The cross I was wearing disappeared a few weeks ago. My friend Eve Marko was visiting Jerusalem. I messaged her and asked her if she could find me a cross from an Armenian merchant she has written about on her blog.

It arrived yesterday and I love it.  Archaeologists say the vast majority of bronze coins circulating in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus were the Jewish lepton or prutot, minuted from the time of the Maccabean kings until Pontius Pilate.

Authorities believed that any small Jewish bronze coin struck before the Crucifixion can legitimately be called a “Widow’s Mite,” from the legend. An authentic ancient lepton was embedded in this cross that Eve sent me.

The lesson of the widow’s mite is written in the Synoptic Gospels (Mar 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4. According to the legend, Jesus is teaching at the Temple In Jerusalem.

The Gospel of Mark specifies that two mites (Greek lepta) are together worth a quadrans, the smallest Roman coin. A lepton was the smallest and least valuable coin in circulation in Judea, it was worth about six minutes of an average daily wage.

According to the Bible, Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched how the crowd gave offerings. Many rich people put in large sums.

A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling disciples to him, he said “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she sad, her whole livelihood.”

These coins are also sold and embedded into earrings.

I’m grateful to Eve, this cross is perfect for me,  and I love the back story. It’s just what I was hoping for. I will not lose this one. I can feel some energy coming out of it.