One material piece of evidence shows that the bright light, appearing in the New Testament in many places, was something real, especially in connection with the resurrection of Jesus. This piece of evidence is the enigmatic Turin Shroud.
The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud has the exceptional feature (for a scientific result) that the assumption that this research was correctly made inevitably leads to the conclusion that the given radiocarbon dating for the Shroud is almost certainly false. This is so because the three independent tests of the three laboratories produced results with error ranges. Assuming that the theory behind this radiocarbon dating method is correct and it was correctly used, we would expect that for each of the three laboratories, the results of the other two laboratories fall with a high probability inside the error range given to this laboratory. Yet they do not, and the results of these three laboratories differ so much that there is only a very small probability that the differences are caused by randomness. (Tristan Casabianca showed it in a reviewed journal article in 2019 [1], so this fact, known for a long time, is finally officially accepted.) It follows that the differences must be caused by contamination in the measured material (or, the material was changed during an unrecorded step in the testing procedure, but let us assume this is not so). The material was cleaned and as all contamination was clearly not removed, we can conclude that the cleaning procedure did not remove the type of contamination that there was. This is not surprising for measurements done in 1988: [2] gives a paper analyzing the error in radiocarbon measurements done in 1989, which gave very incorrect dates. The suggested reason for the errors in [2] is that the cleaning procedure did not remove fulvic acid.
Because of this, we have absolutely no way of knowing how much contamination remained in the material and what would be the correct radiocarbon date for it. As a conclusion, the dating of 1988 cannot determine when the textile of the Shroud was weaved.
The following two observations strongly point to an earlier time than 1260-1390. Firstly, the method of crucifixion by hitting nails through wrists was the correct Roman practice, and unknown in Europe in late Middle Ages. Secondly, the Shroud seems to be pictured in a Hungarian Pray Codex from 1190: Jesus lies in the correct position, including hidden thumbs, and the shroud has four poker holes placed as in the Shroud. As three chemical dating methods by Fanti (Giulio Fanti’s three chemical tests date the shroud to 33 AD ±250) and one by Rogers do not exclude the date 33 AD for the Shroud and the body has all wounds of Jesus in Gospels, the most natural conclusion is that the Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus. (For a list of articles on the Shroud, see [3].) This does not imply that it was created by a miracle.
Assuming that the Shroud was not created in a supernatural way, and noticing that very rare natural mechanisms are also miracles, the Shroud must be man made, but in Jesus’ time. People of the Roman Empire of the first century were not less advanced scientifically or technically than Europeans of the late Middle Ages, in fact, they were more advanced. Euclid and Aristotle already had written treatises of optics and had known of camera obscura three hundred years before Jesus. In 1260-1390 some Europeans may have known Ibn al-Haytham’s Book of Optics (1027), but it does not surpass the Greeks in the techniques of photography.
Optics is one thing, but to make a photograph, one needs photoactive chemicals. Bitumen of Judea was the photoactive material used in the first photograph (by Niépce). One might assume that Bitumen of Judea was better known in Israel of Jesus than in Medieval Europe, but this is not so clear. Bitumen was quite known in Europe, and even better known was bissasphalt (a mixture of pitch, bitumen and human remains), also known as mummia. It was obtained from grinding mummified bodies, but these bodies were no ancient Egyptian mummies. They were recently died people, who were filled with asphalt and dried in an oven for sale as medicine. Thus, Medieval Europeans knew bitumen, as is witnessed by the writings of Matthaeus Platerius (see e.g. [4] for long direct quotes from Matthaeus). Yet, we can assume that Judean people knew this topic at least equally well. The word mummia/mummy derives from Arabic and Persian mumiya. In Arabic it means a mummy, in Persian bitumen wax.
