Why and Who Created the Shroud of Turin
If the Shroud of Turin was not a genuine one or the one used for burial of Christ Jesus, why was it created by someone's hands?
It had been long hidden till the Shroud was openly, though not supported by the Vatican, displayed in a village of France around 1353 by a member of a house whose ancestors could be traced back to a French nobleman who joined the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) that destroyed Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
If somebody had created the Shroud in France, he should have tried hard to sell it to the Vatican at a big price. Or the owner of the Shroud should have advertised it more vigorously as he must have spent a great amount of money to have an artist create such a great piece of work. Looking at the situation where the Shroud surfaced in the 14th century, it is naturally thought that the Shroud was not created in France for money, fame, or a religious purpose.
But let's review how the Shroud could be traced back from France.
"The 'Missing Years' of the Shroud," by Alessandro Piana. An important piece of historical research which shows how after the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Shroud might have come into the possession of a French Crusader knight Otho de la Roche (1180-1324, who became the Duke of Athens and was an ancestor of Jeanne de Vergy, the wife of Geoffroi I de Charny (c.1300-1356), the first documented owner of the Shroud (see `tagline' quotes, Piana, 2007).
http://theshroudofturin.blogspot.jp/2008/03/shroud-news-january-2008.html
Geoffroi de Charny (c. 1300 – 19 September 1356) was a French knight and author of at least three works on chivalry. He was born around 1300. His father, Jean de Charny was the Lord of Lirey in Burgundy and his mother was Margaret de Joinville. His grandfather on his mother's side, Jean de Joinville, was a close friend of King Louis IX and author of his biography.
Geoffroi de Charny and his wife Jeanne de Vergy are the first reliably recorded owners of the Turin Shroud.[9][10] The first public exhibition of the Shroud is memorialized in The Pilgrimage Medal shown here and dating from that time. The medal shows the image of the Shroud[11] with very precise indications in spite of its small dimensions. On this medal one can see a frontal and dorsal view of the body, the linen herring patterns, four marks of burns as well as the coats of arms of the Charny and Vergy families. This pilgrimage medal is exhibited at the Cluny museum in Paris (France).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffroi_de_Charny#Shroud_of_Turin
Pilgrimage of Lirey representing the Shroud of Turin (Croquis d'Arthur Forgeais, 1865)
(Refer, also, to http://eereporter.blogspot.jp/2013/12/except-he-first-bind-strong-man.html)
So, it is very credible that the Shroud of Turin was taken from Constantinople by a French nobleman who joined the Fourth Crusade.
But, in Constantinople, it was not so openly displayed. Again, if somebody had created the Shroud in Constantinople or the Eastern Empire, he should have tried hard to sell it to the Empire at a big price. Some record of such transaction must have been left. Or the owner of the Shroud, namely the Emperor in Constantinople, should have advertised it more vigorously as he must have spent a great amount of money to have an artist create such a great piece of work, for fame or a religious purpose. But the Shroud seems to have been only set up in the palace of Constantinople without much advertising its existence to the whole Christian world.
Accordingly, it is very doubtful that any genius created the Shroud of Turin or the image of Christ Jesus on it, since such a genius must have been rewarded greatly or such undertaking must have been praised greatly so that some record about the creator or the episode must have been left. But, in a great disproportionate manner to the significance of the work of art, the Shroud of Turin, no authentic information about how it was created, obtained, or discovered by the imperial court in Constantinople is available.
All these facts suggest that the origin of the Shroud was very extraordinary. And, some researchers link the Shroud to Edessa, an old city north of Syria, since there is some legend about the linkage between a king of Edessa and a disciple of Christ Jesus or Christ Jesus Himself.
So, maybe a follower of Christ called Addai might bring the shroud those women had found in the tomb to Edessa. In addition, Addai might have been the young man sitting in the tomb when the women entered it. Anyway, a long story started up to Turin, today.
http://eereporter.blogspot.jp/2013/12/mt.html
And the Shroud was brought to Constantinople as the Eastern Empire extended its power to the region around Edessa. It was not openly announced globally, but its influence could be seen in pictures of scenes in the Bible or Christ Himself that were created in Constantinople or the Eastern Empire but not in Western Europe or around Rome.
The Shroud of Turin is an old piece of linen about 14’ 3” long and 3’ 7” wide. Believed by many to be the actual sindon used to wrap Jesus in the tomb, its authenticity suffered from having no historical documentation before the mid-14th cen. Researcher Ian Wilson’s historical reconstruction has the Shroud folded, prior to the 6th century, so only the face was visible. It was hidden by its guardians’ in Edessa (modern Urfa, Turkey) so that its true nature leaked out only slowly. Wilson postulates that sometime after its transfer to Constantinople in the 10th century the Byzantines quietly accepted it as the NT shroud, and this was reflected in new art motifs beginning in the 11th century. An almost nude Christ laid on a long cloth with hands folded over his loins and missing thumbs were some of the unusual features in this art, features not depicted this way before the arrival of the Edessa Image.
Occasionally some of this artwork displays a zigzag pattern resembling the Shroud’s herringbone weave. Additionally, the white arrow above points to three holes with an fourth offset hole in an “L” shaped pattern that is repeated in one 12th century picture, and helping to convince many observers that the SOT must have been the model for this new post-10th century art. If true, then the Shroud does date at least two hundred years before the 1988 C14 results of 1260-1390. Wikimedia Commons
11th century ivory - within a hundred years of the arrival of the Edessa Icon Byzantine art suddenly produces Lamentation art forms showing Jesus laid out on a large shroud in a manner resembling the Turin Shroud. Why? Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. 2 (Passion), lower panel of no. 595
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2013/03/28/The-Shroud-of-Turins-Earlier-History-Part-Three-The-Shroud-of-Constantinople.aspxMoreover, if somebody had acquired such a great technique of painting or image creation, he should have applied it to other works. But, there were no works of art created with a similar skill.
Put simply, the Shroud of Turin was created as the only one of such type of works based on such a technique without any records about its creator or backgrounds, while it was not so spectacularly advertised by owners of the Shroud through its long history though a great effort to create it must have been paid off by flashy recognition of the work in grand display.
In the case that it was produced by a monk in a monastery or the similar secretly, all the more some sort of evidence must have been left in the Christian world, since such an act was so grave negatively or ironically positively to the Church.
It means that every owner of the Shroud in each period, namely in France, Athens, Constantinople, Edessa, etc., must have been uncertain about its origin. And, the only reasonably possible origin is the tomb around Jerusalem where Christ Jesus was buried and some women found his dead body had been gone with only a shroud and so on left there.
So, we have to reconsider the meaning of the Carbon-14 dating test on the Shroud that was conducted in 1988 (leading to estimation of the date to be 1260-1390), since the Shroud cannot be made up in France around 1353 as I have discussed here.
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Act 10:17 Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate,
Act 10:18 And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there.
Act 10:19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
Act 10:20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.