(Click to enlarge.)Twin Brother of Christ Jesus
There are no specific descriptions about the outlook of Christ Jesus in the Bible.
However, people at the time sometimes called Him rabbi, which means He must have looked exactly typical of a rabbit at the time: neither like a wild or monstrous preacher nor like a frail man.
When Roman soldiers arrested Him, they needed help from a spy called Judas Iscariot to identify Christ Jesus. It means that Christ Jesus looked like others at average. (Or, it tells that there must have been somebody looking like Christ Jesus among His followers, such as His twin brother.)
Especially when Christ Jesus was alone at a well, a Samaritan woman did not avoid him while she was trying to haul water out of the well. Christ Jesus must have looked somewhat fine to the eyes of women at the time.
And, it remarkably matches the figure of the holy shroud of Turin. It also fits into so many images of Christ Jesus ever painted by various artists in these 1000 years.
PART I: Acts of Thomas
Edessa is a key place in discussion about the history of the holy shroud of Turin.
St. Thomas is said to have had some association there.
The acts of Thomas written by Jewish poet Bardesan the at[clarification needed] 220 AD indicate that St. Thomas was martyred in Western India at Indus Valley at present-day Pakistan.[1]The Acts of Thomas, sometimes called by its full name The Acts of Judas Thomas: 2nd/3rd century (c. 180-230 The Apostles cast lots as to where they should go, and to Thomas, twin brother of Jesus, fell India. Thomas was taken to king Gondophares the ruler of Indo-Parthian Kingdom as an architect and carpenter by Habban. St. Thomas spent the money allotted to him by King Gondophares for the construction of the Palace to poor. When the king's seriously ill brother Gad convinced the king that he actually saw the palace built by St. Thomas in heaven for King Gondophares, the king allowed St. Thomas to leave the country.[2] The journey to India is described in detail. After a long residence in the court at Taxila he ordained leaders for the Church, and left in a chariot for the kingdom of Mazdei. According to the Acts of St. Thomas, the Kingdom of Mazdai, in Western India, Indus Valley, was ruled by King Misdeus. Parts of Indus Valley were then ruled by Persians called the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. Some Greeks Satraps, the descendents of Alexander the Great, were vassals to the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.[3][4] King Misdeus was infuriated when St. Thomas converted the Queen Tertia, Son Juzanes.Sister in law Princess Mygdonia(A province of Mesopotamia) and her friend Markia. King Misdeus led St. Thomas outside the city of Calamina and ordered four soldiers to take him to the nearby hill where the soldiers speared St. Thomas and killed him. Syphorus was elected the first Presbyter by the brethren after the death of St. Thomas while Juzanes the prince became the deacon. The names of the King Misdeus,Tertia,Juzanes, Syphorus, Markia and Mygdonia suggest Greek descent or Hellenised Persian descendency.[5] There, after performing many miracles, he dies a martyr. During the rule of Vasudeva I, the Kushan emperor, the bones of St. Thomas were transferred from Indus Valley to Edessa.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Thomas
So, Edessa seems to be important, since it was the place that the holy shroud of Turin was kept according to a study.
The simple review of historical trace of the holy shroud is as follows:
Probably the 7th April 30, or perhaps the 3rd April 33
Crucifixion of Jesus
~ 57
Ma'nu VI inherits the throne of Edessa. Return to paganism, and persecution of the Christians
In 544 AD, in the city of Edessa, a folded burial cloth bearing an image, believed to be of Jesus, was found above a gate in the city's walls. We know from various history sources that the cloth was a burial shroud with a faint full-body image of Jesus and bloodstains positioned on the image...
943 - 944
Siege of Edessa by the Emperor of Byzantium. The image of Edessa is given to him in exchange for his lifting the siege, together with the payment of a large sum of money, and the liberation of Muslim prisoners
The Mandylion, the name given by the Byzantians to the image of Edessa, leaves for Samosate and then Constantinople
On August 15, 944 AD, the Image of Edessa was forcibly transferred from Edessa to the Byzantine capital city of Constantinople. It clearly was a burial cloth with a full image and bloodstains...
In 1204, French and Venetian knights of the Fourth Crusade besieged the city and on April 13 entered and looted the city. The Edessa Image certainly seems to have been among the treasures taken by the looters.
~ 1205
The Holy Shroud is probably at Athens
~ 1350
First display of the Holy Shroud at Lirey (Champagne, France)
1353
The knight, Chevalier Geoffrey I de Charny, obtains from the French King, Jean le Bon, a grant to found the Collegiate Church at Lirey
1354
The Holy Shroud is entrusted to the Collegiate Church at Lirey
1453
The Holy Shroud is transferred to Duke Louis de Savoie by Marguerite de Charny, and moved to Chambery.
1532
Fire in the Holy Chapel at Chambery during the night of 3 to 4 December ; The Holy Shroud is damaged by the fire, and by the water used to fight the fire.
1578
14th of September : the Holy Shroud arrives to stay permanently in Turin.
1988
Carbon 14 dating indicates that the Shroud dates between 1260 et 1390.
1997
Scientific Symposium of Nice : Confirmation that the formation of the image on the Turin Shroud is not the work of man
http://iesvs.tripod.com/SINDONOLOGY.htm
http://www.shroudofturin4journalists.com/history.htm
As for identity of St. Thomas, his being a twin brother of Christ Jesus Himself is supported by the Egyptian Nag Hammadi library.
Few texts identify Thomas' other twin, though in the Book of Thomas the Contender, part of the Nag Hammadi library, it is said to be Jesus himself: "Now, since it has been said that you are my twin and true companion, examine yourself..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Apostle
So, it is likely that after the resurrection of Christ Jesus the shroud that had covered the dead body of Christ Jesus was handed to His twin brother St. Thomas.
Then, St. Thomas must have been to Edessa for some reason. He must have carried the holy shroud to Edessa and left it there as he traveled to the east as far as the Indus Valley. So, a legend came to exist that the bones of St. Thomas were transferred from Indus Valley to Edessa, since the holy shroud was in Edessa.
But how was it carried from Edessa to Byzantium and as far as to France and then Turin, Italy?
PART II: Twin Shroud
The holy shroud of Turin might not be the true or original one.
But, it might be a perfect copy of the true Holy Shroud of Christ Jesus.
As St. Thomas was a twin brother of Christ Jesus, the holy shroud of Turin might be a perfect copy or a twin of the true Holy Shroud of Christ Jesus.
So then, when the copy was made? Around 1300? But where and how? And, where is the true Holy Shroud?
Indeed, the mystery thickens only further.
*** *** *** ***
Mecca is between Cairo and Ethiopia.
Mecca is between the two Coptic regions when Islam emerged, exactly.
But, Islam established itself by denying deity of Christ Jesus.
Indeed, according to a manner of teaching the story of Christ Jesus without being based on the orthodox Bible, Christ Jesus could be described as someone without deity although He resurrected.
An Israelite being God must have been truly a difficult idea for people living in the southwest of Jerusalem or Palestine around 600, though Mecca is situated between the two Coptic regions: Cairo and Ethiopia.
[News on Japan: Noda Says Japan to Freeze Financial Assets of Libya’s Qaddafi
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-07/noda-says-japan-to-freeze-financial-assets-of-libya-s-qaddafi.html]
Luk 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Luk 3:9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.