ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN CROSS.
As has already been to some extent pointed out, it is evident that our
beloved Christendom more or less owes its existence to the fact that
Constantine the Great when only ruler of Gaul, himself a Sun-God
worshipper at the head of an army of Sun-God worshippers, seeing how
greatly the small but enthusiastic bodies of Christians everywhere to
be met with could aid him in his designs upon the attainment of supreme
power, bid for their support. For to this politic move, its success,
and Constantine's perception that only a non-national religion whose
followers sought to convert the whole world and make their faith a
catholic one, could really weld together different races of men, we owe
the fact that when he became Sole Emperor he made Christianity the
State Religion of the world-wide Roman Empire.
This act and its far-reaching effects, are not all we owe to
Constantine, however. It should be remembered that even our creed was
to some extent decided by him. For it was this Sun-God worshipper--who,
though he advised others to enter what he wished should become a
catholic and all-embracing religion, refused to do so himself till he
was dying--who called together our bishops, and, presiding over them in
council at Nicaea, demanded that they should determine the controversy
in the ranks of the Christians as to whether the Christ was or was not
God, by subscribing to a declaration of his Deity. It is even recorded
that he forced the unwilling ones to sign under penalty off deprivation
and banishment.
From these and other incidents in his career it would appear that,
either from policy or conviction, Constantine acted as if he thought
the Sun-God and the Christ were one and the same deity.
The probability of this is more or less apparent from what we are told
concerning the part he played in connection with what, thanks, as we
are about to see, to him, became our recognised symbol.
Our knowledge of the part played by Constantine in connection with the
symbol of the cross, except so far as we can gather it from a study of
ancient coins and other relics, unfortunately comes to us solely
through Christian sources. And the first that famous bishop and
ecclesiastical historian Eusebius of Caesarea, to whom we owe so large
a proportion of our real or supposed knowledge of the early days of
Christianity, tells us about Constantine and the cross, is that in the
year A.C. 312--a quarter of a century before his admission into the
Christian Church--Constantine and the Gaulish soldiers he was leading
saw at noon _over the Sun_ a cross of Light in the heavens, bearing
upon it or having attached to it the inscription EN TOYT{omega} NIKA,
_By this conquer_.
The words of the Bishop, who is reporting what he states the Emperor in
question to have told him personally, are:--
"He said that at mid-day when the sun was beginning to
decline he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross
of light in the heavens, above the Sun, bearing the
inscription EN TOYT{omega} NIKA; he himself, and his
whole army also, being struck with amazement at this
sight."[33]
Though this marvellous cross, declared by Christian writers of that
century to have been the so-called Monogram of Christ {image
"monogram1.gif"} or {image "monogram3.gif"} or {image "monogram2.gif"}
or {image "monogram4.gif"}, appeared to an army of Sun-God worshippers,
Constantine himself--as can be seen from his coins--remaining one for
many years afterwards if not till his death, it is put before us as a
Christian cross.
It is also noteworthy that no material representation of a cross of any
description was ever held aloft by adherents of the Christian Church,
until after Constantine is said to have had this more or less solar
cross so represented as the standard of his Gaulish army.
Mention should therefore be made of the fact that, upon the coins he
struck, the symbol {image "monogram1.gif"} is perhaps the one which
occurs the most frequently upon representations of the famous _Labarum_
or Military Standard of Constantine; but that the symbol {image
"monogram1.gif"}, the {image "monogram3.gif"} and {image
"monogram4.gif"} without the circle, and the {image "solarwheel1.gif"}
and {image "asterisk.gif"}, are also to be seen.
Now the Gauls led by Constantine specially venerated the Solar Wheel.
This had sometimes six and sometimes four spokes, {image
"solarwheel1.gif"} or {image "solarwheel2.gif"}, and the warriors of
their native land had long been in the habit of wearing a
representation of the same upon their helmets. It is therefore not
improbable that even before the date of the alleged vision when
marching upon Rome, some such symbol formed the standard of
Constantine's army.
