Christianity has not generally practiced aniconism, the avoidance or prohibition of devotional images, even if early Jewish Christians and some modern denominations, invoking the Decalogue's prohibition of idolatry, avoided figures in their symbols. The cross, today one of the most widely recognized symbols, was used by Christians from the earliest times. Tertullian, in his book "De Corona", tells how it was already a tradition for Christians to trace the sign of the cross on their foreheads. Although the cross was known to the early Christians, the crucifix did not appear in use until the 5th century. Among the earliest Christian symbols, that of the fish or Ichthys seems to have ranked first in importance, as seen on monumental sources such as tombs from the first decades of the 2nd century.
Symbols
Christianity
Christianity | Symbols
The cross The cross and the crucifix. The cross,  Ichthys, etc. The cross
what was ss christopher columbus?
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An American excursion liner on the Great Lakes
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where is this lake situated?
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The upper mid-east region of North America
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which religions are practiced in that continent?
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Christianity, Atheism,  Buddhism
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what are the symbols associated with the first religion?
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Christianity has not generally practiced aniconism, the avoidance or prohibition of devotional images, even if early Jewish Christians and some modern denominations, invoking the Decalogue's prohibition of idolatry, avoided figures in their symbols. The cross, today one of the most widely recognized symbols, was used by Christians from the earliest times. Tertullian, in his book "De Corona", tells how it was already a tradition for Christians to trace the sign of the cross on their foreheads. Although the cross was known to the early Christians, the crucifix did not appear in use until the 5th century. Among the earliest Christian symbols, that of the fish or Ichthys seems to have ranked first in importance, as seen on monumental sources such as tombs from the first decades of the 2nd century.
Christianity | Symbols
Christian symbolism is the use of symbols, including archetypes, acts, artwork or events, by Christianity. It invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. The symbolism of the early Church was characterized by being understood by initiates only, while after the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire during the 4th-century more recognizable symbols entered in use. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world. Only a minority of Christian denominations have practiced Aniconism, or the avoidance or prohibition of types of images. These include early Jewish Christians sects, as well as some modern denominations that prefer to some extent not to use figures in their symbols due to the Decalogue's prohibition of idolatry.
Christian symbolism | Introduction
The use since the earliest Christianity of the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha (α or Α) and omega (ω or Ω), derives from the statement said by Jesus (or God) himself "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (, also 1:8 and 21:6).
Christian symbolism | Alpha and Omega
The first two letters of the name of Jesus in Greek, iota (Ι) and eta (Η), sometime superimposed one on the other, or the numeric value 18 of in Greek, was a well known and very early way to represent Christ. This symbol was already explained in the Epistle of Barnabas and by Clement of Alexandria. For other christograms such as IHS, see Article Christogram.
Christian symbolism | IH Monogram
The cross is currently the most common symbol of Christianity, and has been for many centuries, coming to prominence during the 4th century (301 to 400 AD). The predecessor of the cross as the main Christian symbol was the "labarum", a symbol formed by overlaying the first two letters of the Greek word for "Christ" in the Greek alphabet. Constantine I is widely considered to have introduced the symbol into Christianity, but the symbol itself predates this. Although Christian tradition argues that Constantine chose the "labarum" because he had a vision that led him to convert to Christianity, Constantine's conversion is disputed by some historians, who see Constantine's motive for choosing the "labarum" as political, with him deliberately making his banner one which could be interpreted as supporting either of the two major religions of the Roman Empire at the time.
Christianization | Symbolism
In such a way the symbol expresses the idea that the Cross saves. The two letters tau and rho can also be found separately as symbols on early Christian ossuaries. The Monogrammatic Cross was later seen also as a variation of the Chi Rho symbol, and it spread over Western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries.
Christian symbolism | Staurogram
Christian art is nearly as old as Christianity itself. The oldest Christian sculptures are from Roman sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the 2nd century. As a persecuted sect, however, the earliest Christian images were arcane and meant to be intelligible only to the initiated. Early Christian symbols include the dove, the fish, the lamb, the cross, symbolic representation of the Four Evangelists as beasts, and the Good Shepherd. Early Christians also adapted Roman decorative motifs like the peacock, grapevines, and the good shepherd. It is in the Catacombs of Rome that recognizable representations of Christian figures first appear in number.
Catholic art | Beginnings
The lotus symbolizing Buddhism and the Cross over it shows that Christianity was established in the land of Buddha. The three steps indicate Calvary and the rivulets, channels of grace flowing from the Cross.
Saint Thomas Christians | Nasrani symbol
The Christoffel symbols of the first kind can be derived either from the Christoffel symbols of the second kind and the metric, or from the metric alone, As an alternative notation one also finds
Christoffel symbols | Christoffel symbols of the first kind
Each has been given its own individual traits and origin story. Symbolically, and as part of spiritual and religious belief, these creatures have been culturally important across countries in the East Asian cultural sphere.
Four Symbols | Introduction
Its popularity seemingly arose from the Greek word "ichthys" (fish) forming an acronym for the Greek phrase "Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter" (Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ), (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior), a concise summary of Christian faith.
Christianity | Symbols
No literary statement from the period prior to the year 300 would make one suspect the existence of any Christian images other than the most laconic and hieroglyphic of symbols. — and yet from archaeology it is clear that the use of quite complex figurative Christian images was widespread by that date. There are mentions of images of Jesus from the 2nd century onwards. The Catacombs of Rome contain the earliest images, mostly painted, but also including reliefs carved on sarcophagi, dating from the end of the 2nd century onwards. Jesus is often represented by pictogram symbols, though he is also portrayed.
