Lux Esoterica (Nifiluz)

The Apostle of the Lost Causes and the Armenian Dawn In the historical traditions of the Caucasus, where the snow-covered peaks of Mount Ararat dominate the landscape, a single mission is celebrated as the dawn of the first Christian nation. Saint Jude Thaddeus (known as the apostle of the lost and desperate causes) and Saint Bartholomew are revered as the patron saints who carried the Christian faith to Armenia in the first century of the common era, establishing the apostolic foundation that led to the conversion of the entire kingdom under King Tiridates III in 301 CE. The legend of Saint Jude's mission is closely linked to the Mandylion of Edessa —a sacred cloth bearing the miraculous, print face of Jesus, which Jude was believed to have carried to the court of King Abgar V of Edessa (a kingdom situated on the border of Syria and Armenia). According to the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius of Caesarea, King Abgar, who was suffering from a severe, incurable disease (lik...