From the beginning, Christians have confessed that our faith is rooted in history. The events of Christianity’s founding in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus are of chief importance to us.
God’s people have always affirmed both the truth and value of history. Biblical writers regularly recorded not only the facts of what happened but the significance for our faith. We see this pattern of a historical report with its interpretation in Exodus: the account of crossing the Red Sea in chapter 14 is followed by Moses’s song in chapter 15, which says: “God redeemed his son, Israel, out of Egypt with a strong and outstretched arm and brought him to the promised land, God’s abode and sanctuary” (v. 15, author’s paraphrase). Similarly, Paul not only rehearses the events of Jesus’s life, but he also gives the significance of Jesus’s life: “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3); Christ was “raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25).
History has always stood at the heart of the Christian faith. Whether the history is recorded in the Bible or in the subsequent history of the church, Christians trace the pathways of divine providence to discern how God has worked in the past so we may praise and honor him in the present. This brings us to the announcement on December 11, 2024, of the discovery of a silver amulet outside Frankfurt, Germany. What’s the Frankfurt amulet, and why is it significant?
Amazing Discovery
Christians trace the pathways of divine providence to discern how he’s worked in the past so we may praise and honor him in the present.
In a Roman graveyard, underneath the chin bone of a skull dated between AD 230–70, archaeologists discovered a small, silver amulet containing a silver foil less than 3.5 centimeters in size. The foil had Latin writing on it. This grave is significant because it’s dated to an early era of church history from which we have precious little material evidence. The amulet is now the earliest material artifact of Christian origins discovered north of the Alps.
Researchers couldn’t simply unroll the foil to read the text since it had been pressed over time. So they unrolled the tiny scroll with CT-scanning technology, creating a three-dimensional image of the text for researchers to read. The technique is similar to that used to unroll the Hebrew En-Gedi scroll that was burned in a Torah ark at the synagogue in En-Gedi. When the Frankfurt amulet’s foil was digitally unrolled, 18 lines of Latin text could be read (question marks signify areas of uncertainty):
(In the name?) of Saint Titus. Holy, holy, holy! In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God! The Lord of the world resists with [strengths?] all attacks(?)/setbacks(?). The God(?) grants entry to well-being. May this means of salvation(?) protect the man who surrenders himself to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, since before Jesus Christ every knee bows: those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue confesses (Jesus Christ).
Other amulets name angels like Michael and Gabriel as guardians or even mix Christian teaching with Judaism and paganism. The Frankfurt amulet stands out for only mentioning the Lord Jesus Christ and affirming monotheism. This amulet is now the earliest source to mention the Trishagion (“Holy, holy, holy”)—a feature of Christian worship hitherto not observed until the fourth century. Another interesting feature of the amulet is that it preserves nearly word for word the Latin of Philippians 2:10–11, a text that’s also probably part of an early Christ hymn. Although the text of the amulet is orthodox, the practice of carrying an amulet for protection or salvation may show that the wearer still mixed some paganism with his Christian faith.
Amulet’s Significance
The amulet shows that Christianity had spread further north into Germania more quickly than we previously realized. We know there was a robust presence of Christianity north of the Alps in places like Lyons, Gaul (modern-day Lyon, France), where Irenaeus ministered as a priest from AD 161–80 and as bishop until he died in perhaps AD 202. Irenaeus was from Asia Minor. Christians from his church had already planted a church in Lyons, and he went there to serve in it.
This amulet shows that Christianity had spread further north into Germania more quickly than we previously realized.
Under Irenaeus’s ministry, missionaries were most likely sent out to the areas surrounding Lyons to spread Christianity, though little is known about these endeavors. But the Frankfurt amulet shows that Roman Christians were trekking over the Alps into Germany by the beginning of the third century, quite literally carrying the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God, on them. Whether they were missionaries or settlers or both we can’t know from this amulet alone. But the amulet does show that Christianity was vibrant even before it was officially and legally recognized by the Roman Empire in AD 313 and before the Council of Nicaea in AD 325.
Even if shrouded, the story of second- and third-century Christianity is fascinating, and the Frankfurt silver amulet gives researchers more evidence that will help them tell the story of how Christ’s church was established in northern Europe and how it stretched from Jerusalem all the way to Germany within its first 200 years of existence. Moreover, the story of the silver amulet should encourage our faith. As we trust Christ and obey him by taking his gospel to the ends of the earth, we should remember we’re not the first believers to do so. Early Christians and many since have faithfully obeyed the Lord’s commission. Though Christ’s mission has often been hard and full of troubles, history’s testimony, and the confession of those who have gone before us, should encourage us to faithfully follow Christ’s call as well.