Aniconism in Christianity | Early Christianity
John 1's subject is developed in 1 John 1.
Logos (Christianity) | First John 1:1
Early Christian art used symbolic and allegorical images mainly, partly no doubt to avoid drawing attention during the persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire. In the Catacombs of Rome Jesus was represented indirectly by pictogram symbols such as the Ichthys ("fish"), peacock, Lamb of God, or an anchor (the Labarum or "Chi-Rho" was a later development). Later, personified symbols were used, including Jonah, whose three days in the belly of the whale pre-figured the interval between Christ's death and Resurrection, Daniel in the lion's den, or Orpheus charming the animals. The image of "The Good Shepherd", a beardless youth in pastoral scenes collecting sheep, was the most common of these images, and was probably not understood as a portrait of the historical Jesus.
Religious images in Christian theology | The use of icons and symbols in Christian worship
The symbol was adopted from the Hindu by the Jews from the spiritual symbol Anahata. The symbol was used merely as a decorative motif in medieval Christian churches many centuries before its first known use in a Jewish synagogue. It was first used as a religious symbol by Arabs in the medieval period, known as the Seal of Solomon, depicted as either a hexagram or pentagram, and which was later adopted by Jewish Kabbalists.
Hexagram | Introduction
Although Christians accepted that the cross was the gallows on which Jesus died, they had already begun in the 2nd century to use it as a Christian symbol. During the first three centuries of the Christian era the cross was "a symbol of minor importance" when compared to the prominence given to it later, but by the second century it was closely associated with Christians, to the point where Christians were mocked as "adorers of the gibbet" ("crucis religiosi"), an accusation countered by Tertullian. and it was already a tradition for Christians to trace repeatedly on their foreheads the sign of the cross.
Christian cross | Rejection among various religious groups
By repositioning the letters around the central letter "Ν" (en), a Greek cross can be made that reads "Pater Noster" (Latin for "Our Father", the first two words of the "Lord's Prayer") both vertically and horizontally. The remaining letters – two each of "A" and "O" – can be taken to represent the concept of Alpha and Omega, a reference in Christianity to the omnipresence of God. Thus the square might have been used as a covert symbol for early Christians to express their presence to each other. An example of the Sator Square found in Manchester dating to the 2nd century AD has been interpreted according to this model as one of the earliest pieces of evidence of Christianity in Britain.
Sator Square | Christian associations
F. Creuzer in his "Symbolik" (1810–1823), that the religion of the Greek mysteries (especially those of Eleusis) did not essentially differ from the national religion; that it was not esoteric, and that the priests as such neither taught nor possessed any higher knowledge of God; that the Oriental elements were a later importation.
Christian Lobeck | Introduction
Religion in national symbols can often be found in national anthems or flags. This has led to controversy in some countries in regard to the separation of church and state, when the national symbol is officially sanctioned by a government.
Religion in national symbols | Introduction
Islam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God (Allah), and that Muhammad is a messenger of God. It is the world's second-largest religion with over 1.9 billion followers or 24.4% of the world's population, commonly known as Muslims.
Symbols of Islam | Introduction
During the persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire, Christian art was necessarily and deliberately furtive and ambiguous, using imagery that was shared with pagan culture but had a special meaning for Christians. The earliest surviving Christian art comes from the late 2nd to early 4th centuries on the walls of Christian tombs in the catacombs of Rome. From literary evidence, there may well have been panel icons which, like almost all classical painting, have disappeared. Initially Jesus was represented indirectly by pictogram symbols such as the "Ichthys" (fish), peacock, Lamb of God, or an anchor (the "Labarum" or "Chi-Rho" was a later development).
Early Christian art and architecture | Symbols
The paintings of the first period, as seen in the Catacombs of Rome, show us, usually, the lamb accompanying the Good Shepherd, a representation of the Christian soul during its earthly life. The lamb was strongly associated with religious sacrifices in the ancient Near East, and was adopted as a symbol of Christ and his sacrifice on behalf of humanity. Birds, too, appear either as simple decorative elements transmitted from antique paintings, or used symbolically as in Noah's dove, symbolical of the Christian soul released by death; the peacock, with its ancient meaning of immortality, and the phoenix, the symbol of apotheosis.
Animals in Christian art | Symbolic animals from the catacombs
At first the dove represented the subjective personal experience of peace, the peace of the soul, and in the earliest Christian art it accompanies representations of baptism. By the end of the second century (for example in the writing of Tertullian) it also represented social and political peace, "peace unto the nations", and from the third century it began to appear in depictions of conflict, such as Noah and the Ark, Daniel and the lions, the three young men in the furnace, and Susannah and the Elders.
Peace symbols | Christianity
[[File:ReligionSymbolAbr.PNG|thumb|left|Symbols of the three main Abrahamic religions – [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]]]]
Meaning of life | Abrahamic religions
A diverse variety of African Traditional Religions of the early Khoisan and later Bantu speakers were practiced in the region prior to contact with European seafarers and settlers. The first symbols of Christianity in southern Africa were in the form of crosses planted along the coast by early Portuguese seafarers. With the establishment of a trading post at the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch in 1652, Christianity obtained a permanent foothold and gained converts among the indigenous population. This was reinforced by the arrival of the French Huguenots shortly thereafter. After the British occupations of the Cape in 1795 and 1806, this Christian tradition prevailed.
