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43-526: [REDACTED] Look up chrismon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Chrismon may refer to: Chrismon, a Christogram Chrismon, the Chi Rho monogram Signum manus or Chrismon , the medieval European practice of signing a document or charter with a special type of monogram or royal cypher Chrismon, a type of Christmas decoration, such as

86-573: A Chrismon tree Chrismon (magazine) , a German Lutheran magazine See also [ edit ] Chrisma (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Chrismon . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chrismon&oldid=1225387225 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

129-543: A Christian symbol. The most commonly encountered Christogram in English-speaking countries in modern times is the Χ (or more accurately, Chi), representing the first letter of the word Christ , in such abbreviations as Xmas (for "Christmas") and Xian or Xtian (for "Christian"). An early form of the monogram of Christ, found in early Christian ossuaries in Palaestina , was formed by superimposing

172-520: A form that includes the use of a cross-like combination of the letters tau and rho . This tau-rho symbol, the staurogram , appears also in Papyrus 45 (dated 250), again in relation to the crucifixion of Jesus. In 2006 Larry Hurtado noted that the Early Christians probably saw in the staurogram a depiction of Jesus on the cross, with the cross represented (as elsewhere) by the tau and

215-469: A medieval monastery in Ghazali, Sudan , whose right foot bore a tattoo from medieval Nubia , a region that covered parts of modern-day Egypt and Sudan, depicting a Chi Rho and an Alpha Omega . The person, most likely male, lived sometime between 667 and 774. Tau cross The tau cross is a T-shaped cross, sometimes with all three ends of the cross expanded. It is called a "tau cross" because it

258-751: A prefiguration of the Holy Cross. An early statement may be the phrase in Didache , "sign of extension in heaven" ( sēmeion epektaseōs en ouranōi ). An alternative explanation of the intersecting celestial symbol has been advanced by George Latura, claiming that Plato's "visible god" in Timaeus is the intersection of the Milky Way and the Zodiacal Light, a rare apparition important to pagan beliefs. He said that Christian bishops reframed this as

301-573: Is chrisimus . Similarly, the Middle Latin crismon , chrismon refers to the Chi-Rho monogram specifically. In antiquity, the cross , i.e. the instrument of Christ's crucifixion ( crux , stauros ), was taken to be T-shaped , while the X -shape (" chiasmus ") had different connotations. There has been scholarly speculation on the development of the Christian cross,

344-544: Is a similar form, using the initials of the name Ἰησοῦς (ὁ) Χριστός , 'Jesus (the) Christ', as is the ΙΗ monogram ( [REDACTED] ), using the first two letters of the name ΙΗΣΟΥΣ , 'JESUS' in uppercase. There were a very considerable number of variants of "Christograms" or monograms of Christ in use during the medieval period, with the boundary between specific monograms and mere scribal abbreviations somewhat fluid. The name Jesus , spelt ΙΗΣΟΥΣ in Greek capitals, has

387-502: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Christogram One of the oldest Christograms is the Chi-Rho (☧). It consists of the superimposed Greek letters chi (Χ) and rho (Ρ) , which are the first two letters of the Greek χριστός , 'Christ'. It was displayed on the labarum military standard used by Constantine I in 312 AD. The IX monogram ( [REDACTED] )

430-653: Is now most commonly associated with the Franciscan Order and its founder, Saint Francis of Assisi , who adopted it as his personal sign after hearing Pope Innocent III talk about the Tau symbol. It is now used as a symbol of the Secular Franciscan Order. The cross's use in Franciscanism dates back to St. Francis of Assisi himself, who used it as his signature and personal seal. During

473-477: Is shaped like the Greek letter tau , which in its upper-case form has the same appearance as the Latin letter T . Another name for the same object is Saint Anthony's cross or Saint Anthony cross , a name given to it because of its association with Saint Anthony of Egypt . It is also called a crux commissa , one of the four basic types of iconographic representations of the cross. The Greek letter tau

