The Holy Face of Christ (popularly called the Holy Shroud) which has been kept for about six centuries in the Church of St. Bartholomew of the Armenians, according to the tradition, is the oldest portrait of Jesus, and it is likely to be the true portrait of the Redeemer. In a passage of St. John's Gospel we read that one day some "Greeks" presented themselves to the Apostle Philip, asking to see Jesus. Those "Greeks" - according to some interpretation - might be the messengers of king Abgar Vth of Edessa (an ancient and noble town in Syria, now called Urfa, in the south of Turkey, also an active centre of Christian culture in the first millennium A.D.). We know about king Abgar and his messenger to Jesus from a very ancient tradition, which dates back to the first centuries of the Christian Era. The tradition is mentioned by the first historian of the Church, Eusebius of Caesarea (first half of the IVth century A.D.) and by the historian Moses of Core (end of the IVth century A. D.) and by many other ancient historians like Procopius, Evagrius, etc. During the first millennium of the Christian era - when they had no direct knowledge of the Sindon - the Face of the Christ of Edessa (which was so called because it was kept in Edessa) was recognized and worshipped as the true portrait of Jesus, and as the source of the whole Christian iconography (whose historical origin is to be found in the region of Edessa).

  The Holy Face of Edessa has always been mentioned in the Christian world - above all in the Eastern world - but its exceptional importance grew stronger at the time of Iconoclasm when, in the VIIIth century, some Byzantine Emperors - among them Leo IIIth the Isauricus - tried to destroy the Holy Images, pretending to purify the Christian cult. The defenders of the Holy Images (like St. John Damascenus, St. German Patriarch of Constantinople, the Popes Gregory IInd, Hadrian Ist and many others) presented as the principal historical argument in favour of the Holy Images the existence of the Holy Face of Edessa, which the tradition dates back to Jesus's time. The Holy Face is mentioned also in the Acts of the IInd Council of Nicaea (VIIth Ecumenical Council) of 787 A.D., which established and stated the validity of the Holy Images, mainly on the "historical" basis of the Holy Face of Edessa, and on the "dogmatic" basis of the truth of the Incarnation, according to which God, in Jesus, has made Himself "visible", therefore "representable": owing to the Incarnation God, in Jesus, can be "seen" and not only "listened to" in His "word".

  Nel X secolo - e cioè nel 944 - il Santo Volto fu trasferito da Edessa a Costantinopoli, in seguito a trattative fra l'Emiro di Edessa e l'Imperatore bizantino Costantino VIII Porfirogenito. Questa traslazione risultò così importante che, per ricordarla e celebrarla, fu istituita una festa liturgica, festa che si celebra tuttora nella Liturgia Bizantina.

  In the Xth century - that is in 944 - the Holy Face was transferred from Edessa to Constantinople, owing to the negotiation between the Emir of Edessa and the Byzantine Emperor Costantine VIIIth Porfirogenitus. This translation was so important that, to remember and celebrate it, a liturgical holiday was established, which is now still celebrated in the Byzantine Liturgy. Towards the half of the XIVth century, in 1362, owing to the decadence of the Byzantine Empire, which was seriously threatened by the coming of the Turks, the Holy Face was removed from Constantinople by the genoese Captain (later Doge) Leonardo Montaldo, who received (or pretended) it as a gift after some military help given to the Emperor John Vth Paleologus.

  In 1384, when it was transferred to Genoa, the Holy Face was given by Montaldo to the Church of St. Bartholomew of the Armenians, close to where the Montaldo family had their houses and properties.

  Since then, the Holy Face has been kept in this Church, as an object of great reverence for the Genoese people, and not only for them. An ancient Confraternity - of the "Holy Face" or of the "Holy Shroud" - has been considering for six centuries its exceptional importance for the city of Genoa and for the whole of Christianity.

  In 1507, at the time of the occupation of Genoa by Louis XIIth the king of France, the Holy Face was stolen and taken to France, but a few months later, with the intervention of the ambassadors, of the rich merchants and of the genoese bankers - among them Giano Grillo - the very precious relic was brought back to Genoa. Here it remained as the spiritual bulwark of the town (above all at the time of the Genoese Republic) as it had already been in Edessa and in Constantinople, an eloquent sign of the religious history of Genoa and of the whole Christian world which, in this portrait of Jesus Christ, still keeps a "sensible" trace of the Truth and of the reality of the Incarnation.