6 Ancient Christian Symbols and Their Hidden Meanings

Shutterstock.com

Christian symbols are a big part of religious culture. We often see them displayed on bumper stickers, T-shirts and tattoos, among other things. While they are widely popular, many believers aren’t aware of the origin of these symbols. Christian symbols are objects with an inner meaning expressing Christian figures and ideas, and often hold great meaning for those who display them. There were a number of symbols that were widely popular in the early church that we are very familiar with. Water has specific significance for Christians. Outside of baptism, water may represent cleansing or purity. Fire, especially in the form of a candle flame, represents both the Holy Spirit and light. The sources of these symbols derive from the Bible. Then, there are those symbols that we see often, but we’re not quite sure how they came into play or the deeper meaning behind then. Here are six ancient Christian symbols and their hidden meanings.

Ichthus

Rusty Clark/Flickr.com

We see them on cars and trucks everywhere, displayed on bumpers and rear windows. But what does the symbol that resembles an outline of a fish really mean? The Greek word for “fish” is “ichthus” or “ichthys.” The early Christians formed an acrostic from these letters as follows: I = Iesous (Jesus); CH= Christos (Christ); TH= Theous (God); U= Uios (Son); S= Soter (Savior). Every time they would see a fish or the sight of the symbol, it would immediately bring to the believer’s mind the good news of Jesus Christ. This symbol was also significant because of the fact that during Jesus’ ministry, He referred to His disciples as “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17) and He fed huge groups of His followers meals of fish (Matthew 14:13-21; 15:33-39). The fish represents the followers of Jesus.

Alpha and Omega

Poulpy/WikiCommons

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the “Alpha and Omega.” This was recorded in Revelation 1:8, 11; 21:6; and 22:13. Among the Jewish rabbis, it was common to use the first and last letters of the Hebrew to denote the whole of anything, from beginning to end. Jesus as the beginning and end of all things is a reference to no one but the true God. It is seen especially in Revelation 22:13, where Jesus proclaims that He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” One of the meanings of Jesus being the “Alpha and Omega” is that He is the beginning of all things and will be at the close. A second meaning of Jesus as the “Alpha and Omega” is that the phrase identifies Him as the God of the Old Testament. We see several references of this in the Book of Isaiah: “I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last I am He” (Isaiah 41:4).

Chi-Rho

Justin Ennis/Flickr.com

The Chi-Rho is a Christian symbol consisting of the intersection of the capital Greek letters Chi (x) and Rho (P), which are the first two letters of “Christ” in Greek. The Chi-Rho can represent either Christ or Christianity and is also known as a Christogram. This symbol is also known as the labarum, which is based on the Latin word laureum, “military standard.” This is based on Constantine’s application of the Chi-Rho symbol to his military standard after receiving his famous vision before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312: “On the top of the whole was fixed a wreath of gold and precious stones, and within this symbol of the Savior’s name, two letters indicating the name of Christ by means of the initial letters, the letter X intersection P at the center.” The Chi-Rho was used by Christians before Constantine but became more widely popular after he adopted it.

Pelican

Nheyob/WikiCommons

The pelican symbol in Christianity, also called pelican-in-her-piety, symbolizes the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, because He gave His blood for us, as well as the Eucharist, because it represents Christ’s blood which provides spiritual nourishment. According to legend, in a time of famine, a mother pelican would draw blood from her own chest and give that blood to her chicks so it would make sense that the pelican would be an appropriate symbol for sacrifice. The legend of the pelican is an ancient one and has had several variations. It was adopted into Christianity by the 2nd century when it appears in the Physiologus, a Christian adaptation of popular animal legends and symbols.