The level of technical knowledge does not rule out the first century. Indeed, if only the technical level is considered, the first century is a more probable time than the 13th century for something as impressive as the Shroud to have been created, if it is a man created artifact. Thus, let us assume the Shroud was created in the first century by some people. John 19:39 names Nicodemus as one of the two people, who buried Jesus. Nicodemus is known in Talmud as Nakdimon ben Gurion, a wealthy man but also known as a magician. He was an opponent of Zealots in the war, and he had collected large storages of food, which Zealots burned in order to get people fighting Romans. These storages would have lasted for the whole Jerusalem a long siege, and one may wonder what was the reason ben Gurion had stored so much food. Additionally, one may wonder why Paul needed to collect help for the poor of Jerusalem, if ben Gurion had these storages of food for the poor and pilgrims. Something else was planned there at that time.
How was the Shroud made? This question has not been solved, but one can make an educated guess. The image is some kind of a photograph, but done without a lens. Unless one assumes that a body can under some circumstances radiate light, one has to assume that the light has come from outside. It must have come through the textile (as there is no focus point to the light, it is not an image from camera obscura), reflected from the body, and reacted with photoactive material in the inside of the Shroud. There is no trace of any photoactive material. It cannot have been metallic, like salts of silver or titan, but aromatic organic compounds are possible: they would have evaporated. Bitumen is also possible, as the Shroud was washed in oil in the Middle Ages and traces of bitumen would have disappeared. Liquid pitch is possible, it would have evaporated. Pitch is the same material as bitumen, and therefore photoactive. John 19:39 mentions that a large quantity of myrrh and aloe vera were used in the burial of Jesus. If there was also pitch in some form, there were enough chemicals for creating an image, provided that there was strong ultraviolet light.
There must have been photoactive material. Without such chemical, the light must be very strong to create an image in linen. It would have had to be impossibly strong. Indeed, it has been tried: ultra violet light can create images and it can create similar coloring as seen in the Shroud, but the experiment was done with a laser and calculations show that in order to create the whole image with ultraviolet light without a laser would require a fantastical amount of energy. Thus, there had to be photoactive material, or the image is not manmade.
The position of the body does cause some considerations, but nothing fatal. Apparently, the body has been in the middle air, probably in a standing position. It may have been suspended by something. The textile has not been touching the body when the image was made, but when the blood stains were created, the body was in physical contact with the Shroud.
There had to be very bright artificial light. Sunlight is not the answer because of three problems: If the light came through the textile, sunlight seems too weak: there is no sunlight in a burial cave, thus the Gospel story would have to be changed, but there is no other story; and finally, creating the image with sunlight would take a long time and there would have to be a turning system to move the body as the sun changes its position during the day. For these reasons the bright light should be artificial. There are very few possible ways how first century people could have had very bright artificial light. The only that I can see is that they might have known magnesium. Burning a large amount of magnesium produces very bright white light, which has a strong ultra violet component. Technically first century people could have been able to extract magnesium from magnesium oxide, but is there any evidence that they did know such a way?
Apart of the Turin Shroud there is the battle of the Milvian Bridge, 312. Before the battle Constantine and his army saw a cross (or a Chi-Rho sign) of light in the sky above the sun and there was text with the cross “Εν Τούτῳ Νίκα”. Eusebius tells about it, he knew Constantine well, and claims to have heard the story from Constantine. Next night Constantine had a dream and he inscribed a sign on the shields of his soldiers. Historians naturally are not convinced of signs and prophecies, but something happened there and we should not exclude the possibility that it happened like Eusebius told. So, assuming this all happened, what was the cross of light above the sun and what to say of the text. Above the sun means that the cross was seen on daytime, it was not any star constellation. A comet may look like the Chi-Rho sign, but they seldom write text in Greek. Most probably it was not a comet: no comet is known from that time.
There is no information if there were clouds in the sky. Sun can be visible, and above it there can be a cloud. Strong light from the ground can be reflected from clouds, thus it is certainly possible to reflect a sign of a cross of light on a cloud, even with any text, assuming you have a way to make strong light, stronger than reflected sunlight.
