medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Well, if this doesn't add interest and intrigue!
Here's what I've come up with from Raymond Brown's seminal commentary on John's Gospel (Anchor Bible Series, vol 29A). Bearing in mind I am no
linguist and some of the nuances of grammar are, sadly, lost on me.
Brown page 985-6 notes that there are discrepancies between the Synopitics and John, Luke referecining only the sindon (shroud) while John adds
reference to a face cloth or soudarion (latin "sudarium"). Brown delves at length into the disputes and questions about what the Greek terms commonly
translated as "rolled up" or "folded" mean. If I understand him correctly (and this is a cursory reading, not careful) he suggests that the face cloth is a type
of cloth possibly used to bind the head so the mouth does not drop open. The term in question could simply mean it is still in a "loop" having been just
removed from the deceased's head. Essentially - as I suspected - it seems that John is making a (typically Johannine) point about the divinity of Jesus, or at
least the activity of God. In this case, the wrappings appear as if they have just dropped off the body.
Francis J. Moloney, SDB in his volume from the Sacra Pagina series on John (Liturgical Press, 1998) adopts the "neatly folded" translation but also
references the concept of divine activity in the disappearance of Jesus' body. Essentially, the resurrection of Jesus is contrasted with the recussitation of
Lazarus who appears at the tomb still bound in his burial wrappings (head and body wrappings are mentioned in both accounts). Jesus appears freed of
those bindings of death. (q.v. page 520).
The main burial cloth seems to most commonly be referred to in the Gospels with the greek term othonia . . . if that is relevant.
Long and short, it seems - if these various discussions are correct - that the face cloth being separate from the main wrappings may not mitigate against the
image on the shroud itself.
Someone more erudite than myself may want to double check some of this.
George (the Much Less)
On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:40:43 +0000, George FERZOCO wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>The programme also made the claim that the Veronica has been in
>Oviedo since the fifth century, and that a minute comparison of the
>main bloodstain thereon with the main one on Christ's head as it
>appears on the Shroud of Turin shows the two stains to have almost
>identical outlines. (It would make sense that the Verionica's stain
>be larger than the one on the Shroud, given its direct contact with
>the body.)
>This led to the hypothesis that the Shroud had to have existed from
>at least the same time as the Veronica, i.e. the fifth century.
>George
>--
>George FERZOCO
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