For the sake of prayer.

 

Solomonik discovered the inscription in the archival materials of the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos and published it without realizing that it had been already published by Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich in 1901 (in majuscule script).

The formula is unique in Crimea and also finds no exact parallels among Christian epigraphic monuments (in Egger 1926, 159, IVth century, it is restored hypothetically) - perhaps it stems from the Late Antique traditions of Chersonesos (see Solomonik 1973, no. 106). Its succinct form is also unusual, and can be compared perhaps only with SEG 17.182 from Bithynia (ἐκ [ἰ]δίων εὐχῆς χάριν). Solomonik hypothesised that the inscription could have continued on adjacent stone blocks, but this is unlikely in the view of available space on this block. This hypothesis, however, led to Solomonik's suggestion that we are dealing with stone's secondary use as a wall block. The good state of preservation of this panel militates against the hypothesis of secondary use. Also, the remark of Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich about the panel's insertion into a wall speaks in favour of primary use as votive, specifically intended for church 23. At the same time we cannot exclude the possibility that an earlier inscription could have been inserted into that church wall as well.

The combination of rounded shapes of epsilon and sigma with an alpha with broken crossbar points to the VIth century (see V 24), however we cannot be absolutely sure either about the dating or about the Christian character of the inscription.