Anyhow, that the worthy Bishop Eusebius was, like other enthusiasts,
liable to be at times carried by his enthusiasm beyond the limits of
veracity, or else was the victim of imperial mendacity, is evident. For
Eusebius tells us in the _Life of Constantine_ he wrote after the death
of his patron, that the night after this miraculous "cross" and motto
were seen in the sky above the Sun, the Christ appeared to Constantine,
and, showing the Gaulish general the same sign that had been seen in
the sky, directed him to have a similar symbol made, under which his
army--an army, be it remembered, of Sun-God worshippers--should march
conquering and to conquer![34]
All that is really likely to have happened is that Constantine, wishing
to encourage his troops, bade them rally round a standard on which was
represented the sacred Solar Wheel venerated by the Gauls; and that as
with this as a rallying point Constantine and his Gauls became masters
of Rome, the symbol we are discussing became a Roman--and therefore,
later on, upon the establishment of our faith as the State Religion of
the Roman Empire, also a _Christian_--symbol. And a loop seems to have
been sooner or later added to the top of the vertical spoke of the
Gaulish symbol, so that Christians could accept it as a Monogram of
Christ; as has already been hinted, and as will be demonstrated further
on.
A noteworthy point is that we have two accounts of Constantine's
alleged vision of the Christ, and that they do not quite agree. The
Bishop of Caesarea's account is, that the night after the Emperor--then
only ruler of Gaul--and all his soldiers saw the "cross" and motto
above the meridian sun, the Christ appeared to Constantine
"With the same sign which he had seen in the heavens,
and commanded him to make a likeness of that sign which
he had seen in the heavens, and to use it as a safeguard
in all engagements with his enemies."[35]
But the author of _De Mortibus Persecutorem_, a work said to have been
written during the reign of Constantine, and attributed to Lactantius,
refers to the alleged vision as follows:--
"Constantine was admonished in his sleep to mark the
celestial sign of God on the shields, and thus engage in
battle. He did as he was commanded, and marked the name
of the Christ on the shields by the letter X drawn
across them with the top circumflexed. Armed with this
sign his troops--"[36]
and the differences between these two accounts are greater than would
at first sight appear.
Let us however return to the story of the Bishop of Caesarea, who tells
us that the morning after the Christ appeared to Constantine, the
Emperor told this second marvel to his friends, and, sending for the
workers in gold and precious stones who are assumed to have accompanied
the Gaulish army, directed them to overlay with gold a long spear
"On the top of the whole of which was fixed a wreath of
gold and precious stones, and within this the symbol of
the Saviour's name, two letters indicating the name of
the Christ by means of its initial characters, the
letter P being intersected with the letter X in its
centre."[37]
Several questions naturally arise at this point of our enquiry, and it
is not easy--nay, it is impossible--for us Christians to honestly
dispose of all of them and yet retain our cherished opinions upon this
matter. Only one such question need be stated, and it is this: Is it
likely that the Infinite Ruler of the universe, either at mid-day or at
mid-night, went out of his way to induce a Sun-God worshipper who would
not enter the Christian Church till a quarter of a century later and
ere then was to become a murderer of innocent persons like the
boy-Caesar Licinius, to adopt a symbol which he warranted would enable
Constantine to lead on the Gauls to victory?