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516-558: Is sometimes interpreted as meaning ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΗΜΕΤΕΡΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡ , Iēsous Hēmeteros Sōtēr , 'Jesus our Saviour' or in Latin Jesus Hominum (or Hierosolymae ) Salvator , ('Jesus, Saviour of men [or: of Jerusalem]' in Latin) or connected with In Hoc Signo . English-language interpretations of "IHS" have included "In His Service". Such interpretations are known as backformed acronyms . Used in Latin since

559-652: The Ichthys . After Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima , Japan, in 1549, his missionary work grew and became widely distributed throughout Japan under the patronage of the daimyō . However, during the Edo period (1603–1867), Christians were persecuted and forced to hide. Because they were forbidden to openly reverence the images of Christ or Mary , it is believed that they transferred their worship to other carved images and marked them with secret symbols understood only by

602-590: The Trial of the Court of the Vowels of non-Christian Lucian (125 – after 180), the Greek letter Sigma (Σ) accuses the letter Tau (Τ) of having provided tyrants with the model for the wooden instrument with which to crucify people and demands that Tau be executed on his own shape: "It was his body that tyrants took for a model, his shape that they imitated, when they set up the erections on which men are crucified. Σταυρός

645-576: The Christogram written in Anglo-Saxon runes , as ᛁᚻᛋ ᛉᛈᛋ, transliterated to the Latin alphabet as 'IHS XPS', with the chi rendered as the eolh rune (the old z or algiz rune) and the rho rendered as the p-rune . In the Latin -speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting

688-482: The H surmounted by a cross above three nails and surrounded by a Sun is the emblem of the Jesuits , according to tradition introduced by Ignatius of Loyola in 1541. IHS has been known to appear on gravestones, especially among Irish Catholics. In Eastern Christianity , the most widely used Christogram is a four-letter abbreviation, ΙϹ ΧϹ—a traditional abbreviation of the Greek words for 'Jesus Christ' (i.e.,

731-711: The Pope, after describing the sad situation of the Holy Places trampled by the Saracens, lamented the scandals that discredited the flock of Christ and threatened it with divine punishment if it was not amended. He evoked the vision of Ezekiel, when the Lord, patience exhausted, exclaims with a powerful voice: " 'Come near, you who watch over the city; come near with the instrument of extermination in your hands.' And behold, six men arrived with two whips in their hands. Among them

774-403: The abbreviations IHS (also written JHS, IHC , or ΙΗΣ ). The name Christus , spelt ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ , has XP (and inflectional variants such as IX, XPO, XPS, XPI, XPM ). In Eastern Christian tradition, the monogram ΙϹΧϹ (with Overline indicating scribal abbreviation) is used for Ἰησοῦς Χριστός in both Greek and Cyrillic tradition. A Middle Latin term for abbreviations of the name of Christ

817-458: The first (capital) letters of the Greek words for Jesus and Christ , i.e. iota Ι and chi Χ , so that this monogram means "Jesus Christ". The Alpha and Omega symbols may at times accompany the Chi-Rho monogram. Since the 17th century, Chrismon ( chrismum ; also chrismos, chrismus ) has been used as a Neo-Latin term for the Chi Rho monogram. Because the chrismon

860-448: The first and last letters of each of the words Ι ΗϹΟΥ Ϲ Χ ΡΙϹΤΟ Ϲ , with the lunate sigma 'Ϲ' common in medieval Greek), and written with titlo (diacritic) denoting scribal abbreviation ( І︮С︯ Х︮С︯ ). On icons, this Christogram may be split: 'ΙϹ' on the left of the image and 'ΧϹ' on the right. It is sometimes rendered as 'ΙϹ ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ' ( Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς νικᾷ ), meaning 'Jesus Christ Conquers'. 'ΙϹΧϹ' may also be seen inscribed on

903-576: The first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, ΙΗΣΟΥΣ , iota - eta - sigma , or ΙΗΣ . The Greek letter iota is represented by 'I', and the eta by 'H', while the Greek letter sigma is either in its lunate form, represented by 'C', or its final form, represented by 'S'. 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"

