The Historicity of The Abgar Legend
The Abgar legend has played an important part in the self-definition of several Eastern churches, but its historicity is extremely doubtful. Two recent histories of the Church of the East, Baum and Winkler's The Church of the East and David Wilmshurst's The Martyred Church, have addressed this issue and have discussed the growth and development of the legend. Alexander Mirkovic also argued against the historicity of the legend, pointing out at that the legend is not the only one of its genre. There were many conversion stories coming out of the Middle East in the 3rd and 4th centuries. In many ways these stories represent a model for the conversion of Constantine.
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