The appearance of Jesus Christ has been the subject of heated debate since the days of early Christianity. Known to everyone, a distinctive feature of the images of the Savior is the indispensable presence of a beard.
But did He really have a beard?
It should be noted that the Bible does not contain direct descriptions of Jesus' appearance, although some researchers suggest physical descriptions may have been removed in the early centuries to emphasize the universality of the image itself.
Most researchers, following quite obvious logic, assume that Jesus looked like the current inhabitants of the Middle East, but this does not at all indicate the presence or absence of a beard.
Like the first Christian depictions, the earliest depictions of Christ date from the late second and early third centuries, found mainly in Rome. In these early depictions, Jesus usually appears as a young man without a beard and curly hair.
However, "bearded images" are also encountered almost from the very beginning, perhaps relying on the existing stereotype from the Greek world about the wandering philosophers.
Fragment of the icon of Christ Pantokrator of the Khilandar monastery.
During the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (306-337), Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, during the same period the images of Jesus began to have more and more mature features, appearing almost exclusively with a beard.
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But what did the artists and icon painters rely on when depicting the bearded Christ?
Despite the fact that the Gospels do not speak of the presence of a beard, from the first centuries of Christianity it was known about the existence of the so-called Not-Made-to-Hand Images of the Savior.
Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Novgorod, XII century.
The story of the Image Not Made by Hands, which became the prototype for a great number of Orthodox icons, is known from the apocrypha "The Teachings of the Apostle Addai", "The Legend of Abgar", and a number of other sources saying that when the artist, sent by the sick king of Edessa, Avgar V, could not draw Christ, but Thoth washed his face and wiped it with a cloth, on which the imprint appeared miraculously.
Despite the popularity of the legend and its clear influence on the subsequent idea of the bearded Christ, the first legends about the Image Not Made by Hands can be traced only from the 4th century.
In Catholicism, another miraculous image of the Savior with a beard is extremely popular - the Plat of Veronica, the image on which was manifested no less miraculously from the blood of Christ.
Plat of Veronica by Domenico Fetti, 1620s.
However, the story of Veronica herself is not even in the canonical Gospels, and the nearest written mention is the miracle of the healing of a bleeding woman who touched the hem of Jesus' clothes (Gospel of Luke, Chapter 8, verse 43-48), but about no rubbing of her face, let alone Moreover, the manifestation of the image of Christ on the fabric is not mentioned there.
Nevertheless, the story was further developed, giving rise to a series of relics and images with the constant presence of a crown of thorns, blood and a beard that appeared from nowhere.
Fragment of the painting Christ carrying the cross. El Greco, 1580s.
Despite the absence of any biblical references and even historical descriptions, over two millennia, many images of the bearded Jesus Christ have appeared, which are often influenced not by historical facts, but by cultural conditions and even political circumstances.