Valaam cross with circles which means. Dual faith of pagan and Christian Russia

The pectoral cross is dedicated to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery and was made with the blessing of the monastery. It has a shape typical for the crosses of the Russian North, where the vertical beam expands up and down from the center, and the horizontal one is rectangular. Such a form, with an active and pronounced vertical, symbolically shows the connection between the earthly and the heavenly. In addition, being distinguished by its large area, it favors the placement of iconographic images in the field of the cross, revealing this connection in a specific sense.

The main semantic center of the cross is the icon of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which occupies its entire front side. At the top of the cross there is an inscription in Church Slavonic: transfiguration of hell. This choice of iconography instead of the traditional Crucifixion, of course, determined the name of the Valaam Monastery, the main altar of which was consecrated in honor of the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. But not only that. In the field of the cross, the cruciformity of the composition of the icon "Transfiguration" is manifested, and it becomes clear that the Transfiguration announces to us about the Cross, but this "Cross already exudes the light of Easter morning." Such a composition helps to better understand the deep connection between the two gospel events - the Transfiguration and the Crucifixion.

The Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor took place forty days before His crucifixion. The purpose of the Transfiguration was to confirm the disciples in faith in Christ as the Son of God, so that it would not shake at the moment of the Savior's suffering on the Cross. The kontakion of the holiday says: “... yes, when they see Thee being crucified, they will understand suffering freely, and the world will preach, as if You are truly the Father’s radiance.” Prophets Moses and Elijah, who appeared at that moment, also speak about the passions of Christ. “Appearing in glory, they spoke of His departure, which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9.31). The celebration of the Transfiguration was established on August 6 (19), forty days before the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Life-Giving Cross of the Lord (September 14 (27), which, in essence, corresponds to Good Friday. Such a deviation from the real gospel chronology is explained by the undesirability of the coincidence of the solemn feast with the period of Great Lent.

For us, the anthropological and soteriological meaning of the two gospel events is of particular importance. According to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, the Crucifixion and the Cross is the way of our salvation. It is not enough to be close to the crucified Christ, sincerely empathizing with Him, it is necessary to be crucified with Him. And the Transfiguration of Christ shows the purpose of our life - the deification of human nature. “God is a man, but he will make a man God.” With the difference that it is done by grace to man. We know that the pectoral cross is always a symbol of Christ and His saving sacrifice, and also a symbol of our way of the cross, regardless of whether the Crucifixion is present on it or not. (In our work, the idea of ​​the Crucifixion is additionally emphasized by the image of the Golgotha ​​Cross on the front side of the heading.) The “transfiguration” on the pectoral cross indicates the purpose of the Way of the Cross. It should not seduce us by belittling the Crucifixion, but, as it once did to the apostles, it should also give hope and consolation on the difficult way of the cross.

St. Maximus the Confessor teaches that Christ is revealed to everyone in different ways, He is revealed to beginners in the form of a servant, and to those who ascend the mountain of divine vision, He appears "in the form of God." He also defines three degrees of a person's spiritual ascent to Mount Tabor: purification, enlightenment and deification. And if in the Catholic Church the pinnacle of holiness is the stigmata received as a result of meditations before the Crucifixion, that is, spiritual and carnal unity with the passions of Christ, then Orthodox saints are “gods by grace”, partakers of Divine light. The possibility of such deification is enshrined in the dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church about the Light of Tabor, which "is the light of the uncreated, uncreated, but is the radiation of the Divine Itself, the luminous outpouring of the Grace of the Most Holy Trinity, enlightening the world."

This teaching was based on the ancient practice of monastic spiritual work - hesychasm (Greek Ησυχια - silence). Hesychasm was most developed in the 14th century. in the monasteries of Mount Athos. It is significant that the top of Athos is crowned with the Temple of the Transfiguration, that is, Mount Athos is spiritual and is interpreted as Tabor.

The reverse side of the cross reveals the idea of ​​the Valaam Monastery as a place of the presence of God's grace. As in the case of Athos, Balaam is the image of Tabor, and the image of the Transfiguration. On the reverse side are the partakers of the Divine Light of Tabor. In the center of the cross is the Valaam Icon of the Mother of God, and on the horizontal beam are the generational figures of the holy founders of the monastery, St. Sergius and Herman of Valaam. In the upper part of the cross is depicted a celestial sphere, from which three rays of light emanate on the Mother of God and the saints, as a symbol of the uncreated Tabor light, which has a Trinity nature. Such a compositional solution is an illustration of the traditional inscription on the scroll of St. Herman: “We Orthodoxally glorify the three-sun light and bow to the inseparable Trinity”, as well as the words of the troparion for the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, written at the bottom of the cross: btsdy. Svetodavche, glory to you.

The Valaam Icon of the Mother of God was revealed as miraculous in the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior in 1897. The spiritual testimony of the Mother of God about Her Protection to Valaam as Northern Athos is associated with its appearance. The icon was painted in 1877 by the Valaam monk Alipiy in the icon-painting tradition of Athos at the end of the 19th century.

Currently, the miraculous image is in the Transfiguration Cathedral of the New Valaam Monastery in Finland. On Valaam, there is a revered copy of the icon, created by the monks in 1900. The celebration of the icon takes place on July 01 (14).

Information about the life of St. Sergius and Herman is very scarce and contradictory, since the monastery chronicles perished during numerous destructive wars and invasions. Oral Tradition speaks of the beginning of monastic life on Valaam even under Princess Olga, and that the holy founders of the monastery were Greek monks. Written sources of the late XIX century. It is reported that Saints Sergius and Herman lived in the 14th century.

But what is beyond doubt is the righteousness and spiritual feat of the holy ascetics, who acquired the grace of Divine light and enlightened the Karelian peoples and the north of Russia with it, as well as the prayerful help of the saints and many miracles revealed by them through the prayers of believers. Commemoration of Saints Sergius and Herman takes place on June 28 (July 11), September 11 (24) and on the third Sunday after Pentecost together with the Cathedral of the Novgorod Saints

In the North-West of Russia, the Orthodox island of Valaam has existed for many centuries. Rather, this is not only one island, but also a ridge of small islands adjacent to Valaam, on which hermit monks live. The North itself is considered, from the point of view of ecology, a crystal-clear place on the planet, and if there is also a center of Orthodox prayer books, then we can talk about sacred ecology in these places.

You can get to Valaam by car, but not to the island itself. It is more convenient to get to Petrozavodsk along the Murmansk highway and from there you can swim to Valaam on the Meteor or slower boats that carry sightseers to Valaam.

Despite the fact that in our time this reserve of Orthodox prayer books attracts the attention of just secular tourists (as they like to go to Athos for exotic things, they also strive to the North), I would advise believers not to follow the guides - Orthodox Valaam is much more useful when a person does not run to take more pictures and see. It is better to sit and pray on this holy ground in solitude with God.

And, at the same time, I would not advise zeal in the opposite direction - the search for a spiritual mentor on Valaam. The fact is that hermit monks seclude themselves in such remote, harsh places not in order to instruct people in something. The schema is a feat, designed, first of all, to strengthen their prayer ministry to all of us. Excessive involvement in communication can only interfere with the monk.

From everyday advice, I can only add, based on my own experience, that it would be useful to take provisions with you in the form of dry rations and a thermos with tea. The fact is that the nutritious service there is not particularly developed year-round and is more often focused on the fact that most tourists feed on the ships that bring them. Therefore, you will not be offered special pickles on Valaam.

The features of Vaalam Island are largely due to the presence of a large amount of iron ore on the very spot where the famous Russian monastery was erected. The iron ore substrate provides that favorable energy current that everyone who visits this sacred place feels. There is no doubt that it has always been so. And long before the first Christian monks came here, from time immemorial, the island of Valaam, due to its geocosmic features, attracted people here, regardless of what religion they professed.

… Balaam is not only the name of the Midian sorcerer, the first of the biblical soothsayers about Christ. The entire Orthodox world knows Valaam Island - the largest of the four at the mouth of Ladoga at its confluence with the Neva (the ancient name of Lake Ladoga). The significance of the Valaam archipelago in the history of Christianity is no less than that of Athos, the Thessalian Holy Mountain, on which 20 monasteries are located. The island of Valaam is sometimes called Northern Athos.

The chronicles of the Holy Mountain go back to the times of the apostles. So, the Valaam Monastery, according to legend, was founded by the holy apostle - Andrew the First-Called, the herald of the Russian lands. (“This holy Apostle Andrew, passing through the Kiev and Novgorod limits, preaching Christ, reached Father Valaam. Here ... having hoisted the saving banner of the holy cross on the mountains of Valaam, he laid a firm foundation of faith. on the island of Valaam there are two bright stars: our God-bearing fathers Sergius and Herman the Wonderworkers of Valaam, who, with the light of their virtuous life ... settled a host of ascetics ... who shone both to the neighboring and distant countries ... "(" Valaam Ascetics ". St. Petersburg ., printing house Lebedev, 1891).

