With the rise of modern technology, and the Bible’s ready availability on phones or tablets, the physical presence of a Bible book is becoming more and more rare. Yes, Christians still care about the content of the Bible, but seem less concerned with the physical presence of the Bible. But it was not so in the early church.

Not many Christians carry around Bibles anymore these days.

In my younger years, I can remember that it was standard fare to carry your Bible to church. Even in college, we would take our Bibles to the evening gathering of our campus fellowship. To have a worn, tattered Bible—due to regularly carrying it around in one’s backpack—was sort of a sign that one took their faith seriously.

Of course, those days are long gone. With the rise of modern technology, and the Bible’s ready availability on phones or tablets, the physical presence of a Bible book is becoming more and more rare. Yes, Christians still care about the content of the Bible (I hope), but seem less concerned with the physical presence of the Bible.

But it was not so in the early church.

Despite the fact that most Christians couldn’t read, and despite the fact that physical copies of the Bible were mainly the privilege of the wealthy, many Christians still took steps to acquire physical copies of the Scriptures (usually just portions thereof). Typically, these were small pocket-sized “books” or what scholars call miniature codices. These tiny books were often quite sophisticated and could have a surprising number of pages, sometimes containing entire Gospels, or other scriptural writings.

So, what would Christians do with these tiny scriptural books once they had them? Here’s where things get really interesting.

Wearing Scriptural Books

The most common way that Christians used these tiny books is that they wore them. In particular, they often wore them around their neck so the books would be clearly on visual display for anyone they might meet.

Such a practice was not uncommon among monks and ministers. The fourth-century hermit Amoun of Nitria, regulalry carried a codex around his neck from which he read “the words of the Apostle and the Savior.” Maximus, a disciple of the fourth-century Martin of Tours, hung a “book of the Gospels” (Evangeliorum libro) around his neck during his travels. Similarly, an early deacon named Euplus was martyred in Catania in 304 under the Governor Calvisianus with the “book of the Gospels” hung around his neck.

But it was not just men. Women and children were also known for wearing a Gospel around their necks. John Chrysostom tell us that “women and little children suspend Gospels from their necks as a powerful protection and carry them about in all places wherever they go” (Stat. 19.14).

So, why would Christians do this? What purpose would it serve to put Gospels on visual display?

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