cross
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What is a cross as a religious symbol?
The cross is the main symbol of Christianity, representing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the redemption that his death offers. For Christians, the cross signifies both Christ and their faith.
Before Constantine, Christians were cautious about displaying the cross. After he converted to Christianity, he promoted the cross as a Christian symbol.
There are four main types of crosses:
* crux quadrata: also known as the Greek cross, has four equal arms
* crux immissa: also known as the Latin cross, has a longer base stem
* crux commissa: shaped like the Greek letter tau
* crux decussata: also known as St. Andrew’s crossThe Jerusalem cross has multiple interpretations, including representing Jesus’ crucifixion wounds or symbolizing the spread of Christianity to the four corners of the earth.
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Which religions use the cross as a symbol?
The cross is the principal symbol of Christianity, embodying the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the redemptive benefits of his Passion and death. It serves as a sign of both Christ and the faith of Christians. The cross in its various forms is a symbol that a religious community uses to recognize itself and its ideas.
Christian religious groups have given multiple symbolic meanings to the Jerusalem cross. One interpretation sees the large central cross as symbolic of Jesus’ side wound caused by the centurion’s spear, and the smaller crosses represent the wounds on Jesus’ hands and feet.
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Why is the cross important in Christianity?
The cross is the principal symbol of Christianity, representing the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the redemptive benefits of his Passion and death. It serves as a sign of both Christ and the Christian faith. The cross is used ceremonially as a profession of faith, a prayer, a dedication, or a benediction.
Christian religious groups have assigned multiple symbolic meanings to the Jerusalem cross. One interpretation sees the symbol as representative of Jesus’ crucifixion wounds, with the large central cross symbolizing the side wound caused by the centurion’s spear, and the smaller crosses representing the wounds on Jesus’ hands and feet.
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What are some different designs or shapes of crosses?
The cross is the main symbol of Christianity, representing Jesus Christ's crucifixion and the salvation from his death. There are four main iconographic types of crosses:
* The Greek cross: Also called the crux quadrata, has four equal arms.
* The Latin cross: Also called the crux immissa, features a base stem longer than the other arms.
* The crux commissa: Shaped like the Greek letter tau.
* The crux decussata: Known as St. Andrew’s cross, resembles the Roman numeral for ten.Numerous variations of these primary types exist, such as the Celtic cross, which is essentially a Latin cross with a ring around the intersection of the crossbar and upright shaft.
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How is the cross used in religious ceremonies or buildings?
The cross, Christianity's principal symbol, recalls Jesus Christ's crucifixion and the redemption from his death. It signifies Christ and Christian faith and is used ceremonially as a profession of faith, prayer, dedication, or benediction.
Crosses appear in churches, graveyards, and homes and take different forms, including the Greek cross, Latin cross, St. Anthony’s cross, and St. Andrew’s cross. The Jerusalem cross is interpreted by some Christians as representative of Jesus’ crucifixion wounds, while another interpretation sees the main cross as representing Jesus and the smaller crosses as representing the four Evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
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How has the meaning of the cross as a religious symbol changed over time?
The cross, Christianity's main symbol, represents Jesus Christ's crucifixion, His suffering, and the faith of Christians. Crosses existed before Christianity, but their purpose isn't always clear.
Before Emperor Constantine, Christians were careful about displaying the cross. After his conversion in the 4th century, the cross became popular in Christian art. Early depictions avoided realistic suffering, showing Christ alive. By the 9th century, artists stressed suffering, with Western crucifixes showing increasing pain. The True Cross discovery became a popular legend, with the cross's wood said to heal.
After the Reformation, Lutherans kept using the cross, while Reformed churches resisted until the 20th century. Some Protestant churches display an empty cross, symbolizing the Resurrection. The Jerusalem cross has been interpreted as representing Jesus’ crucifixion wounds, the four Evangelists, or evangelism to the world.
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cross, the principal symbol of the Christian religion, recalling the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the redeeming benefits of his Passion and death. The cross is thus a sign both of Christ himself and of the faith of Christians. In ceremonial usage, making a sign of the cross may be, according to the context, an act of profession of faith, a prayer, a dedication, or a benediction.
Types of crosses
There are four basic types of iconographic representations of the cross: the crux quadrata, or Greek cross, with four equal arms; the crux immissa, or Latin cross, whose base stem is longer than the other three arms; the crux commissa, in the form of the Greek letter tau, sometimes called St. Anthony’s cross; and the crux decussata, named from the Roman decussis, or symbol of the numeral 10, also known as St. Andrew’s cross for the supposed manner of the martyrdom of St. Andrew the Apostle. Tradition favors the crux immissa as that on which Christ died, but some believe that it was a crux commissa. The many variations of processional, altar, and heraldic crosses (such as the Jerusalem cross of the Crusades), and the ornamentations of carved and painted crosses found in churches, graveyards, and elsewhere, are developments of these four primary types.
Cross forms were used as symbols, religious or otherwise, long before the Christian Era, but it is not always clear whether they were simply marks of identification or possession or were significant for belief and worship. Two pre-Christian cross forms have had some vogue in Christian usage. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol of life—the ankh, a tau cross surmounted by a loop and known as crux ansata—was adopted and extensively used on Coptic Christian monuments. The swastika, called crux gammata, composed of four Greek capitals of the letter gamma, is marked on many early Christian tombs as a veiled symbol of the cross.
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History
Before the time of the emperor Constantine in the 4th century, Christians were extremely reticent about portraying the cross because too open a display of it might expose them to ridicule or danger. After Constantine converted to Christianity, he abolished crucifixion as a death penalty and promoted, as symbols of the Christian faith, both the cross and the chi-rho monogram of the name of Christ. The symbols became immensely popular in Christian art and funerary monuments from c. 350.
For several centuries after Constantine, Christian devotion to the cross centered on the victory of Christ over the powers of evil and death, and realistic portrayal of his suffering was avoided. The earliest crucifixes (crosses containing a representation of Christ) depict Christ alive, with eyes open and arms extended, his Godhead manifest, even though he is pierced and dead in his manhood. By the 9th century, however, artists began to stress the realistic aspects of Christ’s suffering and death. Subsequently, Western portrayals of the Crucifixion, whether painted or carved, exhibited an increasing finesse in the suggestion of pain and agony. Romanesque crucifixes often show a royal crown upon Christ’s head, but later Gothic types replaced it with a crown of thorns. In the 20th century a new emphasis emerged in Roman Catholicism, especially for crucifixes in liturgical settings. Christ on the cross is crowned and vested as a king and priest, and the marks of his suffering are much less prominent.
After the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, the Lutherans generally retained the ornamental and ceremonial use of the cross. The Reformed churches, however, resisted such use of the cross until the 20th century, when ornamental crosses on church buildings and on communion tables began to appear. The Church of England retained the ceremonial signing with the cross in the rite of baptism. Since the mid-19th century, Anglican churches have witnessed a revival of the use of the cross. The crucifix, however, is almost entirely confined to private devotional use. A number of Protestant churches and homes display an empty cross, without a depiction of Christ, to memorialize the Crucifixion while representing the triumphant defeat of death in the Resurrection. See also True Cross; crucifixion.