CROSS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK James Patterson | 464 pages | 29 Apr 2010 | Headline Publishing Group | 9780755349401 | English | London, United Kingdom Cross Pens for Discount & Sales | Last Chance to Buy | Cross The Christian cross , seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus , is the best-known symbol of Christianity. For a few centuries the emblem of Christ was a headless T-shaped Tau cross rather than a Latin cross. Elworthy considered this to originate from Pagan Druids who made Tau crosses of oak trees stripped of their branches, with two large limbs fastened at the top to represent a man's arm; this was Thau, or god. John Pearson, Bishop of Chester c. In which there was not only a straight and erected piece of Wood fixed in the Earth, but also a transverse Beam fastened unto that towards the top thereof". There are few extant examples of the cross in 2nd century Christian iconography. It has been argued that Christians were reluctant to use it as it depicts a purposely painful and gruesome method of public execution. The oldest extant depiction of the execution of Jesus in any medium seems to be the second-century or early third-century relief on a jasper gemstone meant for use as an amulet, which is now in the British Museum in London. It portrays a naked bearded man whose arms are tied at the wrists by short strips to the transom of a T-shaped cross. An inscription in Greek on the obverse contains an invocation of the redeeming crucified Christ. On the reverse a later inscription by a different hand combines magical formulae with Christian terms. The Jewish Encyclopedia says: [17]. The cross as a Christian symbol or "seal" came into use at least as early as the second century see "Apost. Accordingly the Christian Fathers had to defend themselves, as early as the second century, against the charge of being worshipers of the cross, as may be learned from Tertullian, "Apologia," xii. Christians used to swear by the power of the cross. In Christianity, communicants of the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches are expected to wear a cross necklace at all times; these are ordinarily given to believers at their baptism. Many Christians, such as those in the tradition of the Church of the East , continue the practice of hanging a Christian cross in their homes, often on the east wall. Catholics , Orthodox Catholic , Oriental Orthodox , members of the major branches of Christianity with other adherents as Lutheranism and Anglicans , and others often make the Sign of the Cross upon themselves. This was already a common Christian practice in the time of Tertullian. The Feast of the Cross is an important Christian feast. One of the twelve Great Feasts in Orthodox Catholic is the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14, which commemorates the consecration of the basilica on the site where the original cross of Jesus was reportedly discovered in by Helena of Constantinople , mother of Constantine the Great. The Catholic Church celebrates the feast on the same day and under the same name In Exaltatione Sanctae Crucis , though in English it has been called the feast of the Triumph of the Cross. In many Christian traditions, such as the Methodist Churches , the altar cross sits atop or is suspended above the altar table and is a focal point of the chancel. In many Baptist churches, a large cross hangs above the baptistry. Although Christians accepted that the cross was the gallows on which Jesus died, [note 5] they had already begun in the 2nd century to use it as a Christian symbol. On the other hand, the Great Iconoclasm was a wave of rejecting sacred images among Calvinists of the 16th century. For example, during the 16th century, a minority of theologians in the Anglican and Reformed traditions Nicholas Ridley , [35] James Calfhill , [36] and Theodore Beza , [37] rejected practices that they described as cross worship. Considering it a form of idolatry, there was a dispute in 16th century England over the baptismal use of the sign of the cross and even the public use of crosses. Jehovah's Witnesses do not use the symbol of the cross in their worship, which they believe constitutes idolatry. Hinckley stated that "for us the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ. Hunter encouraged Latter-day Saints "to look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of your membership. Nelson , the Church formally adopted an image inspired by Thorvaldsen's Christus statue underlain with the Church's name as an official symbol of the faith. Muiredach's High Cross 10th century. A wooden cross at Coventry Cathedral , constructed of the remnants of beams found after the Coventry Blitz. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Symbol of Christianity. Further information: Instrument of Jesus' crucifixion , Descriptions in antiquity of the execution cross , Crux simplex , and Tau cross. 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. 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. Andrew the Apostle. Tradition favours the crux immissa as that on which Christ died, but some believe that it was a crux commissa. The many variations and ornamentations of processional, altar, and heraldic crosses, of carved and painted crosses in churches, graveyards, and elsewhere, are developments of these four 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. 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. For several centuries after Constantine, Christian devotion to the cross centred 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. Subsequently, Western portrayals of the Crucifixion, whether painted or carved, exhibited an increasing finesse in the suggestion of pain and agony. 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. The shape of the [two beamed cross] had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. Putnam's sons, , pp , Accordingly the Christian Fathers had to defend themselves, as early as the second century, against the charge of being worshipers of the cross, as may be learned from Tertullian, "Apologia," xii. Christians used to swear by the power of the cross. Retrieved 18 June If you offer homage to a piece of wood at all, it matters little what it is like when the substance is the same: it is of no consequence the form, if you have the very body of the god. And yet how far does the Athenian Pallas differ from the stock of the cross, or the Pharian Ceres as she is put up uncarved to sale, a mere rough stake and piece of shapeless wood? Every stake fixed in an upright position is a portion of the cross; we render our adoration, if you will have it so, to a god entire and complete. We have shown before that your deities are derived from shapes modelled from the cross. Cum lignum aliquod propitiatur, viderit habitus, dum materiae qualitas eadem sit; viderit forma, dum id ipsum dei corpus sit. Et tamen quanto distinguitur a crucis stipite Pallas Attica, et Ceres Pharia, quae sine effigie rudi palo et informi ligno prostat? Pars crucis est omne robur, quod erecta statione defigitur; nos, si forte, integrum et totum deum colimus. Diximus originem deorum vestrorum a plastis de cruce induci. Archived from the original on 13 April Retrieved 3 April CS1 maint: archived copy as title link. Christian cross variants. Categories : Cross symbols Religious symbols Petroglyphs. Hidden categories: CS1 maint: archived copy as title Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles containing Latin-language text Articles containing Old English ca. Namespaces Article Talk.