Symbols of Unity, Not Division

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

—Luke 2:13-14

Many of you are probably not familiar with this news story, but a anti-LGBTQ+ group called Clean Up Alabama (CUA) has been fighting to get Prattville Pride, Prattville, Alabama’s LGBTQ+ organization, removed form the annual Prattville Christmas Parade. I used to work in Prattville back when I was in college, and I have always hated the place. CUA stated, “The Christmas parade is a celebration of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah. It is NOT a time to celebrate someone’s sexual preferences.” They obviously think the celebration of Christmas is a time to celebrate, not the message of Jesus Christ, but a message of hatefulness towards their fellow man (and women and non-binary, etc.). Let’s, for a moment, overlook the fact that Christmas was chosen to be on December 25 because it coincided with the Roman pagan holiday of Saturnalia and teh Winter Solstice, not the actual birth of Christ, and instead look at what should be the meaning of the holiday and the actions and symbols used to celebrate the season. 

In Alabama, and my sister is one of them, they hate to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas or to use Xmas, because it highlights their Christian insecurities and takes the “CHRIST out of Christmas.” I wish they could all take my Art History class because they would find out that the X in Xmas is an old Christian tradition because it is part of the Chi Rho symbol. Early Christian art is filled with symbology to represent the meaning of the Christian faith.

Chi (X) and Rho (P) are the beginnings of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Romanized: CHRISTOS). Before Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire, Christians were forced to hide their faith; however, they identified themselves with certain symbols: the cross and crucifix (the most commonly used symbols today), several different combinations of Greek letters (ichthys, Alpha and Omega, Chi Rho, IH monogram, IX monogram), the Good Shepherd, a dove, a peacock, or an anchor. Let us look at why these symbols were so important and meaningful to early Christians.

The ichthys (ἰχθύς in Greek, meaning “fish”) is a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs that resemble the profile of a fish. The ichthys was used by early Christians as a secret symbol during times of persecution under the Roman Empire. It allowed them to identify themselves to one another discreetly. The Greek word ichthys also served as an acronym for the phrase: Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Υἱὸς Σωτήρ (“Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”). Therefore, the ichthys represents Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. The fish itself is also significant because of its frequent appearance in the Gospels. The ichthys symbol is also a reference to the Holy Eucharist, with which the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes had such intimate connection both in point of time and significance. (Matthew 15:32–39 and Mark 8:1–9) It is also significant because Jesus called Peter and Andrew, both fishermen, to be His disciples. Mark 1: 16–18 says, “And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.”

The Alpha and Omega since the earliest Christianity of the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha (α or Α) and omega (ω or Ω), derives from the statement said by Jesus in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” The first two letters of the name of Jesus in Greek (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ), iota (Ι) and eta (Η), sometime superimposed one on the other was also a well known and very early way to represent Christ. Another early form of the monogram of Christ, found in early Christian ossuaries in Palaestina, was formed by superimposing 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 (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ)Christ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ.”

The image of the Good Shepherd, often with a sheep on his shoulders, is the most common of the symbolic representations of Christ found in the Catacombs of Rome, and it is related to the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12–14 and Luke 15:3–7). The dove as a Christian symbol is of very frequent occurrence in ancient ecclesiastical art. According to Matthew 3:16, “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” For this reason, the dove became a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and in general it occurs often in connection with early representations of baptism. Ancient Greeks believed that the flesh of peafowl did not decay after death, and so the peacock became a symbol of immortality. Early Christianity adopted this symbolism, and thus many early Christian paintings and mosaics show the peacock. Christians also adopted the anchor as a symbol of hope in future existence because the anchor was regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. For Christians, Christ is the unfailing hope of all who believe in him: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and several of the early Church Fathers speak in this sense. The Hebrews 6:19 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil” connects the idea of hope with the symbol of the anchor.

Most Christians do not have a very good understanding of what the symbols they sometimes use mean, nor do they understand the significance of the early Christian symbols and the sacrifices that early Christians made to spread the Word of God. Too many Christians are spouting hate and wrapping it in theology, but they forget that we are all one in Christ. Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

An Update on Prattville Pride and the Prattville Christmas Parade:

A few hours before the city of Prattville’s annual Christmas parade was to start, a Trump-appointed federal judge ordered the city to allow an LGBTQ+ pride group’s float to be included. Prattville Pride called the order “a powerful affirmation of the importance of visibility, representation, and inclusion for all members of our community,” in a Facebook post.

In his order, U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker of the Middle District of Alabama wrote: “While there are areas of unprotected speech, such as incitement of violence, the City makes no argument and provides no evidence that Prattville Pride has engaged in any speech or behavior that would remotely fall into an unprotected speech category. It is undisputed that Prattville Pride has complied with the City’s regulations.”

“The City removed Prattville Pride from the parade based on its belief that certain members of the public who oppose Prattville Pride, and what it stands for, would react in a disruptive way. But discrimination based on a message’s content “cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment,” the order continued.