The Shroud of Turin in an ancient manuscript?
An illustration from the Pray Codex, Burial of Jesus.
The National Library of Budapest houses a document titled the Pray Codex or Pray Manuscript, named after its discoverer Gyorgy Pray.
This Codex contains pages of text and five illustrations, one of which depicts the burial of Jesus.
There are some points of interest in this illustration, the main one being the depiction of what could be the Shroud of Turin.
The Shroud was woven in a herringbone pattern, a distinctive V-shaped weaving pattern that looks different on the right side and on the reverse side of the fabric. Looking at the illustration, one could say that the lower area of the image may be depicting, in a very primitive style, the right side of the fabric on the left, and the reverse side on the right.
Comparison of textures from the Pray Codex illustration and from the Shroud of Turin cloth.
There are other points of interest in this illustration which would seem to correlate with the image on the Shroud:
Jesus is shown naked and with his arms crossed over the pelvis.
Jesus' hands don't show the thumbs.
Blood stain on Jesus' forehead.
L-shaped burn holes on the fabric of the Shroud.
L-shaped burn holes in the Shroud of Turin and L-shaped pattern of circles from the Pray Codex illustration.
While some believe that the illustration is depicting the Shroud, others see an empty sarcophagus with its lid ajar.
The importance of this manuscript is that it has been dated to 1192 - 1195 AD, 70 years earlier than the oldest dating of the Shroud (1260 - 1390AD).
In the end, like so much of the evidence supporting the authenticity of the Shroud, none of it is definitive, and the unusual nature of the image remains its central enigma.
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