I first caught wind of this striking divergence from Christian orthodoxy in class last year, when we encountered Stoic visions of the afterlife. Cicero, for one, describes the body as a prison from which the immortal soul is mercifully freed upon death, whereas Seneca views the body as "nothing more or less than a fetter on my freedom," one eventually "dissolved" when the soul is set loose. These conceptions were quite attractive to the students.

But then something funny happens on the way to world evangelism. When it comes to cross-cultural missionary work, we quickly forget about our Anglican distinctives. This doesn't happen in other areas, so why does it happen with cross-cultural and global mission?

From some of the greatest works of art, literature, music, and architecture that the West ever produced, and which can still thrill the heart, to the names of hospitals and schools -- in fact embedded in the mottos of some of the most prestigious universities -- the cultural vestiges of Christianity are ubiquitous. And yet it is no longer controversial to assert that the Christian church has, for the most part, ceased to be a truly moving force in the affairs of Western civilisation.

Dr. Yana Tchekhanovetz, an IAA archaeologist who is an expert on the Byzantine period, examined the ring.

"This special ring is amazingly well preserved and will contribute a great deal to science," Tchekhanovetz explained in an IAA press release. "On the ring is the image of a bald man with a staff next to him. On preliminary examination, this seems to be St. Nicholas holding a bishop's crook--his hallmark."