Parabolic mirrors were known, and at least later they were a common way to set enemy ships to fire. If the sun was visible, a parabolic mirror could work, but that hardly would have fooled Constantine. The phenomenon must have been unexplainable to Constantine and to high officers of his army. That rules out reflected sunlight, but it leaves strong magnesium light. Let us conclude, there is no physical evidence of this event, unlike of the Turin Shroud, and because of it the historicity of the even can be denied. However, Constantine was a known figure and there is no especially good reason to deny the event. It is basically denied because supernatural events do not happen, but conspiracies do happen. It need not have been a supernatural event, as a light reflector could have created the sign in a cloud. We do not finally know, but it is not impossible. Later (starting from AD 672) Byzantium used a secret weapon, the Greek Fire. Titus Livy tells that it burned in water, what magnesium would do, and what sulfur with lime, or carbon-based fuels (like naphtha or pine resin) would not do. The recipe of the Greek Fire is lost to the history. Thus, there once was the secret fire, then the knowledge of it was lost.
Let us speculate that magnesium was indeed known in the first century, and it was used to create the image in the Turin Shroud. What were Joseph of Arimatea and Nicodemus doing in the burial chamber with myrrh and aloe vera? They must have performed some ritual if they used a bright light. The ritual could hardly have been anything else than lifting the soul of Jesus to heaven, making him immortal. Fortunately we know a ritual of this type from the Greek Magical Papyrus. It is the Mithras Liturgy, which we already looked at.
Look at the following passages from the Mithras Liturgy:
“now if it be your will, METERTA PHOTH YEREZATH, give me over to immortal birth and, following that, to my underlying nature, so that, after the present need which is pressing me exceedingly, I may gaze upon the immortal beginning with the immortal spirit,”
“for today I am about to behold, with immortal eyes — I, born mortal from mortal womb, but transformed by tremendous power and an incorruptible right hand!”
“Since it is impossible for me, born mortal, to rise with the golden brightnesses of the immortal brilliance,”
“you will see yourself being lifted up and ascending to the height, so that you seem to be in mid-air.”
“If it be your will, announce me to the supreme god, the one who has begotten and made you: that a man – I, whose mother is who was born from the mortal womb of and from the fluid of semen, and who, since he has been born again from you today, has become immortal out of so many myriads in this hour according to the wish of god the exceedingly good”
These places make it very clear that the ritual is aimed at giving immortality. Next, let us look at the magic instructions:
“Take a sun-scarab which has twelve rays, and make it fall into a deep, turquoise cup, at the time when the moon is invisible; put in together with it the seed of the lotometra, and honey; and, after grinding it, prepare a cake. And at once you will see it (viz. the scarab) moving forward and eating; and when it has consumed it, it immediately dies. Pick it up and throw it into a glass vessel of excellent rose oil, as much as you wish; and spreading sacred sand in a pure manner, set the vessel on it, and say the formula over the vessel for seven days, while the sun is in mid-heaven: “I have consecrated you, that your essence may be useful to me, to alone, IE lA E EE OY EIA, that you may prove useful to me alone. For I am PHOR PHORA PHOS PHOTIZAAS (others: PHOR PHOR OPHOTHEI XAAS).”
“On the seventh day pick up the scarab, and bury it with Myrrh and wine from Mendes and fine linen; and put it away in a flourishing bean-field. Then, after you have entertained and feasted together, put away, in a pure manner, the ointment for the immortalization. If you want to show this to someone else, take the juice of the herb called “kentritis,” and smear it, along with rose oil, over the eyes of the one you wish; and he will see so clearly that he will amaze you. I have not found a greater spell than this in the world. Ask the god for what you want, and he will give to you.”
