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"There is no description of Jesus in the New Testament
or in any contemporary source. Yet, in hundreds of icons, paintings, and even
coins, there is a common quality that enables us to identify Jesus in works
of art. Starting in the sixth century, artistic depictions of Jesus seem
inspired or even copied from a single source. "
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The
Oldest Views and Data on the External Appearance of Jesus.
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (§ 1).
The Church Fathers (§ 2).
Other Data (§ 3).Literary Data on the Oldest Pictures of Jesus.
Extant Pictures of Jesus.
Portraits Ostensibly Authentic.
Portraits by Painters, Sculptors, etc. (§ 1).
Alleged Supernatural Pictures (§ 2).Pictures of Jesus in Ancient Art.
Symbolical and Allegorical Representations (§ 1).
Representations as Teacher and Lawgiver (§ 2).Origin of the Pictures of Jesus.
Iconoclasm: The Religious and Political Destruction of Sacred Images or Monuments.
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (§ 1).
The Church Fathers (§ 2).
Other Data (§ 3).Literary Data on the Oldest Pictures of Jesus.
Extant Pictures of Jesus.
Portraits Ostensibly Authentic.
Portraits by Painters, Sculptors, etc. (§ 1).
Alleged Supernatural Pictures (§ 2).Pictures of Jesus in Ancient Art.
Symbolical and Allegorical Representations (§ 1).
Representations as Teacher and Lawgiver (§ 2).Origin of the Pictures of Jesus.
Iconoclasm: The Religious and Political Destruction of Sacred Images or Monuments.
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The Oldest Views and Literary Data on the External Appearance
of Jesus
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The Description of Publius Lentullus
The
following was taken from a manuscript in the possession of Lord Kelly, and in
his library, and was copied from an original letter of Publius Lentullus at
Rome. It being the usual custom of Roman Governors to advertise the Senate and
people of such material things as happened in their provinces in the days of
Tiberius Caesar, Publius Lentullus, President of Judea, wrote the following
epistle to the Senate concerning the Nazarene called Jesus.
"There appeared in these our days a man, of the Jewish Nation, of great
virtue, named Yeshua [Jesus], who is yet living among us, and of the
Gentiles is accepted for a Prophet of truth, but His own disciples call Him the
Son of God- He raiseth the dead and cureth all manner of diseases. A man
of stature somewhat tall, and comely, with very reverent countenance, such as
the beholders may both love and fear, his hair of (the colour of) the chestnut,
full ripe, plain to His ears, whence downwards it is more orient and curling and
wavering about His shoulders. In the midst of His head is a seam or partition
in His hair, after the manner of the Nazarenes. His forehead plain and very
delicate; His face without spot or wrinkle, beautified with a lovely red; His
nose and mouth so formed as nothing can be reprehended; His beard thickish, in
colour like His hair, not very long, but forked; His look innocent and mature;
His eyes grey, clear, and quick- In reproving hypocrisy He is terrible; in
admonishing, courteous and fair spoken; pleasant in conversation, mixed with
gravity. It cannot be remembered that any have seen Him Laugh, but many
have seen Him Weep. In proportion of body, most excellent; His hands and
arms delicate to behold. In speaking, very temperate, modest, and wise. A man,
for His singular beauty, surpassing the children of men"
The
letter from Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar
This is a reprinting
of a letter from Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar describing the physical
appearance of Jesus. Copies are in the Congressional Library in Washington,
D.C.