But as a spiritual center, Valaam has a much older history than Athos. That is why the holy apostle aspired to the Valaam archipelago, because in the first century it was, as it had been thousands of years earlier, a glorified center of the life of the spirit. On Divny Island, a “pagan” circle of stones has been preserved to this day. It is now hidden by a lush spruce forest and does not attract attention, but in antiquity and grandeur it is not inferior to the famous Stonehenge. And on the other Valaam Islands there are Celtic crosses carved on the rocks, stones dotted with runic inscriptions...

The name Valaam is very ancient. He is considered Finnish in origin. It has one root with the words Avallon, Valhalla, Valkyrie. Usually Valaam is translated by Veles Land. Essentially this is true. The Slavic god Veles (Volas) is the patron saint of the Magi, the people of Knowledge. From time immemorial, the four Ladoga Islands were the patrimony of the Vedas - the Magi of the highest Initiation, the spiritual heirs of the Tietai of Belovodie. But the name Valaam has a more precise meaning: the Land of Vala. According to Norse mythology, Vala is the Son of Odin (the One). Vala literally means One Day in Old Norse. This is a semantic hieroglyph. Its sacred meaning is the Day of the One, and it was revealed only to the Initiates. By this was meant the Day of God - the time of Retribution, Judgment, or sometimes the Battle at the end of time.

... As the Northern Tradition conveys, the Nyovo archipelago was originally the land of the Order of the Initiates of the Vala. Direct spiritual heirs of the Hyperboreans, they kept their prediction about the coming coming of Light into the world - about the great Incarnation. The prophecy was expressed by a formula that could only be born in the lands of the far north or in Arctida itself with its polar Day and Night. Just as the sun comes from the south, so in the lands of the south the Son of the Sun-Highest will be born. In the era of migration to the south, many Magi of Vala went on this long journey, hoping that, if not them, then their descendants would be destined to be witnesses of the Event. They reached the lands of present-day Palestine, retaining their primordial Knowledge... In the time of Moses, a representative of this ancient priestly family became the first martyr for Christ — Balaam, the son of Beor, was killed for predicting His coming coming.

The point of view of the Northern Tradition on the origin of the biblical Valaam clan is interesting not only because it allows us to explain the coincidence of the name of the Palestinian prophet and the name of the island at the mouth of Ladoga. Also, the rest of the Midianic names mentioned in the Scriptures begin to “speak”, reveal their meaning, if we understand them as coming from the ancient North, from those very lands where the north-west of Russia now borders on the countries of Scandinavia.

… The most striking thing is the ancient Midian name for the sacred mountain of Pisgah. At the time when Balaam, standing on its top, uttered the Prophecy, this mountain was called Nevo. That is, its name exactly coincided with the original name of Lake Ladoga, located from Palestine at a distance of about a quarter of the diameter of the Planet.

The name Nyovo comes from the Old Slavonic not-vem. It means Unknown, Hidden, Reserved. So, according to custom, the Slavs called any place of Power - a sacred space, where the way is ordered for mere mortals. It could be a lake with islands, where there is a cromlech, or a mountain, on the ledges of which sacred altars are arranged.

Here it is, the connection of times. The island of Valaam on Lake Nyovo, the abode of those who hope for the coming of the Son of God into the world millennia before His birth ... and - Balaam the prophet, standing on Mount Nyovo and proclaiming this hope of the "pagans". Thus the end of the past eon and the beginning of the present are symmetrically closed. The "omega" of the post-Hyperborean history of the spirit is the "alpha" of the Christian history familiar to us...

What Orthodox crosses do you know? What is their difference from each other? Many Orthodox Christians are thinking about these questions! We have an answer!

Orthodox crosses: the history of occurrence

In the Old Testament church, which consisted mainly of Jews, crucifixion, as is known, was not used, and, according to custom, they were executed in three ways: stoned, burned alive, and hung on a tree. Therefore, “they write about the gallows: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Deut. 21:23),” explains St. Demetrius of Rostov (Search, part 2, ch. 24). The fourth punishment - beheading with a sword - was added to them in the era of the Kings.

And the execution of the cross was then a pagan Greco-Roman tradition, and the Jewish people knew it only a few decades before the birth of Christ, when the Romans crucified their last legitimate king, Antigonus. Therefore, in the Old Testament texts there are not and cannot even be any similarities of the cross as an instrument of execution: both from the side of the name, and from the side of the form; but, on the contrary, there is a lot of evidence: 1) about human deeds, prophetically foreshadowing the image of the Lord's cross, 2) about known objects, mysteriously denoting the power and tree of the cross, and 3) about visions and revelations, foreshadowing the very suffering of the Lord.

The cross itself, as a terrible instrument of shameful execution, chosen by Satan as the banner of lethality, caused overwhelming fear and horror, but, thanks to Christ the Conqueror, it became a coveted trophy that evokes joyful feelings. Therefore, Saint Hippolytus of Rome, the Apostolic man, exclaimed: “The Church also has her own trophy over death – this is the Cross of Christ, which she bears on herself,” and Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, wrote in his Epistle: “I want to boast (…) only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”(Gal. 6:14). “Look how longed and cherished this terrible and reproachful (shameful - Slavs.) sign of the most cruel punishments in ancient times has become,” testified St. John Chrysostom. And the Apostolic husband - St. Justin the Philosopher - argued: "The Cross, as the prophet foretold, is the greatest symbol of the power and authority of Christ" (Apology, § 55).

In general, “symbol” is in Greek “connection”, and means either a means that implements connection, or the detection of an invisible reality through visible naturalness, or the expressibility of a concept by an image.

In the New Testament Church, which arose in Palestine mainly from former Jews, at first the instillation of symbolic images was difficult due to their adherence to their former traditions, which strictly forbade images and thereby protected the Old Testament church from the influence of pagan idolatry. However, as you know, the Providence of God already then gave her many lessons in symbolic and iconographic language. For example: God, forbidding the prophet Ezekiel to speak, commanded him to draw on a brick an image of the siege of Jerusalem as a “sign to the sons of Israel” (Ezek. 4:3). And it is clear that over time, with an increase in the number of Christians from other nations, where images were traditionally allowed, such a one-sided influence of the Jewish element, of course, weakened and gradually disappeared altogether.

Already from the first centuries of Christianity, due to the persecution of the followers of the crucified Redeemer, Christians were forced to hide, performing their rituals in secret. And the absence of Christian statehood - the external fence of the Church and the duration of such an oppressed situation were reflected in the development of worship and symbolism.

And to this day, precautionary measures have been preserved in the Church for the protection of the teaching itself and even the shrines from the harmful curiosity of the enemies of Christ. For example, the Iconostasis is a product of the Sacrament of Communion, subject to protective measures; or the diaconal exclamation: “Come out, catechumens of the catechumens” between the liturgies of the catechumens and the faithful, undoubtedly reminds us that “we celebrate the Sacrament, having closed the doors, and forbid the uninitiated to be with it,” writes Chrysostom (Conversation 24, Matt.).

Let us recall how the famous Roman actor and mime Genesius, on the orders of Emperor Diocletian in 268, exhibited the Sacrament of Baptism in the circus as a mockery. What a miraculous effect the spoken words had on him, we see from the life of the blessed martyr Genesius: having repented, he was baptized and, together with the Christians prepared for public execution, “was the first to be beheaded.” This is far from the only fact of desecration of the shrine - an example of the fact that many of the Christian mysteries have become known to the pagans for a long time.

“This world– according to the words of the Seer John, – all lying in evil"(1 John 5:19), and there is that aggressive environment in which the Church fights for the salvation of people and which forced Christians from the very first centuries to use conditional symbolic language: abbreviations, monograms, symbolic images and signs.

This new language of the Church helps to initiate the new believer into the mystery of the Cross gradually, of course, taking into account his spiritual age. After all, the necessity (as a voluntary condition) of gradual disclosure of dogmas to the catechumens preparing to receive baptism is based on the words of the Savior Himself (see Matt. 7;6 and 1 Cor. 3:1). That is why St. Cyril of Jerusalem divided his sermons into two parts: the first of the 18 catechumens, where there is not a word about the Sacraments, and the second of the 5 sacraments, explaining to the faithful all the Church Sacraments. In the preface, he urges the catechumens not to pass on what they have heard to outsiders: “when you experience the height of the taught, then you will know that the catechumens are not worthy to hear him.” And Saint John Chrysostom wrote: “I would like to speak openly about this, but I am afraid of the uninitiated. For they impede our conversation, forcing us to speak indistinctly and covertly.”(Conversation 40, 1 Cor.). Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Kirr, speaks of the same thing: after the removal of those who have been vouchsafed to secret knowledge, we teach them clearly” (Questions 15 Num.).

