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CROSS

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 507 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CROSS , and CRUCIFIXION (See also:

Lat. crux, crucis'). The meaning ordinarily attached to the word " cross " is that of a figure composed of two or more lines which intersect, or See also:touch each other transversely. Thus, two pieces of See also:wood, or other material, so placed in juxtaposition to one another, are understood to See also:form a cross. It should be noted, however, that See also:Lipsius and other writers speak of the single upright stake to which criminals were See also:bound as a cross, and to such a stake the name of crux simplex has been applied. The usual conception, however, of a cross is that of a See also:compound figure. See also:Punishment by crucifixion was widely employed in See also:ancient times. It is known to have been used by nations such as those of See also:Assyria, See also:Egypt, See also:Persia, by the Greeks, Carthaginians, ' Derivatives of the Latin crux appear in many forms in See also:European See also:languages, cf. Ger. Kreuz, Fr. Croix, It. croce, &c.; the See also:English form seems Norse in origin (O.N. Krosse, mod. Kors).

The O.E. name was See also:

rod, See also:rood (q.v.). Macedonians, and from very See also:early times by the See also:Romans. It has been thought, too, that crucifixion was also used by the See also:Jews themselves, and that there is an allusion to it (Dent. xxi. 22, 23) as a punishment to be inflicted. Two methods were followed in the infliction of the punishment of crucifixion. In both of these the criminal was first of all usually stripped naked, and bound to an upright stake, where he was so cruelly scourged with an See also:implement, formed of strips of See also:leather having pieces of See also:iron, or some other hard material, at their ends, that not merely was the flesh often stripped from the bones, but even the entrails partly protruded, and the See also:anatomy of the See also:body was disclosed. In this pitiable See also:state he was reclothed, and, if able to do so, was made to See also:drag the stake to the See also:place of See also:execution, where he was either fastened to it, or impaled upon it, and See also:left to See also:die. In this method, where a single stake was employed, we have the crux simplex of Lipsius. The other method is that with which we are more See also:familiar, and which is described in the New Testament See also:account of the crucifixion of Jesus See also:Christ. In such a See also:case, after the scourging at the stake, the criminal was made to carry a gibbet, formed of two transverse bars of wood, to the place of execution, and he was then fastened to it by iron nails driven through the outstretched arms and through the ankles. Sometimes this was done as the cross See also:lay on the ground, and it was then lifted into position. In other cases the criminal was made to ascend by a See also:ladder, and was then fastened to the cross.

Probably the feebleness, or state of collapse, from which the criminal must often have suffered, had much to do in deciding this. It is not quite clear which of these two plans was followed in the case of the crucifixion of Christ, but the more See also:

general See also:opinion has been that He was nailed to the cross on the ground, and that it was then lifted into position. The contrary opinion, has, however, prevailed to some extent, and there are representations of the crucifixion which depict Him as mounting a ladder placed against the cross. Such representations may, however, have been due to a pious See also:desire, on the See also:part of their authors, to emphasize the voluntary offering of Himself as the Saviour of the See also:World, rather than as being intended for actual pictures of the See also:scene itself. It may be noted, however, that among the " Emblems of the See also:Passion," as they are called, and which were very favourite devices in the See also:middle ages, the ladder is not infrequently found in See also:con-junction with the See also:crown of thorns, nails, See also:spear, &c. From its simplicity of form, the cross has been used both as a religious See also:symbol and as an See also:ornament, from the See also:dawn of See also:man's See also:civilization. Various See also:objects, dating from periods See also:long anterior to the See also:Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in almost every part of the old world. See also:India, See also:Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded number-less examples, while numerous instances, dating from the later See also:Stone See also:Age to Christian times, have been found in nearly every part of See also:Europe. The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times, and among non- Christian peoples, may probably be ~, regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature See also:worship. FIG. 2. Two of the forms of the pre-Christian cross which are perhaps most frequently met with are the tau cross, so named from its resemblance to the See also:Greek See also:capital See also:letter T, and the svastika or fylfot' 9 , also called " Gammadion " owing to its form being that of four Greek capital letters See also:gamma r placed together.

