Feast of the Assumption
and the Shroud?
in this Byzantine icon commemorating the Dormition of Mary to the Image from
the Shroud on the left and
note the same features.
The reason we believe we can make this comparison is because when the fall came about, the first man and woman had the remarkable privilege of seeing God (for they “hid themselves from the Face of the Lord” Genesis 3:8) who walked amidst them. Still — and unbelievably — that was not enough for mankind in its free will to fall victim to the lie of our enemy.
It is the same today in an extremely similar fashion when we compare the world’s reaction to the Holy Face of Jesus and His incredible Passion before our eyes on the Shroud of Turin. The world, despite all the scientific evidence and research that supports authenticity, still — and unbelievably — falls for the lie of our enemy that the cloth is a medieval “fake”!
What is it about mankind?
Why are we so willing to accept that which is not true?
Recently, we received a newsletter from friends of ours in sindonology. They were discussing a National Geographic special about the Shroud. This supposed “prestigious” organization broadcast a program several times — under the false and misleading misnomer by using the word “documentary” — that the Shroud was “some type of photograph produced by Leonardo da Vinci.”
This is an old lie about the Shroud and was originally put out by two people in the 1990s who really do have deep connections to freemasonry (funding particularly comes to mind when we state this Truth).
It is easy to defeat this lie, but the problem is most people don’t want to believe the Truth! Instead, for some inexplicable reason (could it be they really don’t love Jesus?) they prefer to not only accept the lie but to propagate it!
When our friends in sindonology confronted the producer of the National Geographic special on the absurdity of this claim and its complete falseness, not only within the scientific facts regarding the cloth, but also in its confirmed history, the producer of the special responded that while that “might be true,” the concept of da Vinci as the Shroud’s “creator” “makes such a great story!”
We wonder when this “producer” reaches the end of his earthly life and is confronted with the true Creator as the Just Judge if he will continue to think it was “such a great” idea that he purposely spread a major falsehood to negate the Truth and influence the Shroud can and should have!
For it is not our miracle, but the Lord’s, who gave this great Gift to the world!
It is so easy to refute the claim that Leonardo da Vinci, one of the world’s greatest geniuses, had anything to do with the Shroud.
First, in the scientific realm, the Shroud is NOT a photograph — it just looks that way to us and has certain properties that react to light in various ways during multiple development processes — many of which were not invented until the 20th Century!
The Image on the Shroud is not made of paint; for, unlike a photograph, it contains human blood, and after this blood stained the cloth, a secondary process removed oxygen and water from 1/500th of inch within the linen fibers themselves. These fibers have rapidly aged due to this removal, thereby creating the Image. For anyone to claim they have “recreated” the Shroud — as some skeptical idiots do whose opinions are not worth a “nickel”! — they would first have to demonstrate the application of human blood and then the formation of an anatomically correct Image around the stains with skeletal information included! Can anyone make a photograph like this today?
The second, and most hysterically funny way to dispute the “Leonardo da Vinci theory” is so outrageous, we cannot even believe anyone would buy this nonsense nor propagate it as a “documentary” funded by such a supposedly “scientific” organization as the National Geographic. (By the way, this organization was founded by freemasons and many sponsors today are lodge members as well!) In fact, this Truth PROVES that the people behind the propagation of these lies about the Shroud cannot possibly be interested in reality when it comes to the spiritual battle for they IGNORE essential facts to promote their doctrine that the Image is not of Jesus! (And then we wonder why these same people are constantly promoting the “evolution” theory!)
Why is the da Vinci “theory” so outrageously funny?
It is a documented historical fact that the Shroud of Turin, as we call it today, was first displayed in Europe in Lirey, France in 1355.
How does this dispute the “Leonardo da Vinci theory”?
Simple.
LEONARDO DA VINCI WASN’T BORN UNTIL 1452!
But that didn’t stop the National Geographic from false advertising!
We guess Leonardo was such a genius that before he was even in his mother’s womb, he had already conceived and executed the world’s 1st photograph!
What a joke! And the book in which this “theory” was originally published made the
New York Times best seller-list! By the way, the people behind this “theory” will latter lend their names to propagating another “theory” that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were “married” and had children! Isn’t it interesting that today one of the best-sellers on the market again brings this heresy and blasphemy together in a book called “The Da Vinci Code”?! And what an old heresy it is! Can’t these blasphemers think of anything new?
