from
his wound, handed it to the Roman soldier, Pudeus, who was present at
his death, but was a secret convert to the Christian faith, charging
the soldier to guard it as a heritage and a reminder that true faith
was rather confirmed than weakened by the martyr's death.10
A
tender and beautiful allusion to a religious ring is contained in the
account of the life and death of St. Marcina the Younger (ca. 330-379 a.D.), by
her brother St. Gregory Nyassa. When, after the death of this pious
daughter of Basil the Great, her body was being prepared for burial,
there was found, suspended by a cord from her neck and resting just
over her heart, an iron ring. On its chaton was engraved a cross, and
in a hollow space beneath was secreted a small fragment of the True
Cross. This ring the brother removed, declaring that it should be his
precious heritage, the more sacred that it recalled the cross of
Christ, not only by its engraved design, but still more by the
priceless memento placed beneath this.11
An
antique ivory ring found at Aries in France bears inscriptions denoting
that it had been designed for use as a Gnostic amulet, and illustrating
the peculiar eclecticism of Gnostic belief. The monogram of Christ
appears here between the two Greek letters A and il, symbolizing the
beginning and the end 12 ; added to this is the name ABPA2AH(Abrasax, Abraxas), the favorite designation of the Creative Energy among the Gnostics.13
10 Ruinart, "Acta sanctorum martyrum sincera et selecta," Paris, 1689, p. 40.
11 Gregorii episcopi nysseni, " Opera," vol. iii, in Migne's Patrologia Grseca, vol. xli, Parisiis, 1858, col. 990.
12 See Rev. I, viii.
13 C. W. King, "Antique Gems," London, 1860, p. 858.