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946-556: The head by the loop of the rho, as had already been suggested by Robin Jensen, Kurt Aland and Erika Dinkler. In 2008 David L. Balch agreed, adding more papyri containing the staurogram ( Papyrus 46 , Papyrus 80 and Papyrus 91) and stating: "The staurogram constitutes a Christian artistic emphasis on the cross within the earliest textual tradition", and "in one of the earliest Christian artifacts we have, text and art are combined to emphasize 'Christus crucifixus'". In 2015, Dieter T. Roth found

989-523: The initiates. Certain Japanese lanterns , notably the Kirishitan dōrō ( キリシタン灯籠 , 'Christian lanterns'), did bear the "Lhq" monogram , which, a quarter turned, was engraved on the shaft ( sao ), which was buried directly into the soil without basal platform ( kiso ). The 'Lhq' monogram corresponds to the distorted letters 'IHS'. In 2016 a 1,300-year-old corpse, was found in a cemetery near

1032-428: The letter Chi used to abbreviate the name of Christ , and the various pre-Christian symbolism associated with the chiasmus interpreted in terms of "the mystery of the pre-existent Christ ". In Plato 's Timaeus , it is explained that the two bands which form the "world soul" ( anima mundi ) cross each other like the letter Chi, possibly referring to the ecliptic crossing the celestial equator : And thus

1075-471: The one the outer and the other the inner circle. The two great circles of the heavens, the equator and the ecliptic, which, by intersecting each other form a sort of recumbent chi and about which the whole dome of the starry heavens swings in a wondrous rhythm, became for the Christian eye a heavenly cross. Justin Martyr in the 2nd century makes explicit reference to Plato's image in Timaeus in terms of

1118-614: The reduction of epidemics and the competition from the hospitals of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (generally known as the Knights of Malta) their numbers decreased. Their last house in Europe was finally closed in 1803. Another explanation proposed for the association of the tau cross with Saint Anthony is that the tau cross was a stylized representation of

1161-479: The saint's staff, topped by a horizontal bar, on which he supported himself when old. A staff of that kind is represented in his hand in a painting by the German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald ( c.  1470 – 1528) on an outer panel of his Isenheim Altarpiece . In this painting the saint remains tranquil in spite of being threatened by a fearsome demon depicted as breaking the panes of

1204-691: The same interpretation of the number τιη’ (318), referring to the cross of Christ with the expression "the Lord's sign": "They say, then, that the character representing 300 is, as to shape, the type of the Lord’s sign, and that the Iota and the Eta indicate the Saviour’s name." Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240) remarks that the Greek letter τ and the Latin letter T have the same shape as the execution cross: "Ipsa est enim littera Graecorum Tau, nostra autem T, species crucis". In

1247-609: The seventh century, the first use of IHS in an English document dates from the fourteenth century, in Piers Plowman . In the 15th century, Saint Bernardino of Siena 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 (see Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus ). The IHS monogram with

1290-493: The sinners who really commit themselves to reforming their lives. Francis, who participated in the council as superior general of an order approved by the church, must have taken Innocent III's invitation very seriously, since, according to his companions and his first biographers, he loved and revered the tau, "because it represents the cross and means true penance". At the beginning of any activity, he crossed himself with said sign, preferring it to any other sign, and painted it on

1333-462: The staurogram in further papyri and in parts of the aforementioned papyri that had escaped the notice of earlier scholars. In the view of Tertullian and of Origen (184/185 – 253/254) the passage in Ezekiel 9:4 in which an angel וְהִתְוִיתָ תָּו עַל־מִצְחֹות הָאֲנָשִׁים , "set a mark [ tav ; after the cross-shaped Phoenician and early Hebrew letter] on the forehead of the men" who are saved

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1376-582: The time of Francis and from the Fourth Lateran Council , called by Pope Innocent III, the tau was a symbol widely used by the Catholic Church, in general, as a sign of conversion and sign of the cross. In inaugurating that Council, Innocent III preached on Ezekiel 9 and called all Christians to do penance under the sign of the tau, a sign of conversion and the sign of the cross. As Omer Englebert recounts in his biography of Francis,

