The Christ Pantocrator icon of St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai is most certainly based on the Shroud of Turin.
These overlays of the Shroud with the Christ Pantocrator affirm the depiction of what the artist thinks the man on the Shroud looked like in life. This is the Eastern Orthodox Christian view of Christ.
I believe Jesus looked closer to this portrait by Rembrandt, but he probably would've wore more close cropped hair (Rembrandt was a student of Caravaggio's works, see the 'Doubting Thomas' Jesus below this portrait, they are very similar in looks):
or, by far my favorite, maybe like Caravaggio's 'Doubting Thomas' Jesus, with the Jewish curls on the side of his head:
or maybe just like this:
Jesus was Jewish and of middle-eastern descent. He grew up in rugged territory and walked under the hot sun everywhere he went. He was a carpenter by trade, he worked hard, and he probably had a sturdy physique due to that line of work. Since he was middle-eastern it is a good bet that he would have had darker skin and most likely dark, curly hair. He probably did not have long hair, as Paul the Apostle writes, [14] Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, [15] but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. (1 Corinthians 11:14-15 ESV) The prophet Isaiah said this about Jesus, the Messiah to come, he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2 ESV) So, Jesus was an ordinary looking, every day Jewish guy...as far as looks go. It was His character that was Divinely wonderful, it was His very being and essence that shined. When a person looked at Him, what did they see? Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:6-7 ESV)
No one knows what Jesus physically looked like when he was on the earth. There is little reference to his looks in the Bible. The beauty of Jesus is his Word and Hope, one passage being, [16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. [19] And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16-21 ESV)
He came into this world to testify to the Truth, John 18:37. What hope have you? Self is not the answer...I know the broken self.
He came into this world to testify to the Truth, John 18:37. What hope have you? Self is not the answer...I know the broken self.
Actually, he would have had long hair, as anyone set apart to God at that time would have (Nazarite vow). The verse cited above from St. Paul is sadly misinterpreted by many in the West, who have no cultural measuring stick related to the ancient Church by which to judge just how long hair must be to constitute, "long" as defined in this verse. The other issue is that the word used for 'hair' here is not the generic word, "pallia", but rather is "kome" (root word of comet), more accurately rendered as, "Coiff"/"Teased out hair", referring to men teasing out and styling their hair in an effeminate manner like wealthier women, at later, under Roman influence, some "fancy men" would do.
ReplyDeleteThe ancient Church Canons (from when the Church was still totally united, before the Great Schism of 1054 in which the Romans broke away following several novel doctrines and practices, indluding adding the phrase, "fillioque" - "and the son" to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (in refernce to the procession of the Holy Spirit) address this issue specifically. The Canons say that a man should not have bleached hair, wear a "rat" (toupee), nor have hair so long it could be tucked into his belt. It also didn't apply to priests, who as Israel's priests (Presbyters) have always down, did not trim their hair or beards, as is still the general practice with monks and priests in the East. these Canons are still well known to and observed by Orthodox Christians the world over.
Those "Jewish Curls" were a medieval innovation, not part of ancient Jewish practice, as well, as is the Yarmulke (the ancient Israelites wore head coverings which were more like towels, with blue stripes on the end and with "tzitzit", tassels, on the end, as can be seen in use today and in many icons, including the Jewish ones at the ancient Synagogue of Dura Europos).
As to the carbon-dating issue regarding the shroud, it has been found that the portion from which the sample was taking for carbon dating was actually a medieval repair, totally invisible to the naked eye, but confirmed by microscopic re-examination in a process kept secret (it was time consuming and *expensive*) by the French families who invented and practiced it. In a process known as re-weaving, actual individual thread fibers painstakingly woven back into cloth), which had repaired a portion which had been previously damaged. You need to check the most recent evidence surrounding the Shroud, the most prominent Icon of Himself which the Lord gave to the world. It is a 3D Quantum hologram, among other revelations, and the dust in the shroud itself, as well as delicate images of flowers burnt into the shroud, are all from First Century Jerusalem, something an medieval forger could not have known or pulled off. It truly is an amazing relic left to us by the Lord.
I was solidly a skeptic until I had reviewed more recent evidence starting in 2007. Aside from the fact that Jesus has appeared to many people throughout the ages, both holy and "wicked", sightings which verify the form of his depiction as we see in the St. Katherine icon you posted here. Along with the Sudarium (head cloth), which matches up perfectly with the shroud, even though it was long ago separated from it, the shroud gives powerful testimony to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.