In a narrow sense, today’s celebration focuses on the holy Mandylion, the cloth that miraculously bore the image of Christ, which the Lord sent to Abgar of Edessa and which was later translated to Constantinople. In a broader sense, however, this feast reminds us that Jesus Christ, the true Image of the Father, was not made by human hands or born by the will of the flesh—rather, he voluntarily became man of a pure virgin. Our Lord is an Icon of the Father not made by hands; likewise, we are called to be images of God, fashioned not by ourselves—not by human hands—but by the hands of God. We are called to be supple and responsive clay in the hands of the heavenly Potter.
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