What does IHS stand for?

Question

I've seen the acronym IHS all over the place--on altar cloths, holy cards, vestments, and prayerbooks--but I have no idea what it stands for. A friend signs his letters "IHS" and says it means "In His Service." What's the scoop?

Answer 1

Dude........

IHS is the anglicized rendering of the first three Greek letters in Jesus' name. In the early Church, especially during the time of the Roman persecution, this became a popular way of writing Jesus' name as a sort of code. Since then it has become a universally-used insignia and shows up on all types of Catholic religious art and accoutrements. After a few centuries, when the monogram was integrated into the general Latin usage of the Church, many were unacquainted with the original meaning and wrongly believed it meant, in Latin, Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus, Savior of Humanity), Iesus Hierosolyma Salvator (Jesus, Savior of Jerusalem), and even the exquisitely banal English version your friend favors, In His Service.

I hope you got your answer.

Answer 2

IHS is the anglicized rendering of the first three Greek letters in Jesus' name. In the early Church, especially during the time of the Roman persecution, this became a popular way of writing Jesus' name as a sort of code.

IHS - These are the first three letters in Greek for "Jesus" in this language.

There have been several ways of interpreting over the years what IHS or IHC stand for :
1. Iesus (Jesus) Hemeteros Soter - Greek for Jesus , Our Saviour
2. Iesus (Jesus) Hominum Salvator - Latin, Jesus Savior of Man, commonly used by St. Bernadine of Siena in the 14th century
3. In Hac Salus - Latin, Safety in this cross
4. In Hoc Signo (Vinces) - in this sign you will conquer from Constantine's victory prayer in 313
5. And in English, "I have suffered."

Answer 3

IHS,

IN HIS SLAVERY


Just a thought or maybe a past memory...

Answer 4

Jesus died for your sins, and now you love him. You're a real b*tch you know that.