From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Image of the Saviour Not Made by Hand: a traditional Orthodox iconography in the interpretation of Simon Ushakov (1658).

Acheiropoieta (αχειροποίητα, literally "not-handmade") are icons that are alleged to have come into existence miraculously, not by a human painter. Notable examples include the Image of Edessa and the Veil of Veronica.

Such images functioned as powerful relics as well as icons, and their images were naturally seen as especially authoritative as to the true appearance of the subject. Like icons believed to be painted from the live subject, they therefore acted as important references for other images in the tradition. They therefore were copied on an enormous scale, and the belief that such images existed, and authenticated certain facial types, played an important role in the conservatism of the Byzantine tradition. Beside, and conflated with, the developed legend of the mandylion or Image of Edessa, was the tale of the the Veil of Veronica, whose very name signifies "true icon" or "true image", the fear of a "false image" remaining strong.

These icons were seen as powerful arguments against iconoclasm. In a document apparently produced in the circle of the Patriachate of Constantinople, which purports to be the record of a (ficticious) Church council of 836, a list of acheiropoieta and icons miraculously protected is given as evidence for divine approval of icons. The acheiropoieta listed are:

1) the Image of Edessa, described as still at Edessa

2) the image of the Virgin at Lydda in Palestine, which was said to have miraculously appeared imprinted on a column of a church built by the apostles Peter and John. and the Veil of Veronica.

3) another image of the Virgin at Lydda in Palestine, which was said to have miraculously appeared in a (different) church, three cubits high.

The nine other miracles listed deal with the maintenance rather than creation of icons, which resist or repair the attacks of assorted pagans, Arabs, Persians, scoffers, madmen, iconoclasts and Jews.

This list seems to have had a regional bias, as other then famous images are not mentioned, such as the Christ of Camuliana, later brought to the capital. Another example, and the only one which indisputably still exists, is a mosaic of the young Christ from the sixth century in the church of the Latomos monastery in Thessaloniki (now dedicated to Saint David). This was apparently covered by plaster during the Iconoclastic period, towards the end of which an earthquake caused the plaster to fall down, revealing the image (during the reign of Leo V, 813-20). However this was only a subsidiary miracle, according to the account we have. This says that the mosaic was being constructed secretly, during the 4th century persecution of Galerius, as an image of the Virgin, when it suddenly was transformed overnight into the present image of Christ.

Robin Cormack, "Writing in Gold, Byzantine Society and its Icons", 1985, George Philip, London, ISBN 054001085-5