Religion in South Africa | History
Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time" and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts at the depiction of God. However, later depictions of God are found. Some, like the Hand of God, are depiction borrowed from Jewish art. The beginning of the 8th century witnessed the suppression and destruction of religious icons as the period of Byzantine iconoclasm (literally "image-breaking") started. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 effectively ended the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm and restored the honouring of icons and holy images in general.
God | Christianity
Among the symbols employed by the early Christians, that of the fish seems to have ranked first in importance. Its popularity among Christians was due principally to the famous acrostic consisting of the initial letters of five Greek words forming the word for fish (Ichthus), which words briefly but clearly described the character of Christ and the claim to worship of believers: "", (Iēsous Christos Theou Huios Sōtēr), meaning, "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour". This explanation is given among others by Augustine in his Civitate Dei, where he also notes that the generating sentence has 27 letters, i.e. 3 x 3 x 3, which in that age indicated power.
Christian symbolism | Ichthys
Still another symbol was what is today called sun cross, which united the cross (or saltire) symbol for male with the circle for female. This sign is now the astronomical symbol for the planet Earth.
Androgyny | Symbols and iconography
The Chi Rho is formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters chi and rho (ΧΡ) of the Greek word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" " =Christ" in such a way to produce the monogram. Widespread in ancient Christianity, it was the symbol used by the Roman emperor Constantine I as vexillum (named Labarum).
Christian symbolism | Chi Rho
Depictions in the catacombs suggest that Christians readily adapted common motifs such as the "Good Shepherd", which in Roman culture represented "philanthropy", and the "orans" image, which indicated "piety". That said, both symbols are ancient Jewish motifs as well, which are much older. The transition from paganism to Christianity took place very gradually and unevenly in late antiquity and in the early Byzantine world. Customary funeral rituals remained. These included the belief that at the time of death angels and demons contest for the decedent's soul. Macarius of Egypt writes of such a contest, which is only resolved by the intervention of the person's guardian angel -roughly equivalent to Plato's "daimon".
Christianity and paganism | Pagan influences on Christianity
The Unicode chart for the Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block notes many religious symbols: Ostensibly religious symbols are, however, not limited to this section, as the same chart has another short section of two characters labelled "Syriac cross symbols", with the explanatory gloss "These symbols are used in liturgical texts of Syriac-speaking churches". Another short section of two symbols is headed "Medical and healing symbols", including U+2624 ☤ Caduceus (c.f. U+1F750 🝐 "alchemical symbol for caduceus"), U+2695 ⚕ Staff of Aesculapius, and U+2625 ☥ Ankh, all of which originate in polytheistic religious traditions.
Religious and political symbols in Unicode | Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block
Christian art emerged only relatively late. According to art historian André Grabar, the first known Christian images emerge from about AD 200, though there is some literary evidence that small domestic images were used earlier. Although many Hellenised Jews seem, as at the Dura-Europos synagogue, to have had images of religious figures, the traditional Mosaic prohibition of "graven images" no doubt retained some effect. This early rejection of images, although never proclaimed by theologians, and the necessity to hide Christian practice in order to avoid persecution, leaves few archaeological records regarding Early Christianity and its evolution. The oldest Christian paintings are from the Roman Catacombs, dated to about 200, and the oldest Christian sculptures are from sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the third century.(
Christianity in the ante-Nicene period | Early iconography
Some of the oldest symbols within the Christian Church are the sacraments, the number of which vary between denominations. Always included are Eucharist and baptism. The others which may or may not be included are ordination, unction, confirmation, penance and marriage. They are together commonly described as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace" or, as in Catholic theology, "outward signs and media of grace." The rite is seen as a symbol of the spiritual change or event that takes place. In the Eucharist, the bread and wine are symbolic of the body and shed blood of Jesus, and in Catholic theology, become the "actual" Body of Christ and Blood of Christ through Transubstantiation.
Christian symbolism | Sacraments
Symbolic representation of a specific religious tradition is useful in a society with religious pluralism, as was the case in the Roman Empire, and again in modern multiculturalism.
Religious symbol | Symbols representing a specific religion
Some early Christians were aware of Buddhism which was practiced in both the Greek and Roman Empires in the pre-Christian period. The majority of modern Christian scholarship has rejected any historical basis for the travels of Jesus to India or Tibet and has seen the attempts at parallel symbolism as cases of parallelomania which exaggerate resemblances. However, in the East syncretism between Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism was widespread along the Silk Road in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and was especially pronounced in the medieval Church of the East in China, as evidenced by the Jesus Sutras.
Buddhism and Christianity | Introduction
They were often formed to resemble an animal or religious symbol.
Pāmitl | Introduction
From 1991 to 2007, the official Raëlian symbol in Europe and America did not have the original swastika, but Raël decided to make the original symbol, the Star of David intertwined with a swastika, the only official symbol of the Raelian Movement worldwide.
