Ancient Piety

6th Century Byzantine Prayer Box

 The website of the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, recently reported (here) the discovery in Jerusalem of a small Christian prayer box dating from the 6th century.  Archeologists are especially excited by this find because painted on the interior of the box are two icons of a man and a woman, possibly Jesus and Mary.  This means that the box may be the oldest example of the personal use of icons outside of church worship services.  According to the article, the miniature Byzantine-era box "...was used as a personal ritual object that could be taken anywhere. When worshipers wanted to pray, they would open the box and pray before the icons, and it would function as a miniature church."  A short video on YouTube (here) provides further details about the find and views of the box.

Evidently, this little box provides us with a tenuous, intriguing link to personal piety in the 6th century Byzantine Empire, and it raises questions that we'd love to have answered.  Was this box actually used by its owner as a "miniature church" and thus a focus for personal prayer and worship?  Or was it more of a talisman, a charm carried around to protect the owner from harm?  Or was it both?  Did the owner hold the box itself in reverence, or was it "just" an aid to his or her faith?  How common were these boxes?  Were they expensive, suggesting that it's owner was a person of some wealth?  And are the two images actually of Jesus and Mary—or of other saints, maybe even local ones?   These are questions that we'll never be able to answer, but even so the box gives us a hint of the piety one of our ancestors in the faith held fifteen hundred years ago and gives us a feel for how long Christ has been the focus of our worship and our piety.