This story of the veil has been treated by certain scholars as a legend, especially as the Roman church has also got a somewhat similar story. We are of course not in a position to vouch for its truth or incorrectness, but it seems to me if all the miracles of Christ as related in the gospels are to be credited, this one also can be regarded as one out of many. If according to the gospel story water was turned into wine at the marriage feast in Cana, what is there incredible about the imprint of the divine features on a veil; and if the gospels assure us of the healing of many lepers there can be nothing astonishing in the healing of the king of Armenia.
I was however much interested when I came across the following passage in the history of the “Spread of Islam”:
“To the east they advanced to the banks and sources of the Euphrates and Tigris; the long disputed barrier of Rome and Persia was forever confounded; the walls of Edessa and Amida, of Dara and Nisibis, which had resisted the arms and engines of Sapor or Nushirvan, were levelled in the dust; and the holy city of Abgarus might vainly produce the epistle or the image of Christ to an unbelieving conqueror.”
“The long disputed barrier of Rome and Persia” which was “forever confounded” was of course Armenia; and “the holy city of Abgarus” the historian evidently had in his mind must have been Edessa, whither Abgar had removed his seat of government. To Armenians, however, Edessa has never been “the holy city,” if they had a holy city, they would prefer to name Ani, the city of a thousand churches, or on account of its peculiar associations Etchmiatzin the ecclesiastical metropolis.
It was in Anno Domini 34 that the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew went to Armenia, where they were warmly welcomed and received with great reverence and respect by the King, who accepted the christian faith at once, himself and the royal household being baptised by the apostle Thaddeus.
Thaddeus and Bartholomew continued their preaching in Armenia, converting and baptising the people; churches were raised up, bishops consecrated, and the christian religion established in the country.
It might have been a matter of wonder to us why Saint Paul did not address an epistle to the Armenians as he addressed to other nations; but I think the 20th verse of the 15th chapter of his epistle to the Romans clearly explains the reason why there was not an epistle written to the Armenians also:
“Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.”
Clearly then no epistle was written to the Armenians because Christ was already named among them, and Paul did not wish to build upon the foundation of Thaddeus and Bartholomew who had laid the foundation of Christianity in Armenia at a time when Paul himself was persecuting Christians. Thaddeus and Bartholomew left behind no epistles, and we have only Armenian history for the record of the work they did in Armenia.
Abgar died soon after his baptism and conversion, and was succeeded by his son Anany who tried to revive the old religion, which was something similar to the worship of the Greeks and Romans. The people of the country however had in large part accepted Christianity, and the revival of the old religion was consequently met with disfavour, but before their discontent had time to assume active tendencies Anany met his death by an accident; the people thereupon immediately invited Abgar’s nephew Sanatrook to occupy the throne, taking a pledge from him that he would not interfere with their religion. The pledge was readily given by Sanatrook, but once secure on the throne he proved a cruel and merciless despot: the remaining sons of Abgar were killed, and his daughters and widow Helena banished, but the crowning act of the tyrant’s wickedness and infamy was the martyrdom of the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew. Thus Christianity continued its struggles in Armenia, persecuted and declining, but still enduring.