Legenda Abgar

Menurut tradisi Kristen, legenda Abgar adalah peristiwa surat menyurat antara Yesus Kristus dengan Raja Abgar V Ukkāmā dari Osroene.^[1]^[2]^[3] Pada abad keempat, Eusebius dari Kaisarea menerbitkan dua surat yang dikatakan ditemukan di arsip Edessa.^[4]^[5] Surat-surat tersebut diklaim merupakan balasan surat antara Yesus Kristus dan Raja Abgar V yang ditulis pada tahun-tahun terakhir dari kehidupan Yesus.^[6]

Konteks historis

Eusebius mencantumkan catatan Legenda Abgar terawal yang diketahui dalam buku pertamanya Sejarah Gerejawi (sekitar 325 Masehi), sebagai bagian dari diskusinya dengan Tadeus dari Edessa. Eusebius mengklaim bahwa Tadeus datang ke Abgar atas permintaan Rasul Tomas, setelah kebangkitan Yesus. Ia juga mengklaim menunjukkan surat balasan antara Abgar dan Yesus, yang ia terjemahkan dari bahasa Suryani.

Surat Abgar kepada Yesus

Sejarawan gereja Eusebius menyatakan bahwa arsip Edessa berisi sebuah salinan surat menyurat antara Abgar dari Edessa dan Yesus.^[7]^[8] Surat menyurat tersebut terdiri dari surat Abgar dan jawaban yang diberikan oleh Yesus. Pada 15 Agustus 944, Gereja Santa Maria dari Blachernae di Konstantinopel menerima surat tersebut dan Mandylion. Kedua relik tersebut kemudian dipindahkan ke Gereja Bunda dari Faros.^[9]

Fresko dari kapel gereja St. Gevorg Varaga menampilkan raja Abgar dengan gambar Kristus

Rasa penasaran timbul dari peristiwa tersebut, dengan para cendekiawan mempersengketakan apakah Abgar terserang asam urat atau kusta, apakah surat menyurat tersebut memakai perkamen atau papirus, dan seterusnya.^[10]

Teks dari surat tersebut tertulis:

Abgar, penguasa Edessa, kepada Yesus sang tabib yang baik yang telah datang ke negara Yerusalem, salam. Aku telah mendengar banyak mengenai Engkau, mengenai penyembuhan yang Engkau lakukan tanpa memakai obat atau jamu apa pun.Kalau laporan itu benar, Engkau membuat orang buta menjadi melihat kembali, Engkau menyembuhkan orang berpenyakit kusta,mengusir roh-roh najis dan setan-setan, menyembuhkan orang berpenyakit kronis dan menghidupkan orang mati. Ketika aku mendengar semua ini mengenai Engkau, aku mengambil kesimpulan bahwa salah satu dari dua kemungkinan adalah benar – Engkau adalah Allah, turun dari Sorga untuk melakukan semua ini, atau Engkau adalah Anak Allah.Karena itu aku menulis surat ini, memohon kesediaan-Mu datang kemari, apapun kesulitan-kesulitannya, untuk menyembuhkan aku dari penyakit yang kuderita. Sebagai tambahan, aku mengerti bahwa orang-orang Yahudi memperlakukan Engkau dengan hina dan ingin melukai Engkau. Kotaku kecil, tetapi dihargai, muat untuk kita berdua.^[11]

Yesus membalas surat tersebut dengan mengirimkan pesan kepada Abgar:

Berbahagialah engkau yang percaya pada-Ku tanpa melihat-Ku ! Aku masih harus menyelesaikan segala tugas pengutusan-Ku di dunia, untuk tugas itulah aku diutus. Kemudian Aku akan langsung diangkat kepada Dia yang mengutus Aku.Setelah Aku terangkat, Aku akan mengutus salah seorang murid-Ku untuk menyembuhkan penyakitmu dan memberikan hidup kepadamu dan kepada mereka yang besertamu^[12]

Egeria menulis surat tersebut dalam catatan ziarahnya di Edessa. Ia menulis surat tersebut saat ia singgah, dan menyatakan bahwa salinan di Edessa lebih lengkap ketimbang salinan-salinan di tempat tinggalnya (diyakini adalah Prancis).^[13]

