page_title: Early Christian inscriptions
section_title: Sepulchral inscriptions
hierarchical_section_title: Early Christian inscriptions / Sepulchral inscriptions
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Nonnosus-Inschrift aus dem Jahr 532/533 im Altar in Molzbichl im unteren Drautal, Gemeinde Spittal an der Drau / Österreich / Europa. Einziges Schriftdenkmal Kärntens und Österreichs aus dem 6. Jahrhundert. Der Stein ist in der Pfarrkirche zum Heiliger Tiburtius eingemauert, war lange durch eine barocke Verkleidung verdeckt und paßt zu einer Reliquiengrube beim Hochaltar. Inschrift: Hic re[quies]/ci(t) servus Χϱ[ι](στου) / Nonnosus diac(onus) /qui vixit annos / p(lus) m(inus) CIII obiit / IIII Non(as) Septemb(res) / et deposit(us) est in / hunc loco XIII Kal(endas) Aug(ustas) indict(ione) XI / tertio (anno) post cons(ulatum) / Lampadi et Ores/tis v(irorum) c(larissimorum). Übersetzung der lateinischen Inschrift: Im Namen des Vaters, des Sohnes und des Heiligen Geistes. Hier ruht der Diener Christi, der Diakon Nannosus, der ca. 103 Jahre lebte. Er starb am 2. September und wurde am 20. Juli an diesem Ort im elften Jahr der Indikation bestattet, drei Jahre nach dem Konsulat der viri clarissimi Lampadius und Orestes. Der Stein wurde vermutlich in Oberkärnten gehauen und ist nicht der Grabstein des italienischen Abts Nonnous. Der Stein ist "unansehnlich, ein solches Denkmal hätte man niemals vom Soracte bis nach Karantanien transportiert."&#91;1&#93; English: Church in Molzbichl near Spittal an der Drau / Carinthia / Austria / EU. The tombstone carries an early Christian inscription plate that reads: “Here rests the servant of Christ, Nonnosus, deacon, who lived more or less for 103 years. He died on September 2 at this place died on July 20...three years after the consulate of the illustrious men Lampadius and Orestes [i.e. in 533].
context_page_description: Early Christian inscriptions are the epigraphical remains of early Christianity. They are a valuable source of information in addition to the writings of the Church Fathers regarding the development of Christian thought and life in the first six centuries of the religion's existence. The three main types are sepulchral inscriptions, epigraphic records, and inscriptions concerning private life.
context_section_description: The earliest of these epitaphs are characterized by their brevity, only the name of the dead being given. Later a short acclamation was added, such as "in God" or "in Peace." From the end of the 2nd century, the formulae were enlarged by the addition of family names and the date of burial. In the third and fourth centuries, the text of the epitaphs was expanded with the age of the deceased, the year (reckoned according to the consuls in office), and laudatory epithets. For these particulars each of the regions comprising the Roman empire had its own distinct expressions, contractions, and acclamations.
  Large use was made of symbolism. Thus the open cross is found in the epitaphs of the catacombs as early as the 2nd century, and from the 3rd to the 6th century the monogrammatic cross in its various forms appears as a regular part of the epitaphs. The cryptic emblems of primitive Christianity are also used in the epitaphs: the fish (Christ), the anchor (hope), the palm (victory), and the representation of the soul in the other world as a female figure  with arms extended in prayer (orans).
  Beginning with the 4th century, after the Church gained hegemony over the Empire, the language of the epitaphs became more frank and open. Emphasis was laid upon a life according to the dictates of Christian faith, and prayers for the dead were added to the inscription. The prayers inscribed thus early on the sepulchral slabs reproduce in large measure the primitive liturgy of the funeral service. They implore for the dead eternal peace and a place of refreshment (refrigerium), invite to the heavenly love-feast (Agape), and wish the departed the speedy enjoyment of the light of Paradise, and the fellowship of God and the saints.
  A perfect example of this kind of epitaph is that of the Egyptian monk Schenute; it is taken verbally from an ancient Greek liturgy. It begins with the doxology, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen", and continues:
  May the God of the spirit and of all flesh, Who has overcome death and trodden Hades under foot, and has graciously bestowed life on the world, permit this soul of Father Schenute to attain to rest in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the place of light and of refreshment, where affliction, pain, and grief are no more. O gracious God, the lover of men, forgive him all the errors which he has committed by word, act, or thought. There is indeed no earthly pilgrim who has not sinned, for Thou alone, O God, art free from every sin.
  The epitaph repeats the doxology at the close, and adds the petition of the scribe: "O Savior, give peace also to the scribe." When the secure position of the Church assured greater freedom of expression, the non-religious part of the sepulchral inscriptions was also enlarged. In Western Europe and in the East it was not unusual to note, both in the catacombs and in the cemeteries above ground, the purchase or gift of the grave and its dimensions. Traditional minatory formulae against desecration of the grave or its illegal use as a place of further burial also came into Christian use.
caption: Christian inscription on a deacon's tombstone from present-day Austria, dated to the year 533 by the use of consular notation
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