Is the ghostly image on the Turin Shroud the posthumous image of Christ? Although the church didn’t give a positive answer to this question, it considers the shroud as an object of worship. Scientists dated the relic XIII century, but there are still many mysteries to be solved.
For several centuries, Christians were confident that an ancient piece of canvas, 4.34 m long and 1.09 m wide, represented a funeral shroud in which the body of Christ was wrapped. On the shroud appear the vague contours of the crucified, and the lines of the bearded face correspond to the descriptions of the appearance of Christ. Since 1578, the famous Shroud was kept in the cathedral of Turin. But in April 1997, a fire broke out in the cathedral; Fortunately, the shroud did not suffer. Since then it has been stored elsewhere.
Result of dating
The main question is about the authenticity of the Turin Shroud. To answer it, scientists used the whole arsenal of modern technology. The relic was subjected to chemical analysis and studied under a microscope, photographed in x-ray, ultraviolet and infrared rays; a radiocarbon dating method was used.
Until 1983, the family of the counts of the Savoy, who once ruled this part of Italy, owned the shroud. Then they transferred it to the Vatican. Five years later, the Vatican gave permission for the study of the shroud by experts from the British Museum in London. In the laboratories of Oxford, Zurich and Tucson (Arizona), tissue analyzes were carried out independently of each other. In the conclusion of experts, the age of the canvas was specified between the XII and XIV centuries. Therefore, the shroud couldn’t be the shroud of Christ. A number of scientists disputed this data. At the conferences in 1989 and 1993, they stated that, after studying the results of the research, they came to different conclusions. For example, a scientist from Russia proved that the fabric was "rejuvenated" in 1532 when, because of a fire in Chambery, France, where it was stored, the shroud was soaked with soot. Many scientists have emphasized the incorrectness of the dating, since no attention has been paid to the raid covering the tissue, formed by fungal microorganisms and bacteria.
What do we know?
We know that the image was not drawn on the fabric and that it was not washed away. Drops of blood indicate that the body was wrapped in shroud at the latest 2.5 hours after death. It is established that the blood belongs to a man, since it was possible to isolate the X and Y-chromosomes, and that the blood group AB. The time during which the fabric touched the body is known: not more than 36 hours. With a longer period of blood, clots would dissolve in a mixture of aloe and myrrh, which was saturated with a shroud, and the fabric would simply fuse together. It is not clear how the body was freed from the shroud. There is no answer to the question: how is the image printed on the fabric? Moreover, it is rather negative. Why are there only bloodstains on the back? It is also surprising that on the original, the image is difficult to distinguish, and on the negative side of the photograph, the face, limbs and body are clearly visible.
The French expert in nuclear medicine believes that the image was obtained as a result of the emission of protons by the body when an energy source unknown to science is exposed to it. Having ascertained the nature of this energy, we learn not only the mystery of the origin of the shroud, but also the reason for the beautiful preservation of the fabric.
Modern research
In 2013, a comprehensive study of the Turin Shroud were made. Various modern methods of analysis were used in them. The results obtained make it possible to assert that the canvas is of about I-II century.
July 17, just 5 days ago, were published research of Italian scientists. They concluded that the blood on the Turin Shroud belonged to the victim of torture. The presence of special proteins in the blood indicates that a person wrapped in a shroud died a violent death.
This post is a translation of my article on golos.io