The Afterlife of The Mandylion: Contested Narratives on The Fate of the ‘Image of Edessa’ And the Role of the Ulu Cami, Şanliurfa

Prof. Emma LOOSELY, University of Exeter

The Islamicisation of the erstwhile Christian city of Edessa after its Muslim conquest in 639 led in subsequent centuries to the conversion of the majority of the city’s churches into mosques. The last Christian inhabitants of the city were expelled from Urfa in 1924 in the aftermath of the Treaty of Lausanne and they ultimately settled in the Syrian city of Aleppo where the Urfali constitute a distinct city-within-a-city up until the present day.

Amongst their many legends, older Urfali recount the story of how after the Crusader County of Edessa was retaken by the Muslims, their cathedral was appropriated and rebuilt as the Great Mosque of al-Ruha (Urfa). This building has been equated with the Church of St. Stepanos that was coverted into the Ulu Cami in the 1170s. For the Urfali it was the upheaval associated with the fall of Crusader Edessa in 1144 that led to the disappearance of their most important relic the mandylion, the holy cloth on which Christ had left a miraculous imprint of his face, from St. Stepanos.

Whilst the majority of Urfali are Syrian Orthodox Christians, many of them believe that the panel residing in San Bartolomeo degli Armeni in Genoa is the true mandylion, in keeping with the dominant belief of the Catholic Church. However, interestingly, a number also believe (at the same time) that the relic was cast into the well of the church at the time of the conquest and that, since that event, the water of the well in the Ulu Cami has the ability to heal skin diseases.

This paper will examine the various strands of legend linking the site of the Ulu Cami with its earlier Christian origins as well as evaluating the extant Romano-Byzantine architecture still present on the site as we explore the intersection of Christianity and Islam in the History of Edessa/Urfa.