The Disciple Marcius as a Precursor of Marcion

[Secret Alias]

A curious Latin variant of the Avenging of the Savior tradition - the Cura sanitatis Tiberii, a short apocryphon of no later than the eighth century which is frequently copied as an appendix to the Euangelium Nichodemi- tells the story of Tiberius being healed by an image of Jesus. Most of it is roughly similar to the Avenging narrative save for the appearance of a youth named Marcius comes forward and tells Volusianus of a woman in Tyre named Veronica who three years earlier was cured of a hemorrhage by Christ. He explains that Veronica is said to possess a portrait of Christ (an imago Christi) which she once had painted while Christ was alive as a token of her gratitude:

9 Post haec coepit Volusianus cum magno desiderio per- quirere, ut aliquam similitudinem eius posset agnoscere. sie venit quidam homo Marcius [manuscript B = Marcus] nomine pandens secretum cuiusdam mulieris. dixit ad Volusianum: 'ante annos fere tres mulierem curavit a profluvio sanguinis; quae cum sanitatem recepisset ob amorem eius imaginem ipsius sibi depinxit, du m ipse maneret in corpore, ipso Jhesu sciente'. tunc Volusianus dixit ad iuvenem: 'iiidica mihi mulieris nomen'. et ipse dixit: 'Veronice dicitur et manet in Tyro'. praecepit Volusianus, ut mulier ipsa ad eum perduceretur. quae cum illi praesentata fuisset, ait ad eam Volusianus: „bonitas et prudentia tua mihi nuntiata est. exaudi petitionem meam, et ostende mihi imaginem viri magni dei tui, qui tibi corporis tui salutem contulit.' ad haec mulier respondit se non habere ea quae dicebantur ab eo. tunc Volusianus quasi 10 derisum se existimans diligenter tarnen coepit inquirere et licet invita mulier et adflicta, quae erat devota deo suo, devulgavit secretum imaginis auctoris salutis suae. qui misit cum ea multi- tudinem militum et invenerunt eam absconsam in cubiculo, ubi manebat, ad caput eius; quia ibi caput suum seraper commendabat. et ipsa detulit eain Volusiano. at ubi vidit Volusianus imaginem Christi Jhesu, mox contremuit et adoravit eam et dixit: Vere dico vobis, quia malam percipiet retributionem, qui tradedit et crucifixit Jhesum, qui infirmos curabat et mortuos suscitabat'. bis delibatis congregato armatas agmina navinm cum exercitu militum et Pila- tum et mulierem Veronicam quae Basilla dicitur introgressus est navem una cum imagine Jhesu Christi pergens cum eis ad urbem Romain, et post novem menses Romam pariter pervenerunt.

It should be noted that nowhere is Marcius is said to be a 'disciple of Jesus' but he clearly believes in Jesus and Veronica's healing power.

[Adam]

Give it up on this one, Stephan.
The Veronica of the medieval (12th Century?) Rosary is said to have obtained the impression of Jesus's face on her cloth. Actually, "Veronica" is a corruption of the two Greek words for "true icon". That's the Mandylion that was supposedly the burial shroud of Jesus, and speculated (and I believe it) to be now in Turin, Italy known as "the Shroud of Turin".