Symbolism of the Orthodox cross

Forms and types of Orthodox crosses

Thus, the pictorial symbols that enclose the verbal formulas of the dogmas and Sacraments not only improved the way of expression, but, being a new sacred language, even more reliably protected the church teaching from aggressive profanation. To this day we, as the Apostle Paul taught, “we preach the wisdom of God, secret, hidden”(1 Corinthians 2:7).

Cross T-shaped “Antonievskiy”

In the southern and eastern parts of the Roman Empire, a tool was used to execute criminals, called the “Egyptian” cross since the time of Moses and resembling the letter “T” in European languages. “The Greek letter T,” wrote Count A.S. Uvarov, “is one of the forms of the cross used for crucifixions” (Christian symbolism, M., 1908, p. 76)

“The number 300, expressed in Greek through the letter T, also served from the time of the Apostles to designate the cross,” says the well-known liturgist, Archimandrite Gabriel. - This Greek letter T is found in the inscription of the tomb of the 3rd century, discovered in the catacombs of St. Callistus. (...) Such an image of the letter T is found on one carnelian engraved in the 2nd century ”(Guide to Liturgy, Tver, 1886, p. 344)

Saint Demetrius of Rostov also argues about the same: “The Greek image, “Tav”, called, which the Angel of the Lord made "sign on forehead"(Ezek. 9:4) Saint Ezekiel the prophet saw in the revelation the holy people in Jerusalem, in order to protect them from impending slaughter. (…)

If we apply the title of Christ to this image at the top in this way, we will immediately see the four-pointed cross of Christ. Therefore, there Ezekiel saw a prototype of a four-pointed cross” (Search, M., 1855, book 2, ch. 24, p. 458).

Tertullian asserts the same: “The Greek letter Tav and our Latin T constitute the true form of the cross, which, according to prophecy, should be depicted on our foreheads in true Jerusalem.”

“If the letter T is found in Christian monograms, then this letter is located in such a way as to stand out more clearly in front of all others, since T was considered not only a symbol, but even the very image of the cross. An example of such a monogram is found on a sarcophagus of the 3rd century” (Gr. Uvarov, p. 81). According to Church Tradition, Saint Anthony the Great wore a cross-Tau on his clothes. Or, for example, Saint Zeno, bishop of the city of Verona, placed a cross in the shape of T on the roof of the basilica he built in 362.

Cross “Egyptian hieroglyph Ankh”

Jesus Christ - the Conqueror of death - through the mouth of the King's Prophet Solomon announced: “Whoever finds Me, finds life”(Prov. 8:35), and after His incarnation he repeated: “I am the resurrection and the life”(John 11:25). Already from the first centuries of Christianity, the Egyptian hieroglyph “anch”, denoting the concept of “life”, was used to symbolize the life-giving cross, resembling it in shape.

Cross “letter”

And other letters (from different languages), given below, were also used by the first Christians as symbols of the cross. Such an image of the cross did not scare away the pagans, being familiar to them. “And indeed, as can be seen from the Sinai inscriptions,” reports Count A.S. Uvarov, “the letter was taken as a symbol and for the real image of the cross” (Christian symbolism, part 1, p. 81). In the first centuries of Christianity, of course, it was not the artistic side of the symbolic image that was important, but the convenience of its application to a hidden concept.

Cross “anchor-shaped”

Initially, this symbol came across to archaeologists on the Thessalonica inscription of the 3rd century, in Rome - in 230, and in Gaul - in 474. And from the “Christian Symbolism” we learn that “in the caves of Pretextatus, slabs were found without any inscriptions, with one image of an “anchor”” (Gr. Uvarov, p. 114).

In his Epistle, the Apostle Paul teaches that Christians have the opportunity “take hold of the hope that lies ahead(i.e. Cross), which for the soul is, as it were, an anchor safe and strong”(Heb. 6:18-19). This one, according to the Apostle, "anchor", symbolically covering the cross from the reproach of the unfaithful, and revealing its true meaning to the faithful, as deliverance from the consequences of sin, is our strong hope.

The church ship, figuratively speaking, along the waves of a turbulent temporal life, delivers everyone to the quiet harbor of eternal life. Therefore, the “anchor”, being cruciform, became among Christians a symbol of hope for the strongest fruit of the Cross of Christ - the Kingdom of Heaven, although the Greeks and Romans, also using this sign, assimilated to it the meaning of “strength” only earthly affairs.

Cross monogram "pre-Konstantinovsky"

A well-known specialist in liturgical theology, Archimandrite Gabriel, writes that “in the monogram inscribed on the tombstone (III century) and in the form of the St. Andrew's Cross, vertically crossed by a line (Fig. 8), there is a cover image of the cross” (Rukov. p. 343) .
This monogram was composed of the Greek initial letters of the name of Jesus Christ, by combining them crosswise: namely the letter “1” (yot) and the letter “X” (chi).

This monogram is often found in the post-Konstantinov period; for example, we can see her image in mosaic on the vaults of the Archbishop's Chapel of the end of the 5th century in Ravenna.

Cross-monogram “shepherd's staff”

Representing Christ the Shepherd, the Lord imparted miraculous power to the staff of Moses (Ex. 4:2-5) as a sign of pastoral power over the verbal sheep of the Old Testament church, then to the staff of Aaron (Ex. 2:8-10). The Divine Father, through the mouth of the prophet Micah, says to the Only Begotten Son: “Feed Your people with Your rod, the sheep of Your inheritance”(Micah 7:14). “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”(John 10:11), the beloved Son answers the Heavenly Father.

Count A. S. Uvarov, describing the finds of the Catacomb period, reported that: “A clay lamp found in Roman caves shows us very clearly how a bent staff was drawn instead of the entire symbol of the shepherd. On the lower part of this lamp, the staff is depicted crossing the letter X, the first letter of the name of Christ, which together forms the monogram of the Savior” (Christ. Symbols, p. 184).

Initially, the shape of the Egyptian wand was exactly like a shepherd's crook, the upper part of which is bent down. All the bishops of Byzantium were awarded the "pastor's staff" only from the hands of the emperors, and in the 17th century all Russian patriarchs received their primatial staff from the hands of the reigning autocrats.

Cross “Burgundy”, or “Andreevsky”

The Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher, explaining the question of how the pagans knew cruciform symbols even before the birth of Christ, argued: “What Plato says in Timaeus (...) about the Son of God (...) that God placed Him in the universe like a letter X, he also borrowed from Moses!. For in the Mosaic writings it is said that (...) Moses, by the inspiration and action of God, took brass and made the image of the cross (...) and said to the people: if you look at this image and believe, you will be saved through it (Numbers 21:8) ( John 3:14). (...) Plato read this and, not knowing exactly and not realizing that it was the image of a (vertical) cross, and seeing only the figure of the letter X, he said that the power closest to the first God was in the universe like the letter X ”(Apology 1, § 60).

The letter “X” of the Greek alphabet has already served as the basis for monogram symbols since the 2nd century, and not only because it hid the name of Christ; after all, as you know, “ancient writers find the shape of a cross in the letter X, which is called Andreevsky, because, according to legend, the Apostle Andrew ended his life on such a cross,” Archimandrite Gabriel wrote (Rukov. p. 345).

Around 1700, God's anointed Peter the Great, wishing to express the religious difference between Orthodox Russia and the heretical West, placed the image of the St. Andrew's Cross on the State Emblem, on his hand seal, on the naval flag, etc. His own explanation says that: "the cross of St. Andrew (accepted) for the sake of that from this Apostle Russia received holy baptism."

Cross “Monogram of Constantine”

To the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine “Christ the Son of God did not appear with a sign seen in heaven and commanded, having made a banner similar to this one seen in heaven, to use it to protect against attacks by enemies,” narrates the church historian Eusebius Pamphilus in his “Book One on the Life of the Blessed King Constantine” (ch. 29). “This banner happened to be seen by us with our own eyes,” continues Eusebius (ch. 30). - It had the following appearance: on a long, gold-covered spear there was a transverse rail, which formed the sign of the cross (...) with the spear, and on it was a symbol of the saving name: two letters showed the name of Christ (...), from the middle of which came the letter “P”. The King later had the custom to wear these letters on his helmet” (ch. 31).

“A combination of (combined) letters, known as the monogram of Constantine, composed of the first two letters of the word Christ – “Chi” and “Rho,” writes the liturgist Archimandrite Gabriel, “this Constantine monogram is found on the coins of the Emperor Constantine” (p. 344) .

As is known, this monogram has become quite widespread: it was minted for the first time on the well-known bronze coin of Emperor Trajan Decius (249-251) in the Lydian city of Maeonia; was depicted on a vessel of 397; was carved on tombstones of the first five centuries or, for example, frescoed on plaster in the caves of St. Sixtus (Gr. Uvarov, p. 85).

