Difference between revisions of "Christogram" - New World Encyclopedia
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''Nomina sacra'' means "sacred names" in [[Latin language|Latin]], and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early [[Greek language]] [[Holy Scripture]]. The Bruce Metzger's book ''Manuscripts of the Greek Bible'' lists 15 such expressions from Greek papyri: the Greek counterparts of God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Son, Spirit, David, cross, Mary, Father, Israel, Savior, Man Jerusalem, and Heaven. The contractions were written with overlines. | ''Nomina sacra'' means "sacred names" in [[Latin language|Latin]], and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early [[Greek language]] [[Holy Scripture]]. The Bruce Metzger's book ''Manuscripts of the Greek Bible'' lists 15 such expressions from Greek papyri: the Greek counterparts of God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Son, Spirit, David, cross, Mary, Father, Israel, Savior, Man Jerusalem, and Heaven. The contractions were written with overlines. | ||
| − | There has been a dispute about the nature of ''nomina sacra'', whether they represent a mere shorthand or these overlined words indeed bear a sacred meaning. | + | There has been a dispute about the nature of ''nomina sacra'', whether they represent a mere shorthand or these overlined words indeed bear a sacred meaning.[http://www.irr.org/English-JW/tetra-appenK.pdf Institute for Religious Research: The Tetragrammaton and the Christian Greek Scriptures, Appendix K: Nomina Sacra] |
Starting in the third century the ''nomina sacra'' were sometimes shortened by contraction in Christian inscriptions, resulting in sequences of Greek letters such as IH (iota-eta), IC (iota-sigma), or IHC (iota-eta-sigma) for Jesus (Greek Iēsous), and XC (chi-sigma), XP (chi-ro) and XPC (chi-rho-sigma) for Christ (Greek Christos). Here "C" represents the medieval "lunate" form of Greek sigma; sigma could also be transcribed into the Latin alphabet by sound, giving IHS and XPS. | Starting in the third century the ''nomina sacra'' were sometimes shortened by contraction in Christian inscriptions, resulting in sequences of Greek letters such as IH (iota-eta), IC (iota-sigma), or IHC (iota-eta-sigma) for Jesus (Greek Iēsous), and XC (chi-sigma), XP (chi-ro) and XPC (chi-rho-sigma) for Christ (Greek Christos). Here "C" represents the medieval "lunate" form of Greek sigma; sigma could also be transcribed into the Latin alphabet by sound, giving IHS and XPS. | ||
Revision as of 06:44, 8 August 2008
A Christogram is a monogram or combination of letters which forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, and is traditionally used as a Christian symbol. Different types of Christograms are associated with the various traditions of Christianity. A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos.
File:IHS-monogram-Jesus-medievalesque.svg
Nomina sacra means "sacred names" in Latin, and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture. The Bruce Metzger's book Manuscripts of the Greek Bible lists 15 such expressions from Greek papyri: the Greek counterparts of God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Son, Spirit, David, cross, Mary, Father, Israel, Savior, Man Jerusalem, and Heaven. The contractions were written with overlines.
There has been a dispute about the nature of nomina sacra, whether they represent a mere shorthand or these overlined words indeed bear a sacred meaning.Institute for Religious Research: The Tetragrammaton and the Christian Greek Scriptures, Appendix K: Nomina Sacra
Starting in the third century the nomina sacra were sometimes shortened by contraction in Christian inscriptions, resulting in sequences of Greek letters such as IH (iota-eta), IC (iota-sigma), or IHC (iota-eta-sigma) for Jesus (Greek Iēsous), and XC (chi-sigma), XP (chi-ro) and XPC (chi-rho-sigma) for Christ (Greek Christos). Here "C" represents the medieval "lunate" form of Greek sigma; sigma could also be transcribed into the Latin alphabet by sound, giving IHS and XPS.
