London Bay Stationery

“…the early Christians were a persecuted minority, and the overt use of images related to their beliefs would have attracted the unwelcome attentions of their enemies. The earliest symbols used by Christians were therefore more in the manner of secret signs. Clement of Alexandria sanctioned their use on signet rings; or they were employed as decoration on glassware, lamps and other practical objects which had themselves taken on a new connotation. Although many of them might nowadays be regarded more as signs than as symbols, even the simplest Christian sign was rich in symbolic significance because of its association with the mysteries of Christ and the Incarnation of the Word or Logos.

Among these earliest signs was the Chi Rho monogram…The initial letters of the Greek words ‘Alpha’ and ‘Omega’ were also used, as was the word ‘Icthus’, meaning ‘fish’. It was not long before the fish itself was portrayed, along with birds, animals, and other subjects whose symbolic significance was self-evident to Christians but obscure to the uninitiated. Simple representations of the dove, the phoenix, the peacock the lamb, loaves of bread, and the vine soon abounded, laying the foundation for the figurative and symbolic nature of Christian art.”

The above is from: The Elements of Christian Symbolism by John Baldock

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Hangings on altar, lectern, and pulpit are to a church what curtains and drapes are to a home. Whenever they appear in churches, the changing colors attract, add variety, and point to the significance of the season or the festival. The same colors of the church year are used also for bookmarks and stoles.

White is the symbol of the Creator, light, joy, purity, innocence, glory and perfection.

Violet denotes mourning and penitence, and is also symbolic of humility, suffering, sympathy, and fasting. Purple equally appropriate, is frequently used instead of violet. Purple is the regal color, referring to the triumphal entry of the King of kings, who was of royal (Davidic) descent, and who is the Ruler of many hearts. Purple is also the color of penitence, refering to the purple garments put on our Lord when they mocked him (John 19:2; Mark 15:17).

Red depicts divine zeal on the day of Pentecost, and refers to the blood of the martyrs of the Church.

Green is the universal color of nature, signifying hope.

Black is the color of grief and sorrow.

To these five colors of the church year we may add gold, since it is used on fringes of the hangings. Gold refers to worth, virtue, the glory of God, and Christian might.

The above is excerpted from Our Christian Symbols by Friedrich Rest.

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“Symbols are part of the language of faith, the means by which faith expresses itself when it interprets the holy, the eternal, the beyond; when it communicates the divine confrontation, claims, and demands. As such, symbolism is a part of the biblical religion from its beginning.”

V.H. Kooy,The Intrepreter’s Dictionary of the Bible

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There are numerous references to the vine in both the Old and New Testaments. Speaking to the disciples, Jesus proclaims, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (Jn 15:5 NIV). By identifying hiself as the vine he claims that participation in the kingdom is possible only for those who “remain in” him. Those disciples who do will bear much fruit.

In the light of this passage, how fitting it is that the ritual of the supper that Jesus institutes on the eve of his death involves drinking the “fruit of the vine” (Mt 26:29; cf. Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18).

The above is from the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery General Editors: Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III.

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Christians have long used the butterfly as a symbol of the resurrection and eternal life. Through the ages they have been reminded of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ each time they witnessed the lowly caterpillar going into an apparently lifeless state–the cocoon–only to later emerge as a beautiful butterfly full of life.

Just as Christ rose from the dead to eternal life, Christians too are promised eternal life through Christ:

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is
sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised
a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52b)

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Christianity has made wide use of fish symbolism…The Greek word for ‘fish’ (ichthus) was in fact taken by Christians as an ideogram, each of the five Greek letters being taken as the initial letters of the words Iesu Christos Theou Soter (Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour).  Hence the large number of symbolic representation of fish in early Christian monuments, particularly funeral monuments.

Nevertheless, although in most cases the symbolism remains strictly Christological, it is given a slightly different emphasis.  Since fish was also a food eaten by the risen Christ (Luke 24:42), it became a symbol of the Eucharistic feast and is often depicted alongside the bread.

Lastly, because fishes live in water, the symbolism may sometimes be pursued along baptismal lines.  Reborn in the waters of baptism, the Christian may be compared with a little fish in the image of Christ himself (Tertullian, De baptismate 1).

The fish has provided Christian artists with a wealth of iconography.  Carrying a ship upon its back, it symbolizes Christ and his Church; lying upon a plate with  basket of bread upon it, it stands for the Eucharist; while in the Catacombs it is Christ himself.

The above is from The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, translated from the French by John Buchanan-Brown, Penguin Book, 1996.

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Since earliest times the dove has been seen in Judeo-Christian symbolism as a sign of purity, innocence, peace and harmony. The first biblical mention of a dove occurs in Gen. 8:8 when Noah sent a dove out from the ark to see if the waters had begun to recede. Even earlier, in Gen. 1:2 the Spirit of God is said to hover over the waters of the earth. Here, a dove is not mentioned, yet the spirit of God is said to “hover” over the waters as one imagines a dove or other type of bird might hover. The dove too, in the Old Testament symbolized the love of God for his chosen people the Israelites.
Doves in both the Old and New Testaments were used as sacrifices of the poor when they couldn’t afford to sacrifice a lamb as an offering at the temple in Jerusalem.

In the New Testament, the dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Each of the gospels describe the Spirit descending on Jesus after his baptism in the form of a dove (Matt. 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, and John 1:32). Christian art through the centuries has made frequent use of the dove to symbolize the Holy Spirit or to signify those whose lives are particularly godly such as saints. Doves are painted on the walls of the catacombs of Rome as a symbol of peace and are often seen on early tombs as a symbol of grief or martyrdom.

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The Evangelist Cross is also known as the jerusalem Cross or Crusader’s Cross.  The large central cross is surrounded by four smaller crosses.  Through the ages various explanations have been given for its meaning.

Most frequently this cross is said to symbolize the cross of Christ surrounded by the four smaller crosses representing the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John proclaimed to the four corners of the earth.

It has also been said that the four smaller crosses represent the fulfillment of the law in the four gospels, or that the five crosses represent the five wounds of Christ on the cross (hands, feet and side).

This cross was first used as a coat-of-arms for the Latin kingdom in Jerusalem established in 1098 when Jerusalem was captured by members of the First Crusade and elcted Godfrey of Boulogne, duke of Lower-Lorraine, king of Jerusalem.

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The Celtic cross–a cross with a ring surrounding its intersecting arms–is a symbol of Celtic Christianity though it may have even older pre-Christian origins. The ring symbolizes eternal life with Christ made possible by his death and resurrection.

Variations of this cross dating from about the sixth to ninth centuries have been found in Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The oldest were designs carved into large flat rocks on the ground. Later versions, often more ornamented, stood upright and were carved out of the rock. Some found in Ireland were even topped with pitched roofs.

Celtic crosses often were decorated with spiral designs, knot work, animal figures, plants, key patterns or Biblical motifs and symbols. They were frequently found in church yards and cemeteries and continue to be used in church architecture today.

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