Abgar, King of Edessa

The story of Thaddeus went like this. The divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was being proclaimed to all people because of his wonder-working power, and it drew countless people, even from foreign lands far from Judea, in the hope of being cured of their diseases and every kind of suffering. [a] King Abgar, for example, who ruled with great distinction over the nations beyond the Euphrates, was wasting away in body from a terrible disease that no human power could cure. When he heard the name of Jesus spoken widely, and heard that all alike bore witness to his miracles, he sent a letter carrier to him as a suppliant and begged to be freed from his disease. [b] Jesus did not answer his call at that time, but he did honor him with a letter of his own, promising to send one of his disciples to cure the disease and to bring salvation to him and to all his household. Before long the promise was fulfilled for him. After Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascent into heaven, Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, moved by God, sent Thaddeus, who was himself counted among the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa as a preacher and evangelist of the teaching about Christ. [c]

Everything our Savior had promised was fulfilled through him. You have written evidence of these things too, taken from the archives of Edessa, which was a royal city at that time. In the public records there, which contain the ancient history and the acts of Abgar, these things have been found, preserved from that time down to the present. But there is nothing like hearing the letters themselves. They were taken from the archives for us and translated word for word from the Syriac, as follows. [d]

“Abgar Uchama, ruler, to Jesus, the good Savior who has appeared in the region of Jerusalem: greetings. I have heard about you and about your cures, which you perform without medicines or herbs. For the report is that you make the blind see and the lame walk, that you cleanse lepers and drive out unclean spirits and demons, that you heal those tormented by long illness, and that you raise the dead. [e] And having heard all this about you, I have concluded that one of two things must be true: either you are God, and have come down from heaven and do these things, or you are the Son of God, who does these things. That is why I am writing to beg you to take the trouble to come to me and heal the illness I have. For I have also heard that the Jews are grumbling against you and want to harm you. I have a very small city, but a dignified one, and it is enough for us both.”

“Blessed are you, who believed in me without having seen me. For it is written of me that those who have seen me will not believe in me, and that those who have not seen me will themselves believe and live. But as for what you wrote to me, asking me to come to you: I must fulfill here everything for which I was sent, and after I have fulfilled it, be taken up again to the one who sent me. And when I have been taken up, I will send you one of my disciples to heal your illness and to give life to you and to those with you.” [f]

To these letters the following was also attached, in the Syriac language: “After Jesus was taken up, Judas, who is also called Thomas, sent him Thaddeus, an apostle, one of the Seventy. When he came, he stayed with Tobias the son of Tobias. When word about him spread, it was reported to Abgar: ‘An apostle of Jesus has come here, just as he wrote to you.’ Thaddeus then began to heal every disease and sickness by the power of God, so that everyone was amazed. When Abgar heard of the great and wonderful things he was doing, and of his cures, he began to suspect that this was the man Jesus had written about when he said, ‘When I have been taken up, I will send you one of my disciples, who will heal your illness.’ So he summoned Tobias, with whom Thaddeus was staying, and said, ‘I have heard that a man of power has come and is staying in your house. Bring him up to me.’ Tobias came to Thaddeus and said to him, ‘The ruler Abgar summoned me and told me to bring you up to him, so that you may heal him.’ And Thaddeus said, ‘I will go up, since I have been sent to him with power.’

“Early the next day Tobias took Thaddeus and went to Abgar. When he went up, Abgar’s nobles were there, standing about him. And the moment he came in, a great vision appeared to Abgar in the face of the apostle Thaddeus. When Abgar saw it, he bowed down before Thaddeus, and all who stood around were astonished, for they did not see the vision. It appeared to Abgar alone. Then he asked Thaddeus, ‘Are you truly a disciple of Jesus the Son of God, who said to me, “I will send you one of my disciples, who will heal you and give you life”?’ Thaddeus said, ‘Because you have believed mightily in the one who sent me, I was sent to you. And further, if you believe in him, the requests of your heart will be granted you as you believe.’ Abgar said to him, ‘I have believed in him so much that I wanted to take an army and cut down the Jews who crucified him, had I not been held back from it because of the Roman empire.’ Thaddeus said, ‘Our Lord has fulfilled the will of his Father, and having fulfilled it, he has been taken up to the Father.’ Abgar said to him, ‘I too have believed in him and in his Father.’ Thaddeus said, ‘For that reason I lay my hand on you in his name.’ And when he did so, Abgar was at once cured of the disease and the suffering he had.

“Abgar was amazed that what he had heard about Jesus he had received in fact through his disciple Thaddeus, who healed him without medicine or herbs. And not him only, but also Abdus the son of Abdus, who had gout; he too came and fell at his feet, received prayer with the laying on of his hand, and was healed. The same Thaddeus healed many others of their fellow citizens as well, doing great and wonderful things and preaching the word of God. After this Abgar said, ‘Thaddeus, you do these things with the power of God, and we ourselves are amazed. But beyond this I ask you: tell me about the coming of Jesus, how it came about, and about his power, and by what power he did the things I have heard of.’ [g] Thaddeus said, ‘For now I will keep silent. But since I was sent to preach the word, call all your citizens together for me tomorrow, and I will preach before them and sow in them the word of life: about the coming of Jesus, how it came about; about his mission, and why he was sent by the Father; about his power and his works, and the mysteries he spoke of in the world, and by what power he did these things; about his new preaching; about his lowliness and his humiliation, and how he humbled himself, and laid aside and made small his divinity, and was crucified, and went down into Hades, and tore through the barrier that from all ages had never been torn, and raised the dead. He went down alone, but he went up to his Father with a great crowd.’ [h] So Abgar ordered his citizens to assemble at dawn to hear Thaddeus preach, and after that he ordered gold and uncoined silver to be given him. But he would not take it, saying, ‘If we have left behind what was our own, how will we take what belongs to others?’ These things were done in the three hundred and fortieth year.” [j]

Let these things, translated word for word from the Syriac, be set down here at their proper place, and not without use.