Monogram cross “Post-Konstantinovsky”

“Sometimes the letter T,” writes Archimandrite Gabriel, “is found in conjunction with the letter R, which can be seen in the tomb of St. Callistus in the epitaph” (p. 344). This monogram is also found on the Greek plates found in the city of Megara, and on the tombstones of the cemetery of St. Matthew in the city of Tire.

words "Behold, your King"(John 19:14) Pilate first of all pointed out the noble origin of Jesus from the royal dynasty of David, in contrast to the rootless self-proclaimed tetrarchs, and this idea was stated in writing "over his head"(Matt. 27:37), which, of course, caused discontent among the power-hungry high priests, who stole power over the people of God from the kings. And that is why the Apostles, preaching the Resurrection of the crucified Christ and openly “honoring,” as is evident from the Acts of the Apostles, “Jesus the king” (Acts 17:7), endured severe persecution from the clergy through the deceived people.

The Greek letter "R" (ro) - the first in the word in Latin "Pax", in Roman "Rex", in Russian Tsar, - symbolizing the King Jesus, is above the letter "T" (tav), meaning His cross; and together they recall the words from the Apostolic gospel that all our strength and wisdom is in the Crucified King (1 Cor. 1:23-24).

Thus, “and this monogram, according to the interpretation of St. Justin, served as a sign of the Cross of Christ (...), received such an extensive meaning in symbolism only after the first monogram. (...) In Rome (...) became commonplace not before 355, and in Gaul - not before the 5th century” (Gr. Uvarov, p. 77).

Cross monogram "sun-shaped"

Already on the coins of the 4th century there is a monogram “I” of Jesus “XP”ist “solar-shaped”, “For the Lord God as the Scripture teaches, there is a sun"(Ps. 84:12).

The most famous, “Konstantinovskaya”, “the monogram was subjected to some changes: another line or the letter “I” was added, crossing the monogram across” (Archim. Gabriel, p. 344).

This “sun-shaped” cross symbolizes the fulfillment of the prophecy about the all-enlightening and all-conquering power of the Cross of Christ: “And for you who revere my name, the Sun of righteousness will rise and its rays heal,– proclaimed by the Holy Spirit the prophet Malachi, – and you will trample the wicked; for they will be dust under your feet.” (4:2-3).

Cross monogram "trident"

When the Savior passed near the Sea of ​​Galilee, He saw fishermen throwing nets into the water, His future disciples. “And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”(Matthew 4:19). And later, sitting by the sea, He taught the people with His parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea and seizing every kind of fish”(Matthew 13:47). “Recognizing in shells for fishing the symbolic meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven,” says the “Christian Symbolism,” we can assume that all formulas related to the same concept were iconically expressed by these common symbols. The trident, which was used to catch fish, as they now fish with hooks, should be attributed to the same projectiles ”(Gr. Uvarov, 147).

Thus, the trident monogram of Christ has long meant participation in the Sacrament of Baptism, as being caught in the net of the Kingdom of God. For example, on an ancient monument of the sculptor Eutropius, an inscription is carved, which speaks of his acceptance of baptism and ends with a trident monogram (Gr. Uvarov, p. 99).

Cross monogram "Konstantinovsky"

From church archeology and history, it is known that on ancient monuments of writing and architecture there is often a variant of combining the letters “Chi” and “Rho” in the monogram of the holy King Constantine, the God-chosen successor of Christ the Lord on the throne of David.

Only from the 4th century did the constantly depicted cross begin to free itself from the monogram shell, lose its symbolic coloring, approaching its real form, resembling either the letter “I” or the letter “X”.

These changes in the image of the cross occurred due to the emergence of Christian statehood, based on its open veneration and glorification.

Cross round “freeloading”

According to an ancient custom, as Horace and Martial testify, Christians cut the baked bread crosswise to make it easier to break it. But long before Jesus Christ, this was a symbolic transformation in the East: the incised cross, dividing the whole into parts, unites those who used them, heals separation.

Such round loaves are depicted, for example, on the inscription of Sintrophion divided into four parts by a cross, and on the tombstone from the cave of St. Lukina divided into six parts by a monogram of the 3rd century.

In direct connection with the Sacrament of Communion, chalices, phelonions and other things depicted bread as a symbol of the Body of Christ, broken for our sins.

The circle itself, before the birth of Christ, was depicted as the idea of ​​immortality and eternity, not yet personified. Now, by faith, we understand that “The Son of God Himself is an endless circle,” according to the words of St. Clement of Alexandria, “in which all forces converge” .

Catacomb cross, or “sign of victory”

“In the catacombs and in general on ancient monuments, four-pointed crosses are incomparably more common than any other form,” Archimandrite Gabriel notes. This image of the cross has become especially important for Christians since God Himself showed the sign of the four-pointed cross in heaven” (Rukov. p. 345).

The well-known historian Eusebius Pamphal narrates in detail how all this happened in his Book One on the Life of the Blessed Tsar Constantine.

“Once, at noon hours of the day, when the sun was already beginning to lean towards the west,” the Tsar said, “I saw with my own eyes the sign of the cross, composed of light and lying on the sun, with the inscription “Conquer this!” This spectacle seized with horror both himself and the whole army that followed him and continued to contemplate the miracle that had appeared (ch. 28).

It was on the 28th day of October 312, when Constantine marched with his army against Maxentius, who was imprisoned in Rome. This miraculous appearance of the cross in broad daylight has also been witnessed by many modern writers from the words of eyewitnesses.

Particularly important is the testimony of the confessor Artemius before Julian the Apostate, to whom Artemius said during interrogation:

“Christ called Constantine from above when he waged war against Maxentius, showing him at noon the sign of the cross, shining radiantly over the sun and star-shaped Roman letters, predicting his victory in the war. Being there ourselves, we saw His sign and read the letters, and the whole army saw it: there are many witnesses to this in your army, if you only want to ask them ”(ch. 29).

“By the power of God, the holy Emperor Constantine won a brilliant victory over the tyrant Maxentius, who did impious and villainous deeds in Rome” (ch. 39).

Thus, the cross, which used to be an instrument of shameful execution among the pagans, became under Emperor Constantine the Great a sign of victory - the triumph of Christianity over paganism and the subject of the deepest reverence.

For example, according to the short stories of the holy Emperor Justinian, such crosses were supposed to be placed on contracts and meant a signature “worthy of all confidence” (book 73, ch. 8). The acts (decisions) of the Councils were also fastened with the image of the cross. One of the imperial decrees says: “we command every conciliar act, which is approved by the sign of the holy Cross of Christ, to be preserved and so be as it is.”

In general, this form of the cross is most often used in ornaments.

for decorating temples, icons, priestly vestments and other church utensils.

The cross in Russia is “patriarchal”, or in the West “Lorensky”

The fact proving the use of the so-called “patriarchal cross” since the middle of the last millennium is confirmed by numerous data from the field of church archeology. It was this form of the six-pointed cross that was depicted on the seal of the governor of the Byzantine Emperor in the city of Korsun.

The same type of cross was widespread in the West under the name of "Lorensky".
For an example from the Russian tradition, let us point out at least the large copper cross of St. Avraamy of Rostov of the 18th century, stored in the Andrei Rublev Museum of Old Russian Art, cast according to iconographic samples of the 11th century.

Four-pointed cross, or Latin "immissa"

The textbook “The Temple of God and Church Services” reports that “a strong motivation for honoring the direct image of the cross, and not the monogram, was the acquisition of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross by the mother of the holy Tsar Constantine, Equal-to-the-Apostles Elena. As the direct image of the cross spreads, it gradually acquires the form of the Crucifixion ”(SP., 1912, p. 46).

In the West, the most common now is the “immissa” cross, which the schismatics - admirers of imaginary antiquity - scornfully call (for some reason in Polish) “kryzh in Latin” or “Rymsky”, which means the Roman cross. These detractors of the four-pointed cross and devout admirers of the osmikonomy, apparently, need to be reminded that, according to the Gospel, the execution of the cross was spread throughout the Empire precisely by the Romans and, of course, was considered Roman.

And not according to the number of trees, not according to the number of ends, the Cross of Christ is revered by us, but according to Christ Himself, with Whose holy blood it was stained, - St. Dimitry of Rostov denounced the schismatic philosophies. “And, showing miraculous power, any cross does not act by itself, but by the power of Christ crucified on it and by invoking His holy name” (Search, book 2, ch. 24).

The “Canon of the Holy Cross”, the work of St. Gregory of Sinai, adopted by the Ecumenical Church, sings of the Divine power of the Cross, which contains everything heavenly, earthly and underworld: “The all-honourable Cross, four-pointed strength, the splendor of the Apostle” (song 1), “Behold the four-pointed Cross, having height, depth and breadth” (song 4).

Starting from the 3rd century, when such crosses first appeared in the Roman catacombs, the entire Orthodox East still uses this form of the cross as equal to all others.

