Prayer - Image of Edessa

We venerate your pure image,

O You who are Immensely Good,

and ask forgiveness for our sins,

O Christ who are God.

Of your own free will, 

You wanted to be raised 

on the cross in the flesh

to free your creatures from 

the slavery of the enemy.

For this  reason we cry out 

to You in thanksgiving:

"You have filled everything 

with joy, O our Saviour,

in coming to save the world. "

Unlimited Word of the Father,

as we contemplate the victorious 

image of Your true incarnation,

not made by human hands,

but divinely fashioned

in your generous, ineffable and 

divine availability towards us,

we honour with veneration!

We received from Edessa,

as bearer of every gift,

the divinely resplendent likeness

of your dazzling figure

of life-giving radiance.

You who formed your image 

have restored it to its model,

O just One, full of mercy.

(from the Oriental liturgy)

The Image of Edessa was kept in the 

monastery of San Silvestro in Capite

for centuries until September 1870

when it was brought to the Vatican.

Today it is kept in one of the 

sacristies of the Sistine Chapel.