Raëlism | Religious symbol
The influence of Judaism upon Christian symbolism as early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., is apparent both in painting and in sculpture, the most frequent motives being those that occur in the Mishnah as formulas for prayer on fast-days. The prayer beginning with the words "Mi she-'anah," which was included in the selihah at an early date, was adopted in the Christian ritual as the litany "Libera domine." This litany was figuratively used in a certain sequence as a symbol, for the sacrifice of Isaac was regarded as a symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus, since the early religions, and the act of sacrifice emblemized the death on the cross.
Jewish symbolism | Influence on Christian symbols
Outside of Christianity, scholars have looked at law and religion links in the Muslim Middle East and pagan Rome. Studies have focused on secularization. In particular, the issue of wearing religious symbols in public, such as headscarves that are banned in French schools, have received scholarly attention in the context of human rights and feminism.
Religion | Law
Fedric Anilkumar is a Theologian who teaches at the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore, a Seminary established in 1965 and affiliated to the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University). Anilkumar has researched on Christian symbolism with special reference to one of the Protestant Church Societies in Karnataka, the Basel Evangelical Mission, which has since unionized itself into the Church of South India. The subject of Christian symbolism is largely taken as Idolatry causing a mix-up of sorts. However, Anilkumar points out that Christian symbolism is distinct from Idolatry. Concerning Symbolism, the Theologian Louis La Ravoire Morrow drew out a secular standout as early as 1949, As such, Morrow wrote that the early Church also began using symbolism from times immemorial, As for the ambiguity in Christian symbolism, Morrow has explained that the Bible prohibits the worship of symbols but not the use of symbols as such.
Fedric Anilkumar | Introduction
In Euclidean space, the general definition given below for the Christoffel symbols of the second kind can be proven to be equivalent to: Christoffel symbols of the first kind can then be found via index lowering: Rearranging, we see that:
Christoffel symbols | Definition in Euclidean space
With the introduction of Christianity in the region in the early twentieth century, many of them changed their faith to Christianity. Today, 99% of the population follows Christianity. These Christians are of two major denominations: Baptist and Roman Catholic.
Gaziphema | Culture and religion
The shape of the cross, as represented by the letter T, came to be used as a "seal" or symbol of Early Christianity by the 2nd century. At the end of the 2nd century, it is mentioned in the "Octavius" of Minucius Felix, rejecting the claim by detractors that Christians worship the cross. The cross (crucifix, Greek "stauros") in this period was represented by the letter T. Clement of Alexandria in the early 3rd century calls it ("the Lord's sign") he repeats the idea, current as early as the Epistle of Barnabas, that the number 318 (in Greek numerals, ΤΙΗ) in was a foreshadowing (a "type") of the cross (T, an upright with crossbar, standing for 300) and of Jesus (ΙΗ, the first two letters of his name ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, standing for 18).
Christian symbolism | Cross and crucifix
Within the Bolyanest, most of the members deem Christianity a superstition aimed at the control of people. Christian symbolic motifs such as the cross and the tree of life are considered, together with the sun and the moon, as symbols of natural pre-Christian religion which were appropriated by the Christian churches. The majority of believers regards Christianity as the force which eradicated this natural ancient knowledge, including original Hungarian religion, and as the force responsible for the disenchantment of the world.
Hungarian Native Faith | Relationship with Christianity
Many Protestants found these idolatrous.
Icon | Western Christianity
Christian art emerged relatively late and the first known Christian images emerge from about 200 AD, though there is some literary evidence that small domestic images were used earlier. The oldest known Christian paintings are from the Roman catacombs, dated to about 200, and the oldest Christian sculptures are from sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the 3rd century. Although many Hellenistic Jews seem to have had images of religious figures, as at the Dura-Europos synagogue, the traditional Mosaic prohibition of "graven images" no doubt retained some effect, although never proclaimed by theologians. This early rejection of images, and the necessity to hide Christian practise from persecution, leaves few archaeological records regarding early Christianity and its evolution.
History of Christianity | Early art
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.
Christian cross | Introduction
A religious symbol is an iconic representation intended to represent a specific religion, or a specific concept within a given religion. Religious symbols have been used in the military in many different countries, such as the United States military chaplain symbols. Similarly, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs emblems for headstones and markers recognize 57 symbols (including a number of symbols expressing non-religiosity).
Religious symbol | Introduction
From the second half of the 1st century to the time of Constantine the Great they buried their dead and celebrated their rites in these underground chambers. The Christian tombs were ornamented with indifferent or symbolic designs—palms, peacocks, with the chi-rho monogram, with bas-reliefs of Christ as the Good Shepherd, or seated between figures of saints, and sometimes with elaborate scenes from the New Testament. Other Christian symbols include the dove (symbolic of the Holy Spirit), the sacrificial lamb (symbolic of Christ's sacrifice), the vine (symbolizing the necessary connectedness of the Christian with Christ) and many others. These all derive from the writings found in the New Testament.
Christian symbolism | Tomb paintings
"The numerous tales of holy trees groves and gardens repeated everywhere and in every possible form justify me in my belief that Tree Worship was first known and after it came Lingam or Phallic, with of course the female form A-dama." "He [the Serpent] is the special Phallic symbol which veils the actual God and therefore do we find him the constant early attendant upon Priapus or Lingam, which I regard as the second religion of the world." "Phallic Worship, the second if not the first of man’s faiths."
