Could This Ancient Relic Be A Fragment Of Jesus' Cross? | Myth Hunters | Odyssey 

The amazing rush to the Holy Land for relics began centuries after Christ's death. Some of them were supposedly gathered during the Crusades, and I would imagine locals would be prone to creating such things to sell. As for Christ's cross, it's very doubtful it would have been saved but rather re-used. Crucifixion, for all its horrors, was a routine Roman execution for its day.

The Romans probably reuse the crosses. Hence the all trace of the true cross would have been lost in administrate indifference.

I would think that the Romans reused the crosses rather than make a new one for every crucification.

I can’t remember where I saw it, but a long time ago I saw a documentary on religious “relics” that claim to be pieces of saints (bone, hair, fingernails, teeth, blood, etc.) and/or their belongings (clothing, shoes, canes, their home, etc.) and they tested several different ones. They were almost always fake, or material that wasn’t what it claimed to be.

“Carbon 14 dating only works when I want it to.”

Turns out that, when the mother of the Emperor comes looking for reusable wooden crosses from 3 centuries ago, and starts torturing locals, all three are found neatly isolated, well preserved and conveniently labeled wherever you want them to be. And if they get lost 8 centuries later, they get you new ones.

Hesseman should be commended for his hard work in digging out records. Why would he lie about the documents he found? If the historical accounts of Helena's work in the search are true, then it's a clear depiction of the Dark Heart of the Roman Catholic Church. To torture someone who knew the location of the cross is horrifying to a true believer. Do I believe this is really part of the crucifix of Jesus the Christ? Possibly. Do I think it matters? Nothing of this physical 3D plane holds power nor is significant to God's Kingdom. This is interesting but the controversy is a distraction.

So Helena tortures a guy to find out where the cross was buried and then she's made a saint by the church..smh

Im no expert but the Hebrew looks surprisingly modern for the time period? I half expected to see some paleo variations especially with Resh.

Don't believe everything you get off the internet. - Pontius Pilate-

If I could gather all the pieces of the true cross, I could keep my stove burning for decades.

The question that everybody forgot to ask is: Why did the crosses and the tablet were in a cistern for 300 and some years until they were found?

Three minutes in and I'll wager that this "ancient" relic hasn't been in a dendrochronologist's lab, or been radiologically dated. Jeremiah 5:21 springs to mind.

I think if you really wanted relics of Jesus, you would need look no further than the Vatican archives. They’re the keepers of most important things, relics, documents, books, etc.

This video has the Dome of the Rock in it which was built several hundred years later than Helena’s travels.

Am I incorrect in thinking that lumber was not easy to cut back in the days before sawmills? And I feel that crucifixion crosses were reused over and over until after repeated spikes inserted into it causes it to split prematurely. I certainly don't think each cross was used only once. They didn't have any respect to the person being hung, so can't see them having a mindset where a cross would be dedicated to the person being murdered on it, and buried with them as a casket would be. Not a chance. Crosses would be reused until they wouldn't hold the person or spikes anymore.

So your looking for pieces of wood 400 years after the fact, you are asking to be conned.

I've got this one folks.......No it couldn't, cool story though

There is apparently enough "original" wood from the cross to build a three bedroom house So NO.

One question. Why on this supposed fragment are the Greek letters mirrored? Greeks always wrote left to right.

I believe my church has the relic of the Holy Toothpick from the last supper.

Helena starts search for relics about 330 years after Jesus was killed.. Random guy: I know where the cross is! Helena : Where? Random guy: Three of them right here! One even has a sign on it with Jesus name on it in 3 languages! Helena: Seems legit... 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

So Helena sponsored the first archeological dig.

Most likely not! 😄

“No forger would ever make spelling mistakes in a forgery!” 🙄🙄

Amazing work 👍✝️

Eyeroll......false prophets everywhere....jeezzzz

1:19 So the picture that’s being presented for ur mind to see . The curiousity ur mind projects and emotionally seeks within.. so my translation to this is this: even if it wasn’t the fact that the thought of the code of truth is being even projected and drives u in curiosity = the presence of the Holy Spirit is in your presence. … amen❤❤❤

When one starts out saying I believe this is a part of the true cross all credibility is lost.

How bloody long do you think a wee bit of wood lasts

I'm not convinced after watch this, the historian comes off as deseperate to believe his theory, I don't think he's going to allow anyone to challenge it.

