They had “taken the cross” and came to be called “Crusaders.” Those who chose to go and fight would wear a special garment, marked with a cross, over their daily clothes.
During the High Middle Ages, the cross became connected with a series of religious wars waged from Christian Europe to liberate the Holy Land from the grasp of Muslim rulers.
They claimed the crucifix had become the object of idolatrous Catholic veneration, and used other versions of a plain cross instead.ĭiffering depictions of the cross expressed deeper conflicts within Western Christianity.īut even before that, the cross was used in a divisive way. In their view, it was a human “invention,” not in frequent use in the primitive church.
Different meaningsĭuring the Reformation, Protestant churches rejected the use of the crucifix. The representation tended to change over the centuries, to Christ as a tortured, twisted victim. Public veneration of the cross on Good Friday became increasingly common outside of the Holy Land, and this ritual was observed in Rome in the eighth century.ĭuring the medieval period, the crucified Christ was commonly portrayed as a serene figure. More often, Christ on the cross is surrounded on either side by the figures of Mary and the apostle, Saint John.Įarly medieval representation of Christ on the cross. Sometimes Christ was depicted on the cross alone, perhaps between the other two criminals crucified with him. It was called a “crux gemmata,” or “gemmed cross.”įrom the sixth century through the early Middle Ages, artistic representations of the Crucifixion became more common. The cross that appears in mosaic is a golden cross adorned with round or square precious gems, a visual representation of the victory over sin and death achieved by Christ’s death. With imperial financial support, these large buildings were decorated with intricate mosaics depicting figures from the scriptures, especially of Christ and the apostles. Numerous Christian churches were constructed in the Roman Empire during the fourth and fifth centuries. One section of what was believed to be the true cross was kept and venerated on Good Friday in Jerusalem from the mid-fourth century until its conquest by a Muslim caliph in the seventh century. Helena’s supposed “finding” of the cross itself was given its own feast day in May: the “Invention of the Cross.” Both feasts were celebrated in Rome by the seventh century. The September date of that church’s dedication came to be celebrated as the feast of the “Exaltation of the Cross.” Believers said a miraculous healing took place when a sick woman was touched with one piece, proof that it was a section of the actual cross of Christ.Ĭonstantine built a large church, the Martyrium, over what was assumed to be the location of Jesus’ tomb. He authorized excavation of some of the holy sites of Christ’s life in what came to be called the “Holy Land.” At the time, it was part of the Roman province of Syria Palestina, bracketed by the Jordan River to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the west and Syria to the north.īy the fifth century, the legend arose that pieces of crosses were uncovered by Constantine’s mother, Helena, during these excavations. In the early fourth century, Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity. Christians, then, frequently referred to the Christ’s cross both as the “wood of life” and as a “victorious Cross.” The true cross? This Resurrection was a sign of Christ’s “victory” over sin and death.īelievers could share in this victory by being baptized, forgiven of past sin and “reborn” into a new life in the Christian community, the church. They understood Christ’s death on the cross to be “completed” by God’s raising him from the dead three days later.
The caricature of “Alexamenos,” offering prayers to this crucified figure was a way of depicting Christ with a donkey’s head and ridiculing his god.īut for Christians, the cross had deep meaning. Second century pagan graffito depicting a man worshipping a crucified donkey-headed figure.Ī famous piece of early-third century Roman wall art, the “Alexamenos graffito,” depicts two human figures, with the head of a donkey, arms stretched out in a T-shaped cross, with the caption “Alexamenos worships his god.”Ĭhristianity was outlawed at the time in the Roman Empire and criticized by some as a religion for fools.