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Show coobcooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobooo o The Origirv of the Cross I coaooodooooooooooooddbdoooo Somewhat later came the Greek crucifix, one of; the most beautiful of all the forms; and ' which ' many contemporary - div,ine contend would form a-more fitting ':. part Of church ceremonials than the one in common use, This Greek cross was meant to typify the triumph, over death'; but in such a manner as to divest as far as' possible the entire subject of Its gruesome and morbid aspect. .,: It blossomed with flowers of gold and i silver and was richlystudded with gems. In 692, during the reign of Justinian, the Council of Trullo was held. The object of the famous-conference was to devise a means by which to circumvent the mysticism and symbolism that were threatening .to undermine the Christian religion and deprive it of its true meaning. It was pointed out that the signs and symbols used in the service were becoming' be-coming' more rand more important than the" things, they stood for, and that to-the ignorant mind, the story of the life and sufferings of Christ began, be-gan, to be only a sort' of myth an allegory. It was respived to substitute substi-tute the' actual human figure of the crucified Christ for that of the symbolic sym-bolic lamb... This act resulted in the creation of the orthodox crucifix of to-day. ' The origin of the cross as a symbol la shrouded ' in the ' dim mists . of almost prehistoric antiquity. Centuries Centur-ies befor the Gallic and Cymric Celts swarmed over England, centuries be fore the lowly Nazarene -began .promulgating .pro-mulgating his doctrines, centuries before be-fore the beginning of the Old Testament Testa-ment history, the cross was an important im-portant factor in the lives of men, What became of the 'true cross is one of the greatest miracles -of all time. It is true that . tnere are in many Old and New World cathedrals' bits of wood purporting to be part of the true cross. In some oases, notably that; which concerns the fragment of the tablet placed over the cross by Pilate's order, and which , Is . now in the .ancient church of Santa : Crote . t Rome, their authenticity .'seems fairly well established;, but' so mln-ute mln-ute are the fragments that, according, to, one ancient writer, if ai: were collected col-lected and put tofeetner they would .only make a block oi, wood 'about twenty inches long)-eight inches wide and three inches thick. ; It was three 'centuries after the Crucifixion of Christ before the cross was found. Its discovery was due to the devout Helena, wife of the Emperor Em-peror Constantine, who abolished' crucifixion and to whom the Christian Chris-tian religion owes the oiigihal adoption adop-tion of the cross as a symbol. Over the spot where the cross was discov ered a chapel was erected and the sacred wood was retained by Helena in , Jerusalem and.', deposited, under-tne under-tne great church or basilica erected by, Constantine - over the place of crucifixion and" burial. For three Hundred peaceful , years the -cross remained in Uie custody : of the Bishop Bish-op of Jerusalem." Every Easter it was exhibited to the pilgrims who throng-ed throng-ed the Holy City. Then came three hundred years of comparative -obscurity, from which the cross emerged to become the center of upheavals that convulsed the entire civilized world, ; arrayed the West against -the East, and caused the . spilling of oceans of blood the wars of the Crusades. . The story of the valiant crusaders and their, series of attempts to rescue .the, holy wood from Moslem .hands Is well known. After a series, of vicissitudes,'' vicissi-tudes,'' victory finally perched- on the banners of the 'Saracens.---' V ;: ' .Prior , to-the -fotirtli century the-holiest' the-holiest' of "Christtansymbols: was the monogram of "Christ. It; - was woven into, all ecclesiastical. v:estnfent's ; and formed, a prominent - feature :of Other decorations. About the' year" 393 the first crucifix was introduced, into the church. It was made of', dark red wood and at the intersection of the two parts bore the figure of the Iamb, the objection ' to the using of the actual figure of Christ being still strong. |