“Now presentation before the great god is like this: obtaining the above-mentioned herb kentritis, at the conjunction (viz. of the sun and the moon) occurring in the Lion, take the juice and, after mixing it with honey and myrrh, write on a leaf of the persea tree the eight-letter formula, as is mentioned below. And keeping yourself pure for three days before, set out early in the morning toward the East, lick off the leaf while you show it to the Sun, and then he (viz. the sun god) will listen to you attentively. Begin to consecrate this at the divine new moon, in the Lion. Now this is the formula: “I EE 00 lAI.” Lick this up, so that you may be protected; and rolling up the leaf, throw it into the rose oil. Many times have I used the spell, and have wondered greatly. But the god said to me: “Use the ointment no longer, but, after casting it into the river, consult while wearing the great mystery of the scarab revitalized through the twenty-five living birds, and consult once a month, at full moon, instead of three times a year.” The kentritis plant grows from the month of Payni, in the regions of the black earth, and is similar to the erect verbena. This is how to recognize it: an ibis wing is dipped at its black tip and smeared with the juice, and the feathers fall off when touched. After the Lord pointed this out, it was found in Menelaitis in Phalagry, at the river banks, near the Besas plant.”
Magic of the Greek Magical Papyrus is as impenetratible as always, yet something can be gleaned from it. The third paragraph seems to be just magic, which does not interest us here. Myrrh, linen and burying are mentioned in the second paragraph. Something (the scarab), or someone, is buried in the ritual, and there is a communion. The Mithras cult included a common meal. The first paragraph mentions the sacred sand. That should be a mineral.
We have seen that the Greek Magical Papyrus does have a ritual for making a person immortal. It mentions Mithras and is in some way linked to the Mithras cult, where the high god is bright light. The Mithras cult is distinct from Christianity and Gnosticism, but these latter ones may well have had similar rites. In any case, we cannot know what rites Nicodemus knew and used.
Let us still look at the love spell, which mentions magnesium stones.
“The burnt offering which endows Eros and the whole procedure with soul is this: manna, 4 drams; storax, 4 drams; opium, 4 drams; myrrh, [f drams;] frankincense, saffron bdella, one-half dram each. Mix in rich dried fig and blend everything in equal parts with fragrant wine, and use it for the performance. In the performance first make a burnt offering and use it in this way.”
Storax is a plant, but what is manna? The mixture is burnt. The other ingrediences are know and they give good smelling smoke. Incence called manna is not known from anywhere. Manna is food from God in the Bible. In a Mithraic spell it could be something that gives light, as the food the God of Light gives is wisdom or light. It cannot be wisdom in a practical recipe, thus manna most probably created visual effects when burned. It is very possible that it produced white bright light and was metallic magnesium. Likewise, sacred sand in the Mithras Liturgy may refer to magnesium.
We see that at least the Greek Magical Papyrus includes a ritual for eternal life and rebirth, this ritual mentions brilliant light, and it may refer to magnesium. The ritual also mentions Helios Mithras, and in such a way connects with the Mithras cult: the cult may have had a ritual somewhat resembling this ritual. The Greek Magical Papyrus is not Mithraism, it is syncretic magic. The spells in it remind of what Irenaeus tells of Simonians (followers of Simon Magus): they practised exorcism and incantations, sang erotic hymns, confected love potions, invoked demon companions who send dreams (see [5] p. 153). The Greek Magical Papyrus contains all this, and one incantation for driving out demons uses the name of Jesus. Clearly, these Simonians fit to the description of John 1:19: Simon Magus was baptised, Simonians started as disciples of Jesus. However, to Simon Magus himself Irenaus assigns doctrine of definite Gnostic flavor: Simon travelled with the whore Helen, called the First Thought, while Simon was God’s incarnation ([5] p. 148). Obviously magicians of the time knew magic of they type in the Papyrus, and at least Simonean Gnostics knew them. More
Gnostics had a ritual of light, called the bridal chamber. It is mentioned e.g in the Gospel of Phillip 101-108. It is a bridal ritual, where the bride (a Gnostic believer) unites with Christ. Though Giovanni Filarmo [5] p. 180) suggests that the ritual may have been sacred sex, hieros gamos, and gives the example of sex orgies told by Epiphanius ([5] p. 183), the fact is that Gnostic texts of Nag Hammad are strongly anti-sexual relations and, apart of some fringe Gnostic communities, the ritual of the bridal chamber cannot have included real sex. It must have been joining with the God in light, a light ritual resembling that in the Greek Magical Papyrus, or what can be deduced of Mithraic rituals.