The tau cross ' The See also:

acceptance of this word as the English See also:equivalent for this See also:peculiar form of the cross rests only, according to the New English See also:Dictionary, on a MS. of about 1500 in the See also:Lansdowne collection, which gives details for the erection of a memorial stained-See also:glass window, " . . the fylfot in the nedermost See also:pane under ther I knele . "; in the See also:sketch given with the instructions a cross occupies the space indicated. It is a question, therefore, whether " fylfot " is a name for any See also:device suitable to" fill the See also:foot " of any See also:design, or the name peculiar to this particular form of cross. The word is not, as was formerly accepted, a corruption of the O. Eng. feowerfete, four-footed. is a See also:common See also:Egyptian device, and is indeed often called the Egyptian cross. The svastika has a very wide range of See also:distribution, and is found on all kinds of objects. It was used as a religious See also:emblem in India and See also:China at least ten centuries before the Christian era, and is met with on Buddhist corns and See also:inscriptions from various parts of India. A See also:fine sepulchral See also:urn found at Shropham in See also:Norfolk, and now in the See also:British Museum, has three bands of cruciform ornaments See also:round it. The two uppermost of these are See also:plain circles, each of which contains a plain cross; the lowest See also:band is formed of a See also:series of squares, in each of which is a svastika. In the Vatican Museum there is an See also:Etruscan fibula of See also:gold which is marked with the svastika, but it is a device of such common occurrence on objects of pre-Christian origin, that it is hardly necessary to specify individual instances.

The cross, as a device in different forms, and often enclosed in a circle, is of frequent occurrence on coins and medals of pre-Christian date in See also:

France and elsewhere. Indeed, objects marked with pre-Christian crosses are to be seen in every important museum. The See also:death of Christ on a cross necessarily conferred a new significance on the figure, which had hitherto been associated with a conception of See also:religion not merely non-Christian, but in its essence often directly opposed to it. The Christians of early times were wont to trace, in things around them, hidden prophetical allusions to the truth of their faith, and such a testimony they seem to have readily recognized in the use of the cross as a religious emblem by those whose employment of it betokened a belief most repugnant to their own. The See also:adoption by them of such forms, for example, as the tau cross and the svastika or fylfot was no doubt influenced by the See also:idea of the occult Christian significance which they thought they recognized in those forms, and which they could use with a See also:special meaning among them-selves, without at the same See also:time arousing the See also:ill-feeling or shocking the sentiment of those among whom they lived. It was not till the time of See also:Constantine that the cross was publicly used as the symbol of the Christian religion. Till then its employment had been restricted, and private among the Christians themselves. Under Constantine it became the acknowledged symbol of See also:Christianity, in the same way in which, long afterwards, the See also:crescent was adopted as the symbol of the See also:Mahommedan religion. Constantine's See also:action was no doubt influenced by the See also:vision which he believed he saw of the cross in the See also:sky with the accompanying words Ev roUrw visa, as well as by the See also:story of the See also:discovery of the true cross by his See also:mother St See also:Helena in the See also:year 326. The See also:legend is that, when visiting the See also:holy places in See also:Palestine, St Helena was guided to the site of the crucifixion by an aged See also:Jew who had inherited traditional knowledge as to its position. After the ground had been dug to a considerable See also:depth, three crosses were found, as well as the superscription placed over the Saviour's See also:head on the cross, and the nails with which he had been crucified. The cross of the See also:Lord was distinguished from the other two by the working of a See also:miracle on a crippled woman who was stretched upon it.

This finding, or " invention," of the holy cross by St Helena is commemorated by a festival on the 3rd of May, called the " Invention of the Holy Cross." The legend was widely accepted as true, and is related by writers such as St See also:

Ambrose, See also:Rufinus, Sulpicius Severna and others, but it is discounted by the existence of an older legend, according to which the true cross was found in the reign of Tiberius, and while St See also:James the See also:Great was See also:bishop of See also:Jerusalem, by Protonice, the wife of See also:Claudius. In See also:recent times an See also:attempt has been made to reconcile the two accounts, by attributing to St Helena the rediscovery of the true cross, originally found by Protonice, and which had been buried again on the spot. A See also:change was made in 1895 in the Diario Romano, when the word Ritrovamento was substituted for that of Invenzione, in the name of the festival of the 3rd of May. After St Helena's discovery a See also:church was built upon the site, and in it she placed the greater portion of the cross. The remaining portion she conveyed to See also:Byzantium, and thence Constantine sent a piece to See also:Rome, where it is said to be still preserved in the church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, Fro. 1. which was built to receive so See also:precious a relic. It is exposed for the veneration of the faithful on See also:Good See also:Friday, 3rd of May, and the third See also:Sunday in See also:Lent, each year. Another festival of the holy cross is kept on the 14th of See also:September, and is known as the " Exaltation of the Holy Cross." It seems to have originated with the See also:dedication, in the year 335, of the churches built on the sites of the crucifixion and the holy See also:sepulchre. The observance of this festival passed from Jerusalem to See also:Constantinople, and thence to Rome, where it appears to have been introduced in the 7th See also:century. By some it is thought that the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross had its origin in Constantine's vision of the cross in the sky in the year 317, but whether it originated then, or, as is more generally supposed, at the dedication of the churches at Jerusalem, there is no doubt that it was afterwards kept with much greater solemnity in consequence of the recovery of the portion of the cross St Helena had left at Jerusalem, which had been taken away in the See also:Persian victory, and was restored to Jerusalem by Heraclitus in 627.