Eastern Orthodoxy
In Eastern Orthodoxy, the most widely used Christogram is a four-letter abbreviation ICXC — a traditional abbreviation of the Greek words for "Jesus Christ" (i.e., the first and last letters of each of the words ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ — written "IHCOYC XPICTOC" with a transliteration of the lunate sigma common in medieval Greek as "C"). On icons this christogram may be split: "IC" on the left of the image and "XC" on the right, most often with a bar above the letters, indicating that it was a sacred name. It is sometimes rendered as "ICXC NIKA", meaning "Jesus Christ Conquers."
"ICXC" may also be seen inscribed on the Ichthys. In the traditional Orthodox icon of Christ Pantokrator, Christ's right hand is shown in a pose that represents the letters IC, X and C.
Western Christianity
In the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram is "IHS" or "IHC", derived from the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, iota-eta-sigma or ΙΗΣ. Here the Greek letter eta was transliterated as the letter H in the Latin-speaking West (Greek eta and Latin-alphabet H had the same visual appearance and shared a common historical origin), while the Greek letter sigma was either transliterated as the Latin letter C (due to the visually-similar form of the lunate sigma), or as Latin S (since these letters of the two alphabets wrote the same sound). Because the Latin-alphabet letters I and J were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, "JHS" and "JHC" are equivalent to "IHS" and "IHC".
"IHS" is sometimes interpreted as meaning Iesus Hominum Salvator ("Jesus, Savior of men", in Latin), or connected with In Hoc Signo. Some uses have even been created for the English language, where "IHS" is interpreted as an abbreviation of "I Have Suffered" or "In His Service". Such interpretations are known as backronyms. Its use in the West originated with St. Bernardine of Siena, a 13th Century priest who popularized the use of the three letters on the background of a blazing sun to displace both popular pagan symbols and seals of political factions like the Guelphs and Ghibellines in public spaces.
One of the oldest Christograms is the Chi-Rho or Labarum. It consists of the superimposed Greek letters Chi Χ; and Rho Ρ, which are the first two letters of christ in Greek. Technically, the word labarum is Latin for a standard with a little flag hanging on it, used in the army. A Christogram was added to the flag as an image of the Greek letters Chi Rho, in the late Roman period. So Christogram and labarum are not originally synonyms.
The most commonly encountered Christogram in English-speaking countries in modern times is the X (or more accurately, Greek letter Chi) in the abbreviation Xmas (for "Christmas"), which represents the first letter of the word Christ.
Chrismon
A chrismon is one of number of Christian symbols intended to represent aspects of the Person, life or ministry of Jesus Christ and the life, ministry or history of the Christian Church through a single image, emblem or monogram. The term "chrismon" comes from the Latin phrase "Christi Monogramma", meaning "monogram of Christ". By definition, the literal monogram of Christ is the more commonly named labarum or "Chi Rho", which is the Greek letters Χ ("chi") superimposed upon Ρ ("rho"). Often, the Ρ is formed to look like a shepherd's crook and the Χ like a cross, symbolizing Jesus Christ as Good Shepherd of his flock, the Christian Church.
Chrismons can be found in all sizes, any sort of construction, and are used in numerous applications. Perhaps most commonly, chrismons are used to adorn liturgical devices and Christmas Trees during Advent and Christmas, where they are made from various materials ranging from needlepoint to woodwork and metalwork. They can also be found as decorations in and outside of Christian church buildings and homes, and even found on gravestones and personal stationary.
See also
- Christian symbolism
- Labarum
- Emblem of the Jesuits
- INRI
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
Further readings
- Bruce Metzger. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible (1981).
- Philip Comfort and David Barett. Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek manuscripts (1999).
- A.H.R.E. Paap, Nomina Sacra in the Greek Papyri of the First Five Centuries, Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava VIII (Leiden 1959).
- Ph. Comfort, Encountering the Manuscripts: An Introduction to New Testament Paleography and Textual Criticism, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005, pp. 199-253.
- L.W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins, Cambridge 2006, pp. 95-134.
External links
- Sacred names Retrieved August 8, 2008.
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