James Forlong | Quotes
a construct of our symbol systems" (p. 5). College students wandering from class to class, from English literature to sociology to biology to calculus, encounter a new reality each time they enter a classroom; the courses listed in a university's catalogue "are in effect but so many different terminologies" (p. 5). It stands to reason then that people who consider themselves to be Christian, and who internalize that religion's symbol system, inhabit a reality that is different from the one of practicing Buddhists, or Jews, or Muslims. The same would hold true for people who believe in the tenets of free market capitalism or socialism, Freudian psychoanalysis or Jungian depth psychology, as well as mysticism or materialism.
Kenneth Burke | Principal works
In some cases, aspects of these folk religions have survived through syncretism with Christian symbolism and practice introduced by European colonials and slave owners.
Obeah | Introduction
In Christianity, from the very first, fire and light are conceived as symbols, if not as visible manifestations, of the divine nature and the divine presence. Christ is the true Light, "and at his transfiguration the fashion Christian of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering"; "when the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, there appeared unto them cloven tongues of fire, and it sat upon each of them"; "at the conversion of St Paul there shined round him a great light from heaven"; "while the glorified Christ is represented as standing in the midst of seven candlesticks ...
Ceremonial use of lights | Early Christian uses
After the death of Jesus, Christianity first emerged as a sect of Judaism as practiced in the Roman province of Judea. The first Christians were all Jews, who constituted a Second Temple Jewish sect with an apocalyptic eschatology. Among other schools of thought, some Jews regarded Jesus as Lord and resurrected messiah, and the eternally existing Son of God, expecting the second coming of Jesus and the start of God's Kingdom. They pressed fellow Jews to prepare for these events and to follow "the way" of the Lord. They believed Yahweh to be the only true God, the god of Israel, and considered Jesus to be the messiah (Christ), as prophesied in the Jewish scriptures, which they held to be authoritative and sacred.
Christianity in the 1st century | Jewish Christianity
Religious symbols of death and depictions of the afterlife will vary with the religion practiced by the people who use them. Tombs, tombstones, and other items of funeral architecture are obvious candidates for symbols of death. In ancient Egypt, the gods Osiris and Ptah were typically depicted as mummies; these gods governed the Egyptian afterlife. In Christianity, the Christian cross is frequently used on graves, and is meant to call to mind the crucifixion of Jesus. Some Christians also erect temporary crosses along public highways as memorials for those who died in accidents. In Buddhism, the symbol of a wheel represents the perpetual cycle of death and rebirth that happens in samsara.
Symbols of death | Religious symbols
David L. Jeffrey and Leon Morris have seen in a first reference to Logos and Beginning:
Logos (Christianity) | Luke 1:2
The Natufian culture of ancient Middle East produced zoomorphic art. The Khiamian culture which followed moved into depicting human beings, which was called by Jacques Cauvin a "revolution in symbols", becoming increasingly realistic. According to him, this led to the development of religion, with the Woman and the Bull as the first sacred figures. He claims that this led to a revolution in human thinking, with humans for the first time moving from animal or spirit worship to the worship of a supreme being, with humans clearly in hierarchical relation to it. Another early form of religion has been identified by Marija Gimbutas as the worship of the Great Goddess, the Bird or Snake Goddess, the Vegetation Goddess, and the Male God in Old Europe.
History of human thought | Origins of religion
Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time" and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts at the depiction of God. However, later on the Hand of God symbol is found several times in the only ancient synagogue with a large surviving decorative scheme, the Dura Europos Synagogue of the mid-3rd century, and was probably adopted into Early Christian art from Jewish art. It was common in Late Antique art in both East and West, and remained the main way of symbolizing the actions or approval of God the Father in the West until about the end of the Romanesque period.
God in Christianity | Depiction
Early Christianity is often divided into three different branches that differ in theology and traditions, which all appeared in the 1st century AD/CE. They include Jewish Christianity, Pauline Christianity and Gnostic Christianity. All modern Christian denominations are said to have descended from the Jewish and Pauline Christianities, with Gnostic Christianity dying, or being hunted, out of existence after the early Christian era and being largely forgotten until discoveries made in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. There are also other theories on the origin of Christianity. The following Christian groups appeared between the beginning of the Christian religion and the First Council of Nicaea in 325.
History of human thought | Christianity
A wide variation of cross symbols is introduced for the purposes of heraldry beginning in the age of the Crusades.
Cross | Christian cross
The "cross crosslet" type of cross, one in which the ends of each arm are crossed, is frequently seen, particularly on Hutsul and Bukovynian pysanky. Other adapted religious symbols include a triangle with a circle in the center, denoting the eye of God, and one known as the "hand of god."
Pysanka | Christian symbols
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. There were more active reactions to religious items that were thought as 'relics of Papacy', as happened for example in September 1641, when Sir Robert Harley pulled down and destroyed the cross at Wigmore. Writers during the 19th century indicating a Pagan origin of the cross included Henry Dana Ward, Mourant Brock, and John Denham Parsons. David Williams, writing of medieval images of monsters, says: "The disembodied phallus is also formed into a cross, which, before it became for Christianity the symbol of salvation, was a pagan symbol of fertility." The study, "Gods, Heroes & Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain" states: "Before the fourth century CE, the cross was not widely embraced as a sign of Christianity, symbolizing as it did the gallows of a criminal." This reaction in the Anglican and other Reformed Churches was short-lived and the cross became ubiquitous in these Christian traditions.
