Eight-pointed Orthodox cross: photo, meaning, proportions

The Holy Cross is the symbol of our LordJesus Christ. Every true believer at the sight of him involuntarily fulfills his thoughts about the Savior's death throes taken by him to deliver us from the eternal death that became the lot of people after the fall of Adam and Eve. A special spiritual and emotional burden is borne by the eight-pointed Orthodox cross. Even if there is no picture of a crucifix on it, it always appears to our inner gaze.

The tool of death that has become a symbol of life

The Christian cross is the image of a gunthe penalty that Jesus Christ was subjected to under the forced sentence pronounced by the Procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate. For the first time such kind of killing of criminals appeared among the ancient Phoenicians and already through their colonists - the Carthaginians found themselves in the Roman Empire, where it became widespread.

In the pre-Christian period to the crucifixion on the crosschiefly robbers were sentenced, and then followers of Jesus Christ accepted this martyr's death. This phenomenon was especially frequent during the reign of Emperor Nero. The death of the Savior itself made this instrument of shame and suffering a symbol of the victory of good over evil and the light of eternal life over the darkness of hell.

The eight-pointed cross is a symbol of Orthodoxy

The Christian tradition knows many differentthe inscriptions of the cross, from the most common crosshairs of straight lines to very complex geometric constructions, supplemented by the same diverse symbolism. The religious meaning in them is laid down the same, but the external differences are very significant.

In the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, EasternEurope, as well as in Russia since ancient times, the symbol of the church is the eight-pointed, or, as is often said, Orthodox cross. In addition, you can hear the expression "the cross of St. Lazarus," this is another name for the eight-pointed Orthodox cross, as will be discussed below. Sometimes it puts an image of the crucified Savior.

External Features of the Orthodox Cross

Its peculiarity is that, in addition to twohorizontal crossbars, of which the lower one is large, and the upper one is small, there is also an inclined one, called the foot. It is small and placed at the bottom of the vertical segment, symbolizes the crossbar on which the feet of Christ rested.

The direction of its tilt is always the same: when viewed from the side of the crucified Christ, the right end will be higher than the left. This is a certain symbolism. According to the words of the Savior in the Last Judgment, the righteous will stand on his right hand, and sinners on the left. It is the path of the righteous in the Kingdom of Heaven that points up the right end of the foot, and the left is turned into the depths of hell.

According to the Gospel above the head of the Savior nailedboard on which the hand of Pontius Pilate was written: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." This inscription was made in three languages ​​- Aramaic, Latin and Greek. It is symbolized by the upper small crossbar. It can be placed both in the interval between the large crossbar and the upper end of the cross, and at its very top. This outline makes it possible to reproduce with the greatest certainty the appearance of the instrument of Christ's suffering. That's why the Orthodox cross is eight-pointed.

About the law of the golden section

The eight-pointed Orthodox cross in hisThe classical form is constructed according to the law of the golden section. To make it clear what is at stake, we will dwell on this concept in more detail. Under it is customary to understand the harmonic proportion, one way or another, that underlies everything that was created by the Creator.

One example is the humanbody. Using a simple experiment, you can make sure that if we divide the size of our growth by the distance from the soles to the navel, and then divide it by the distance between the navel and the crown, the results will be the same and amount to 1.618. The same proportion is in the size of the phalanges of our fingers. This ratio of values, called the golden section, can be found literally at every step: from the structure of the sea shell to the shape of a common garden turnip.

Building proportions based on the law of goldThe section is widely used in architecture, as well as other areas of art. With its consideration, many artists manage to achieve maximum harmony in their works. This same pattern was observed by composers who worked in the genre of classical music. When writing songs in the style of rock and jazz from her refused.

The law of building an Orthodox cross

Based on the golden section,eight-pointed Orthodox cross. The meaning of its ends was explained above, now we turn to the rules underlying the construction of this main Christian symbol. They were not installed artificially, but resulted from the harmony of life itself and received their mathematical justification.

The eight-pointed Orthodox cross inscribed infull compliance with tradition, always fits into a rectangle, the aspect ratio of which corresponds to the golden section. Simply put, dividing its height by the width, we get 1,618.

The cross of St. Lazarus (as mentioned above, this isanother name for the eight-pointed Orthodox cross) in its construction has another feature related to the proportions of our body. It is well known that the width of the arms of a man is equal to his height and the figure with arms divorced in the sides fits perfectly into the square. For this reason, the length of the middle crossbar, corresponding to the span of the arms of Christ, is equal to the distance from it to the inclined foot, that is, to its growth. These simple, at first glance, rules should be taken into account by every person, who faces the question of how to draw an eight-pointed Orthodox cross.

Cross of Calvary

There is also a special, purely monastican eight-pointed Orthodox cross, a photo of which is presented in the article. It is called the "cross of Calvary." This is the mark of the usual Orthodox cross, described above, placed above the symbolic image of Mount Calvary. It is usually represented in the form of steps, under which the bones and skull are placed. To the left and to the right of the cross can be depicted a cane with a sponge and a spear.

Each of the listed items has a deepreligious meaning. For example, the skull and bones. According to the Sacred Tradition, the sacrificial blood of the Savior, shed on the cross, fell to the top of Golgotha, seeped into its depths, where the remains of the forefather of our Adam rested, and the curse of original sin was washed from them. Thus, the image of the skull and bones emphasizes the connection between the sacrifice of Christ and the crime of Adam and Eve, and the New Testament with the Old.

