(Vol. vii., p. 380.)
The cross, X, in the Greek Church, represents the initial of [Greek:
Christos], the Messiah, the symbolic affixing of which (sealing) before and
after baptism indicates that the name of Christ is imposed on the believer,
who takes his new or Christian name at baptism. This mark on the forehead
refers to Revelation vii. 3., xiv. 1., xxii. 4. The longer catechism of
that church, in answer to the question, "What force has the sign of the
cross, used on this and other occasions?" says, "What the _name_ of Jesus
Christ crucified is, when pronounced with faith by the motion of the lips,
the _very same_ is also the sign of the cross, when made with faith by _the
motion of the hand_, or represented in any other way." The authority quoted
is Cyril of Jerusalem (_Cat. Lect._ xiii. 36.).
In the Western Church the cross, [Symbol: cross], represented the [Greek:
stauros] whereon Christ suffered.
Both these crosses are now found in the Greek Church; and the Latin form,
[Symbol: cross], has at least been used therein nine centuries, for in
Goar's _Rituale Græcorum_ may be seen (pp. 114, 115. 126.) the icons of
Saints Methodius, Germanus, and Cyrillus, whose vestments are embellished
with Latin crosses. The Latin cross is marked on the sacramental bread of
the Greek communion,--which bread is also impressed with an abbreviation of
the words on Constantine's labarum: "Jesus Christ overcometh." (Eusebius's
_Life of Constantine_, lib. i. c. 25.: compare with Goar's _Rituale
Græcorum_, p. 117.)
The Latin cross, [Symbol: cross], is rarely found on the sepulchres in the
catacombs at Rome,--the most ancient Christian memorials; but, instead of
it, a combination of the letters [Chi][Rho] prevails, as the monogram for
"Christ." Aringhi, in his _Roma Subterranea_ (Romæ, 1651) says:
"Illud autem fatendum nobis est, nullatenus ante felicissima
Constantini Magni ad fidem traducti tempora crucem publicæ populorum
venerationi expositam fuisse."--Vol. ii. lib. vi. c. xiv. p. 546.
The following statement from Humphrey's _Montfaucon_ (vol. x. part ii. book
iii. cap. 1. p. 158.) is very clear as to the form of the cross:
"The cross, made with beams put together, had the shape of the
Samaritan _tau_, says St. Jerome, whose words are these: 'In the oldest
_Hebrew_ letters, which the Samaritans now make use of, the last, which
is _tau_, had the form of a cross.' This _tau_, like a cross, was like
the [Tau] of the Greeks, according to Paulinus, who says that the shape
of the cross is expressed by the Greek letter _tau_, which stands for
three hundred. The cross of our Lord was something different from the
letter _tau_; the beam that was fixed in the earth crossing that which
was athwart it above, and made as it were a head by rising above it:
such a cross we see in the medals of Constantine the Great, in this
form, [Symbol: cross], and such is it found described in the most
ancient Christian monuments; this is the form of the cross which St.
Jerome means, when he compares it to birds flying, to a man swimming,
and to a man praying to God, with his arms extended."
The Greek church has retained _both_ forms: the Latin Church, in its
ignorance of the Greek language, has lost the more important symbol. These
forms were probably invented by Constantine, who used them on his helmet,
as crests were afterwards used in the ages of chivalry.