Christian cross | Rejection among various religious groups
Art and symbolism demonstrates a capacity for abstract thought and imagination necessary to construct religious ideas. Wentzel van Huyssteen states that the translation of the non-visible through symbolism enabled early human ancestors to hold beliefs in abstract terms. Some of the earliest evidence of symbolic behavior is associated with Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. From at least 100,000 years ago, there is evidence of the use of pigments such as red ochre. Pigments are of little practical use to hunter gatherers, thus evidence of their use is interpreted as symbolic or for ritual purposes. Among extant hunter gatherer populations around the world, red ochre is still used extensively for ritual purposes.
Evolutionary origin of religions | Use of symbolism
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. What was made was life in Him, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."
Logos (Christianity) | Introduction
In the spandrels of the entrance doorways, around the glorified Christ, the symbols of the four evangelists, namely the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle are shown, holding the holy books. This is a favourite motif in the sculpture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Sometimes the jaws of a monster figure the entrance of Hell, into which sinners are plunged.
Animals in Christian art | Specific symbols
The use of symbolism in religion is a universal established phenomenon. Archeologist Steven Mithen contends that it is common for religious practices to involve the creation of images and symbols to represent supernatural beings and ideas. Because supernatural beings violate the principles of the natural world, there will always be difficulty in communicating and sharing supernatural concepts with others. This problem can be overcome by anchoring these supernatural beings in material form through representational art. When translated into material form, supernatural concepts become easier to communicate and understand. Due to the association of art and religion, evidence of symbolism in the fossil record is indicative of a mind capable of religious thoughts.
Evolutionary origin of religions | Use of symbolism
Religious images in Christian theology have a role within the liturgical and devotional life of adherents of certain Christian denominations. The use of religious images has often been a contentious issue in Christian history. Concern over idolatry is the driving force behind the various traditions of aniconism in Christianity. In the early Church, Christians used the Ichthys (fish) symbol to identify Christian places of worship and Christian homes. The Synod of Elvira (306 AD - 312 AD) "prohibited the exhibition of images in churches". However, since the 3rd century AD, images have been used within Christian worship within parts of Christendom, although some ancient Churches, such as the Church of the East, have apparently long traditions of not using images.
Religious images in Christian theology | Introduction
The dove is a symbol of peace and purity. It can be found with a halo or celestial light. In one of the earliest known Trinitarian images, "the Throne of God as a Trinitarian image" (a marble relief carved c. 400 CE in the collection of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), the dove represents the Spirit. It is flying above an empty throne representing God, in the throne are a "chlamys" (cloak) and diadem representing the Son. The Chi-Rho monogram, XP, apparently first used by Constantine I, consists of the first two characters of the name 'Christos' in Greek.
Early Christian art and architecture | Symbols
At all times, traditions of folk religion existed largely independent from official denominations or dogmatic theology.
Christianity in Europe | Early history
The Small Sign is also used during the majority of the Sacraments. In the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches, the tips of the first three fingers (the thumb, index, and middle ones) are brought together, and the last two (the "ring" and little fingers) are pressed against the palm. The first three fingers express one's faith in the Trinity, while the remaining two fingers represent the two natures of Jesus, divine and human. The Oriental Orthodox (Armenians, Copts, Ethiopians, etc.), like the Western Christians, touch the left shoulder before the right.
Sign of the cross | Gesture
The symbol of perhaps the widest distribution is the "Ichthys" (Greek: ΙΧΘΥΣ, fish), used since the second century as an acronym for "Ίησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ" (Iesous Christos, Theou Huios, Soter), meaning "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour". Artistically, these various representations are somewhat crude, and show the decadence of the pagan art of the time.
Animals in Christian art | Symbolic animals from the catacombs
something quite unique, which could be appropriate only to itself and its own history". The history of other cultures' interaction with the "religious" category is therefore their interaction with an idea that first developed in Europe under the influence of Christianity.
History of religion | Introduction
This is a list of Christian cross variants. The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the corpus (Latin for "body"). The term "Greek cross" designates a cross with arms of equal length, as in a plus sign, while the Latin cross designates a cross with an elongated descending arm. Numerous other variants have been developed during the medieval period. Christian crosses are used widely in churches, on top of church buildings, on bibles, in heraldry, in personal jewelry, on hilltops, and elsewhere as an attestation or other symbol of Christianity.
Christian cross variants | Introduction
The Cross, symbolizing Jesus' crucifixion on a cross, was not represented explicitly for several centuries, possibly because crucifixion was a punishment meted out to common criminals, but also because literary sources noted that it was a symbol recognised as specifically Christian, as the sign of the cross was made by Christians from very early on. The popular conception that the Christian catacombs were "secret" or had to hide their affiliation is probably wrong; catacombs were large-scale commercial enterprises, usually sited just off major roads to the city, whose existence was well known. The inexplicit symbolic nature of many early Christian visual motifs may have had a function of discretion in other contexts, but on tombs, they probably reflect a lack of any other repertoire of Christian iconography.
Early Christian art and architecture | Symbols
The use of "Χ", derived from Chi, the Greek alphabet initial, as an abbreviation for Christ (most commonly in the abbreviation "Χmas") is often misinterpreted as a modern secularization of the term. Thus understood, the centuries-old English word Χmas, is actually a shortened form of CHmas, which is, itself, a shortened form for Christmas. Christians are sometimes referred to as "Xians", with the 'X' replacing 'Christ. A very early Christogram is the "Chi Rho" symbol formed by superimposing the first two Greek letters in Christ (), chi = ch and rho = r, to produce ☧.
