CROSS
521
CROSS
during Mass, e.g. at the reading of the Gospel), and
generally on the forehead; gradually, by reason of its
symbolism, this sign was made on other parts of the
body, with particularized intention (St. Ambrose, De
Isaac et anima, Migne, P.L., XIV, 501-34). Afterwards
these different signs of the cross were united in one
large sign such as we now make. In the Western
Church the hand was carried from the left to the right
shoulder; in the Eastern Church, on the contrary, it was
brought from the right shoulder to the left, the
sign being made with three fingers. This apparently
slight difference was one of the (remote) causes of the
fatal Eastern Schism.
It is probable, though we have no historical evidence for it, that the primitive Christians used the cross to distinguish one another from the pagans in ordinary social intercourse. The latter called the Christians "cross-worshippers", and ironically added, "id colunt quod merentur", i.e. they worship that which they deserve. The Christian apologists, such as Tertullian (Apol., xvi; Ad. Nationes, xii) and Minucius Felix (Octavius, lx, xii, xxviii), felicitously replied to the pagan taunt by showing that their persecutors themselves adored cruciform objects. Such observations throw light on a peculiar fact of primitive Christian life, i. e. the almost total absence from Christian monuments of the period of persecutions of the plain, unadorned cross (E. Reusens, "Elements d'archéologie chrétienne". 1st ed., 110). The truculent sarcasms of the heathens prevented the faithful from openly displaying this sign of salvation. When the early Christians did represent the sign of the cross on their monuments, nearly all sepulchral in character, they felt obliged to disguise it in some artistic and symbolical way.
One of the oldest of these symbols of the cross is the anchor, sometimes carved thus J2. and sometimes thus JJL The latter is found most generally on the stone slabs of the oldest sections of the Roman catacombs, especially in the cemeteries of Callistus, Domitilla, Priscilla, and others. The anchor, originally a symbol of hope in general, takes on in this way a much higher meaning: that of hope based on the Cross of Christ. The similarity of the anchor to the cross made the former an admirable Christian symbol. Another cruciform symbol of the early Christians, though not very common, and of a somewhat later date, is the trident M-J some examples of which are seen on sepulchral I slabs in the cemetery of Callistus. In one inscription from that cemetery the symbolism of the trident is even more subtle and evident, the instrument standing erect as the mainmast of a ship entering port, symbolical of the Christian soul saved by the Cross of Christ. We must note, too, the use of this peculiar symbol in the third century in the region of Tauric Chersonesus (the Crimea) on coins of Totorses, King of the Bosporus, dated 270, 296, and 303 (De Hoclme, "Description du mus(>e Kotschon- bey, tl, 348, .360, 416; Cavcdoni, "Appendice alle ricerche critiche intomo alle med. Costantiniane, 18, 19 — an extract from the "Opuscoli litterari e religiosi di Modena" in "Bull. arch. Napolit.", ser. 2, anno VII. .32). We shall speak again of this sign apropos of the dolphin. On a picture in the Crj-pts of Lu- cina, artistically imique and very ancient, there seems to be an allusion to the Cross. Turned to- wards the altar are two doves gazing at a small tree. The scene appears to represent an image of souls loosed from the bonds of the body and saved by the power of the Cross (De Rossi, Roma Sotterranea Cristiana, I, PI. XII).
Before passing to the study of other, more or less disguised, forms of the cro.ss, e. g. various monograms of the name of Christ, it may bi- well to say a word of various known forms of the cross on primitive monu- ments of Christian art, some of which we shall meet with in our early study of the said monograms. — The
cr!/.r rknissnta "V/" or decussated cross, so called from
its resemblance x\. to the Roman decussis. or sym-
bol for the numeral 10, is in shape like the Greek
letter chi; it is also known as St. Andrew's Cross,
because that Apostle is said to have suffered martyr-
dom on such a cross, his hands and feet bound to
its four arms (Sandini, Hist. Apostol., 130). The
crux conimissa, or gallows-shaped cross, is, according
to some, the one on which Jesus Christ died. In order
to explain the traditional longitudinal extension of
the Cross, which makes it resemble the crux immissa, it
is asserted that this extension is only apparent, and
is really only the titulus crticis, the inscription men-
tioned in the Gospels. This form of the cross (crux
coynmissa) is probably represented by the Greek letter
tau (T), and is identical with the "sign" mentioned in
the text of Ezechiel (ix, 4) already quoted. Tertul-
lian comments (Contra Mare., Ill, xxii) as follows on
this text: "The Greek letter T and our Latin letter
T are the true form of the cross, which, according to
the Prophet, will be imprinted on our foreheads in the
true Jerusalem." Specimens of this veiled form of
the cross are met with on the monuments of the Ro-
man catacombs, a very fine one, e. g., in an epitaph of
the third century found in the cemetery of St. Callis-
tus, which reads ire T xe (De Rossi, "Bulletino d'
archeologia cristiana", 1863, 35). In the same ceme-
tery a sarcophagus exliibits clearly the gallow's-cross
formed by the intersection of the letters T and V in
the monogram of a proper name carved in the centre
of the cartella, or label. This second letter (V) was
also figurative of the cross, as is evident from the in-
scriptions scratched on rock-surfaces at Mount Sinai
(Lenormant, " Sur I'origine chr(5tienne des inscriptions
sinaitiques", 26, 27; De Rossi, loe. cit.). A mono-
gram of a proper name (perhaps Marturius), discov-
ered by Annellini on the Via Latina, shows the crux
cojnmissa above the intersection of the letters. Other
monograms show similar forms, such as "D" and
\U (De Rossi, "Bulletino d'archeologia i cris-
'^ tiana", 1867, page 13, fig. 10, and page 14). It
has been attempted to establish a connexion between
this form and the crux artsata of the Egyptians, men-
tioned above; but we see no reason for this (cf. Le-
tronne, Materiaux pour I'histoire du christianisme en
Egjqite, en Nubie, et en Abyssinie). It would seem
that St. .\nthony bore a cross in the form of tau on his
cloak, and that it was Egyptian in origin. Such a
cross is still used by the Antonine monks of Vienne in
Dauphiny, and appears on their churches and on the
monuments of art belonging to the order. St. Zeno
of Verona, who in the second half of the fourth cen-
tury was bishop of that city, relates that he caused a
cross in form of a lau to be placed on the highest point
of a basilica. There w;is also another motive for
choosing the letter T as symbolical of the cross. As, in
Greek, this letter stands for 300, that number in Ajios-
tolic times was taken as a symbol of the instnmicnt
of our salvation. The symbolism was carried farther,
and the number 318 became a symbol of Christ and
His Cross: the letter I (iola) being equal to 10, and H
(eta) to 8 in Greek (Allard, " Le symbolisme chretien
d'aprcs Prudence" in "Re\'ue de I'art chr(;ticn",
1885; Hefele, Ed. Ep. St. Barnaba", ix).
The cross most commonly referred to and most usually depicted on Christian monuments of all ages is that called the crux immtsxa, or crux capitata (i. e. the vertical trunk extending beyond the transv'ersc beam). It was on a cross such as this that Christ actually died, and not, as some would maintain, on a crux commisaa. And this opinion is largely supporte<i by the testimony of the writers we have quot<'d. The crux immixna is that which is usually known as the I^atin cross, in which the transverse beam is usually set two-thirds of the way up the vertical. Tlie equi- lateral, or Greek cross, adopted by the East and by Russia, has the transverse set half-way up the vertical.
