Description
The Christian or Latin cross (†) is a cross shape with a longer vertical arm and a shorter horizontal one. This is in contrast to the Greek cross, which has equal arms. The Latin cross is considered the quintessential symbol of Christianity. Even before Christianity, the cross was a sacred symbol: the sun wheel as a symbol of the sun, the swastika as a sign of good luck; the cross with a handle as a symbol of life. Due to the simplicity and symmetry of the form (a horizontal and a vertical bar), the symbol was also a beloved decorative element in virtually all ancient civilizations. According to the Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, the cross originated in ancient Chaldea as a symbol of the god Tammuz, because it is shaped like the Greek letter tau, the first letter of his name. During the first centuries of Christianity, the cross was not the only symbol for that religion. Depictions of a fish (the ichthys symbol), the monogram of Christ, and the alpha and omega signs were much more common during that period. One of the first times the cross is mentioned is in the early 3rd-century writing Stromateis by Clement of Alexandria. There, he speaks of του Κυριακου σεμειου τυπον, or the symbol of the Lord. Non-Christians found it incomprehensible that Christians would accept the torture instrument of a humiliating death as a symbol. One of the first depictions of Jesus' crucifixion is a graffito (2nd century?) depicting a man with the head of a donkey on a cross, adored by another man, with the inscription "Alexamenos adores his god." The cross was only introduced as a universal symbol of Christianity under Emperor Constantine the Great, around the same time as its abolition as an instrument of execution. According to tradition, Constantine's mother, Saint Helena, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem around the year 324 and had excavations carried out there, during which the Holy Cross was supposedly discovered. Parts of the cross were donated by Helena to churches in Constantinople and Rome; a portion remained in Jerusalem. Fourth-century accounts by Eusebius of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, Socrates Scholasticus, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus, among others, confirm this story.
The Holy Cross
