Obolos 19

BYZANTINE, Judaea. Jerusalem. "True Cross" Pilgrim's Token, circa 7th century. (Clay, 19 mm, 1.71 g). H N B I (Jesus of Nazaret, King of the Judaeans) The True Cross of Jesus Christ. Rev. Plain. Mitchiner, Medieval Pilgrim & Secular Badges 1062-1064. About extremely fine.

From an American Collection, acquired from David Hendin.

"And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Philippians 2:8

The relic was first acknowledged as the cross that Jesus Christ died upon by Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great in AD 324. When Khusru II seized Jerusalem in AD 614 he confiscated the sacred “true cross” of the Byzantine church. After the cross was captured, it remained in Persia for 14 years until it was recovered by Heraclius who eventually brought it back to Jerusalem. Pieces of this cross were supposedly burned and mixed with clay to create circular uniface tokens that commemorated Christ’s victory on the cross.