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After the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, giving Christians the right to worship Christ, Christian symbols started to appear openly on many objects. Until the Edict, Christians had worshipped in secret and displayed their symbols in the underground Catacombs.
The Ancient Greeks believed that the flesh of peacocks didn’t decompose after death, and so peacocks became a symbol of immortality. Early Christians adopted the symbol to represent their belief in eternal life in heaven with God, and was often depicted with the Tree of Life.
Early christian symbols found in the catacombs including symbology of the Chi-Rho, anchor, good shepherd, fish, peacock, cross, dove, orante, and funerary inscriptions.
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 ...
The earliest Christian iconography tended to be symbolic. A simple rendering of a fish was sufficient to allude to Christ. Bread and wine invoked the Eucharist. During the 3rd and 4th centuries, in the catacomb paintings and in other manifestations, Christians began to adapt familiar pagan prototypes to new meanings.
Enjoy this collection of Christian symbols, including pictures and descriptions of the most easily recognized markings and signs of Christianity.
One of the most common Christian symbols used today originated with the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. The Chi-Rho, the fusion of the first two Greek letters in the word “Christ,” was employed as an imperial device by Constantine, and he placed it on the shields of his soldiers.
Early Christian symbolism, a silent yet eloquent language, ranged from the ubiquitous ichthus (fish) to the intricate chi-rho, weaving a narrative of faith, hope, and divine promise amidst the trials of earthly existence.
In both the monuments and the early and late patristic literature, Christian symbols were drawn from the Old and New Testaments and adapted to the cultural environment.
The early Christians formed an acrostic from these letters as follows: I = Iesous (Jesus); CH= Christos (Christ); TH= Theous (God); U= Uios (Son); S= Soter (Savior)....