You always get the truth when you torture someone to obtain it. "Hey - where is this thing that I'm looking for, from an event that "happened" 300 years ago?" "I dunno." Takes away food for a week and keeps them in a well...."Well, here it is." And then: Let me check with the guy who's existence depends on this relic being real. Yup. He says it checks out.

Hahaha they were believing every single clue regarding the authenticity of the cross title but when scientific analyses are done they’re like, naw heck no that doesn’t fit my agenda. lol

From what I remember reading about the sample taken for carbon dating from the shroud was from the area of the shroad that was repaired back in that date after the damage. If that is the case why have they not returned to test the rest of it ? I dont think they want to know what the true results would be. It would raise alot of questions.

Helena, an ancient version of Ron Wyatt.

Why would Helena chop up the most amazing relic in all Christendom? And how could wood stay intact buried in dirt for a millennium or more?

Helena searches for Joseph of Arimathea's tomb 300 years later. Random person: It's here under the Temple of Venus (Templum Veneris/Ναός της Αφροδίτης) in Aelia Capitolina. Helena: OK....

Helena was nothing else than a naive person. Living in the noble bubble travelling the middle east being robbed everywhere she goes by strangers saying they posses something saint ... All this history is very controversial.

If you have faith, no need for relics

As an artist for 39 years and graduated of the Art Institute of Houston, I totally agree with hand writing analysis. You can't fake change. And time changes. So does writing habits and styles. The type of wood from that region that was readily available and the wet climate it was buried in makes perfect sense. What's embedded in that cross and wood would show the soil of that area which is distinct compared to other regions too. Trees have rings and history. The U.S., Russia, China, Venezuela have uranium in soil. Thats how you can tell what bomb was set off by the region and the signature of the radiation. Radiation cardon dating is fact. You can't change time and writing styles and tell me that's fake. 💯

Vilken lyd lagde verdens første menske på jordkloden?

old saying, "if you took all the pieces of the true cross, you'd have enough material to create the Ark"

The part that requires the most scrutiny in my opinion is the acquisition of the crosses originally. Many people were crucified and I’d think the last thing someone would save is a tool of execution. Do people save ropes from hangings or axes from veheadibgs? You’d think they wouldn’t and how would they have taken it?

Very Good Video … Cross Relics.

I can't yes I believe it is real or not. What I can say as a Christian is that it doesn't matter. Faith is something you believe in without needing physical proof. Interesting quests but for me what is in my heart is all that matters.

Vill verdens første menske på jordkloden vere verdens siste menske som dør på jordkloden?

If they’d really found this stuff Do you really think they’d hack it up After digging it up and finding it all in one piece!

Interesting...

Where was it found?

I remember in '64 our parish priest ,after a Holy Land visit, showing our class a sliver of 'The Cross' laying on purple cloth of a tiny wooden box ...

Nor så første menskest på jordkloden ett annet menneske ?

if all the bits of the 'true cross'''' were joined together you could build chatres cathedral, or a cross nobody could carry = power pylon size

I was thinking more along the lines of part of the sign to Noah's park!

The Man Hessmann is correct about this scenario that writing styles change and the period of the style of writing on the relics is of the First Century and the People of the NINTH CENTURY did not know of this scenario because the scientific literature was not available! If you lived in the NINTH CENTURY you only knew about that era of writing style and not of the ancient past periods. Because the study of this science was not created yet. To the people of the NINTH CENTURY it was a mystery!

This is the problem when a historian sets out to prove or disprove something. A historian should just be lead by the evidence.....

13:50 Christopher Nolan batman music...

17:20 , whats growing on dudes chin???

Confirmation Bias is strong with that on.

Not likely but video and production is good.

In medieval times there were so many bits of "wood of the true cross" that you could have built a house from them. Most of those bits were said to be taken from the actual cross which was discovered by the mother of Emperor Constantine in 326 AD.

AND THEN, THIS LED TO THAT, AND THAT LED TO THAT, AND THAT LED TO THAT, AND THAT, LED TO ??????????? >>> WHEWWWWW ! ! ! ! ,,,,,,,,GET IT ????????

Do the fairy godmother's wand next, and I'd like to see Sauron on the list. Not to mention Goofy's shoes.

As for the SHROUD OF TURIN. THE SAMPLE TAKEN WAS OF A REPAIR THAT WAS ADDED IN THE later century in France where the Church that guarded it was set a fire and burned but the SHROUD WAS SAVED AND REPAIRED with new cloth of the time period.

