Camuliana

Camuliana, Camulia or Kamoulia was an ancient town or perhaps village in Cappadocia, located northwest of Caesarea, today Kayseri in Turkey. It is mostly mentioned in connection with the Image of Camuliana, an acheiropoieton or "icon not made by hands" of the face of Christ, which was one of the earliest of this class of miraculously created icons to be recorded; this is also sometimes referred to simply as the "Camouliana".

The episcopal see of Camuliana is of relatively late origin, since it did not yet exist in the time of Basil the Great 329–379. However, four of its bishops are named in the acts of various councils: Basil in the Second Council of Constantinople (553); a George in the Third Council of Constantinople (680); another George in the Second Council of Nicaea (680); and a third George in the Photian Council of Constantinople (879). A seal indicates that there was also a bishop named Michael in the 10th or 11th century.

No longer a residential bishopric, Camuliana is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.

The image of Christ that appears in Camuliana is mentioned in the early 6th century by Zacharias Rhetor, his account surviving in a fragmentary Syriac version, and is probably the earliest image to be said to be a miraculous imprint on cloth in the style of the Veil of Veronica (a much later legend) or Shroud of Turin. In the version recorded in Zacharias's chronicle, a pagan lady called Hypatia was undergoing Christian instruction, and asking her instructor "How can I worship him, when He is not visible, and I cannot see Him?". She later found in her garden a painted image of Christ floating on water. When placed inside her head-dress for safekeeping it then created a second image onto the cloth, and then a third was painted. Hypatia duly converted and founded a church for the version of the image that remained in Camuliana. In the reign of Justinian I (527-565) the image is said to have been processed around cities in the region to protect them from barbarian attacks. This account differs from others but would be the earliest if it has not suffered from iconodule additions, as may be the case.

...
Wikipedia