Archaeologists revealed the discovery of a Christian message inside a small silver amulet found in Frankfurt, Germany, providing new insights into the earliest centuries of the faith in Europe.

The artifact, which is made of thin silver foil measuring less than two inches, dates to the time horizon between 230 AD and 270 AD, and has eighteen lines of text offering praise to “the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” according to a recent press release from Goethe University.

The amulet invokes “Saint Titus,” a disciple of the Apostle Paul after whom the New Testament epistle is named. The artifact also claims to protect the one who “surrenders to the will” of Jesus Christ, since before him “bend all knees, the heavenly ones, the earthly and the subterranean,” noting that “every tongue” will confess to him, a reference to the second chapter of Philippians.

Goethe University commented in the statement that the evidence shows “that the wearer of the amulet was clearly a devout Christian, which is absolutely extraordinary for this period.”

The amulet was found six years ago in a third-century Roman graveyard in the ancient city of Nida, which is now the broader Main metropolis in southwestern Germany, beneath the chin of a man buried in the cemetery, but was only recently decoded using sophisticated technology.

Rather than unfurling the brittle foil, researchers examined the silver with a computer tomograph at the Leibniz Center for Archaeology, which allowed the team to digitally unroll the artifact.

Frankfurt Lord Mayor Mike Josef celebrated the discovery, noting that “the first Christian find north of the Alps comes from our city,” extending the Christian history of the region by another century. “We can be proud of this, especially now, so close to Christmas,” Josef added.

Archaeologists noted that elements from “a mixture of different faiths,” such as Judaism or paganism, are often included in Christian artifacts dated from before the fifth century, but the silver amulet does not make mention of any Old Testament patriarchs or pagan beliefs.