Cross "papal"

This form of the cross was most often used in the hierarchal and papal services of the Roman Church in the 13th-15th centuries and therefore was called the “papal cross”.

To the question about the foot, depicted at right angles to the cross, we will answer with the words of St. Demetrius of Rostov, who said: “I kiss the foot of the cross, if it is oblique, if not oblique, and the custom of the cross-makers and cross-writers, as consistent with the church, I do not dispute, I condescend” (Search, book 2, chapter 24).

Six-pointed cross “Russian Orthodox”

The question of the reason for the inscription of the lower crossbar tilted is quite convincingly explained by the liturgical text of the 9th hour of the service to the Cross of the Lord: “In the midst of two thieves, the measure of righteousness, having found Your Cross: the first I am brought down to hell with the burden of blasphemy, while the other I am relieved from sins to the knowledge of theology”. In other words, both on Golgotha ​​for two thieves, and in life for each person, the cross serves as a measure, as if the scales of his inner state.

To one thief who is brought down to hell "burden of blasphemy", pronounced by him on Christ, he became, as it were, the crossbar of the scales, bowed down under this terrible weight; another thief, freed by repentance and the words of the Savior: “today you will be with me in paradise”(Luke 23:43), the cross elevates to the Kingdom of Heaven.
This form of the cross in Russia has been used since ancient times: for example, the worship cross, arranged in 1161 by the Monk Euphrosyne, Princess of Polotsk, was six-pointed.

The six-pointed Orthodox cross, along with others, was used in Russian heraldry: for example, on the coat of arms of the Kherson province, as explained in the “Russian armorial” (p. 193), a “silver Russian cross” is depicted.

Orthodox octagonal cross

Eight-pointedness - most corresponds to the historically reliable form of the cross on which Christ was already crucified, as Tertullian, St. Irenaeus of Lyons, St. Justin the Philosopher and others testify. “And when Christ the Lord carried a cross on His shoulders, then the cross was still four-pointed; because there was still no title or footstool on it. (...) There was no footstool, because Christ had not yet been raised on the cross and the soldiers, not knowing where Christ's feet would reach, did not attach footstools, having finished it already at Calvary, ”St. Demetrius of Rostov denounced the schismatics (Search, Prince 2, chapter 24). There was also no title on the cross before the crucifixion of Christ, because, as the Gospel reports, at first "Crucified Him"(John 19:18), and then only “Pilate wrote the inscription and placed(by your order) on the cross"(John 19:19). It was at first divided by lot "His clothes" warriors, "they crucified him"(Matthew 27:35), and only then “They put an inscription over His head, signifying His guilt: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews”(Matthew 27:3.7).

So, the four-pointed Cross of Christ, carried to Golgotha, which everyone who has fallen into the demonic schism calls the seal of the Antichrist, is called in the Holy Gospel nevertheless “His cross” (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26 , John 19:17), that is, the same as with the tablet and footstool after the crucifixion (John 19:25). In Russia, the cross of this form was used more often than others.

Seven-pointed cross

This form of the cross is quite often found on the icons of northern painting, for example, the Pskov school of the 15th century: the image of St. Paraskeva Pyatnitsa with life is from the Historical Museum, or the image of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica - from the Russian; or the Moscow school: "Crucifixion" by Dionysius - from the Tretyakov Gallery, dated 1500.
We also see the seven-pointed cross on the domes of Russian churches: let us cite, for example, the wooden Ilyinsky Church of 1786 in the village of Vazentsy (Holy Russia, St. Petersburg, 1993, ill. 129), or we can see it above the entrance to the Cathedral of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery, built by Patriarch Nikon .

At one time, theologians heatedly discussed the question of what kind of mystical and dogmatic meaning does the footstool have as part of the redemptive Cross?

The fact is that the Old Testament priesthood received, so to speak, the opportunity to make sacrifices (as one of the conditions) thanks to “golden footstool attached to the throne”(Par. 9:18), which, as it is still with us Christians, according to God's ordinance, was sanctified through chrismation: “And anoint them,” said the Lord, “the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, (…) and its bases. And sanctify them, and there will be great holiness: everything that touches them will be sanctified.”(Ex. 30:26-29).

Thus, the foot of the cross is that part of the New Testament altar, which mystically points to the priestly service of the Savior of the world, who voluntarily paid with His death for the sins of others: for the Son of God “Our sins He Himself bore in His body on the tree”(1 Pet. 2:24) Cross, "sacrifice himself"(Heb. 7:27) and thus “having become a High Priest forever”(Heb. 6:20), established in His person "priesthood is everlasting"(Heb. 7:24).

This is what is stated in the “Orthodox Confession of the Eastern Patriarchs”: “On the Cross, He fulfilled the office of a Priest, offering Himself as a sacrifice to God and the Father for the redemption of the human race” (M., 1900, p. 38).
But let's not confuse the foot of the Holy Cross, which reveals to us one of its mysterious sides, with the other two foots from the Holy Scriptures. - explains St. Dmitry Rostovsky.

“David says, “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; holy It"(Ps. 99:5). And Isaiah says on behalf of Christ: (Isaiah 60:13), explains Saint Demetrius of Rostov. There is a footstool that is commanded to worship, and there is a footstool that is not commanded to be worshiped. God says in Isaiah's prophecy: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool”(Isaiah 66:1): no one should worship this footstool - the earth, but only God, its Creator. And it is also written in the psalms: “The Lord (Father) said to my Lord (Son), Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool”(Pis. 109:1). And this footstool of God, the enemies of God, who wants to worship? What footstool does David command to worship?” (Search, book 2, chapter 24).

To this question the very word of God on behalf of the Savior answers: “and when I am lifted up from the earth”(John 12:32) - “from my footstool” (Is. 66:1), then “I will glorify my footstool”(Isaiah 60:13)- "foot of the altar"(Ex. 30:28) of the New Testament - the Holy Cross, which casts down, as we confess, Lord, “Your enemies for Your footstool”(Ps. 109:1), and therefore "worship the foot(Cross) His; holy It!”(Ps. 99:5), “a footstool attached to a throne”(2 Chr. 9:18).

Cross “crown of thorns”

The image of a cross with a crown of thorns has been used for many centuries by various peoples who have adopted Christianity. But instead of numerous examples from the ancient Greco-Roman tradition, we will give several cases of its use in later times according to the sources that were at hand. A cross with a crown of thorns can be seen on the pages of an ancient Armenian manuscript books the period of the Cilician kingdom (Matenadaran, M., 1991, p. 100); on the icon“Glorification of the Cross” of the 12th century from the Tretyakov Gallery (V. N. Lazarev, Novgorod icon painting, M., 1976, p. 11); on Staritsky copper-cast cross- vest of the XIV century; on the cover"Golgotha" - the monastic contribution of Tsarina Anastasia Romanova in 1557; on silver platter XVI century (Novodevichy Convent, M., 1968, ill. 37), etc.

God told sinning Adam that “Cursed is the earth for you. Thorns and thistles she will grow for you.”(Gen. 3:17-18). And the new sinless Adam - Jesus Christ - voluntarily took upon himself other people's sins, and death as a consequence of them, and thorny suffering, leading to it along a thorny path.

Christ's Apostles Matthew (27:29), Mark (15:17) and John (19:2) tell that “The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head”, “and by His stripes we are healed”(Isaiah 53:5). From this it is clear why the wreath has since symbolized victory and reward, starting with the books of the New Testament: "crown of truth"(2 Tim. 4:8), "crown of glory"(1 Pet. 5:4), "crown of life"(James 1:12 and Rep. 2:10).

Cross “gallows”

This form of the cross is very widely used in decorating churches, liturgical objects, hierarchal vestments, and in particular, as we can see, bishops' omophorions on the icons of the "three ecumenical teachers."

“If someone tells you, do you worship the Crucified One? You answer with a bright voice and with a cheerful face: I worship and will not stop worshiping. If he laughs, you shed tears for him, because he is mad,” teaches us, the ecumenical teacher St. John Chrysostom himself adorned on images with this cross (Conversation 54, on Matt.).

The cross of any form has an unearthly beauty and life-giving power, and everyone who knows this God's wisdom exclaims with the Apostle: "I (…) I wish to boast (…) only by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”(Gal. 6:14)!

Cross “vine”

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”(John 15:1). This is how Jesus Christ called himself, the Head of the Church planted by Himself, the only source and conductor of spiritual, holy life for all Orthodox believers, who are members of His body.

“I am the vine and you are the branches; whoever abides in Me and I in him brings forth much fruit.”(John 15:5). “These words of the Savior Himself laid the foundation for the symbolism of the vine,” wrote Count A. S. Uvarov in his work “Christian Symbolism”; The main meaning of the vine for Christians was in a symbolic connection with the Sacrament of Communion” (pp. 172 – 173).

