BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Christian Amulets with Inscriptions

How ancient amulets secured heavenly help

“Have you fallen into a severe sickness, and do many come … with charms, some with amulets … to remedy the evil?” With these words, the fourth-century bishop in Antioch, John Chrysostom, asks his faithful about the then-common practice of Christian amulets, which he resolutely condemned, suggesting that good Christians should “suffer all things rather than submit to do any of those idolatrous practices” (Homily 3 on 1 Thessalonians 3).

“The surviving amulets and the critiques leveled against them by religious elites indicate that the practice was very common among late antique Christians,” states Megan Nutzman in the Summer 2025 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Formerly Professor of History at Old Dominion University, now in the Classics department at the Ohio State University, Nutzman is a specialist in religion in the ancient Mediterranean world. In her article, Nutzman focuses on amulets with texts and images that were meant to help protect or heal their wearers.

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Christian amulets inscribed with texts or images fall into two major groups depending on their size. Smaller amulets, whose limited surface area would not allow for extensive texts, usually contained only a handful of words or a single image. They typically took the forms of inscribed gemstones, rings, or pendants. One such example is a fifth- or sixth-century pendant of copper alloy now in the Walters Art Museum (see first image above). On one side, the pendant features the “much-suffering eye” being attacked by lions, a scorpion, a snake, a stork, and spears. Clearly, its purpose was to protect against the evil eye. On the other side (seen in the photo), it has an image of a “holy rider” and a Greek inscription, which reads, “[The] one God overcomes the evil. JHVH.”

Another example of small Christian amulets is a brass ring discovered at Hammat Gader in the southern Golan (see image above). The entire surface area of this small amulet is covered with this Greek inscription: “Christ, help Andreas.” Although we cannot know the identity of the said Andreas, we understand that he wore the ring for protection. Interestingly, its text is distinctly Christian—a form of prayer. This prayer would have been unremarkable to any early Christian and it would have solicited only praise from religious leaders. Yet John Chrysostom makes it clear that even such rings as material objects were not permitted for good Christians.

In his Homily 19 on the Statues, John tells of another type of early Christian amulets, alleging that some Christians wore Gospels on their bodies. This must be a reference to a type of larger inscribed amulet that included the first words (incipits) from each Gospel. For this, we typically call them incipit amulets or more generally gospel amulets. They were pieces of inscribed papyrus or parchment, folded or rolled to fit into tiny cases, which were then strapped to a body part or worn around the neck. Even though they contained direct quotes from the Christian Bible, John and other early Christian authorities disapproved of their use, likely because they reminded them of Jewish tefillin. In their rejection of gospel amulets, Christian leaders must have had in front of them the words of Matthew 23, where Jesus ridicules and criticizes the ostentatious way that some Pharisees wore Jewish tefillin.

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A good example of a gospel incipit amulet is known as Berlin 6096, which is a sheet of parchment inscribed with excerpts from several psalms and all four gospels (see image above). It reads, in part: “† In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. One who dwells in the help of the most high will abide in the shelter of the lord of heaven. [Psalm 91:1] † In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God” [John 1:1–2]. It then goes on to give the incipits of the remaining three gospels, plus a quote from Psalm 118:6–7 and Psalm 18:2.

To further explore these and other inscribed amulets, read Megan Nutzman’s article “Heavenly Help: Christian Amulets in Context,” published in the Summer 2025 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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Subscribers: Read the full article “Heavenly Help: Christian Amulets in Context” by Megan Nutzman in the Summer 2025 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

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Related reading in Bible History Daily

Ancient Amulets with Incipits

Early Christian Amulets: Between Faith and Magic

What Color Were Ancient Tefillin?

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Archaeological Views: Christian Amulets—A Bit of Old, a Bit of New