The meaning of the image of the spear on the cross Calvary

Eight-pointed Orthodox cross on the monasticvestments are always accompanied by images of a cane with a sponge and a spear. Familiar with the text of the Gospel of John well remember the dramatic moment when one of the Roman warriors named Longin pierced the arms of the Savior with this weapon and blood and water flowed from the wound. This episode has a different interpretation, but the most common one is contained in the writings of St. Augustine, a Christian theologian and philosopher of the 4th century.

In them he writes that, just as fromthe ribs of the sleeping Adam, the Lord created his bride Eve, so from the wound in the side of Jesus Christ, inflicted by the spear of the warrior, his bride was created by the church. Shed thus blood and water, according to St. Augustine, symbolize the holy sacraments - the Eucharist, where wine is converted into the blood of the Lord, and Baptism, in which a person entering the bosom of the church, immersed in a font with water. The spear with which the wound was inflicted is one of the main relics of Christianity, and it is believed that it is now being kept in Vienna, in the Hofburg castle.

The image value of the cane and sponge

Equally important are the images of the caneand sponges. From the accounts of the holy Evangelists it is known that the crucified Christ was offered twice a drink. In the first case, it was wine mixed with myrrh, that is, a stupefying drink, which allows to dull the pain and thereby prolong the execution.

The second time, hearing from the cross the exclamation "I thirst!", He was brought a sponge full of vinegar and bile. This was, of course, a mockery of the exhausted man and contributed to the approaching end. In both cases, the executioners used a sponge planted on a cane, since without her help they could not reach the mouth of the crucified Jesus. Despite the gloomy role assigned to them, these items, as well as the spear, were among the main Christian shrines, and their image can be seen next to the cross of Calvary.

Symbolic inscriptions on the monastic cross

Those who first see the monasticeight-pointed Orthodox cross, often there are questions connected with inscriptions inscribed on it. In particular, this is IC and XC at the ends of the middle crossbar. These letters designate nothing more than a shortened name - Jesus Christ. In addition, the image of the cross is accompanied by two inscriptions located under the middle crossbar - the Slavic inscription of the words "Son of God" and Greek NIKA, which means "winner".

On a small crossbar, symbolizing how it wassaid above, a tablet with the inscription made by Pontius Pilate, is usually written the Slavic abbreviation of INCI, denoting the words "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews", and above it - "King of Glory". Near the image of the spear went into the tradition of writing the letter K, and about the cane T. In addition, approximately from the XVI century, we began to write in the base of the cross the letters ML on the left and the RB on the right. They are also an abbreviation, and mean the words "Place Frontal Crucifix".

In addition to the above inscriptions, it is worth mentioningthe two letters G standing to the left and right of the image of Calvary, and being the initial in its name, and G and A are the Head of Adam, written on the sides of the skull, and the phrase "King of Glory" crowning the monastic eight-pointed Orthodox cross. The meaning embedded in them fully corresponds to the Gospel texts, however the inscriptions themselves can be varied and replaced by others.

Immortality, given by faith

It is also important to understand why the nameeight-pointed Orthodox cross is associated with the name of St. Lazarus? The answer to this question can be found in the pages of the Gospel of John, which describes the miracle of his resurrection from the dead, committed by Jesus Christ, on the fourth day after death. The symbolism in this case is quite obvious: how Lazarus was brought back to life by the faith of his sisters Martha and Mary in the omnipotence of Jesus, so everyone who trusts in the Savior will be delivered from the hands of eternal death.

In vain earthly life people are not given their own eyesto see the Son of God, but they are given his religious symbols. One of them is the eight-pointed Orthodox cross, the proportions, the general view and the semantic load of which became the topic of this article. He is accompanying a believing person throughout his life. From the holy font, where the sacrament of baptism opens the gates of the church of Christ to him, an eight-pointed Orthodox cross overshadows it to the grave gravestone.

The Nativity Symbol of the Christian Faith

The custom of wearing small crosses on the chest,made of a variety of materials, appeared only at the beginning of the IV century. Despite the fact that the main instrument of Christ's passions was the object of veneration from all his followers literally from the first years of the establishment of the Christian church on earth, at first it was customary to wear not on the neck crosses but medallions with the image of the Savior.

There is also evidence that during the periodpersecutions that took place from the middle of the first to the beginning of the fourth century, there were voluntary martyrs who wanted to suffer for Christ and who painted the cross on his forehead. On this sign they were recognized, and then they were tortured and killed. After the establishment of Christianity as a state religion, wearing crosses became a custom, and at the same time they were installed on the roof of the temples.

Two types of crosses in Ancient Russia

In Russia the symbols of the Christian faith appeared in 988year, simultaneously with her baptism. It is interesting to note that our ancestors inherited from Byzantines two types of crosses. One of them was usually worn on the chest, under the clothes. Such crosses were called calves.

Along with them appeared the so-calledthe encolpions are also crosses, but somewhat larger and worn over clothes. They derive their origin from tradition by wearing arks with relics, which were decorated with the image of a cross. Over time, the enclopions were transformed into pectoral crosses of priests and metropolitans.

The main symbol of humanism and philanthropy

For the millennium that has passed since that time, whenDnieper shores lit up the light of the Christian faith, the Orthodox tradition has undergone many changes. Only her religious dogmas and the basic elements of the symbolism remained unshakable, the main of which is the eight-pointed Orthodox cross.

Gold and silver, copper or made ofany other material, he keeps the believing person, protecting him from the forces of evil - visible and invisible. As a reminder of the sacrifice made by Christ to save people, the cross became a symbol of the highest humanism and love for one's neighbor.