Page 86 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

THE LETTER OF JESUS 73
of eye-ache by the use of water at the shrine of St. John at Edessa.1
Probably, however, Abgar's ailment was lameness, a concomitant of gout.
'Lame' may be the meaning of the name Abgar, and here too may be the
explanation, by popular etymology, of the frequent appearance of the Em-
peror Claudius in the Abgar tradition.2 There is a curious anecdote about
the healing of a lame person, by contact with the sacred kerchief on which
were imprinted the features of Jesus, one mile from Edessa—the distance at
which stands Bir Eyiip outside the walls.3 Elsewhere we read that Abgar
bathed in a well called Kerassa in the Greek text; this may be a corrupted
form of the Syriac karoza, preacher, used possibly of Addai. Certainly the
emphasis on baptism in Christian practice may have made bathing in the
waters a popular activity.

The 'letter of Jesus' was, we have suggested, not authentic; and it was
declared apocryphal in a decree of Pope Gelasius in 494. Ephraim of Edessa
seems to allude to it only in the most obscure terms, and only in his Testa-
ment:
Blessed is the town in which thou dwellest, Edessa, mother of the wise; by the living
mouth of the Son hath it been blest by the hand of his disciple. That blessing will dwell
in it until the holy one revealeth himself.
Nevertheless, the legend of the correspondence between Abgar and Jesus
became famous throughout Christendom. In the course of time it received
various accretions. Probably the earliest was a sentence attached to the
'letter of Jesus'; 'Your city shall be blessed and no enemy shall ever be master
of it'.4 The sentence does not appear in the text of Eusebius which, it will
be remembered, is said to be derived from the Edessan archives of the time
of the monarchy. Nor is it directly mentioned by St. Ephraim. It is, on the
other hand, referred to in a letter to St. Augustine, dated 429. It was known
also to Jacob, Bishop of Serug near Edessa (451-521), and in the chronicle
of his contemporary, 'Joshua the Stylite'; the latter considers its effectiveness
proved by the ignominious withdrawal of the Persian king Kawad from the
siege of Edessa in 503.
For some time the additional sentence was not known in the West. We
learn this from the Latin journal of the Aquitanian abbess Egeria; the date
of her visit to Edessa is unfortunately uncertain, but it may be assigned to
to distinguish the features of Jesus on the 2 Cf. Latin, claudus, Syriac bgr denotes
kerchief; but, we are told, the legitimate 'close', like Latin claudo.
claimant to the throne, Constantine Porphyro- 3 Legend relates also that the Persian king
genitus, saw them clearly. Khusraw sent to Edessa for the portrait of
1 Nau, PO viii, 1912, 157; unfortunately the Jesus in order to heal his daughter of a demon,
text cannot be dated. It may be observed that The Edessans conveyed a copy of the portrait
Bishop Nona built a shrine to St. John the to Persia; the demon fled before it, and the king
Baptist as well as the infirmaries of Saints returned it to Edessa with gifts.
Cosmas and Damian; p. 184 below. + Doc. Add. adds, 'again'.

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