Philip Schaff

“ The whole history is the fiction of some Christian at Edessa, in the time of Eusebius or not long before. The people of Edessa were then generally Christians; and they valued themselves upon it, and were willing to do themselves the honour of a very early conversion to the Christian faith. ”

“ Such matters are: the celebrated Epistles, the conversion of King Abgar Uchomo, the visit of Thaddæus, and the early prevalence of Christianity at Edessa. With regard to the letters said to have passed between Abgar and our Lord, it seems sufficient, without referring to the internal evidence, to remark, with Lardner and Neander, that it is inconceivable how anything written by Christ should have remained down to the time of Eusebius unknown to the rest of the world [10] The conversion of Abgar is a distinct matter of inquiry. ”

“ If, however, the visit of Thaddæus also should have to be ranked among apocryphal stories, this would not affect the remaining point—that with which we are chiefly concerned in these Documents. “It is certain,” says Neander, “that Christianity was early diffused in this country.” How early, is not so certain. But the evidence furnished by the later portions of these Documents, which there is nothing to contradict and much to confirm, proves that early in the second century Christianity had already made many converts there. ”