A YouTube video causing a buzz on the web presents evidence the Shroud of Turin – believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ – bears the image of a man who was moving when the image was captured.
The video was created by the International Institute for Advanced Studies of Space Representation Sciences, which was founded in Palermo, Italy, in 2000 by scientist Giuseppe Maria Catalano.
The video:
Rod Dreher at the American Conservative said the scientists in the video "claim that their study has shown that the image on the Shroud is not static, but actually depicts a slight oscillation."
"It is, they say, like (a) stroboscopic photograph, showing slight movement of the figure as intense bursts of energy emanate from his body."
The scientists use photogrammetry, "the science of making distance measurements of surfaces depicted on photographs."
Dreher explained the movement is slight but apparent.
"If the image is in fact a glimpse of the moment of Christ’s Resurrection, then it is more like a kind of video of the first seconds of the Resurrection, depicting an oscillating movement of Christ," he said.
"If the image really is Jesus of Nazareth at the moment of Resurrection, then the first thing Jesus did with his hand after returning to life was to make the hand configuration very similar to that Orthodox priests use when they bless — a hand position of great antiquity, derived in part from Greco-Roman hand gestures signifying particular meaning," wrote Dreher.
"The documentary does not point this out, perhaps because the scientists are Roman Catholic, and didn't recognize the significance. It is also possible that the Shroud Man's hand moved to that position as a sheer coincidence. But it is exciting to consider the possibility that the Shroud Man, if he is the Resurrected Christ, made, as his immediate first act after life returned to his body, a gesture of holy blessing."
Dreher noted he believes that the Shroud of Turin was the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.
"Having said that, I don't want to be quick to accept the findings of these scientists. So, I'm appealing to the wide readership of this blog for guidance."
WND most recently reported on the Shroud when Professor Giulio Fanti of Italy's University of Padua created a 3D model of the image.
"We believe that we have the precise image of what Jesus looked like on this earth," said Fanti, who teaches mechanical and thermal measurements and is a Shroud researcher. "This statue is the three-dimensional representation in actual size of the Man of the Shroud, created following the precise measurements taken from the cloth in which the body of Christ was wrapped after the crucifixion."
Through the study and three-dimensional projection of the figure, Fanti was also able to count the numerous wounds on the body of the man of the Shroud.
"On the Shroud, I counted 370 wounds from the flagellation, without taking into account the wounds on his sides, which the Shroud doesn't show because it only enveloped the back and front of the body. We can therefore hypothesize a total of at least 600 blows," he said. "In addition, the three-dimensional reconstruction has made it possible to discover that at the moment of his death, the man of the Shroud sagged down towards the right, because his right shoulder was dislocated so seriously as to injure the nerves."
He concludes: "Therefore, we believe that we finally have the precise image of what Jesus looked like on this earth. From now on, He may no longer be depicted without taking this work into account."
The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot linen cloth that is believed by many to have wrapped the body of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion.
Last August, researchers from the Institute of Crystallography found chemicals in the stains on the Shroud indicating the stains were blood. Researchers also learned that the blood belonged to someone who suffered from extreme injury and pain.
"The blood serum tells us that before dying the person was suffering," said Elvio Carlino, a researcher from the Institute of Crystallography. "This means that the Turin Shroud is not fake. ... It is certainly the funeral fabric that wrapped a tortured man."
A video report (in Italian):