Cross “petal”

The variety of forms of the cross has always been recognized by the Church as quite natural. According to the expression of St. Theodore the Studite, “a cross of every form is a true cross.” A “petal” cross is very often found in church art, which, for example, is seen on the omophorion of St. Gregory the Wonderworker of the 11th-century mosaic of the Hagia Sophia of Kiev.

“Through the variety of sensory signs, we are hierarchically elevated to a uniform union with God,” explains the famous teacher of the Church, St. John of Damascus. From the visible to the invisible, from the temporal to eternity - such is the path of a person led by the Church to God through the comprehension of grace-filled symbols. The history of their diversity is inseparable from the history of the salvation of mankind.

Cross "Greek", or Old Russian "korsunchik"

Traditional for Byzantium and the most frequently and widely used form of the so-called "Greek cross". The same cross is considered, as you know, to be the most ancient “Russian cross”, since, according to the Church Dedication, the holy prince Vladimir took out from Korsun, where he was baptized, just such a cross and installed it on the banks of the Dnieper in Kyiv. A similar four-pointed cross has survived to this day in the Kiev Sophia Cathedral, carved on the marble board of the tomb of Prince Yaroslav, son of St. Vladimir the Equal-to-the-Apostles.

Often, to indicate the universal significance of the Cross of Christ as a microuniverse, the cross is depicted as inscribed in a circle, symbolizing the cosmological sphere of heaven.

Cross "dome" with a crescent

It is not surprising that the question about the cross with a crescent is often asked, since the “domes” are located in the most prominent place of the temple. For example, the domes of the Cathedral of St. Sophia of Vologda, built in 1570, are decorated with such crosses.

Typical of the pre-Mongol period, this form of a domed cross is often found in the Pskov region, once on the dome of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in the village of Meletovo, erected in 1461.

In general, the symbolism of an Orthodox church is inexplicable from the point of view of aesthetic (and therefore static) perception, but, on the contrary, it is quite open for understanding precisely in liturgical dynamics, since almost all elements of church symbolism, in different places of worship, assimilate different meanings.

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun,- says in the Revelation of John the Theologian, - moon under her feet(Apoc. 12:1), and patristic wisdom explains: this moon marks the font in which the Church, baptized into Christ, is clothed in Him, in the Sun of righteousness. The crescent is also the cradle of Bethlehem, which received the Divine Infant Christ; the crescent is the Eucharistic cup in which the Body of Christ is located; the crescent is a church ship, led by the Pilot Christ; the crescent is also the anchor of hope, the gift of the cross of Christ; the crescent moon is also the ancient serpent trampled down by the Cross and placed as an enemy of God under the feet of Christ.

Cross “trefoil”

In Russia, this form of the cross is used more often than others for the manufacture of altar crosses. But, however, we can see it on state symbols. “A golden Russian shamrock cross, standing on a silver overturned crescent”, as reported in the “Russian armorial”, was depicted on the emblem of the Tiflis province.

The golden “shamrock” (Fig. 39) is also on the coat of arms of the Orenburg province, on the coat of arms of the city of Troitsk, Penza province, the city of Akhtyrka, Kharkov and the city of Spassk, Tambov provinces, on the coat of arms of the provincial city of Chernigov, etc.

Cross “Maltese”, or “St. George”

Patriarch Jacob prophetically honored the Cross when "bowed down in faith, As the Apostle Paul says, on top of his rod"(Heb. 11:21), “a rod,” explains St. John of Damascus, “which served as an image of the cross” (On Holy Icons, 3 verses). That is why today there is a cross above the handle of the episcopal baton, “for by the cross,” writes St. Simeon of Thessalonica, “we are guided and grazed, we are sealed, we are born and, having mortified the passions, we are drawn to Christ” (ch. 80).

In addition to the usual and widespread church use, this form of the cross, for example, was officially adopted by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which was formed on the island of Malta and openly fought against Freemasonry, which, as you know, organized the murder of the Russian Emperor Pavel Petrovich - the patron of the Maltese. So the name appeared - “Maltese cross”.

According to Russian heraldry, some cities had golden “Maltese” crosses on their coats of arms, for example: Zolotonosha, Mirgorod and Zenkov of the Poltava province; Pogar, Bonza and Konotop of the Chernihiv province; Kovel Volynskoy,

Perm and Elizavetpol provinces and others. Pavlovsk St. Petersburg, Vindava Courland, Belozersk Novgorod provinces,

Perm and Elizavetpol provinces and others.

All those who were awarded the crosses of St. George the Victorious of all four degrees, were called, as you know, “cavaliers of St. George”.

Cross “Prosphora-Konstantinovsky”

For the first time, these words in Greek “IC.XP.NIKA”, which means “Jesus Christ the Conqueror”, were written in gold on three large crosses in Constantinople by the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine himself.

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne”(Rev. 3:21), says the Savior, the Conqueror of hell and death.

According to ancient tradition, an image of a cross is printed on the prosphora with the addition of words meaning this victory of the cross of Christ: “IC.XC.NIKA”. This “prosphora” seal signifies the redemption of sinners from sinful captivity, or, in other words, the great price of our Redemption.

Old-printed cross “wicker”

“This weaving was obtained from ancient Christian art,” Professor V. N. Shchepkin authoritatively reports, “where it is known in carving and mosaics. Byzantine weaving, in turn, passes to the Slavs, among whom it was especially common in the most ancient era in the Glagolitic manuscripts ”(Textbook of Russian Paleography, M., 1920, p. 51).

Most often, images of “wicker” crosses are found as decorations in Bulgarian and Russian old printed books.

Cross four-pointed "drop-shaped"

Having sprinkled the cross tree, the drops of the Blood of Christ forever informed the cross of His power.

The Greek Gospel of the 2nd century from the State Public Library opens with a sheet depicting a beautiful “drop-shaped” four-pointed cross (Byzantine miniature, M., 1977, pl. 30).

And also, for example, we recall that among the copper pectoral crosses cast in the first centuries of the second millennium, as is known, “tear-shaped” encolpions are often found ( in Greek- "on the chest").
At the beginning of Christ “drops of blood falling to the ground”(Luke 22:44), became a lesson in the fight against sin even "till blood"(Heb. 12:4); when on the cross from Him “Blood and water flowed out”(John 19:34), then by example they were taught to fight evil even to death.

"Him(Savior) who loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood.”(Apoc. 1:5), who saved us "by the blood of His cross" (Col. 1:20), - Glory forever!

Cross "crucifixion"

One of the first images of the crucified Jesus Christ that has come down to us belongs only to the 5th century, on the doors of the church of St. Sabina in Rome. From the 5th century, the Savior began to be depicted in a long robe of a collobia - as if leaning against a cross. It is this image of Christ that can be seen on the early bronze and silver crosses of Byzantine and Syrian origin of the 7th-9th centuries.

The 6th century saint Anastasius of Sinai wrote an apologetic ( in Greek- “protection”) the composition “Against the acephalus” - a heretical sect that denies the unity of two natures in Christ. To this work he attached an image of the crucifixion of the Savior as an argument against Monophysitism. He conjures the scribes of his work, together with the text, to transfer inviolably the image attached to it, as, by the way, we can see on the manuscript of the Vienna Library.

Another, even older surviving image of the crucifixion is on the miniature of the Ravvula Gospel from the Zagba monastery. This 586 manuscript belongs to the Saint Lawrence Library in Florence.

Until the 9th century inclusive, Christ was depicted on the cross not only alive, resurrected, but also triumphant, and only in the 10th century did images of the dead Christ appear (Fig. 54).

From ancient times, crucifixion crosses, both in the East and in the West, had a crossbar to support the feet of the Crucified, and His feet were depicted as nailed each separately with their own nail. The image of Christ with crossed feet, nailed with one nail, first appeared as an innovation in the West in the second half of the 13th century.

On the cross halo of the Savior, the Greek letters UN were necessarily written, meaning “truly Existing,” because “God said to Moses: I am who I am”(Ex. 3:14), thereby revealing His name, expressing the self-existence, eternity and immutability of the being of God.

From the Orthodox dogma of the Cross (or Atonement), the idea undoubtedly follows that the death of the Lord is the ransom of all, the calling of all peoples. Only the cross, unlike other executions, made it possible for Jesus Christ to die with outstretched arms calling "all ends of the earth"(Isaiah 45:22).

Therefore, in the tradition of Orthodoxy, it is to portray the Savior Almighty precisely as the already Resurrected Crusader, holding and calling the whole universe into His arms and bearing the New Testament altar - the Cross. The prophet Jeremiah also spoke about this on behalf of the haters of Christ: “Let us put wood into His bread”(11:19), that is, we will put the tree of the cross on the body of Christ, which is called heavenly bread (St. Demetrius Rost. cit. op.).

And the traditionally Catholic image of the crucifixion, with Christ sagging in his arms, on the contrary, has the task of showing how it all happened, depicting the suffering and death before death, and not at all what is essentially the eternal Fruit of the Cross - His triumph.