1419-528: The vile engine is called, and it derives its vile name from him. Now, with all these crimes upon him, does he not deserve death, nay, many deaths? For my part I know none bad enough but that supplied by his own shape—that shape which he gave to the gibbet named σταυρός after him by men" The Greek word σταυρός, which in the New Testament refers to the structure on which Jesus died, appears as early as AD 200 in two papyri, Papyrus 66 and Papyrus 75 in

1462-429: The walls of the cells. In his conversations and sermons he often recommended it, and drew it as a signature in all his letters and writings, "as if all his concern was to engrave the sign of the tau, according to the prophetic saying, on the foreheads of the men who moan and weep, truly converted to Christ Jesus." Among Francis's autograph manuscripts in which he signs with the tau is his famous "Blessing to Brother Leo",

1505-421: The weapons you have at hand: excommunications, dismissals, suspensions and interdicts, you have to relentlessly punish how many are not marked with the propitiatory tau and are obstinate in dishonoring Christianity. In his Lateran speech, Innocent III had marked with the tau sign three classes of predestined: those who enlisted in the crusade; those who, prevented from crossing paths, fight against heresy; finally,

1548-412: The whole mixture out of which he cut these portions was all exhausted by him. This entire compound divided lengthways into two parts, which he joined to one another at the centre like the letter X, and bent them into a circular form, connecting them with themselves and each other at the point opposite to their original meeting-point; and, comprehending them in a uniform revolution upon the same axis, he made

1591-710: The window behind him. The saint is not shown as wearing the emblem of the Antonines. The Antonines survive in the Middle East , especially in Lebanon , as a Maronite Church order with 21 monasteries and many schools and seminaries. They still use the bright blue tau cross on their black habits. With the disappearance in the Western Church of the Hospital Brothers of Saint Anthony, the tau cross

1634-567: Was a man dressed in linen, with a writing-message around his waist. And Yahweh said to him: 'Go through Jerusalem, and mark with a tau the foreheads of the righteous who are in it.' And he said to the other five: 'Go through the city after him, and mercilessly exterminate as many as you find; but do not touch anyone who is marked with the tau. ' " ... Who are – continued the Pope ;– the six men in charge of divine vengeance? Those are you, Council Fathers, who, using all

1677-551: Was a prediction of the Early Christian custom of repeatedly tracing on their own foreheads the sign of the cross. The Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony , known as the Antonines, were a Catholic religious order of the Latin Church founded at the end of the 11th century. They wore a black religious habit marked with a blue tau. This habit became associated with their patron saint, Anthony of Egypt , who accordingly

1720-423: Was represented as bearing on his cloak a cross in the form of a tau. Through its association with the Antonines, this cross became known as Saint Anthony's cross, as the disease of ergotism , to whose treatment the Antonines devoted themselves more particularly, became known as Saint Anthony's fire. In about 1500 the Antonines still had 370 hospitals, but with the identification of the fungus that caused ergotism,

1763-444: Was the knowledge given to him in this? Learn the eighteen first, and then the three hundred. The ten and the eight are thus denoted—Ten by Ι , and Eight by Η . You have [the initials of the name of] Jesus. And because the cross was to express the grace [of our redemption] by the letter Τ, he says also, 'Three Hundred'. He signifies, therefore, Jesus by two letters, and the cross by one." Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215) gives

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1806-405: Was used as a numeral for 300. The Epistle of Barnabas (late first century or early second) gives an allegorical interpretation of the number 318 (in Greek numerals τιη’) in the text of Book of Genesis 14:14 as intimating the crucifixion of Jesus by viewing the numerals ιη’ (18) as the initial letters of Ἰησοῦς, Iēsus , and the numeral τ’ (300) as a prefiguration of the cross: "What, then,

1849-811: Was used as a kind of "invocation" at the beginning of documents of the Merovingian period , the term also came to be used of the " cross-signatures " in early medieval charters. Chrismon in this context may refer to the Merovingian period abbreviation I. C. N. for in Christi nomine , later (in the Carolingian period ) also I. C. for in Christo , and still later (in the high medieval period) just C. for Christus . St Cuthbert's coffin (late 7th century) has an exceptional realisation of

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