c. 544; recorded c. 593–594

Edessa’s image is credited with protecting the city

Evagrius later reports an image during the Persian siege of 544.

Writing decades later, Evagrius describes Edessa’s image as not made by human hands. This supports an image tradition by the late sixth century, not an identification with the Turin Shroud.

In 544 the Sasanian king Khosrow I besieged Edessa. The sixth-century historian Procopius reports the city’s defense and the local belief that Christ’s promise to Abgar protected Edessa, but he does not mention a cloth image in his account. Evagrius Scholasticus, writing later in the sixth century, adds that the defenders brought out an acheiropoietos image associated with Christ and Abgar during a subsequent siege episode.¹

What the surviving source says

The timeline date must separate the military event from the written testimony: 544 is the siege; Evagrius composed his Ecclesiastical History around 593–594. His narrative describes the image as “not made by hands” and links it to the city’s protection. It is the earliest clear surviving testimony to a specific Christ image at Edessa, not a contemporary military log.¹²

Historical significance and limits

The report establishes a late-sixth-century tradition that Edessa possessed and invoked a sacred image. It does not describe a full-body burial shroud. Procopius’ silence and Evagrius’ later addition make the development of the story visible rather than proving an uninterrupted first-century custody.²³

Sources and further reading

1. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History 4.27. Consult the cited passage in the full source and its transmission context; the article distinguishes the source’s wording from later interpretation.
2. Otangelo Grasso, The Image That Should Not Exist: A Scientific Investigation of the Shroud of Turin (2026), ch. 2, “Origins and Historical Record,” pp. 23–31, and ch. 17, “The Mandylion, Art, and the Historical Record,” pp. 232–243. Author synthesis; not an independent witness.
3. Otangelo Grasso, From Forensics to Faith (2026), ch. 2, “Pre-1355 History,” pp. 32–125, and ch. 3, “6th to 14th Century History,” pp. 126–194. The book advances a proposed reconstruction; claims are assessed here against the primary texts.
4. Otangelo Grasso, Chronological List of Pre-1356 Literature Mentioning the Shroud and Christ’s Burial Cloth (20 July 2025), pp. 1–9. Prepared with AI assistance and used as a research checklist; its identifications and confidence labels are not treated as verified facts.
5. Mark Guscin, The Tradition of the Image of Edessa (source study). Further reading or contextual source retained from this event’s earlier bibliography.
6. Andrea Nicolotti, From the Mandylion of Edessa to the Shroud of Turin (critical study). Further reading or contextual source retained from this event’s earlier bibliography.