Many people believe cross means Christianity. How come it came to be a symbol of Christianity?
Jesus was believed to be crucified on the cross, that is one reason. The fish mark was used to represent Christ, and cross might be the simplified form for fish or Christ. The first Greek letter for Christ is X as the abbreviation form Xmas suggests and X became the representation for Christianity. Cross had been used to represent Seraph, or angel, cross came to represent Christ after people started believing Christ became angel after resurrection.
In Japan there's very few church and many people here don't know the relationship of cross and Christianity. For almost all people here cross is just a decoration of some design. Probably I think cross was used to indicate an important target as a bull's eye, this could have meant simply an objective of life.
I think I've read somewhere that the cross originates from a stylized Tree of Life - we know it in the shape of a T as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very simple sign and could mean any amount of things at different times and in different cultures. Symbols are only conventions anyway.
In case anyone wonders why a fish: You take the first letters - ch and th being one consonant each in Greek - from: Iesous CHristos THeou Yios Soter (Jesus Christ God's son saviour) and get ichthys, the Greek word for fish.
ReplyDelete(Ιέσουσ Χρίστοσ υιόσ θεόυ σωτήρ = ίχθυσ)
For Christians, the Cross is the Symbol of the New Covenant which is celebrated in the Mass. It is also the Sign of the Trinity.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the Cross is the Symbol of our connection to God. The vertical line is longer which represents God´s connection to all creation. The horizontal line is the connection of those who are saved/going to be saved to Christ and His suffering on the Cross.
Well, of course, but I think Mer is asking WHY the cross is used as a symbol of Christianity or the New Covenant. I don't think there are any explanations besides the one he offers: that Jesus Christ died on a cross.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember where I've read that tree-of-life theory, but it's rather attractive. The Cross at Calvary WAS a tree of life, wouldn't you say, Flavia?
the cross originates from a stylized Tree of LifeI didn't know that.Symbols are only conventions anyway.Exactly, that's what I was driving at. I think it's non sense for us to try to seek for some meaning in it.
ReplyDeleteObviously the history of Greek word ichthys is much older than early Christian adoption of the word. I don't know many but ichthys is related to some ancient sea goddess, before the birth of Christianity traditionally the word had represented the womb, great mother, dolphin, etc. Then early Christians found the spelling of acronym happens to be the same as their faith then they started using the sign of ichthys to represent Christians. This is not a fish story.
ReplyDeleteOf course I understand cross has a special meaning for Christians. Most notably cross represents Jesus's redemption to all human sin. Personally I think cross is one of the oldest points where humans started to settle down, so cross means love. Another one is angle. We need to approach from another angle as to this.
ReplyDeleteAre there NO limits to what people can connect to that flipping great mother goddess?? Where have you found that story?
ReplyDeleteAnother possibility: in astrology, the age of Pisces began around the time of Jesus' birth.
I have NEVER seen a Greek text in which ichthys meant womb or great mother or even dolphin. And I kinda think I would have if there were any.
ReplyDeleteI have NEVER seen a Greek text in which ichthys meant womb or great mother or even dolphin. And I kinda think I would have if there were any.
ReplyDeleteI have NEVER seen a Greek text in which ichthys meant womb or great mother or even dolphin. And I kinda think I would have if there were any.
ReplyDeleteIn Wikipaedia or other related articles, ichthys is an acronym of Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour. Yes, it is, but it doesn't say ichthys is originated from this acronym. The history or etymology of this word is much older, this is a Greek word, from the offspring son of the ancient Sea goddess Atargatis, The word also meant "womb" and "dolphin" in some tongues, and representations of this appeared in the depiction of mermaids. excerpt from http://www.atheists.org/christianity/fish.html Suppose even if we admit the word ichthys is an acronym of Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour...then why this word meant fish? I assume it is because this word originally meant fish.
ReplyDeleteThis is worth considering. Where have you found that story?I found in one article posted in other comment. If this word ichthys was invented in early Christians, what was the term for fish before ichthys in Greek? I think ichthys has been always the word for fish in Greek.
ReplyDeleteOh, I see - a little misunderstanding. Yes, the word meant fish ever since Greek became Greek, of course. I simply meant that it didn't symbolize anything in Greek culture. I don't know what it meant in other tongues, but a shift in meaning from or to "dolphin" is rather likely. "womb" sounds more like a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteAtargatis is not a Greek goddess, but of course not all the first Christians were Greeks or Greek-speaking.
The Cross of Golgotha, Calvary was the Tree of Death.
ReplyDelete(sorry for this late reply.)
Inasmuch as He is risen, the Cross at the altar during the celebration of the Eucharist is called the Tree of Life and is for all to share.
What I´v learned is that, the early Christians were afraid to communicate with each other because of fear being caught and killed by the Jews. So, in order for them to have a means of communication, they used the fish sign derived from their Rabbi´s message when he said to his fishermen apostle recruits "from now on, you´ll be fishing people."
ReplyDeleteSorry - I got those crosses mixed up. I know about the cross at the altar and sort of thought it was the same thing, as in the one commemorating the other. Thanks for explaining.
ReplyDeleteSorry - I got those crosses mixed up. I know about the cross at the altar and sort of thought it was the same thing, as in the one commemorating the other. Thanks for explaining.
ReplyDeleteSome types of fish were forbidden to eat in times of Moses. All fish as well as pig presumably started being eaten in times of Jesus. Besides many apostles were fishermen indeed. It's not hard to imagine thus the sign of fish became the symbol of new religion.
ReplyDeleteThe religion is not new. It just got a new name. This is the religion of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The prophets have spoken of the Messiah already in the Old Testament. The Israel in the Old Testament is now Christianity WITHOUT wanting to offend anyone here.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Jews will agree to that. It's the interpretation of SOME Christian denominations, yeah.
ReplyDelete