Referensi

^ "Abgar legend | Christian legend". Encyclopedia Britannica (dalam bahasa Inggris). Diakses tanggal 2019-06-06. Abgar legend, in early Christian times, a popular myth that Jesus had an exchange of letters with King Abgar V Ukkama of Osroene, whose capital was Edessa, a Mesopotamian city on the northern fringe of the Syrian plateau.
^ Mills, Watson E.; Bullard, Roger Aubrey; McKnight, Edgar V. (1990). Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (dalam bahasa Inggris). Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780865543737. Abgar Legend, [ab'gahr] The Abgar legend concerns a supposed exchange of letters between King Abgar V of Edessa (9—46 c.e.) and Jesus, and the subsequent evangelization of Edessa by the apostle Thaddeus
^ Ross, Steven K. (2000-10-26). Roman Edessa: Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire, 114 - 242 C.E. (dalam bahasa Inggris). Routledge. hlm. 117. ISBN 9781134660636. According to the legend a King Abgar (supposedly Abgar V Ukkama, Jesus's contemporary) wrote to Jesus in Jerusalem asking to be healed and inviting Jesus to visit Edessa. The text of that letter, and Jesus's reply, exist in many versions in almost all the languages of the Roman Empire, in keeping with the belief that the texts themselves had a sanctifying and protective power. The importance of this legend for the reputation of the city illustrates the central fact of the post-monarchical period: regardless of pre- Christian Edessa’s primary cultural orientation - whether it was to the East or to the West — the crucial factor in its later identity was its prominence as a center of Mesopotamian Christianity - the ‘First Christian Kingdom’ or the ‘Blessed City' - and it was this factor that preserved the name and status of Edessa through the Byzantine
^ Lieu, Judith; North, John; Rajak, Tessa (2013-04-15). The Jews Among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire (dalam bahasa Inggris). Routledge. ISBN 9781135081881. Eusebius tells us that he translated the correspondence from Syriac into Greek from a Syriac original from the royal archives at Edessa.
^ King, Daniel (2018-12-12). The Syriac World (dalam bahasa Inggris). Routledge. ISBN 9781317482116. The existence of both local chronicles is probably due to the high reputation of the archives held at Edessa. These were made famous by the reference in Eusebius to his use of the archives to discover the Abgar Legend. Whether or not Eusebius's claims were true, they were credible and stimulated the deposition of further documents, which would constitute raw material for the writing of local history (Segal 1970: 20–1).
^ Petrosova, Anna (2005). The Armeniad: Visible Pages of History (dalam bahasa Inggris). Linguist Publishers. hlm. 146. Eusebius of Caesarea discovered two letters in the archive of Edessa, written during the last year of Jesus' life.
^ Walsh, Michael J. (1986). The triumph of the meek: why early Christianity succeeded (dalam bahasa Inggris). Harper & Row. hlm. 125. ISBN 9780060692544. The story about this kingdom which Eusebius relates is as follows. King Abgar (who ruled from AD 13 to 50) was dying. Hearing of Jesus' miracles he sent for him. Jesus wrote back - this correspondence, Eusebius claims, can be found in the Edessan archives - to say that he could not come because he had been sent to the people of Israel, but he would send a disciple later. But Abgar was already blessed for having believed in him.
^ In his Church History, I, xiii, ca AD 325.
^ Janin, Raymond (1953). La Géographie ecclésiastique de l'Empire byzantin. 1. Part: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique. 3rd Vol. : Les Églises et les Monastères (dalam bahasa French). Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines. hlm. 172.
^ Norris, Steven Donald (2016-01-11). Unraveling the Family History of Jesus: A History of the Extended Family of Jesus from 100 Bc Through Ad 100 and the Influence They Had on Him, on the Formation of Christianity, and on the History of Judea (dalam bahasa Inggris). WestBow Press. ISBN 9781512720495.
^ Kesalahan pengutipan: Tag <ref> tidak sah; tidak ditemukan teks untuk ref bernama Leclercq
^ http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250101.htm
^ Bernard, John. "The Pilgrimage of Egeria". University of Pennsylvania. Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society.

Sumber

Bauer, Walter (1971). Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press. Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 18 August 2000. Diakses tanggal 25 January 2017. (German original published in 1934)
Camplani, Alberto (2009). "Traditions of Christian foundation in Edessa: Between myth and history" (PDF). Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni (SMSR). 75 (1): 251–278. Diakses tanggal 25 January 2017. ^{[pranala nonaktif permanen]}
Chapman, Henry Palmer (1913). "Doctrine of Addai". Dalam Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Eisenman, Robert (1992), "The sociology of MMT and the conversions of King Agbarus and Queen Helen of Adiabene" (PDF), Paper presented at SBL conference, diakses tanggal 21 March 2017
Eisenman, Robert (1997). "Judas the brother of James and the conversion of King Agbar". James the Brother of Jesus.
Holweck, F. G. (1924). A biographical dictionary of the saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co.
Mirkovic, Alexander (2004). Prelude to Constantine: The Abgar tradition in early Christianity. Arbeiten zur Religion und Geschichte des Urchristentums. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
von Tischendorf, Constantin. "Acta Thaddei (Acts of Thaddeus)". Acta apostolorum apocr. hlm. 261ff.
Wilson, Ian (1991). Holy faces, secret places.