The people who promote this nonsense — and gain worldly fame and riches in the process — do not believe in Christianity; nor do they want anyone else to believe as well. The original authors of the da Vinci “theory” on the Shroud also tried to convince their readers that Leonardo did not believe in Jesus, and his paintings, which are full of Christian meaning, instead, according to these idiots, contain “secret” “gnostic” symbolism! The stupidity of this will be made clear as we outline their next supposition.
While acknowledging the fact that the Image on the Shroud truly shows a Crucified human being, the da Vinci “theory,” according to the idiots who propagate this nonsense, holds that Leonardo photographed a “medieval” victim! That is, of course, expect the person’s face, which is really Leonardo, so they say, who, we guess, since this is the scientific reality, had his own head pierced with sharp objects, beaten and battered until our medieval genius was bleeding profusely and, don’t forget this part, rigor mortis set in! Then, after being dead, Leonardo got up and took his own photograph! Now that’s a genuis!
We must, as believers, understand how serious the lies against the Shroud are and who is ultimately behind them. Could it be the same character who told mankind the first lie?!
For in reality, the true Genius and Wisdom behind the Shroud is none other than God Himself! Great photographic-like quality using the only material You had at Hand to capture the Image of Yourself in Resurrection, Lord — quite impressive!
At the same time, we must not forget that these lies about the cloth are propagated by a media that is infested with heresy and masonic $$$. As we have stated before, whether those at the bottom of freemasonry know it or not, the flow of money by those at the top to support these types of projects is the ultimate source for this antichrist activity. (Remember, as we pointed out in our articles about freemasonry, the “illuminati” believes in a two-god system and they believe they will win, or so they foolishly think. They have a motto: “success is your proof,” and the more “successful” they are, the more they believe they are following the right “god”!)
In previous articles, we have talked about the fact that so many of these heretics and skeptics against the Shroud get away with their stupidity because most people do not know the history of the cloth: a complex story weaved over two millennia.
With that in mind, we have not forgotten the headline we began this article with.
And as we approach the great Feast of the Assumption, we want to again show the deep connection between Mother and Son. A connection not of mankind’s connivance, but of God’s choosing, which, when we step back for an overview of history — His Story — we can see the Hand of our Lord at work!
After the Lord’s cousin, St. Jude Thaddeus, takes the burial cloth of Jesus from Jerusalem to Turkey, it will remain in the city of Edessa until 944 A.D.
The emperors of Constantinople were well aware of the cloth’s presence in the city as even Justinian II had coins struck with the Image of Christ depicted on the linen in 692 A.D.— the first known striking in history!
And this is the point of this article.
The emperors of Constantinople, fearful of the moslem iconoclasts who now at this time in 944 controlled the city, will attack Edessa in order to secure the Lord’s burial cloth from their hands!
Despite negotiations to pay the believers in mohammed 12,000 pieces of silver in exchange for the cloth, the followers of the false “god” allah refused to give up what they knew was worth a king’s ransom! But the Byzantines outwitted the moslems, for they had surrounded the city and, after a month, food was in short supply. It was then that the forced exchange was made; and with great pomp and ceremony, the Byzantines marched back to Constantinople with their victory in hand.
It is here, we believe, that the Hand of God becomes evident, for the Byzantines will not reach the city of Constantinople with the world’s greatest relic until August 14, 944 A.D. Why is this significant? Because the commander of the army dares not enter the city gates with the Lord’s burial cloth until the next day!
What is he waiting for?
The Byzantines are waiting to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary — a holy day since 451 — and they will not bring Jesus’ burial cloth into the city until His Mother’s feast day!
On August 15th, the gates of the city open wide to the conquering army and a weeklong jubilee of rejoicing begins! 1,059 years ago, the Shroud and the Feast of the Assumption of Mary became ever intertwined in history.
Why do we, in the West, not recognize this simple Truth?
We must remember that a century later, the Kingdom of God on Earth will be broken in two in the Great Schism between the Latins and Greeks in 1054. And, what we are explaining, is that all the history and knowledge of the Shroud in the 1st Millennium has remained in the iconography and feasts of today’s Orient Church.
As a prime example, the Orient Church continues to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Mandylion: a Byzantine word reserved for one object and one object only — Christ’s “Mantle.” This is where we get the idea of a “medallion” (Mandylion) depicting the Face of Jesus on icons representing St. Jude!
When does the Eastern Church celebrate the Feast of the Holy Mandylion? The day after the Feast of the Assumption of Mary! And the reason? For it was on August 16th that the people of Constantinople — a city now known as Istanbul — carried the Lord’s burial cloth in a special ceremony around the walls of the city. And from there, in a very holy ceremony, placed the cloth upon the “Throne of Divine Mercy” in the great temple dedicated to the Mother of God, Hagia Sophia!
