 | Christian cross: Encyclopedia II - Christian cross - History and Usage
Christian cross - History and Usage
During the first three centuries of Christianity, the cross was rare in Christian iconography as it depicts a purposely painful and gruesome method of public execution by impalement and/or exposure. The Ichthys, or fish symbol, was used by early Christians to covertly identify each other. The Chi-Rho monogram, which was adopted by the emperor Constantine in the fourth century as his banner called the labarum, was an Early Christian symbol of wider use.
Descriptions of the cross are to be found in Christian writings from the early 2nd century onwards. The Cross first became prominent in Christian imagery during the 3rd century in Egypt. A Christian bust from the site of an early church in Fayoum, Egypt, shows an ankh partially evolved, changing, over time, from a round upper section, to one that is half-way through a "morphing process", leading to the Coptic cross . It is being worn, in this half-way mode, as a necklace on the bust. (see image)
An early third century reference (there are few others) is in Clement of Alexandria's unfinished Stromateis or 'Miscellanies' (book VI): he speaks of the Cross as tou Kuriakou semeiou tupon, i.e. "the symbol of the Lord." His contemporary Tertullian could designate the body of Christian believers as crucis religiosi, i.e. "devotees of the Cross" (Apol., chapter xvi).
In Christianity, the cross represents Christ's victory over death and sin, since it is believed that through His death he conquered death itself. Catholic and Orthodox Christians often make the sign of the cross by moving their right hand so as to draw a cross upon themselves. Making the sign of the cross was already a common Christian practice in the time of Augustine. One of the twelve great feasts in the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14, which commemorates the consecration of the basilica on the site where the (allegedly) original cross was discovered in 326 by Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. In the Catholic Church the comparable feast is the Invention of the Cross, celebrated on May 3.
The Cross was the first of the Instruments of the Passion that came to be venerated in the form of relics. In time, even the "Holy Nails" that were used to nail Christ to the cross would be sought out, discovered, elaborately mounted as relics, and venerated in Catholic circles. A nail, said to be one of these, is mounted in the Iron Crown of Lombardy, preserved in the cathedral of the former Lombard capital, Monza.
Numerous relics are claimed to be pieces of the True Cross, often brought to Europe during the Crusades. By the 16th century, skepticism surfaced: Erasmus joked that one could build a ship with all that wood. Santo Toribio de Liébana in Spain holds the biggest of these pieces and is one of the most privileged pilgrimage sites for the Catholic Church. Even a large portion of the cross of the 'good thief' crucified with Jesus (who came to be given the name Dismas in medieval legend) has been recovered; it is reverenced at Rome in the altar of the Chapel of the Relics at the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.
Connected with the cross is the medieval legend of the Tree of Jesse, from the wood of which the cross was said to have been fashioned.
Other related archives"Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews", 326, 327, Anabaptist, Andrew cross, Ankh, Augustine, Basque cross, Catholic, Celtic Cross, Chi-Rho, Christ, Christian symbolism, Christianity, Clement of Alexandria, Constantinople, Copts, Cross, Cross burning, Cross of Lorraine, Cross of St. Peter, Crosses in Heraldry, Crucifix, Crusades, Crux gemmata, Crux pattée, Dismas, Double cross, Early Christian, Eastern Orthodox Church, Erasmus, Gammadion, Globus cruciger, Gnostic, Gnostic cross, Gothic, Great Lavra, Greek cross, Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, High crosses, Holy Nails, Ichthys, Icons, Instruments of the Passion, Intending cross, Iron Crown, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jerusalem, Jesus, John H. Yoder, Latin cross, Lombardy, Lorraine cross, Maltese cross, Market cross, Mennonites, Monza, Mount Royal, Mt. Athos, Mt. Golgatha, New Testament, Non-Christian perspectives on Jesus, Norse, Occitan cross, Odin, Old Norse, Orthodox, Patriarchal cross, Peace churches, Pectoral cross, Peter cross, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Roman Empire, Rood screen, Roodmas, Saint Andrew, Saint Anthony, Saint Helena, Saint John, Saltire, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Santo Toribio de Liébana, Satanism, September 14, Septuagint, Sign of the Cross, St. Anthony's Cross, Tertullian, Tree of Jesse, Tree of Life, True Cross, Virgin Mary, Walter Wink, Zugspitze, altar, archbishop, cemeteries, clergy, consecration, corpus, cross, crucifix, crucifixion, emperor Constantine, execution, gravestones, heraldry, iconography, labarum, martyrdom, menhirs, mountain, pagan, pilgrimage, protest, relics, religious symbol, sacrilegious, sign of the cross, stelae, swastika, true cross, violence
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History and Usage", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