Pranala luar

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. VIII: Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus, One of the Twelve
Epistle of Jesus Christ to Abgarus King of Edessa from Eusebius
Correspondence between Abgarus Ouchama, King of Edessa, and Jesus of Nazareth (J.Lorber, 1842)
English translation of ancient documents on the conversion of Abgar, including relevant passages from Eusebius and the Doctrine of Addai are available in Cureton, W. (1864). Ancient Syriac documents. London, UK: Williams and Norgate. hlm. 1–23. Diakses tanggal 15 June 2017.

[:1-1] "Abgar legend | Christian legend". Encyclopedia Britannica (dalam bahasa Inggris). Diakses tanggal 2019-06-06. Abgar legend, in early Christian times, a popular myth that Jesus had an exchange of letters with King Abgar V Ukkama of Osroene, whose capital was Edessa, a Mesopotamian city on the northern fringe of the Syrian plateau.

[2] Mills, Watson E.; Bullard, Roger Aubrey; McKnight, Edgar V. (1990). Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (dalam bahasa Inggris). Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780865543737. Abgar Legend, [ab'gahr] The Abgar legend concerns a supposed exchange of letters between King Abgar V of Edessa (9—46 c.e.) and Jesus, and the subsequent evangelization of Edessa by the apostle Thaddeus

[:0-3] Ross, Steven K. (2000-10-26). Roman Edessa: Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire, 114 - 242 C.E. (dalam bahasa Inggris). Routledge. hlm. 117. ISBN 9781134660636. According to the legend a King Abgar (supposedly Abgar V Ukkama, Jesus's contemporary) wrote to Jesus in Jerusalem asking to be healed and inviting Jesus to visit Edessa. The text of that letter, and Jesus's reply, exist in many versions in almost all the languages of the Roman Empire, in keeping with the belief that the texts themselves had a sanctifying and protective power. The importance of this legend for the reputation of the city illustrates the central fact of the post-monarchical period: regardless of pre- Christian Edessa’s primary cultural orientation - whether it was to the East or to the West — the crucial factor in its later identity was its prominence as a center of Mesopotamian Christianity - the ‘First Christian Kingdom’ or the ‘Blessed City' - and it was this factor that preserved the name and status of Edessa through the Byzantine

[4] Lieu, Judith; North, John; Rajak, Tessa (2013-04-15). The Jews Among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire (dalam bahasa Inggris). Routledge. ISBN 9781135081881. Eusebius tells us that he translated the correspondence from Syriac into Greek from a Syriac original from the royal archives at Edessa.

[5] King, Daniel (2018-12-12). The Syriac World (dalam bahasa Inggris). Routledge. ISBN 9781317482116. The existence of both local chronicles is probably due to the high reputation of the archives held at Edessa. These were made famous by the reference in Eusebius to his use of the archives to discover the Abgar Legend. Whether or not Eusebius's claims were true, they were credible and stimulated the deposition of further documents, which would constitute raw material for the writing of local history (Segal 1970: 20–1).

[6] Petrosova, Anna (2005). The Armeniad: Visible Pages of History (dalam bahasa Inggris). Linguist Publishers. hlm. 146. Eusebius of Caesarea discovered two letters in the archive of Edessa, written during the last year of Jesus' life.

[7] Walsh, Michael J. (1986). The triumph of the meek: why early Christianity succeeded (dalam bahasa Inggris). Harper & Row. hlm. 125. ISBN 9780060692544. The story about this kingdom which Eusebius relates is as follows. King Abgar (who ruled from AD 13 to 50) was dying. Hearing of Jesus' miracles he sent for him. Jesus wrote back - this correspondence, Eusebius claims, can be found in the Edessan archives - to say that he could not come because he had been sent to the people of Israel, but he would send a disciple later. But Abgar was already blessed for having believed in him.

[8] In his Church History, I, xiii, ca AD 325.

[ja172-9] Janin, Raymond (1953). La Géographie ecclésiastique de l'Empire byzantin. 1. Part: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique. 3rd Vol. : Les Églises et les Monastères (dalam bahasa French). Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines. hlm. 172.

[10] Norris, Steven Donald (2016-01-11). Unraveling the Family History of Jesus: A History of the Extended Family of Jesus from 100 Bc Through Ad 100 and the Influence They Had on Him, on the Formation of Christianity, and on the History of Judea (dalam bahasa Inggris). WestBow Press. ISBN 9781512720495.

[Leclercq-11] Kesalahan pengutipan: Tag <ref> tidak sah; tidak ditemukan teks untuk ref bernama Leclercq

[12] ttp://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250101.htm

[Egeria-13] Bernard, John. "The Pilgrimage of Egeria". University of Pennsylvania. Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society.

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