Today, we think of St. Peter’s as a grand Church, but we must remember at this time the great building that is synonymous with the Vatican was not yet built in its present form! Hagia Sopia — Holy Wisdom in Greek — was the great Cathedral of Christiandom in 944!
And in that year, the proof of Her Son’s Resurrection had come to rest in the Heart of the Church Justinian the Great had built in 532 at, as he claimed, the instructions of God! A Church that already contained so many incredible relics, such as Madonna Nicopeia. The Word again, in the Image of the Resurrected Christ, rested in the Ark of the New Covenant, Mary’s temple in Constantinople!
But it was not to remain.
For the schism of 1054 will leave the Orient at odds with the Vicar of Christ — a scourging of Christ’s Body in the Sorrowful Mysteries of the 2nd Millennium. By 1204, the Lord will allow the sacking of the city by knights of the 4th Crusade. Here, we must remember that Jesus turns evil into good when He Wills to do so — and this is a prime example.
Through the evil of the Crusaders pillaging the city of Constantinople, the Lord allowed His burial cloth to be brought, instead, to the Church which He founded on the Rock of Peter. A Church with severed ties to the East.
The people of Constantinople, whenever under attack from any enemy, but especially against the threat of islamic domination, had relied on the Lord’s burial cloth and Our Lady of Victory (Madonna Nicopeia) to secure their safety from those who would destroy God’s Kingdom from without.
But it was from within — not without — that the people had caused the Body of Christ to be torn in two. Despite the treasures and blessings of God, the patriarchs of Constantinople (and those of the West!) had let politics, economics and theological disputes come between them and Rome. As such, the Lord removed His Hand of Protection from the city, the “New Rome” — first by allowing its great treasures to be stolen and taken to Europe. Then, as we have often stated before, at the people’s own request in their pride to prefer the “sultan’s turban rather than the pope’s tiara.” At the people’s request, the Lord allowed their city to be overrun by the islamic horde in 1453, never to recover again.
It is a sad lesson. One the world still has not learned. In fact, one the world insists on duplicating.
For today, the Shroud resides only within one Church — a Church whose dogmas are from the Holy Spirit. While we can dispute its leadership, condemn those who are immoral in our hierarchy and question decisions or indecisions, there is no doubt that God is speaking to the world loud and clear through His burial cloth.
The Catholic Church, with all its faults, blemishes, corrupt leaders, lukewarm parishioners, or any other obvious immoral problems, is still the Church of Christ.
Why?
Simple.
Nowhere else on this planet will one find the “fullness of Truth.” A Church that not only believes (and let’s avoid the “new” “church” here) in the Assumption, but in the Immaculate Conception; for the churches in the Orient do not believe in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception! A Church that not only believes in the Eucharist, but in the messages of Fatima as well; for the churches in the Orient do not believe in the approved visions of Fatima! A Church that not only believes in Mary as the Queen of Heaven, but in a vicar who, when he speaks from the Chair of Peter, is infallible; for the churches in the Orient do not believe in papal infallibility!
But before we pat ourselves as Catholics on the back for this “fullness,” we must remember that the churches of the Orient have NOT changed their liturgy in the last millennium! We must remember that those in the Orient would not DARE receive the Body of Christ in their hands or in a standing position! We must remember that those in the Orient receive both the Body AND Blood of Christ in the wonderful celebration of the Eucharist during Intinction.
And, most importantly, we must remember that those in the Orient recognize the Shroud for what it is — the burial cloth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through two millennia of incredible iconography, they recognize the Face of their Savior that today is seen on a cloth in Turin once called the Mandylion.
And they also recognize in Her fullness, the Queen assumed into Heaven who sits at the Right Hand of Her Son as our Mediatrix.
For it was the Eastern Church that first understood and made the connection between the Shroud and the Feast of the Assumption of Mary!
Can we, in our “fullness,” make the same statement regarding those who claim today to be our leaders, not only in our hierarchy, but those who blindly follow them?
© 2003 Agnus Dei Presents!
treasures shown below.
to 1192 A.D., proving both the carbon dating of the cloth and the ‘da Vinci’ theory completely false! No one knows how old the holes are and the first fire burns on the Shroud could have occurred in the
1st Millennium!
of its Christian symbolism by moslem fanatics, yet still beautiful in its obvious
invitation for Heaven’s
blessing when the Sacrifice
of the Mass was celebrated.
the Face of Christ on the Mandylion!
a Byzantine holy book.
