A small small silver amulet, 35 mm (1.4 inches) in length, discovered in Northern Germany has been classified as one of the most important Biblical archaeological finds of 2024.

Referred to as the Frankfurt Silver Inscription, the amulet was discovered in 2018 in the grave of a man estimated at around 40 years of age. He was buried sometime between AD 230 – 270 in a cemetery located in the ancient Roman city of Nida, found on the outskirts of modern Frankfurt.

The discovery is causing a major rethink of how quickly Christianity spread across Europe as it indicates that Christianity had spread north of the Alps by the middle of the second century.

Amulets were worn around the neck to ward off evil spirits. Up to the fifth century, they typically invoked a variety of different pagan gods, along with Jesus and Yahweh of Judaism, for protection.

The fact, that this amulet was solely Christian is unusual for this period. It reveals that the Christian faith had made significant inroads in Germany 50 to 100 years earlier than historians had thought.

Researchers pointed out that during this period Rome was still actively persecuting Christians, so it posed significant risk to the wearer. It indicated that the man was very serious about his faith.

The Amulet’s Wording

Though, the silver amulet was too fragile to be unraveled, using CT scans researchers deciphered what was written on the silver foil and were surprised by two things. First it was completely written in Latin. Typically, amulets of this time were written in Greek or Hebrew. Secondly, it contained a clear and unequivocal Christian message reading:

(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).

First it references Jesus Christ several times and refers to Christ as the ‘Son of God”, and similar to other recent discoveries reveals an early acceptance of Christ’s divinity.

Equally significant is that the last part of the amulet ends with almost a verbatim quote of Philippians 2:10-11 from a Latin version of Paul’s letter indicating it was in wide circulation and accepted as scripture by early Christians.

In 382, Pope Damascus commissioned Jerome to revise the earlier existing four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) written in Latin. Along with this, Jerome also worked on Latin versions of other New Testament books and as well translated the Old Testament and several apocrypha book into Latin. This eventually became known as the Latin Vulgate. The verse inscribed on the amulet may be the earliest reference to one of the Latin texts that Jerome edited.

The mention of Titus also indicated that Paul’s letter of the same name was in circulation.. Titus, who was saved under Paul’s ministry (Titus 1:4), is mentioned several times in Paul’s letter. He was a gentile Christian and was living proof that gentiles did not have to become Jews first through the rite of circumcision to become Christians (Galatians 2:3).

Titus traveled with Paul and it seems he delivered a letter, 2 Corinthians, to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 9:10, 17, 24). The last mention of Titus is in 2 Timothy 4:10, indicating he had joined Paul in Rome. He went on to Dalmatia to preach the gospel, which is today modern Serbia and Montenegro.

The invoking of Saint Titus is also arguably the earliest reference of prayer to the Saints, a non-Biblical tradition accepted by the Roman Catholic church.

SOURCES: “Frankfurt silver inscription” – Oldest Christian testimony found north of the Alps AND Frankfurt silver inscription (Frankfurt Museum) AND 1,800-year-old silver amulet could rewrite history of Christianity in the early Roman Empire