If magicians, Mithras cult members and Gnostics knew some light ritual, then Nicodemus also must have known it. There is enough reason to speculate that there was a light ritual and it created the image in the Turin Shroud.
There may be a reference to the Turin Shroud in Gal. 3:1. The Greek words, translations shown in paranthesis, may very well mean that Galatians had seen the Shroud: …(whose) (before) (eyes) (Jesus) (Christ) (was publicly portrayed) [as] (having been crucified). It suggests that the main evidence of the resurrection was the Shroud. That would fit to the mismatch between Paul and Gospels. Paul gives a list of Jesus’ postresurrection appearences in 1. Cor. 15:6-8. According to this list, Jesus appeared first to Paul, but no Gospel mention this. John 20:6 says that Peter saw the burial clothes, Jesus appeared in to Maria Magdalena (John 20:11-18), but in a normal human body, which Maria did not recognize as Jesus. Finally Jesus appeared to the disciples in John 20:19. There is no first appearence to Peter, unless it is seeing the burial clothes. The appearence to the disciples in John 20:19 can also mean seeing the image in the burial clothes. Synaptic Gospels do not resolve this issue. Jesus apparently appeared in three ways: 1) in a body of another human, recognizable as Jesus only from the words; 2) as an image in the burial clothes; and 3) as bright light, as Acts tells of Paul’s experience. The most miraculous ones must have been the image and bright light.
Gospels must be read as partially symbolic descriptions of the faith. This is so because synaptic Gospels and John tell of Jesus raising a person from death, but Paul does not know of anyone having been raised from death before Jesus. Thus, these stories are symbolic: a person is woken up from death, healed from diseases, and fed food by hearing God’s words. Gospels confirm this interpretation by having Jesus say that this generation will be given only one sign, the sign of Jonas. The word sign here means a sign for Jews, that is, a miracle, while signs that Jesus did were signs of a prophet: fulfilment of prophecies but not miracles. There was only one miracle, the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples of Jesus, and probably many other people, believed that the resurrection was real. They had seen something that they could not explain. This something could have been the image in the Shroud and bright light. If so, the mystery of the origin of Christianity is solved.
It is interesting to speculate what was the opinion of Boethusians on everlasting life, assuming that Boethusians were the Zadoc priests of Essenes and the Jesus movement was an Essene messianic movement. Boethusians stated that one should not expect a reward after life. Pharisees interpreted this so that Boethusians denied life after dead, but Essenes did not deny life after dead. What they denied was a reward. The end of the life is death and the soul dies in this end. The only soul, which does not die, is a soul of a perfectly righteous person, and only Jesus was such a person (according to the Jesus movement). Thus, he was the only one, who had come from heaven and would rise back to heaven. Other people had to lose their soul in order to save it. There was no redemption in the sense that the old soul could be saved. Only the soul of an unborn child, as the soul was before it came to a body, could be saved, as such a soul had not done any sin yet. A believe had to become like a child. He had to unify hist soul with the heavenly soul, which in a way is his unborn soul, and also the soul of Christ. This can only mean that there is only one soul and other souls are copies of this soul. Or, maybe they thought in some other way. In any case, something like this it must have been. But that is a teological problem, not a topic for this article.
References
[1] T. Casabianca et al, “Radiocarbon Dating of the Turin Shroud: New Evidence from Raw Data,” Archaeometry 2019.
[2] T. Nakamura, “Variations of 14C ages of various organic fractions in a turbudite sediment core from Suraga Through,” Geochemical J., Vol. 24, pp. 47-56, 1990. on-line at:
[3] https://www.shroud.com/
[4] Robert James Forbes, More studies in early petroleum history, Lieden: Brill, 1959. archived, available on-line.
[5] Giovanni Filaroma, A History of Gnosticism, Blackwell, UK, 1990.