In innocent's abroad Mark Twain observed there were so many pieces of the true cross you could rebuild it.

The tablet would only be 300 years old, not 2000 years old when Helena found it?

Vilket årstall så verdens første menske jordkloden?

A famous man once said "There are enough pieces of the 'true cross' to build a Ship of the line". Also Four Churches have "the Skull of John the Baptist" (The Pope declared ALL of them true) INDEED! if he had 4 heads, perhaps all the people came to see him for reasons other to be baptized. (I'd like to see THAT too ;) )

The cross on which Jesus died was not used once, it was used before and after Jesus many times, even the nails were straightened and resused.

Who needs a material relic when you’ve got a spiritual connection anyway?

If it's authentic, then maybe it's a part of the original cross upon which King Izas Manu of Edessa (the Nazarene Leader of the Jewish Revolt) was crucified and then taken down before his death by Josephus circa AD 69 (in our modern calendar).

Great documentary as always

They could build a battleship with the amount of wood from that cross they have recovered.

Guess mr. Hesseman didn't account for the possibility that this sort of thing could have been faked somewere between the execution of Jesus the jew and Helena's arrival in Jerusalem for one. Or the fact that the church might have created a replica of the titula brought back by Helena at some point in the medieval period. Replicas of historical objects are hardly a new concept after all. And replicas tend to be mistaken for the real deal by most who are not experts in what ever historical object it is that has been replicated. Replicas are also often the basis for making deliberate fakes by people who stand to gain from forgery. Helena might have geuinely though she had found the real deal not realizing she might have been the victim of a forgery. The man she had tortured for information might have either mistaken an ancient replica or deliberate fake for the real deal aswell thinking he actually knew the location of the real cross, not realizing it was not authentic. Or, maybe more likely, he was a bit pissed for beeing tortured so he gave Helena the location of were he new someone had buried some fakes (maybe in an attempt at getting rid of the evidence of their own forgery) just to either make the torture stop and/or as a bit of payback for beeing tortured. After all it is a well known fact that information gained by torture usually tend not to be very reliable or trustworthy. People tend to end up telling their torturers what ever they think they want to hear just to make the torture stop. Another thing mr. Hesseman seems to have been ignorant of is the fact that writing something on paper or parchment with penn and ink is rather different than carving letters, words and sentences into wood, bone, stone or metal. I've carved alot of letters and runes into wood over the years so I do have some personal experience on the subject. Doing so without the aid of modern equipment for the job, only using a handheld knife is alot more difficult and usually never turn out as nice as writing with penn and paper. And what ever letters, words or sentences you carve never look the same as your regular penn and paper handwriting. The result is usually always alot cruder. Round shapes are especially difficult to get right and good looking when carving them with only a knife and no special tools for the job. Carved words and letters are also easy to replicate as you can draw them onto the material first and then simply follow the lines when carving. Then again faking handwriting on on paper with pen and ink isn't that difficult either. Point at getting at here is three lines of Hebrew, Greek and Latin text carved into a piece of wood would not be that difficult to replicate for a medieval person with a knife. And even if they were won't actually replicating an older titula, but just simply carving it freehand the result wouldn't look that different from the same words carved into a piece of wood during any other period of history. There simply wouldn't be the same amount of variation in shape, form and style of the letters carved as with various styles of handwriting and fonts made on paper with penn and ink through out the centuries. So his whole comparative paleography argument kind of falls short in alot of ways. That fact here is that mr. Hesseman simply follows his wishfull thinking. The did not set out to prove the true origins of this relic. He set out to prove his own wishfull thinking to be true. His own strong bias, he wants the relic to be the real deal, is so strong that he will automatically discount any method of science or any piece of evidence that does not support his wish for the relic to be authentic. His reasons for this wishfull thinking is most likely based on his personal religious beliefs and not an objective interest in historical artifact or "biblical" history. Like any other religious person his own blind faith prevents him from beeing objective, let alone beeing able to accept actual scientific facts that goes against his beliefs.

what is bc Ad

No

Eastern Orthodox rules!

Wood was a rare commodity in Judea, back than... Brought from Lebanon or farther... It is more likely the horizontal ledge of the cross was waaaaay shorter.

Helena: " These are pieces of the true cross. How do you know they are? Because I said they are."

Never underestimate the mental gymnastic abilities of theists when it come to their religion.

