Show silver chalice relic of early christianity safety safely hidden away in a new york bank vault la is a silver cup or chalice which in tho the opinion of many learned men Is one ot of the most significant and valuable of all christian relics the cup Is known as the antioch chalice and although the origin slid end history of it are lost in the mists of the pasto past its purpose its antiquity and the region where it was made are all clearly indicated by its form and the decorations on it the chalice consists of two cups clips one of which fits inside theother the other tim the inner cup Is plain tile the outer one la Is handsomely decorated in relief there thera fire are two figures of christ one shows him as a youth the other as al amaturo mature man one of the figures la Is surrounded by ten persons in an attitude ot of worship apostles or early fathers of the church no doubt the other figure stands with a basket of loaves leaves at id ills feet over which Is nn an engle eagle with outspread wings connects tile the cup with antioch Ant loch which next to jerusalem was tile ithe first city to shelter a band of christians and the workmanship ip Is such as I 1 to 0 suggest tho the craftsmen of that hat hel I 1 city of 0 syria the late date of the chalice lias has long been in dispute some rut authorities atles 1 hold that it cannot be earlier 01 t than n the fourth or fifth century but tile tho silver work Is of a delicacy and grace that Is rn more ore characteristic of tho the first century after christ than of those later centuries when art hao had become stiff and conventionalized the tha figures indeed are so individual in treatment that they seem to be intended tended for portraits and it has been sug suggested that they do actually represent the appearance of tile the first apostles a theory that cannot of course bo be either proved or disproved the figure 0 christ Is not idealized it Is less attractive than some bonio of theother early christian portraits hut but it Is all the th more interesting because it la Is unconventional that Is indeed one gnep of the reasons that lead scholars to insist on tile tho antiquity of tho the chalice dy by the fourth century the figure of christ had been so completely re reduced ducett to conventionality that a representation like this would have been impossible the presence of the eagle which has been thought to refer to taking the church under the imperial protection Is now believed to signify the union with the early christians of a syrian cult the symbol of which wax wag the eagle that cult antedated antedate i christianity ti but it was lofty in its ita idealism and it held to a belief ln in one god the highest and it might easily have merged itself in the swelling current of christianity tho the precise truth about this interesting vessel we may never know but that it Is a historic relle relic of the very verr early days of christianity and therefore one of the most precious objects of the world la Is certain youths lill companion |