TO TIBERIUS CAESAR:
A young man appeared
in Galilee preaching with humble unction, a new law in the Name of the God that
had sent Him. At first I was apprehensive that His design was to stir up the
people against the Romans, but my fears were soon dispelled. Jesus of Nazareth
spoke rather as a friend of the Romans than of the Jews. One day I observed in
the midst of a group of people a young man who was leaning against a tree,
calmly addressing the multitude. I was told it was Jesus. This I could easily
have suspected so great was the difference between Him and those who were
listening to Him. His golden colored hair and beard gave to his appearance a
celestial aspect. He appeared to be about 30 years of age. Never have I seen a
sweeter or more serene countenance. What a contrast between Him and His bearers
with their black beards and tawny complexions! Unwilling to interrupt Him by my
presence, I continued my walk but signified to my secretary to join the group
and listen. Later, my secretary reported that never had he seen in the works of
all the philosophers anything that compared to the teachings of Jesus. He told
me that Jesus was neither seditious nor rebellious, so we extended to Him our
protection. He was at liberty to act, to speak, to assemble and to address the
people. This unlimited freedom provoked the Jews -- not the poor but the rich
and powerful.
Later, I wrote to
Jesus requesting an interview with Him at the Praetorium. He came. When the
Nazarene made His appearance I was having my morning walk and as I faced Him my
feet seemed fastened with an iron hand to the marble pavement and I trembled in
every limb as a guilty culprit, though he was calm. For some time I stood
admiring this extraordinary Man. There was nothing in Him that was repelling,
nor in His character, yet I felt awed in His presence. I told Him that there
was a magnetic simplicity about Him and His personality that elevated Him far
above the philosophers and teachers of His day.
Now, Noble Sovereign,
these are the facts concerning Jesus of Nazareth and I have taken the time to
write you in detail concerning these matters. I say that such a man who could
convert water into wine, change death into life, disease into health; calm the
stormy seas, is not guilty of any criminal offense and as others have said, we
must agree -- truly this is the Son of God.
Your most obedient
servant,
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate
"The
Archko Volume"
Another description
of Jesus is found in "The Archko Volume" which contains official
court documents from the days of Jesus. This information substantiates that He
came from racial lines which had blue eyes and golden hair. In a chapter
entitled "Gamaliel's Interview" it states concerning Jesus (Yeshua)
appearance:
"I asked him to
describe this person to me, so that I might know him if I should meet him. He
said: 'If you ever meet him [Yeshua] you will know him. While he is
nothing but a man, there is something about him that distinguishes him from
every other man. He is the picture of his mother, only he has not her smooth,
round face. His hair is a little more golden than hers, though it is as much
from sunburn as anything else. He is tall, and his shoulders are a little
drooped; his visage is thin and of a swarthy complexion, though this is from
exposure. His eyes are large and a soft blue, and rather dull and heavy....'
This Jew [Nazarite] is convinced that he is the Messiah of the world. ...this
was the same person that was born of the virgin in Bethlehem some twenty-six
years before..."
- The Archko Volume, translated by Drs.
McIntosh and Twyman of the Antiquarian Lodge, Genoa, Italy, from manuscripts in
Constantinople and the records of the Senatorial Docket taken from the Vatican
of Rome (1896) 92-93
Josephus, the "Antiquities Of The Jews"
This is a
quote from Josephus, from his historical first-century writings entitled,
"Antiquities Of The Jews," Book #18, Chapter 2, section 3.
"Now
there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man;
for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the
truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the
Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him
at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third
day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not
extinct at this day."
Cornelius
Tacitus, a Roman historian
Cornelius Tacitus was
a Roman historian who lived circa 56-120 AD. He is believed to have been born
in France or Gaul into a provincial aristocratic family. He became a senator, a
consul, and eventually governor of Asia. Tacitus wrote at least four historic
treatises. Around 115 AD, he published Annals in which he explicitly states
that Nero prosecuted the Christians in order to draw attention away from
himself for Rome's devastating fire of 64 AD. In that context, he mentions
Christus who was put to death by Pontius Pilate.
Christus: Annals
15.44.2-8
"Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome..."
"Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome..."
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Images and Pictures of Jesus
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1. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.
