Page 87 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

74 THE BLESSING OF JESUS AND THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY
the middle of the fifth century. The bishop of Edessa, she tells us, related to
her that the city was besieged by the Persians a short time after Abgar (she
means the Abgar Ukkama of the legend) had received the 'letter of Jesus'.
The king took the letter, and

with all his army prayed in. public. Then he said, 'Lord Jesus, you promised us that no
enemy will enter yonder city; but behold the Persians are attacking us'. When he said
this, holding that letter in his raised hand, suddenly such thick darkness appeared
outside the city

that the Persians could not approach the walls. They sought to divert the
water supply—which, at that time, the bishop implausibly maintained, was
derived from the Citadel mount; straightway springs of water appeared
inside the city. The Persians withdrew in shame. Whenever, continued the
bishop, Persian forces appeared before Edessa, the letter of Jesus was
produced and read, and the enemy was repelled.
The bishop took Egeria to the gate through which, it was held, the letter
of Jesus was brought to Edessa. There he prayed, recited the letter and prayed
again. He told her that from the day that the letter was brought to Edessa
'until the present day no unclean person and no one in sadness passes through
that gate, and no dead body is taken out through that gate.' Finally Egeria
took from the bishop a copy of the 'Abgar-Jesus correspondence', for, she
remarks, 'it seemed more fitting to take it there from him because it appears
that less has reached us at home, for indeed what I have received here is at
greater length.' In western Europe at that time, then, the 'letter of Jesus'
probably did not contain the sentence with the promise to Edessa of im-
munity from capture.
The sentence was evidently missing also from the letter with which the
readers of Procopius, in the mid-sixth century, were familiar. In his account
of the Abgar-Jesus correspondence he writes:
[Jesus] added also that never would the city be liable to capture by the barbarians. The
final portion of the letter was entirely unknown to those who wrote the history of that
time, for they did not even make mention of it anywhere; but the men of Edessa say
that they found it with the letter, so that they have even caused the letter to be inscribed
in this form on the gates of the city instead of any other defence.

Procopius doubts the efficacy of the promise; he adds, with characteristic
cynicism, 'The thought has occurred to me that if Christ did not write this
thing as it has been told, nevertheless, since men have come to believe in it,
he wishes to keep the city uncaptured for this reason, that he might never
give them cause for error.'
Belief in the impregnability of Edessa arose, as we have remarked, after
the time of St. Ephraim, but probably not long afterwards. With the disas-
trous defeat of Julian in 363, Mesopotamia was open to the Persians. The

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