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MAR THOMA CROSSES PROF. M. M. NINAN IV CROSS IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN VARIOUS FORMS The Christian Cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus, is the best-known symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix (a cross that includes a usually threedimensional representation of Jesus' body) and to the more general family of cross symbols. Most people are familiar with the Latin cross (✝ ) and the Greek cross (✚ ). However there are numerous variants used in heraldry and in various confessional contexts in the context of the culture into which the faith was embedded The basic Latin Cross Latin cross from the 6th-century mosaic in the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy 19
Cross and crucifix MAR THOMA CROSSES PROF. M. M. NINAN The Crucifix is a cross with corpus, a symbol used by the Catholic Church, in Lutheranism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Anglicanism, in contrast with some Protestant denominations, which use only a bare cross. The crucifix gives the emphasis on the atonic sacrifice of Jesus on the cross offering forgiveness of sin. The cross without the corpus gives emphasis on the resurrection of Christ and hence his victory over death, thereby conferring immortality to the believer . It must have very soon become in the eyes of the faithful a sacred symbol. Early in the third century Clement of Alexandria ("Strom.", VI, in P. G., IX, 305) speaks of the Cross as tou Kyriakou semeiou typon, i.e. signum Christi, "the symbol of the Lord" (St. Augustine, Tract. cxvii, "In Joan."; De Rossi, "Bull. d'arch. crist", 1863, 35, and "De titulis christianis Carthaginiensibus" in Pitra, "Spicilegium Solesmense", IV, 503). The cross, therefore, appears at an early date as an element of the liturgical life of the faithful, and to such an extent that in the first half of the third century Tertullian could publicly designate the Christian body as "crucis religiosi", i.e. devotees of the Cross (Apol., c. xvi, P. G., I, 365-66). St. Gregory of Tours tells us (De Miraculis S.Martini, I, 80) that in his time Christians habitually had recourse to the sign of the cross. St. Augustine says that by the sign of the cross and the invocation of the Name of Jesus all things are sanctified and consecrated to God. In the earliest Christian life, as can be seen from the metaphorical language of the primitive faithful, the cross was the symbol of the principal Christian virtue, i.e. mortification or victory over the passions, and suffering for Christ's sake and in union with Him (Matt., x, 38; xvi, 24; Mark, viii, 34; Luke, ix, 23; xiv, 27; Gal., ii, 19; vi, 12, 14; v, 24). In the Epistles of St. Paul the sign of the cross was the sign of the Christian. 20
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