Question about Constantine and the cross. Adam's Rib Best Answer?

Question

This question is in regard to a Best Answer stating that Constantine saw a cross in the sky and decided to make it the symbol of Christianity.

My question is this:

Since the "cross" that Constantine (reportedly) saw in the sky was the Chi Rho cross or an X crossed with a P, why wasn't that made the symbol of Christianity?

Instead the symbol of Christianity is a T-type cross which is a symbol of the executional instrument that Christ reportedly died on, and has nothing whatever to do with the "sign" or the "cross" that Constantine reportedly saw in the sky.

If the Labarum or Chi Rho cross was the cross that Constantine decided to make the symbol of Christianity, who overruled him? Why did the stauros of Jesus become the symbol instead of the first two (Greek) letters of "Christ".

insert creative

Just about any reference you want to check will tell you it was the Chi Rho . Try the Catholic Enclyclopedia or Wikpedia

Paulcyp

Agreed. Christians had been understanding the figurative symbolism of Jesus' death stake for centuries before Constantine.

I don't agree that it was the "symbol" as far as making or using crosses in worship, merely that Christians understood and used the symbolism in their writings, such as Paul did.

Thank you for verifying that it was the Chi Rho cross (supposedly) seen by Constantine and not a likeness of the cross that was used as an executional instrument

Pegasus
Thank you for your answer. When you consider that anything where two lines cross can be called a cross, it's easy to understand that the use of a "cross" by a certain person or culture is not necessarily relevant to the use of a cross by a different civilization or group of individuals.

Thanks for pointing out that crosses are many and varied

Answer 1

Constantine is credited with just about every possible element of the foundation of Christianity, or depending on who you talk to, Catholicism. Of course Christianity and Catholicism were simply syonyms for more than a thousand years after Christ, so it doesn't really make any difference which term you use. Constantine did not found the Catholic/Christian Church. He did not call or preside over a Church Council (he had no authority to do so, though he did request that the pope call such a council). He did not play a role in the compilation of the Bible or the definition of the Canon of Scripture. And he did not make the cross the symbol of Christianity. The cross was the symbol of Christianity for ceturies before Constantine. As the story goes, he saw the image of a cross in the sky, and recognizing it as the sybol of Christ, he made Christianity/Catholicism legal for the first time in its existence. He then went a step further and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, and outlawsed various forms of paganism that had long prevailed. That's it. He played no other role in the development of the Christian/Catholic Church.

Answer 2

What an interesting question! I hadn't thought of that.

A few things occur to me - the Chi Ro was a secret sign wasn't it? When did the Stauros of Jesus become used by Christians? Before or after Constantine's vision?

The Cross itself is a complex symbol. Some believe it is descended from the Ankh, which was also aborbed into the Chi Ro (a lot of early Christians were Egyptian). It is also, simultaneously, a symbol of the Anthropos, Cosmic Man while also the World of Matter (ie the allegory of Christ on the Cross is Man's Soul stretched out on the World of Matter, Christ's Resurrection being an image of the Soul transcending Matter). The Rosicrucians placed a rose on the cross to denote the soul flowering in the body, or joy bursting out and cancelling out suffering...

There are a host of other crosses: cyclic crosses, equal crosses, crosses with a circle in the middle - all of which denote different things...

Its a complex symbol, in other words and can mean a host of things. But it would seem that the decision to make the Cross an image of suffering and not transcendence was a conscious one over a long period of time. When it was decided that Christ's misery had to be depicted upon it in full graphic detail everywhere it must have been decided - consciously or unconsciously - that the onlooker's defining impression of the Christ message was a negative one of grief and suffering. This is the problem I have. I have no problem with crosses per se as I see them as images of transcendence, but when Christ is slammed onto it in all his misery then they become an oppression, locking the Christ story into his most agonising moment, stopping it being about the Resurrection (ie transcendence).

The greatest crucifix I ever saw was a cross with Christ upon it completely unwounded and whole. This was the Transcendent Christ who had defeated death, pain and suffering. This is the true promise of Christianity, it seems to me, not continual suffering and guilt that one can't measure up to Christ's sacrifice. One is bondage. One is freedom.

Answer 3

To think of the Cross being a symbol of Christianity whether Chi-Rho or T-Cross and to understand that Jesus didn't die on a cross, then to realize that Jesus himself stated he was no party to this part of professed Christianity. By this time Professed Christianity was too far down the road of apostasy (Fornicating with the world) to even think honestly so people of that time only added to the confusion that we see today.
So Constantine a Pagan Ruler decides how and what Christianity should be and do and what symbol Christianity should use.?


The turning point for this new religion in the Roman Empire was 313 C.E., the date of Emperor Constantine’s so-called conversion to “Christianity.” How did this conversion come about? In 306 C.E., Constantine succeeded his father and eventually, with Licinius, became coruler of the Roman Empire. He was influenced by his mother’s devotion to Christianity and his own belief in divine protection. Before he went to fight a battle near Rome at the Milvian Bridge in 312 C.E., he claimed that he was told in a dream to paint the “Christian” monogram—the Greek letters khi and rho, the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek—on his soldiers’ shields. With this ‘sacred talisman,’ Constantine’s forces defeated his enemy Maxentius.

Shortly after winning the battle, Constantine claimed that he had become a believer, although he was not baptized until just prior to his death some 24 years later. He went on to obtain the support of the professed Christians in his empire by “his adoption of the [Greek letters] Chi-Rho [Artwork—Greek characters] as his emblem . . . The Chi-Rho had, however, already been used as a ligature [joining of letters] in both pagan and Christian contexts.”—The Crucible of Christianity, edited by Arnold Toynbee.

As a result, the foundation of Christendom was laid. As British broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in his book The End of Christendom: “Christendom began with the Emperor Constantine.” However, he also made the perceptive comment: “You might even say that Christ himself abolished Christendom before it began by stating that his kingdom was not of this world—one of the most far reaching and important of all his statements.” And one most widely ignored by Christendom’s religious and political rulers.—John 18:36. With Constantine’s support, Christendom’s religion became the official State religion of Rome. Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion, explains: “Christian bishops, once targets for arrest, torture, and execution, now received tax exemptions, gifts from the imperial treasury, prestige, and even influence at court; their churches gained new wealth, power, and prominence.” They had become friends of the emperor, friends of the Roman world.—James 4:4.

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Answer 4

no way, he saw the chi rho? i didnt think that was an actual symbol, i thought it was just another was of stating "christ"

can you provide a source?