Neither the New
Testament nor the writings of the earlier post-Biblical Christian authors have
any statements regarding the personal appearance of Jesus, thus contrasting
sharply with the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha and especially with the works
of the Gnostics. In the "Shepherd" of Hermas (ix. 6, 12) the lofty
stature of the Son of God is emphasized, and according to the Gospel of Peter
he even towered above the heaven at his resurrection. Gnostic influence is
betrayed by visions in which Christ appears as a shepherd, or the master of a
ship, or in the form of one of his apostles, as of Paul and of Thomas, or again
as a young boy. In the Acts of Andrew and Matthew he assumes the figure of a
lad, and the same form is taken in the Acts of Peter and Andrew, in the Acts of
Matthew, and in the Ethiopic Acts of James. Manazara is healed by a youth in
the Acts of Thomas, and a beautiful lad appears to Peter and Theon in the Actus
Vercellensis, which also mentions the smile of friendship in the face of
Jesus. A handsome youth with smiling face appears at the grave of Drusiana in
the Acts of John, but certain widows to whom the Lord restored their sight saw
him an, aged man of indescribable appearance, though others perceived in him a
youth, and others still a boy. The youthfulness of Christ is also mentioned in
the life and passion of St. C棩lus and the vision of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas ascribed
to the risen Christ the face of a youth with snow-white hair.
2.
The Church Fathers.
The early Christian
authors were by no means concordant in their opinions of the personal
appearance of Jesus. Some, basing their judgment on Isa. Iii. and liii., denied
him all beauty and comeliness, while others, with reference to Ps. xlv. 3,
regarded him as the most beautiful of mankind. To the former class belong
Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Basil, Isidor of Peluaium, Theodoret,
Cyril of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Cyprian. Origen declared that Christ
assumed whatever form was suited to circumstances. It was not until the fourth
century that Chrysostom and Jerome laid emphasis upon the beauty of Jesus.
While Isidor of Pelusium had referred the phrase, "Thou art fairer than
the children of men" in Ps. xlv. 2,
to the divine virtue of Christ, Chrysotom interpreted the lack of comeliness
mentioned in Isa. liii. 2
as an allusion to the humiliation of the Lord. Jerome saw in the profound
impression produced by the first sight of Jesus upon disciples and foes alike a
proof of heavenly beauty in face and eyes. From the insults inflicted upon
Jesus Augustine concluded that he had appeared hateful to his persecutors,
while actuallly he had been more beautiful than all, since the virgins had
loved him.
3.
Other Data.
The Problem of the
life passion of St. C? us, and the external appearance of Jesus possessed but
minor interest for the Church Fathers, although the Catholic Acts of the Holy
Apostles ascribe to him an olive complexion, a beautiful beard, and flashing
eyes. Further details are first found in a letter to the Emperor Theophilus
attributed to John of Damascus (in MPG, xcv. 349), which speaks of the
brows which grew together, the beautiful eyes, the prominent nose, the curling
hair, the look of health, the black beard, the wheat-colored complexion, and
the long fingers, a picture which almost coincides with a hand-book on painting
from Mt. Athos not earlier than the sixteenth century. In like manner,
Nicephorus Callistus, who introduced his description of the picture of Christ (MPG,
cxlv. 748) with the words, "as we have received it from the
ancients," was impressed with the healthful appearance, with the stature,
the brown hair which was not very thick but somewhat curling, the black brows
which were not fully arched, the sea-blue eyes shading into brown, the
beautiful glance, the prominent nose, but brown beard of moderate length, and
the long hair which had not been cut since childhood, the neck slightly bent,
and the olive and somewhat ruddy complexion of the oval face. A slight
divergence from both these accounts is shown by the so-called letter of
Lentulus, the ostensible predecessor of Pontius Pilate, who is said to have
prepared a report to the Roman Senate concerning Jesus and containing a
description of him. According to this document Christ possessed a tall and
handsome figure, a countenance which inspired reverence and awakened love and
fear together, dark, shining, curling hair, parted in the center in Nazarene
fashion and flowing over the shoulders, an open and serene forehead, a face
without wrinkle or blemish and rendered more beautiful by its delicate
ruddiness, a perfect nose and mouth, a full red beard of the same color as the
hair and worn in two points and piercing eyes of a grayish-blue.
