Chi-Rho Monogram of Jesus
Christ Symbol of Early Christianity on Ancient Roman Coins for Sale
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The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of
christogram, and is used by some
Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two (capital)
letters
chi and
rho (ΧΡ) of the Greek word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" =Christ
in such a way to produce the
monogram. Although not technically a
Christian cross, the Chi-Rho invokes the
crucifixion of Jesus, as well as symbolizing his status as the
Christ.
The Chi-Rho symbol was also used by
pagan
Greek
scribes to mark, in the margin, a particularly valuable or relevant
passage; the combined letters Chi and Rho standing for chrēston,
meaning "good." Some coins of
Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 246–222 BC) were marked with a Chi-Rho.
The Chi-Rho symbol was used by the
Roman emperor
Constantine I as
vexillum, which is known as
Labarum.
Early symbols similar to the Chi Rho were the
Staurogram (_I_193_2.jpg/20px-Christliche_Symbolik_(Menzel)_I_193_2.jpg) )
and the
IX Monogram (_I_193_4.jpg/20px-Christliche_Symbolik_(Menzel)_I_193_4.jpg) )
Christian accounts of Constantine's adoption of the Chi-Rho
Missorium depicting Emperor Constantine's son Constantius II
accompanied by a guardsman with the Chi-Rho depicted on his
shield.
According to
Lactantius, a
Latin
historian of
North African origins saved from poverty by the patronage of Emperor
Constantine I (r. 306–337) as tutor to his son
Crispus,
Constantine had dreamt of being ordered to put a "heavenly divine
symbol" (Latin:
coeleste signum dei) on the
shields
of his soldiers. The description of the actual symbol chosen by Emperor
Constantine the next morning, as reported by Lactantius, is not very
clear: it closely resembles a Chi-Rho or a staurogram, a similar
Christian symbol. That very day Constantine's army fought the forces of
Maxentius and won the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), outside
Rome.
Emperor Constantine's
labarum, a standard incorporating the wreathed Chi-Rho,
from an antique silver medal.
Writing in
Greek,
Eusebius of Caesarea (died in 339), the bishop who wrote the first
surviving general history of the early Christian churches, gave two
different accounts of the events. In his church history, written shortly
after the battle, when Eusebius didn't yet have any contact with
Constantine, he doesn't mention any dream or vision, but compares the
defeat of Maxentius (drowned in the
Tiber) to
that of the biblical
pharaoh
and credits Constantine's victory to divine protection.
In a memoir of the Roman emperor that Eusebius wrote after
Constantine's death (On the Life of Constantine, circa 337–339),
a miraculous appearance came in
Gaul long
before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. In this later version, the
Roman emperor had been pondering the misfortunes that befall commanders
that invoke the help of many different gods, and decided to seek divine
aid in the forthcoming battle from the One God. At noon, Constantine saw
a cross of light imposed over the
sun. Attached
to it, in Greek characters, was the saying "Τούτῳ Νίκα!". Not only
Constantine, but the whole army saw the miracle. That night, Christ
appeared to the Roman emperor in a dream and told him to make a replica
of the sign he had seen in the sky, which would be a sure defence in
battle.
Eusebius wrote in the Vita that Constantine himself had told
him this story "and confirmed it with oaths" late in life "when I was
deemed worthy of his acquaintance and company." "Indeed", says Eusebius,
"had anyone else told this story, it would not have been easy to accept
it."
Eusebius also left a description of the
labarum,
the military standard which incorporated the Chi-Rho sign, used by
Emperor Constantine in his later wars against Licinius.
Celestial chi
Although modern representations of the Chi-Rho sign represent the two
lines crossing at ninety degree angles, the early examples of the
Chi-Rho cross at an angle that is more vividly representative of the
chi formed by the
solar
ecliptic path and the
celestial equator. This image is most familiar in
Plato's
Timaeus, where it is explained that the two bands which form the
"world soul" (anima
mundi) cross each other like the letter chi. Not only did
the two legs of the chi remind early Christians of the Holy
Cross, "it reminded them of the mystery of the
pre-existent Christ, the Logos Theou, the
Word of God,
who extended himself through all things in order to establish peace and
harmony in the universe," in Robert Grigg's words.[8]
Hugo Rahner summarized the significance: "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." Of Plato's image in Timaeus,
Justin Martyr, the Christian apologist writing in the 2nd century,
found a prefiguration of the Holy Cross, and an early testimony may be
the phrase in
Didache,
"sign of extension in heaven" (sēmeion ekpetaseōsen ouranō).
An alternate explanation of the intersecting celestial symbol has
been advanced by George Latura, claiming that Plato's visible god in
Timaeus is in fact the intersection of the Milky Way and the
Zodiacal Light, a rare apparition important to pagan beliefs that
Christian bishops reinvented as a Christian symbol.
Later usage
The use of a wreath around the Chi-Rho symbolizes the victory of the
Resurrection over death, and is an early visual representation of
the connection between the
Crucifixion of Jesus and his triumphal resurrection, as seen in the
4th century
sarcophagus of Domitilla in Rome. Here, in the wreathed Chi-Rho the
death and resurrection of Christ are shown as inseparable, and the
Resurrection is not merely a happy ending tucked at the end of the life
of Christ on Earth. Given the use of similar symbols on the Roman
standard, this depiction also conveyed another victory, namely that of
the Christian faith: the Roman soldiers who had once arrested Jesus and
marched him to
Calvary
now walked under the banner of a resurrected Christ.
After Constantine, the Chi-Rho became part of the official imperial
insignia.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence demonstrating that the
Chi-Rho was emblazoned on the
helmets of some Late Roman soldiers. Coins and medallions minted
during Emperor Constantine's reign also bore the Chi-Rho. By the year
350, the Chi-Rho began to be used on Christian
sarcophagi and
frescoes.
The usurper
Magnentius appears to have been the first to use the Chi-Rho
monogram flanked by
Alpha and Omega, on the reverse of some coins minted in 353. In
Roman Britannia, a tesselated
mosaic
pavement was uncovered at Hinton St. Mary, Dorset, in 1963. On
stylistic grounds, it is dated to the 4th century; its central roundel
represents a beardless male head and bust draped in a
pallium
in front of the Chi-Rho symbol, flanked by
pomegranates, symbols of eternal life. Another Romano-British
Chi-Rho, in fresco, was found at the site of a villa at
Lullingstone (illustrated). The symbol was also found on Late Roman
Christian signet rings in Britain.
Gallery
-
-
The Chi-Rho with a wreath symbolizing the victory of the
Resurrection, above Roman soldiers, circa 350.
-
Chi-Rho on a 4th-century
altar, Khirbet Um El’Amad,
Algeria.
-
Christian pendant of Maria (398–407), wife of the
Emperor Honorius (r. 395–423), with text in the shape of
a Chi-Rho,
Louvre.
-
-
-
Reconstruction of Chi-Rho fresco from Roman villa at
Lullingstone, including
Alpha and Omega.
-
-
-
-
The labarum (Greek:
λάβαρον) was a
vexillum (military standard) that
displayed the "Chi-Rho"
symbol, formed from the first two
Greek letters of the word "Christ"
(Greek:
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, or Χριστός) — Chi (χ)
and Rho (ρ).
It was first used by the
Roman emperor
Constantine I. Since the vexillum
consisted of a flag suspended from the crossbar of a cross, it was
ideally suited to symbolize
crucifixion. The Chi-Rho symbol was
also used by Greek scribes to mark, in the margin, a particularly
valuable or relevant passage; the combined letters Chi and Rho standing
for chrēston, meaning "good." | 
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