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[[w:Friedrich Münter|Friedrich Münter]] in his ''"Die Sinnbilder und Kunstvorstellungen der alten Christen"'' (Altona 1825), believed that he could trace the letter down to the time of Diocletian, but this was not generally accepted.<ref> Anthony Maas. ''"[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09154a.htm Publius Lentulus]."'' '''The Catholic Encyclopedia.''' Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. (Retrieved December 12, 2011 from New Advent)</ref>
An alternative perspective is given by Monk Pierre (Blais) ThD, elder of ''The Hesychastic Society of the Most Holy Mary (OCA)'' and former Lecturer in Religion at the University of Toronto, UTM, OCAD U and St. John Fisher College, who has written the following in a private email dated Dec. 17, 2011:
:"Scholars and believers might better understand the purpose of the text if both consider the significance of the nomenclature Publius Lentulus more in an allegorical sense, as intended by either the author (in a self-effacing manner) or by a later editor or redactor (as commentary), and less as necessarily validating an apocryphal value or judgment. Publius Lentulus in both classical and ecclesiastical Latin glosses into English as "A Dullard Public Official;" and literally translates as, "[An official] of the people [who was] rather slow [to understand/respond]."<ref group="note">Dr. Blais' thesis is referenced in [[Fool_for_Christ#Orthodox_Psychotherapy:_Further_Reading|Orthodox Psychotherapy: Further Reading]], and ''The Hesychastic Society of the Most Holy Mary (OCA)'' in [[Metochion]].</ref>
==History==
'''Acheiropoieta - Historians accounts'''<br>
[[File:Not made by hands.jpg|right|thumb|Image Not made by hands.]]Furthermore, there are several other witnesses to the existence of the [[w:AcheiropoietaImage Not-made-by-hands|miraculous icon]].
* [[w:Evagrius Scholasticus|Evagrius Scholasticus]], for one, in the 7th century, in his ''Ecclesiastical History,''<ref>IV.26-27 (''[[w:Patrologia Graeca|P.G.]], LXXXVI.2716'').</ref> cites [[w:Procopius|Procopius of Caesarea]] for evidence of the "[[w:AcheiropoietaImage Not-made-by-hands|God-made image]]" which successfully protected Edessa against the Persian King Chosroes.<ref name="CORA"/>
* In the record of the [[Seventh Ecumenical Council|Second Council of Nicaea]] (Seventh Ecumenical Council), held in 787, there is a letter purporting to have been written in 726 by [[Gregory II of Rome|Pope Gregory II]] to the Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian]], on the subject of the [[Iconoclasm|iconoclastic movement]] headed by Leo. The Pope, reminding Leo of the [[Abgar|Abgarus]]-[[Jesus]] letters and the miraculous icon, bids him to go to Edessa and behold the venerable image of Christ "that was [[w:Acheiropoieta|not made by human hands]], worshipped and adored by multitudes of the people in the East."<ref name="CORA"/>
* A third witness to the portrait is a long naarative attributed to Emperor [[w:Constantine VII|Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus]] (908-959), of the whole history of the letters and the sacred image to the time that they were taken from Edessa to [[Constantinople]] in 844.<ref group="note">See [[w:François Combefis|François Combefis]], ''Originum rerumque Constantinopolitanarum manipulus'' (Paris, 1664), pp.75-101, "Constantini Porphyrogennetae: Narratio de divina Christi Dei nostri imagine non manufacta."</ref> Described in detail are the solemn ceremonies, the religious procession, the numerous stops at holy places en route, and the emotional reception of the marvelous [[relic]] in Constantinople by the clergy, the Emperor, and the people. The account states specifically that the icon was placed briefly upon the imperial throne, where the Emperor viewed it and reverenced it, before its enshrinement in a church for the eternal protection of the realm.<ref name="CORA"/>
==See also==
* [[Apocrypha]]
* [[Image Not-made-by-hands]]
'''Wikipedia'''
* [[w:Publius Lentulus|Publius Lentulus]]