Christ (title) | Symbols
Animals including many insects and mammals feature in mythology and religion; indeed, animals and plants appear in what has been suggested to be the world's first religion in the Paleolithic era. Among the insects, in both Japan and Europe, as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, a butterfly was seen as the personification of a person's soul, both while they were alive and after their death. The scarab beetle was sacred in ancient Egypt, while the praying mantis was considered a god in southern African Khoi and San tradition for its praying posture. Among the mammals, cattle, deer, horses, lions and wolves (and werewolves), are the subjects of myths and worship.
Human uses of living things | In mythology and religion
The remaining are affiliated with non-Christian religions, the largest of which is Islam (3.2%), followed by Hinduism (1.5%), Sikhism (1.4%), Buddhism (1.1%), and Judaism (1.0%). Before the arrival of European colonists and explorers, First Nations followed a wide array of mostly animistic religions. During the colonial period, the French settled along the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, specifically Latin Rite Roman Catholics, including a number of Jesuits dedicated to converting indigenous peoples; an effort that eventually proved successful. The first large Protestant communities were formed in the Maritimes after the British conquest of New France, followed by American Protestant settlers displaced by the American Revolution.
Canadians | Religion
Symbol from Greek language "sunbolon" that means a seal, signet ring, legal bond or warrant. From "sunballein", to throw together, compare. A name used beginning in the fourth or fifth century, in the East and West, for the declaratory creeds, especially the Apostles' Creed, perhaps suggesting the pact made between the baptismal candidate and God, but more probably deriving from the baptismal confession of faith as a sign and symbol of belief in the Triune God.
Symbol (liturgical theology) | Introduction
Small carved reliefs were also found on sarcophagi like the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. However large monumental sculpture of religious subjects was not produced, and in Byzantine art and Eastern Orthodox art it is avoided to the current day. It only reappeared in Carolingian art, among peoples who had no memory of pagan religious statues.
Religious images in Christian theology | The use of icons and symbols in Christian worship
Christianity in Asia has its roots in the very inception of Christianity, which originated from the life and teachings of Jesus in 1st-century Roman Judea. Christianity then spread through the missionary work of his apostles, first in the Levant and taking roots in the major cities such as Jerusalem and Antioch. According to tradition, further eastward expansion occurred via the preaching of Thomas the Apostle, who established Christianity in the Parthian Empire (Iran) and India. The very First Ecumenical Council was held in the city of Nicaea in Asia Minor (325). The first nations to adopt Christianity as a state religion were Armenia in 301 and Georgia in 327.
Christianity in Asia | Introduction
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings. In both East and West, numerous iconic types of Christ, Mary and saints and other subjects were developed; the number of named types of icons of Mary, with or without the infant Christ, was especially large in the East, whereas Christ Pantocrator was much the commonest image of Christ. Christian symbolism invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world.
Christendom | Iconography
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Orthodox Christianity. Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings. In both East and West, numerous iconic types of Christ, Mary and saints and other subjects were developed; the number of named types of icons of Mary, with or without the infant Christ, was especially large in the East, whereas Christ Pantocrator was much the commonest image of Christ. Christian symbolism invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world.
Christian culture | Iconography
Modern scholarship is engaged in an ongoing debate as to the proper designation for Jesus' first followers. Many see the term Jewish Christians as anachronistic given that there is no consensus on the date of the birth of Christianity. The very concepts of Christianity and Judaism can be seen as essentializing, since these are changing and plural traditions. Clearly the first Christian communities would not have understood that they were changing one religion for another, as they understood faith in the resurrected Jesus as the fulfillment of Jewish prophecies, and the mission to the gentiles by Saul (Paul of Tarsus) came as a secondary activity.
Christianity and Judaism | Jewish Christians
Yngly is represented by the "swastika" symbol, which Ynglists call the "image of Yngly", the first written symbol of humanity. Besides the similarity of the names of the Ynglist Ramha and the Indian "Rama", it is worthwhile to note that Ramha is identified with the ancient Egyptian concept of "Ra" central to the other Russian Native Faith practice "Vseyasvetnaya gramota". A hymn to Ramha declaims:
Ynglism | The highest God and its order
The Hebrew word for 'symbol' is , which, in early Judaism, denoted not only a sign, but also a visible religious token of the relation between God and human.
Jewish symbolism | Introduction
Speculation of this kind became especially popular in the mid- to late-19th century in the context of comparative mythology seeking to tie Christian mythology to ancient cosmological myths. Influential works in this vein included G. de Mortillet (1866), L. Müller (1865), W. W. Blake (1888), Ansault (1891), etc. In the European Bronze Age the cross symbol appeared to carry a religious meaning, perhaps as a symbol of consecration, especially pertaining to burial.
Cross | Pre-Christian
In Early Christianity lamps, fire and light are conceived as symbols, if not as visible manifestations, of the divine nature and the divine presence. In the Christian world view Christ is the true Light, and Christians are viewed as children of Light at perpetual war with the powers of darkness. There is no evidence of any ceremonial use of lights in Christian worship during its first two centuries. It is recorded, that on the occasion of St. Paul's preaching at Alexandria in Troas there were many lights in the upper chamber; but this was at night. And the most that can be hazarded is that a specially large number were lighted as a festive illumination, as in modern Church festivals.