See also:

Pope See also:Clement VIII. (1592–1604) raised the festival of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross to the dignity, liturgically known as that of a Greater See also:Double. Before leaving the story of St Helena and the cross, it may be convenient to allude briefly to the superscription placed over the Saviour's head, and the nails, which it is said that she found with the cross. The earlier tradition as to the superscription is obscure, but it would seem that it ought to,be considered part of the relic which Constantine sent to Rome. By some means it was entirely lost sight of until the year 1492, when it is said that it was accidentally found in a vault in the church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme at Rome. Pope See also:Alexander III. published a See also:bull certifying to the truth of this re-discovery of the relic, and authenticated its See also:character. As regards the nails, a question has arisen whether there were three or four. In the earliest pictures of the Crucifixion the feet are shown as separately nailed to the cross, but at a later See also:period they are crossed, and a single See also:nail fixes them. In the former case there would be four nails, and in the latter only three. Four is the number generally accepted, and it is said that one was See also:cast by St Helena into the See also:sea, during a See also:storm, in See also:order to subdue the waves, another is said (but the legend cannot be traced far back) to have been beaten out into the iron circlet of the crown of See also:Lombardy, while the remaining two are reputed to be preserved among the See also:relics at See also:Milan and See also:Trier respectively. The employment of the cross as the Christian symbol has been so manifold in its variety and application, and the different forms to which the figure has been adapted and elaborated are so complex, that it is only possible to See also:deal with the outline of the subject.

We learn from See also:

Tertullian and other early Christian writers of the See also:constant use which the Christians of those days made of the sign of the cross. Tertullian (De See also:Cor. Mil. cap. iii.) says: " At each See also:journey and progress, at each coming in and going out, at the putting on of shoes, at the See also:bath, at meals, at the kindling of See also:lights, at bedtime, at sitting down, whatsoever occupation engages us, we See also:mark the brow with the sign of the cross." With so frequent an employment of the sign of the cross in their domestic See also:life, it would be See also:strange if we did not find that it was very frequently used in the public worship of the church. The earliest liturgical forms are comparatively See also:late, and are without rubrics, but the allusions by different writers in early times to the ceremonial use of the sign of the cross in the public services are so numerous, and so much importance was attached to it, that we are left in no manner of doubt on the point. St See also:Augustine, indeed, speaks of the sacraments as not duly ministered if the use of the sign of the cross were absent from their ministration (See also:Horn. cxviii. in S. See also:Joan.). Of the later liturgical use of the sign of the cross there is little need to speak, as a reference to the service books of the Greek and Latin churches will plainly indicate the frequency of, and the importance attached to, its employment. Its occasional use is retained by the See also:Lutherans, and in the Church of See also:England it is authori-tatively used at See also:baptism, and at the " sacring " or See also:anointing of the See also:sovereign at the See also:coronation. Passing from the sign to the material figures of the cross, a very usual See also:classification distinguishes three See also:main forms: (I) the crux immissa, or capitata t (fig. 3) known also as the Latin cross, or if each See also:limb is of the same length, + (fig. 4) as the Greek cross; (2) the crux decussata, formed like the letter X, and (3) the crux commissa or tau cross, already mentioned. It was on a crux immissa that Christ is believed to have been crucified.

The crux decussata is known as St See also:

Andrew's cross, from the tradition that St Andrew was put to death on a cross of that form. The FIG. 3. FIG. 4• crux commissa is often called St See also:Anthony's cross, probably only because it resembles the crutch with which the great See also:hermit is generally depicted. The cross in one form or other appears, appropriately, on the flags and ensigns of many Christian countries. The English cross of St See also:George is a plain red cross on a See also:white ground, the Scottish cross of St Andrew is a plain See also:diagonal white cross on a See also:blue ground, and the Irish cross of St See also:Patrick is a plain diagonal red cross on a white ground. These three crosses are combined in the See also:Union See also:Jack (see See also:FLAG). The cross has also been adopted by many orders of See also:knighthood. Perhaps the best known of these is the cross of the knights of See also:Malta. It is a white cross of eight points on a See also:black ground (fig. 5) and is the proper Maltese cross, a name which is often wrongly applied to the cross patee (fig.

6). The knights of the Garter use the cross of St George, as do those of the order of St See also:

Michael and St George, the knights of the See also:Thistle use St Andrew's cross, and those of St Patrick the cross of St Patrick charged with a shamrock See also:leaf. The cross of the Danish order of the Dannebrog (fig. 7) affords a good example of this use of the cross.

End of Article: CROSS

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