Schema Cross, or "Golgotha"

The inscriptions and cryptograms on Russian crosses have always been much more diverse than on Greek ones.
Since the 11th century, under the lower oblique crossbar of the eight-pointed cross, a symbolic image of the head of Adam appears, who, according to legend, was buried on Golgotha ​​( in Hebrew- “frontal place”), where Christ was crucified. These words of his clarify the tradition that had developed in Russia by the 16th century to produce the following designations near the image of “Golgotha”: “M.L.R.B.” - the place of the frontal was crucified, “G.G.” – Mount Golgotha, “G.A.” - the head of Adamov; moreover, the bones of the hands lying in front of the head are depicted: right on the left, as during burial or communion.

The letters "K" and "T" mean a spear of a warrior and a cane with a sponge, depicted along the cross.

The inscriptions are placed above the middle crossbar: "IC" "XC" - the name of Jesus Christ; and under it: "NIKA" - the Winner; on the title or near it there is an inscription: "SN" "BZHIY" - the Son of God sometimes - but more often not "I.N.Ts.I" - Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews; the inscription above the title: “ЦРЪ” “СЛАВЫ” – the King of Glory.

Such crosses are supposed to be embroidered on the vestments of the great and angelic schema; three crosses on the paraman and five on the kukul: on the forehead, on the chest, on both shoulders and on the back.

The “Golgotha” cross is also depicted on the funeral shroud, which marks the preservation of the vows given at baptism, like the white shroud of the newly baptized, meaning cleansing from sin. During the consecration of temples and houses depicted on the four walls of the building.

Unlike the image of the cross, which directly depicts the Crucified Christ Himself, the sign of the cross conveys its spiritual meaning, depicts its real meaning, but does not reveal the Cross itself.

“The cross is the guardian of the whole universe. The Cross is the beauty of the Church, the Cross is the power of the kings, the Cross is the faithful affirmation, the Cross is the glory of the angel, the Cross is the plague of the devil,” affirms the absolute Truth of the luminaries of the feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross.

Card cross “shamrock”, spear, sponge and nail

The motives for the outrageous desecration and blasphemy of the Holy Cross by conscious crusaders and crusaders are quite understandable. But when we see Christians drawn into this heinous deed, it is all the more impossible to remain silent, for, according to the words of St. Basil the Great, “God is given up in silence!”

The so-called “playing cards”, which are unfortunately found in many homes, are an instrument of demon-communication, through which a person certainly comes into contact with demons - the enemies of God. All four card “suits” mean nothing more than the cross of Christ, along with other sacred objects equally revered by Christians: a spear, a sponge and nails, that is, everything that was the instruments of suffering and death of the Divine Redeemer.

And out of ignorance, many people, turning “to the fool”, allow themselves to blaspheme the Lord, taking, for example, a card with the image of the “shamrock” cross, that is, the cross of Christ, which half the world worships, and, throwing it carelessly with the words (forgive me, Lord !) “club”, which in Yiddish means “bad” or “evil”! Moreover, these daredevils, who played suicide, essentially believe that this cross is “beaten” by some lousy “trump six”, not knowing at all that “trump card” and “kosher” are written, for example, in Latin, the same.

It would be high time to clarify the true rules of all card games, in which all players remain “in the fools”: they consist in the fact that ritual sacrifices, in Hebrew called by the Talmudists “kosher” (that is, “clean”), supposedly have power over Life-Giving Cross!

If you know that playing cards cannot be used for other purposes than defiling Christian shrines to the delight of demons, then the role of cards in “fortune-telling” - these nasty searches for demonic revelations - will become extremely clear. In this regard, is it necessary to prove that anyone who has touched a deck of cards and has not brought sincere repentance in confession for the sins of blasphemy and blasphemy has a guaranteed registration in hell?

So, if “clubs” are the blasphemy of raging gamblers on specially depicted crosses, which they also call “crosses”, then what do they mean - “blame”, “hearts” and “tambourines”? We won't bother translating these curses into Russian either, since we don't have a Yiddish textbook; it would be better if we open the New Testament to shed on the demonic tribe the unbearable Light of God for them.

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov edifies in an imperative mood: “get acquainted with the spirit of the times, study it, so as to avoid its influence as far as possible.”

The card suit “blame”, or otherwise “spade”, blasphemes the gospel peak, then As the Lord predicted about His perforation, through the mouth of the prophet Zechariah, that “they will look at the one they pierced”(12:10), so it happened: "one of the warriors(longin) pierced his side with a spear"(John 19:34).

The card suit “worms” blasphemes the gospel sponge on a cane. As Christ warned about His poisoning, through the mouth of the king-prophet David, that the soldiers “They gave me bile for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink”(Ps. 69:22), and so it came to pass: “one of them took a sponge, gave it vinegar to drink, and put it on a reed, gave it to Him to drink”(Matthew 27:48).

The card suit of the “tambourine” blasphemes the gospel forged tetrahedral jagged nails with which the hands and feet of the Savior were nailed to the tree of the Cross. As the Lord prophesied about his clove cross, through the mouth of the psalmist David, that “pierced my hands and my feet”(Ps. 22:17), and so it came to pass: the Apostle Thomas, who said “Unless I see in His hands the wounds from the nails, and I do not put my finger in the wound from the nails, and I do not put my hand in His side, I will not believe”(John 20:25), “I believed because I saw”(John 20:29); and the Apostle Peter, addressing his fellow tribesmen, testified: “Men of Israel! he said, Jesus of the Nazarene (…) you took and nailed(to the cross) hands(Romans) lawless, killed; but God raised him up”(Acts 2:22, 24).

The unrepentant thief crucified with Christ, like today's gamblers, blasphemed the sufferings of the Son of God on the Cross and, out of arrogance, out of impenitence, forever went to hell; but the prudent thief, setting an example for all, repented on the cross and thereby inherited eternal life with God. Therefore, let us firmly remember that for us Christians there can be no other object of hope and hope, no other support in life, no other banner that unites and inspires us, except for the only saving sign of the invincible Cross of the Lord!

Cross gammatic

This cross is called "Gamma" because it consists of the Greek letter "Gamma". Already the first Christians in the Roman catacombs depicted a gamma cross. In Byzantium, this form was often used to decorate the Gospels, church utensils, temples, and was embroidered on the vestments of Byzantine saints. In the 9th century, by order of the Empress Theodora, a Gospel was made, decorated with gold ornaments from gamma crosses.

The gamma cross is very similar to the ancient Indian sign of the swastika. The Sanskrit word swastika or su-asti-ka means supreme being or perfect bliss. This is an ancient solar symbol, that is, associated with the sun, which appears already in the Upper Paleolithic era, is widely used in the cultures of the Aryans, ancient Iranians, and is found in Egypt and China. Of course, the swastika was known and revered in many areas of the Roman Empire during the era of the spread of Christianity. The ancient pagan Slavs were also familiar with this symbol; images of the swastika are found on rings, temporal rings and other jewelry, as a sign of the sun or fire, says Priest Mikhail Vorobyov. The Christian Church, which has a powerful spiritual potential, was able to rethink and church many cultural traditions of pagan antiquity: from ancient philosophy to everyday rituals. Perhaps the gamma cross entered Christian culture as a churched swastika.

On April 22, 2004, in the Church of St. Sergius and Herman - the Moscow Compound of the Valaam Monastery, a solemn transfer of the unique cross-reliquary of the northern monastery took place. The story of the cross itself is amazing, just as the story of finding this priceless shrine by the Valaam monastery is amazing.

A modest and strict cross with a large particle of the relics of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon embedded in it is the family shrine of the Nashchokin boyars.

According to family tradition, the cross has accompanied a noble family since the 14th century. It was then that Duxa the Great arrived in Russia from Italy to serve the Prince of Tver, Alexander Mikhailovich, baptized Demetrius. His son, a Tver boyar, wounded in the cheek by the Tatar ambassador, received the nickname "Nashchoka" and became the ancestor of the glorious Nashchokin family. Representatives of this family played a big role in the formation of the Russian state: they were diplomats and warriors, builders and monks, philanthropists and patrons of muses.

Scientists - art critics, restorers - who argued for a long time about the dating of the cross, today are almost sure that it comes from the Novgorod lands of the first half of the 14th century. The shape of the cross goes back to the early Byzantine samples, to the reliquaries of the True Tree of the Cross of the Lord. At the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, the shrine was overlaid with silver filigree, also by Novgorod masters with the participation of Moscow craftsmen.

It is quite possible that the birthplace of the shrine is a free northern city. Who knows, maybe a sign of God's Providence appeared here too... After all, since the 12th century, Karelia was part of the Novgorod principality, and Valaam was in the care of the Novgorod rulers.

