marthomacross

MAR THOMA CROSSES
PROF. M. M. NINAN
κυριακὸν σημεῖον The Lord's sign
II
SECOND CENTURY CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS
However, the cross symbol was already associated with Christians in the 2nd century, as is
indicated in the anti-Christian arguments cited in the Octavius of Minucius Felix, chapters IX and
XXIX, written at the end of that century or the beginning of the next. Clearly by the early 3rd
century the cross had become so closely associated with Christ that Clement of Alexandria, who
died between 211 and 216, could without fear of ambiguity use the phrase τὸ κυριακὸν σημεῖον
(the Lord's sign) to mean the cross, when he repeated the idea, current as early as the apocryphal
Epistle of Barnabas, that the number 318 (in Greek numerals, ΤΙΗ) in Genesis 14:14 was
interpreted as a foreshadowing (a "type") of the cross (T, an upright with crossbar, standing for 300)
and of Jesus (ΙΗ, the first two letter of his name ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, standing for 18), and his contemporary
Tertullian could designate the body of Christian believers as crucis religiosi, i.e. "devotees of the
Cross". In his book De Corona, written in 204, Tertullian tells how it was already a tradition for
Christians to trace repeatedly on their foreheads the sign of the cross. The crucifix, a cross upon
which an image of Christ is present, is not known to have been used until the 6th century AD.
The Jewish Encyclopedia says:
The cross as a Christian symbol or "seal" came into use at least as early as the second
century (see "Apost. Const." iii. 17; Epistle of Barnabas, xi.-xii.; Justin, "Apologia," i. 55-60;
"Dial. cum Tryph." 85-97); and the marking of a cross upon the forehead and the chest was
regarded as a talisman against the powers of demons (Tertullian, "De Corona," iii.; Cyprian,
"Testimonies," xi. 21–22; Lactantius, "Divinæ Institutiones," iv. 27, and elsewhere).
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., xvii., and Minucius Felix, "Octavius," xxix. Christians used to swear by the
power of the cross.
However in the areas where Christians were persecuted the cross did not appear in open.
Instead the believers had to hide the cross in additional symbols and icons so that those
who are familiar with the religion alone were able to decipher them. This was particularly
true in the Roman Empire.
Anti-Christian policies in the Roman Empire occurred intermittently over a period of over two
centuries until the year 313AD when the Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius
jointly promulgated the Edict of Milan which legalised the Christian religion. The first persecution of
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