3D-face creator says Shroud proves resurrection
'Jesus
was more than just a spiritual event'
Published: 04/01/2010 at 11:25 PM
“People are not going to forget the
face of Jesus this Easter,” says Ray Downing, creator of the 3D computer
technology that produced the “real face of Jesus” from the image of the
crucified man in the Shroud of Turin.
The image was seen in a highly watched History Channel special broadcast Tuesday. The program will be replayed Saturday night and Easter
Sunday afternoon.
“Jesus was more than just a spiritual
event,” Downing said. “Studying the Shroud to produce the 3D face of Jesus, we
encountered scientific evidence that the resurrection was a real physical event
that happened in a moment of time 2,000 years ago.”
In the two-hour documentary, Downing
brought together science and religion by using cutting-edge computer technology
to create a life-like image from the Shroud of Turin of the man millions have
believed for centuries to be Jesus Christ.
The History Channel told WND the
documentary was viewed by more than 2.2 million people, an 83 percent increase
for the Tuesday 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Time slot in which the documentary
was first aired this week.
“The Shroud of Turin provides actual
scientific proof that Jesus rose from the dead,” Downing contended.
He said the shroud is encoded with a
message undecipherable until the most recent advances of modern particle
physics.
“Viewed through the lens of science,
the Shroud of Turin contains a code that when deciphered provides actual,
physical evidence that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was an actual,
historical event.”
WND asked the History Channel if the
documentary met their expectations.
“History Channel is doing what we feel
we do best,” explained spokeswoman Vicky Kahn. “We took an element of history
that people may have thought was fully explored and then we delved even
further.
“We found ‘The Real Face’ to be
incredibly awe-inspiring, taking an ancient relic and pulling out information
long buried inside.”
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The History Channel worked with Downing
of Studio
Macbeth to reveal the image embedded in the
linen fibers of the shroud. They turned the faint, negative-like, brownish-red
image into what may be the most accurate depiction ever made of the face of
Jesus Christ.
In a previous collaboration with the
History Channel, Downing brought Abraham Lincoln back to life in a special
entitled “Stealing Lincoln’s Body.”
To “reconstruct the real Lincoln,”
Downing worked from life masks made of the 16th president while he was alive,
as well as more than 100 photographs.
In recreating the face of Christ,
Downing was confronted with a greater challenge, as the Shroud of Turin
contains a faint image of a crucified man.
Moreover, the complex herringbone weave
of the shroud’s linen makes extracting the real image of the face and the body
difficult. The process is compounded by the fact that the shroud’s linen
contains actual human blood, centuries of dirt, burn holes and water stains from
a fire in 1532, and numerous other distortions.
“The presence of 3D information encoded
in a 2D image is quite unexpected as well as unique,” Downing said. “It is as
if there is an instruction set inside a picture for building a sculpture.”
For Downing, the Shroud of Turin
contains two intertwined stories.
“There is the story of the shroud
which, artistically and scientifically, is the story of a transition from two
dimensional to three dimensional,” he explained. “But there is as well the
story of the man in the shroud and a record of his transformation from death
back to life.”
The History Channel’s Kahn called “The
Face of Jesus” “quintessential history.”
“It fully met and exceeded our goals,”
she said.
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Kahn said the History Channel has had
an overwhelming response, not just from viewers, but from major media outlets
around the world, including from Brazil, Hong Kong and Australia.
Khan affirmed the History Channel looks
forward to working with Downing in the future.
“This has hit a chord,” Kahn said.
“People are fascinated by this story.”
Downing made national television
appearances on the Fox News Channel,
ABC’s “Good Morning America”
and MSNBC. International coverage included reports from the United Kingdom,
Australia and India.
The History Channel will replay “The
Real Face of Jesus?” documentary Saturday, April 3, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. It
will be broadcast again Easter Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern.
A DVD of “The Real Face of Jesus?”
documentary is available for purchase on the History Channel website.
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