Many storms swept over Northern Athos during this time, many shrines lost the monastery in hard times, external unrest, fires and destruction. And now, when the temples of the Valaam Monastery, which were brutally destroyed, desecrated and plundered already in the 20th century, are being restored, when their former splendor is being restored with great labors, it is not surprising that Archimandrite Pankraty, hegumen of the Holy Monastery, paid attention to the story of the monk of the monastery that in one of private collections in Moscow is the rarest cross-reliquary.

Only a few of these crosses have survived. The researchers first saw this relic in 1994, but soon after the examination, it suddenly disappeared from their field of vision. Alarmed scientists even suggested that the shrine with such an unusually large particle of the relics of the holy healer could have been stolen. And finally, by a confluence of many wondrous circumstances, this now Valaam cross literally emerged from centuries of seclusion in just a few days.

The size of this oak cross is 29 by 10 cm, on both sides it is decorated with a gilded silver frame. Well-known stavrographer (specialist in crosses), candidate of art criticism, head of the department of applied art of the Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art. Andrei Rublev Svetlana Gnutova emphasizes: "The shrine was never transferred to churches or monasteries. It was made for the family and remained a family shrine. A large particle of the relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon (one of several large particles in Russia, apparently, the phalanx of his finger) is not hidden, as is customary, with a piece of mica, crystal, glass or a metal plate. It is open and attached to the cross only with a special wax mastic."

The patterns of silver filigree covering the reverse side of the cross (Russian craftsmen did not try for the viewer: they decorated the shrine itself) were almost undamaged over seven centuries. Apparently, the cross was kept in a special box with a lid. And only in the difficult twentieth century was the casket lost, and with it the greatest shrines, which, apart from a particle of the relics of the healer Panteleimon, carried the ancient cross.

Specialists (art historians, restorers) draw an almost unambiguous conclusion from the characteristic details: in the central crosshair of the relic, apparently, there was a part of the True Tree of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord (also fastened with wax mastic). In the upper and lower crosshairs, weakly colored amethysts with fabric placed under them were fastened in special metal sockets (only one such stone has survived). Anna Ryndina, doctor of art criticism, believes that the fabric placed under the stone and retaining the remains of a purple color could well have been saturated with the blood of the Great Martyr Panteleimon or, moreover, with the blood of the Savior. There are many such examples known to researchers of relics.

The examination of the cross, conducted in 1994, was far from complete. For a more complete dating of the age of the cross and clarification of the nature of the shrines, in particular, radiocarbon analysis is needed.

There is much striking in this manifestation of the cross to the world. The shrine, which until then was not publicly available, has now come to the people. Scientists who in the mid-nineties of the last century did not have time to carry out a full scientific attribution of this unique jewel can now begin to study it (the book by stavrographer Svetlana Gnutova about the miraculous crosses of our country "The Cross in Russia" published in June by the publishing house of the St. Danilov Monastery receives a worthy completion with the acquisition of such a shrine). Valaam's friend, philanthropist Ilya Sergeevich ("many years" to whom, apparently, not only the Valaam monks wish more than once) got the opportunity to thank the Great Martyr Panteleimon for his help after praying on Mount Athos before the honest head of the healer.

Valaam never threw off the heavy cross from his shoulders - through the prayers of St. Sergius and Herman and the intercession of the Mother of God, especially clearly manifested in the bestowal of the monastery with Her miraculous Valaam icon. It is symbolic that simultaneously with the reliquary cross, the monastery received a gift from another friend of Northern Athos, Sergei Yuryevich, an exact copy of the Valaam Icon of the Mother of God, now in Finland.

The Lord sent the priceless shrine-cross to the northern monastery, and the Mother of God again extended Her saving omophorion over Valaam.

For a month, the cross-reliquary was in the Moscow courtyard of the Valaam Monastery (2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya St., 52). Twice a day - after the Liturgy and the evening service - a prayer service was served before him. And every day it became more and more clear that the monastery received as a gift a shrine of the greatest grace-filled power. People who came to him received a weakening, and even healing of mental and physical ailments. And in the tormented and sick souls, faith and gratitude to the Great Martyr Panteleimon and the Cross of the Lord increased.

On May 27, 2004, the cross was delivered to St. Petersburg for more than a month, to the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God - the St. Petersburg Compound of the Valaam Monastery (Narvsky pr., 1/29). and, just like in Moscow, throughout the day it will be available for pilgrimage and worship of believers. At the cross daily prayers will be performed to St. Panteleimon the Healer and the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord about the cure for diseases and various ailments.

On July 9, on the feast of St. Sergius and Herman the Wonderworkers of Valaam, on a jubilee flight in honor of the 15th anniversary of the revival of the Valaam Monastery, a unique cross with a particle of the relics of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon will be delivered to the monastery.

Press Service of the Valaam Monastery 28.05.2004

To the question What is the origin of this Valaam cross? And what is the significance of the circles on it? given by the author stripe the best answer is The cross, contrary to popular belief, is by no means a Christian symbol. The classic four-pointed cross is one of the oldest sacred signs (like Kolovrat, that is, the swastika). It is widely believed that the Cross, like Kolovrat, is associated with the Sun and the Solar (Light) Gods. This is partly true, but - first things first. The history of the origin of the Cross is lost in the depths of millennia, and of course, this symbol is much older than Christianity itself as a doctrine. The most ancient images of the Cross date back to about the 12th millennium BC. e. The geography of distribution of this symbol is also very wide. Crosses and cruciform signs are found in almost all peoples in all parts of the world - in India, China, Polynesia, Greece, Egypt (the famous "ankh"), and also in Sumer. Therefore, it is now impossible to determine exactly where the birthplace of this symbol is located. The most known in our time is the so-called "Celtic cross" (named taco for the territory of the greatest distribution), which is a Cross inscribed in a circle. It is noteworthy that the Valaam Cross, well-known among Christians and highly revered, on Ladoga, exactly repeats the Celtic cross in its structure. On the territory of the settlement of the Slavs and the Balts, crosses and cruciform forms are no less rare, in particular, on clay jugs of the inhabitants of Trypillia settlements, which were located on the middle reaches of the Dnieper (in time - about two to three millennia BC). Numerous cruciform amulets - Amulets were also widespread both in pre-Christian Russia and in Scandinavia. Most of these Amulets are a cross inscribed in a circle, which, according to a number of researchers, can mean a spell of the surrounding space, the four cardinal points (and more on that later). Or be a symbol of the World, and we will say more about that later. Among the Balts, the Cross was the designation of the Sun, and in this case, when the Cross (otherwise - two Crosses) divides the circle into parts, the ends of it are interpreted by scientists as the rays of the Sun. Known among the Baltic peoples are such varieties of the Cross as: Cross-Amulet from all undead (Lietuvena Krusts), "Fiery Cross" (Uguns Krusts) - similar in its design to the Swastika, "Perkons Cross" (Perkona Krusts), it is - " Thunder Cross", which is basically a four-pointed Cross, each end of which is divided into two more pointed parts. The same sign in Russia was called "Perun's Cross". The Finnish (oblique) cross is also known, in the shape of the letter X, which in Russia, according to a number of pundits, was revered by the "female" Cross. Therefore, in the basis of the Symbol of Fertility (Zhit, a sown field - a rhombus with dots at its four corners), an oblique, X-shaped Cross is also clearly visible (both the Earth, the Earthly Beginning was revered from ancient times as Feminine, while Heavenly - Masculine). This X-shaped Cross also serves as a talisman against pestilence. Along with many others, proof of this is the winter rite of "consecration" of cattle, performed on the eve of Veles Day, at the end of which an ax is thrown over the cattle CROSS-SHAPED.
GODS) Cross and Fire
It is now generally accepted that the name Cross itself comes from the common Indo-European root cru (Russian words "circle", "curve"), which means "curved" (literally - "not straight"). This, however, is only partly true, and there is another point of view, according to which the word Krast (krys) means Fire. This is supported by the fact that, according to a number of studies, the word "kres" also goes back to the Sanskrit root kr, which means "to beat", "to strike", and is associated with hard stones, which are capable of striking sparks. This is also confirmed by such Slavic words as "kresalo" - flint, "kresiti" ("to cross") - to strike sparks, to produce fire. It is also worth adding that in favor of the connection of the Cross with Fire, the fact that the T-shaped cross (tau) in its structure is nothing more than a conventional image of a device from two sticks for getting Fire by friction speaks in favor of the connection of the Cross with Fire. Therefore, the direct connection of the words Cross and Fire is clearly cash
Oleg Shishkin
Higher intelligence
(1184714)
I quote - "... it is a cross inscribed in a circle, which, according to a number of researchers, can mean a spell of the surrounding space, the four cardinal points..."
and more - "... it is now generally accepted that the name Cross itself comes from the common Indo-European root cru (Russian words "circle", "curve"), which means "curved" (literally - "not straight")..."