Early Christian lamps | Introduction
Clement's contemporary Tertullian also rejects the accusation that Christians are "crucis religiosi" (i.e. "adorers of the gibbet"), and returns the accusation by likening the worship of pagan idols to the worship of poles or stakes. 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. While early Christians used the T-shape to represent the cross in writing and gesture, the use of the Greek cross and Latin cross, i.e. crosses with intersecting beams, appears in Christian art towards the end of Late Antiquity.
Christian symbolism | Cross and crucifix
The Pauline letters, which are the earliest Christian writings, already show "a well-developed pattern of Christian devotion [...] already conventionalized and apparently uncontroversial."
Christianity in the 1st century | Christology
In many Traditional African religions, there are no graphical or pictorial symbols representing the actual religion or faith. Each tradition however, has symbolisms which are religious or spiritual in nature. Some of these may be graphical, numerological (as in Serer numerology - see Serer creation myth) or a combination of both. However, these graphical images do not represent the actual faith, but elements within the faith. The very nature of African art stem from "their themes of symbolism, functionalism and utilitarianism" hence why African art is multi-functional. In the traditional African belief system, Africans draw from their various artistic traditions as sources of inspiration.
Religious symbol | Traditional African religions
Other weights of the Greek cross are in Geometric Shapes Extended.
Religious and political symbols in Unicode | Geometric Shapes Extended
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. A symbol similar to the cross, the staurogram, was used to abbreviate the Greek word for "cross" in very early New Testament manuscripts such as P66, P45 and P75, almost like a "nomen sacrum". The extensive adoption of the cross as Christian iconographic symbol arose from the 4th century. 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, and by the fact that 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 (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 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 letters of his name ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, standing for 18).
Christian cross | Early Christian usage
Finally, he argued that religious symbols provide standards by which life should be lived.
Problem of religious language | Symbolism
Saint John Damascene argued: "Of old God the incorporial and uncircumscribed was not depicted at all. But now that God has appeared in the flesh and lived among men, I make an image of the God who can be seen. I do not worship matter, but I worship the Creator of matter, who for my sake became material and deigned to dwell in matter, who through matter effected my salvation." Finally, after much debate at the Second Council of Nicaea, held in 787, the Iconodules, supported by the Empress, upheld the use of icons as an integral part of Christian tradition, and the Western Church, which had been almost totally unaffected by the dispute, confirmed this.
Religious image | Christianity
The following links give an overview of the history of Christianity: The following links provide quantitative data related to Christianity and other major religions, including rates of adherence at different points in time:
History of Christianity | External links
Christian art began, about two centuries after Christ, by borrowing motifs from Roman Imperial imagery, classical Greek and Roman religion and popular art. Religious images are used to some extent by the Abrahamic Christian faith, and often contain highly complex iconography, which reflects centuries of accumulated tradition. In the Late Antique period iconography began to be standardised, and to relate more closely to Biblical texts, although many gaps in the canonical Gospel narratives were plugged with matter from the apocryphal gospels. Eventually the Church would succeed in weeding most of these out, but some remain, like the ox and ass in the Nativity of Christ.
Christian culture | Iconography
In Buddhist literature as well as in Buddhist art, myth is also communicated using various Buddhist symbols which have become widespread across the Buddhist world. Among the earliest and most common symbols are the stupa (symbolizing the Buddha), the Dharma wheel (a symbol of the Dharma), the Bodhi Tree (and its leaves) and the lotus flower (both symbolizing awakening). Buddhist cultures typically preserve relics or places that tie them with the Buddhism of the past, and especially with the historical Buddha. These things are given meaning by telling sacred stories about them. In Sri Lanka, the most popular sites for pilgrimage are the Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura, and the tooth relic at Kandy.
Buddhist mythology | Symbols
All of these theories have since been widely criticized; there is no broad consensus regarding the origin of religion. Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) Göbekli Tepe, the oldest religious site yet discovered anywhere includes circles of erected massive T-shaped stone pillars, the world's oldest known megaliths decorated with abstract, enigmatic pictograms and carved-animal reliefs. The site, near the home place of original wild wheat, was built before the so-called Neolithic Revolution, i.e., the beginning of agriculture and animal husbandry around 9000 BCE. But the construction of Göbekli Tepe implies organization of an advanced order not hitherto associated with Paleolithic, PPNA, or PPNB societies.
History of religion | Origin
In the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, "iota-eta-sigma", or . The Greek letter "iota" is represented by I, and the "eta" by H, while the Greek letter "sigma" is either in its lunate form, represented by C, or its final form, represented by S. Because the Latin-alphabet letters "I" and "J" were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, "JHS" and "JHC" are equivalent to "IHS" and "IHC". "IHS" is sometimes interpreted as meaning "ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΗΜΕΤΕΡΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡ" ("Iēsous Hēmeteros Sōtēr," "Jesus our Saviour") or in Latin "Jesus Hominum (or Hierosolymae) Salvator", ("Jesus, Saviour of men [or: of Jerusalem]" in Latin) or connected with "In Hoc Signo".
Christogram | IHS
The building features no symbols, icons or other typical religious ornamentation that would be representative of a religious hall. Instead it reflects an 'advance design' exhibited in the highest quality construction techniques and standards of the era." It now houses professional offices.
First Church of Christ, Scientist (Mason City, Iowa) | Introduction