Pursuing the narrative of Eusebius we find that he, alluding to the
symbol which he describes as a monogram but calls a cross, states that,
setting this "victorious trophy and salutary symbol" in front of his
soldiers, Constantine continued his march against Maxentius; and, with
his forces thus "divinely aided," overthrew the Emperor just outside
the Imperial City, entered Rome in triumph, and thanked God that He had
enabled him to defeat and slay its ruler and assume the purple in that
ruler's stead.[38]
Eusebius then tells us that Constantine, who did not dispose of all his
rivals and become sole emperor till some twelve years later, as victor
in the fight with Maxentius and master of Rome though not as yet of the
whole empire, at once
"By loud proclamation and monumental inscriptions made
known to all men the salutary symbol, setting up this
great trophy of victory over his enemies, and expressly
causing it to be engraven in indelible characters that
the salutary symbol was the safeguard of the Roman
Government and entire people. Accordingly he immediately
ordered a lofty spear in the figure of a cross to be
placed beneath the hand of a statue representing himself
in the most frequented part of Rome, and the following
inscription engraven on it in the Latin tongue:--'By
virtue of this salutary sign which is the true test of
valour, I have preserved and liberated your city from
the yoke of tyranny, and I have also set at liberty the
Roman Senate and People, and have restored to them their
ancient distinction and splendour.'"[39]
Now, as we have already seen, what Eusebius referred to as the "cross"
observed above the mid-day sun (and accompanied by a miraculous
inscription in, presumably, to agree with the monogram, the Greek
language; which was, well, "Greek" to the Gaulish soldiers) was the
so-called Monogram of Christ {image "monogram1.gif"} or {image
"monogram3.gif"} or {image "monogram2.gif"} or {image "monogram4.gif"}.
That, too, was what Eusebius tells us the Christ afterwards told the
Gaulish leader Constantine to model his military standard after. That,
therefore, was the "salutary symbol" and "trophy of victory" referred
to in the above passage from the same authority.
It is therefore clear that this "lofty spear in the figure of a cross"
which Eusebius tells us was placed under the hand of the statue of
Constantine in the central place of honour in Rome, was referred to by
Eusebius as a "cross" because it was shaped like or in some way
connected with some form or other of the so-called Monogram of Christ.
And such a conclusion is borne out by the fact that spears with
cross-bars had been in use among both Gauls and Romans for centuries,
whereas this one is referred to as something out of the common.
It should also be noted that it was as a victorious military standard,
and not as either a monogram of the Christ or a representation of the
_stauros_ upon which Jesus was executed, that Constantine caused this
{image "solarwheel1.gif"} or {image "asterisk.gif"}, or {image
"monogram1.gif"} or {image "monogram3.gif"}, or {image "monogram2.gif"}
or {image "monogram4.gif"} (all which variations occur upon the coins
of Constantine and his successors), to become a symbol of the Roman
Empire.
Further on in his history of the Emperor, Eusebius tells us that
whenever Constantine saw his troops hard pressed, he gave orders that
the "salutary trophy" should be moved in that direction, and that
victory always resulted.
The Bishop of Caesarea then goes on to relate that Constantine selected
fifty men of his bodyguard, the most distinguished for piety, valour,
and strength, whose sole duty it was to defend this famous standard;
and that, of the elect fifty, those who fled were always slain, and
those who stood their ground were always miraculously preserved.[40]
One would imagine from all this that there was only one labarum. Many
different kinds are, however, represented upon the coins of
Constantine; as also almost every variety of ordinary cross, except,
perhaps, such as might conceivably have been a representation of an
instrument of execution, like that which has since come into vogue
among us.
Eusebius also tells us that Constantine caused to be erected in front
of his palace a lofty tablet, on which was painted a representation of
himself with the "salutary sign" over his head and a dragon or serpent
under his feet.[41]
He also informs us that inside the palace and in the principal
apartment, on a vast tablet in the ceiling, Constantine caused "the
symbol of our Saviour's passion to be fixed, composed of a variety of
precious stones inwrought with gold."[42]
Which of all the "salutary" signs that appear upon the coins of
Constantine these particular crosses were, we do not know; but it is,
at any rate, obviously unlikely that a worshipper of Apollo who refused
to enter the Christian Church till he was dying, and on his coins
always attributed his victories to the Sun-God, elevated either as a
representation of an instrument of execution.
As to the alleged finding at Jerusalem, by Helena the mother of
Constantine, of three stakes with transverse bars attached, all of
which were ancient instruments of execution and one of which was shown
by the occurrence of a miracle to have been a cross to which Jesus was
affixed three centuries before, it is clear that this is a fairy tale.
The story cannot be traced further back than to St. Cyril of Jerusalem
about A.C. 350; and Eusebius, who gives an account of Helena's visit to
Jerusalem, does not mention any such occurrence as that in question; a
sure sign that it was an invention of later date.
