Zachary Ugolnik: Christ and His Copies: The Replication of Christ and His Image in the Syriac Tradition

This paper will compare the ability of Christ to project his likeness onto his apostles and the ability of Christ’s image to copy itself. A common theme in Syriac apostolic literature, including the Teaching of Addai and the History of John the Son of Zebedee, is the vision of a deified apostle, evocative of Christ’s transfiguration. Conversely, in the Acts of Judas Thomas and Acts of Mār Mārī, Christ appears in the likeness of those he has sent. The Holy Face of Edessa and the Image of Camulia in the Syriac Chronicle of Zachariah, as portraits of Christ, are also able to miraculously copy themselves. This characteristic attributed to acheiropoietos images—most likely dating to the sixth-century—was later emphasized during iconoclasm. We also find in this period an emphasis on seeing Christ in the mirror of the heart, particularly in the eighth-century John of Dalyatha and perhaps influenced by Gregory of Nyssa’s Homilies on the Song of Songs translated into Syriac around 500. Drawing from Sebastian Brock, The Holy Face and the Paradox of Representation (1996), and Guscin’s The Image of Edessa (2009), I will argue that Christ’s ability to imprint his portrait on living persons and material objects is grounded in the same Christology of mimesis, where Christ’s copy represents the presence of the original. These copies allow for Christ’s face to be seen while maintaining the transcendence of his face in its full glory. In encountering these likenesses, the viewer is motivated to also emulate Christ.