 Kourkouas assailed Edessa every year from 942 onward and devastated its countryside , as he had done at Melitene . Finally , its emir agreed to a peace , swearing not to raise arms against Byzantium and to hand over the Mandylion in exchange for the return of 200 prisoners . The Mandylion was conveyed to Constantinople , where it arrived on August 15 , 944 , on the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos . A triumphal entry was staged for the venerated relic , which was then deposited in the Theotokos of the Pharos church , the palatine chapel of the Great Palace . As for Kourkouas , he concluded his campaign by sacking Bithra ( modern Birecik ) and Germanikeia ( modern Kahramanmaraş ) . 
