
καταχθόνια,
ἱνα κακεῖθεν
λυτρώσηται
τοὺς
δικαίους, “He descended into the depths, that he might ransom thence
the just.” |
20. Abgarus therefore commanded
the citizens to assemble early in the morning to hear the preaching of
Thaddeus, and afterward he ordered gold and silver to be given him. But
he refused to take it, saying, If we have forsaken that which was our
own, how shall we take that which is another’s? These things were
done in the three hundred and fortieth year.”231
231 According to the Chronicle of Eusebius (ed. Schoene, II. p.
116) the Edessenes dated their era from the year of Abraham 1706 (b.c. 310), which corresponded with the second year
of the one hundred and seventeenth Olympiad (or, according to the
Armenian, to the third year of the same Olympiad), the time when
Seleucus Nicanor began to rule in Syria. According to this reckoning
the 340th year of the Edessenes would correspond with the year of
Abraham 2046, the reign of Tiberius 16 (a.d.
30); that is, the second year of the two hundred and second Olympiad
(or, according to the Armenian, the third year of the same). According
to the Chronicle of Eusebius, Jesus was crucified in the
nineteenth year of Tiberius (year of Abraham 2048 = a.d. 32), according to Jerome’s version in the
eighteenth year (year of Abraham 2047 = a.d.
31). Thus, as compared with these authorities, the 340th year of the
Edessenes falls too early. But Tertullian, Lactantius, Augustine, and
others put Christ’s death in 783 U.C., that is in 30 a.d., and this corresponds with the Edessene reckoning as
given by Eusebius. |
I have inserted them here in
their proper place, translated from the Syriac232
literally, and I hope to good purpose.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|