I haven't watched yet but I'm gonna say no

Some major dyslexia going on in the carver on this relic. Carbon dated to ~1000 AD so unless our calendar is way way off, no. I wanted to know the results of the plaques dug up in Britain. The Shroud had people arguing that a corner of the cloth had been rewoven by nuns to repair a fraying corner. That corner is from where the carbon dating samples were removed, they contend. If the pieces of the cross were soaking in a cistern for a long time wre being dried up then dug up in the 300s, who knows if that might have skewed the dating by 600 or more years. It seems unlikely, one would still expect a much earlier dating than 1000+/- years.

If iam right there wasn't much timber around in them days. So if it didn't get used as timber building will it would have been Burt cooking someone's breakfast or as ashes used for warming up.

but the Bible says that Pilate had the text let written, not chiseled into wood. wood was very rare in Jerusalem, it is a desert landscape. so it is more likely that it was written on a paper/papyrus. on a chisel wood it is not easy to read the text from the distance. Also the priests requested from Pilatus that he should correct the text into: "he claimed to be the King of the Jews", which Pilate declined. of course a correction cannot made into a chiseled message. so i really think that it was written on paper. and honestly, i cannot imagine that a roman writer wrote the text wrong backwards and continue to wrote in the false way, they were experts in that.

So which true cross did the Crusaders lose in the cataclysmic battle loss at Hattin in 1187 ? So many crosses & so many bones of Saints it's hard to keep track tbh.

Short answer, no. Long answer, no. Fools

why was the wording written backwards??

I don't remember any mention of St Helena finding the titulus from the Cross on the occasion when she is said to have discovered the True Cross. I'm Catholic and am not familiar with this particular relic, though I have seen and venerated small slivers of wood which are taken from what tradition says is the True Cross. The point is we venerate the saving sacrifice of Jesus. There's nothing implausible at at all about a piece of wood being 2000 years old especially if it had been indoors most of that time. I mean, besides the wooden letters found near Hadrian's wall even the Dead Sea Scrolls are 2000 years old and they are papyrus or leather. It does not make sense to scoff at the possibility of wood surviving. Though that does not mean that this item was from Jesus. A genuine investigation of its age would look at whether tree ring data could be gathered from it (maybe not), what species, and carbon dating.

I am Catholic but it is fantasy to believe this is authentic. If St Helena found the real titulus, she would not have mauled it into pieces. That would be sacrilegious. It would have been kept whole, widely reported and openly displayed in the Vatican. This titulus is, like the Turin Shroud, a replica of the original but with a big dose of the maker’s/artist’s discretion. Even if the carbon dating hit the mark at 30 A.D., I would be skeptical. The stone slab in the Holy Sepulchre church was indeed used in the wrapping of dead bodies. But was it used to wrap Jesus’ body? Unlikely.

Was the shape of The Cross a T shape or an X ? The PAX .

Nor svettet verdens første menske ?

I’ve got the entire thing in my living room. I made a coffee table out of it.

The nails st helena spoke of Re in the shroud of turin. So this cannot be so.

Why would the Romans bury the three crosses? They would recycle them for the next crucifixion. Iron was in short supply so any nails they could pull out the would and use them again.

With wood being organic....how would it not have rotted or become petrified? Besides, I thought the sign above his head read. I'm Nailed Right In lol

Ambrose was active some 50 years after the supposed date of Helena's finding of the cross, so he & Christophine were just following tales they had heard or read. Egeria was also of the same period, when the relics, right or wrong, were accepted as authentic.1492 when the Vatican was fighting against Protestantism, needing things to revivify the 'truth' of Catholic dogma. Such a 'relic' would be a powerful symbol.The Vindolanda tablets are from c 100 AD, not ' the time of Christ'. They only had to survive c 300 years to the time of Helena, not 2000 years. The whole story is a bit fanciful, based on Helena's wish fulfillment, & later credulity.

If its fake; does this make Jesus fake?

Why didn't Helena travel by sea?

Mio Dio mio Dio...... perché mi hai abbandonato........ mio Dio Dio mio mio tutto nelle tue mani affido tutto..... portale su' in Paradiso Hammen.

I've seen enough true crime documentaries to know that any test with "comparative" in the name spells trouble. good as supplementary or supporting test/study but not the ONLY test to rely on...

Since the writing analysis and the carbon dating disagree, why didn't they examine both methods to see what errors could have caused the disagreement?