On August 29, according to the new style, the Orthodox world celebrates the transfer from Edessa to Constantinople of the Image of Jesus Christ Not Made by Hands, which occurred in 944.
Tradition testifies that at the time of the Savior's preaching in the city of Edessa, Augar (Abgar, Augar) ruled. He was struck all over his body by leprosy. The rumor of great miracles performed by the Lord spread throughout Syria and reached Augar. Not seeing the Savior, Augar believed in Him as the Son of God and wrote a letter asking him to come and heal him.
With this letter, he sent his painter Ananias to Palestine, instructing him to paint an image of the Divine Teacher. Ananias came to Jerusalem and saw Jesus Christ surrounded by the people. He could not approach Him because of the large crowd of people listening to the Savior's sermon.
Then he stood on a high stone and tried to paint the image of Jesus Christ from afar, but he was unable to do this. The Savior Himself called him over, called him by name and handed over a short letter for Augar, in which, having pleased the faith of the ruler, he promised to send His disciple to heal from leprosy and instruct him to salvation. Then the Lord asked to bring water and ubrus (canvas, towel). He washed his face, wiped it with rubbish, and His Divine Face was imprinted on him. Ananias brought Ubrus and the letter of the Savior to Edessa.
Abgar received the shrine with reverence and received healing; only a small part of the traces of the terrible disease remained on his face until the arrival of the disciple promised by the Lord. He was the apostle from seventy Saint Thaddeus, who read the Gospel and baptized the believing Augar, and then all the inhabitants of Edessa. Having written the words «Christ God on the Image Not Made by Hands, everyone, trusting in You, will not be ashamed», Augar decorated it and installed it in a niche above the city gates.
For many years, the inhabitants maintained the pious custom of worshiping the Image Not Made by Hands when they passed through the gate. But one of Augar's great-grandchildren, who ruled Edessa, fell into idolatry. He decided to take the Image off the city wall. The Lord commanded the Bishop of Edessa to hide His image in a vision. The bishop, arriving at night with his clergy, lit a lamp in front of him and laid him with a clay board and bricks. Many years passed and the inhabitants forgot about the shrine.
However, when in 545 the Persian king Khozroy I besieged Edessa, and the situation of the city seemed hopeless, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bishop Eulabius and ordered him to take out from the walled-up niche an Image that should save the city from the enemy. Having dismantled the niche, the bishop acquired the Image Not Made by Hands: a lamp was burning in front of him, and there was a similar image on the clay board that covered the niche. A religious procession with the Image Not Made by Hands was made along the walls of the city, and the Persian army retreated.
In 630, the Arabs took possession of Edessa, but they did not interfere with the worship of the Image Not Made by Hands, the fame of which spread throughout the East. In 944, Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (912—959) wished to move the Image to the then capital of Orthodoxy and bought it from the emir — of the city ruler.
With great honors, the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands and the letter He wrote to Augar were transferred by the clergy to Constantinople. On August 29 (new style), the Image of the Savior was staged in the Pharos Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Let us remind you that on August 29 the Third Savior, called Orekhov, is celebrated.