The Christian Church, however, in a weak moment vouched for the truth
of this ridiculous story; and while what was suffered to remain in
Jerusalem of the true cross became the treasure of that city and a
trophy captured by its foes but afterwards secured from them and once
more placed in its holiest shrine, what was broken up into relics for
the faithful throughout Christendom multiplied into a thousand
fragments; one of which forms the centre of the Vatican Cross, and such
few others of which as survive would not if examined, 'tis said, even
prove to be all of the same kind of wood, or even limited to the two
kinds for the presence of which a supposed cross-bar of another kind of
timber might be held accountable.
The same Christian Bishop to whom this fairy tale can be traced, in a
letter to one of the Emperors that succeeded Constantine declared that
on the seventh of May A.C. 351 he and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
saw a brilliant cross in the heavens, stretching from Mount Golgotha to
the Mount of Olives, and _shining like the Sun for several hours_.[43]
And this marvellous vision is vouched for by St. Jerome, Socrates,
Matins, and the Alexandrine Chronicle, as well as by St. Cyril; and is
still kept in memory by the Greek Church, a solemn festival being held
upon anniversaries of the day in question. But which particular
"salutary sign" thus shone in the sky like the Sun for hours, is
uncertain.
These painfully obvious inventions cannot but incline broad-minded
Christians to the belief that our Church went to great lengths in order
to induce people to believe that the cross was essentially a
_Christian_ symbol; which tends to show that there was a danger of
their thinking otherwise.
It is also clear from the evidence already quoted concerning the
adoption by Christians in the fourth century of a symbol they denounced
in the third, that whether Jesus was executed upon a cross-shaped
instrument or not, that was not the chief reason why the phallic symbol
of Life became recognised as the symbol of the Christ.
The striking fact that though, as will be shown, the cross of four
equal arms (a cross which, as we have seen, preceded the Latin cross as
a Christian symbol, and one form of which is still the favourite symbol
of the Greek Church; while even in the other two great divisions of
Christendom its numerous variations, wheel-like and otherwise, as a
whole dispute the supremacy with the Latin cross) occurs many times
upon the coins of Constantine, yet it was the so-called Monogram of
Christ or adapted solar wheel of the Gauls which the Christians of the
fourth century were most careful to claim as a Christian symbol, should
also be noted. For though the cross of four equal arms was also put by
Constantine upon his coins as a solar symbol, yet that, being then, as
for ages previously, a symbol of the Sun-God of world-wide acceptation,
and one which as we shall see had already appeared as such upon Roman
coins, it was not so much a Gaulish symbol as the other; and it was
evidently because that other was the symbol followed by the triumphant
leader of the Gauls and his victorious army, that the Christians wished
to specially identify it with the Christ.
In any case, whether the so-called Monogram of Christ was more or less
forced upon Christianity when Constantine made our faith the State
Religion of his empire, or whether it was adopted by Christians of
their own volition, it was a politic move (than which few possible
moves could have done more to secure the triumph of our faith) to
accept as the symbol of the Christian Church what was at one and the
same time the symbol of Constantine, of the Roman State, and of the
universally adored Sun-God.
That the more generally accepted symbol of the Sun-God, the cross of
four equal arms, should in time supplant the more local one, was of
course only to be expected; as was the adoption of a cross with one arm
longer than the others, as being the only kind which could possibly be
connected with the story of Jesus as the Christ incarnate.
As to the possible objection that what has been dealt with in this
chapter has been rather the origin of the Christian custom of
manufacturing and venerating material representations of the sign or
figure of the cross than the origin of the Christian cross itself, the
answer is obvious. And the answer is that the first cross which can
_justly_ be called "Christian," was the one which was the first to be
considered, to use Dean Farrar's expressions, "mainly," if not "only,"
a representation of an instrument of execution; which cross was
undoubtedly not a transient sign or gesture but a material
representation of the cross with one arm longer than the others and was
introduced after such representations of the cross of four equal arms
and of the so-called Monogram of Christ had come into vogue among
Christians as a consequence of the influence of Constantine.