In the early centuries the cruelest punishment imposed for defying the Roman Empire was crucifixion until death on a tree. So during the first centuries the early Christians witnessed many crucifixions. They were very horrified at the sight of the Crucifixion that the Crucifixes that now appear routinely hanged in Christian homes, schools, hospitals, parishes and other Christian religious or educational institutions which did not appear until the sixth century A.D.
Crucifixion was the capital punishment in Rome during the erstwhile most powerful Roman Era. The Crucifixion on the Cross (The shape of the Cross as derived from the letter “T”) was the most repeatedly used mode of gruesome torture to punish slaves, pirates, political or religious agitators or for those who had no civil rights to defend themselves. It was carried out in public in a most cruel manner by the Roman soldiers, so that those who saw it were made aware that such an act of death by crucifixion could happen to them if they desired to defy the rulers or authority of the day.
But with Christ`s Crucifixion was the pinnacle of the punishment which eventually ended as a form of Capital punishment in the Roman Empire. Darkness descended on the earth when Jesus Christ died on the Cross at 3.00 pm (the ninth hour as per the Jewish count of hours) and on the third day he rose again as his body which was laid in the tomb and guarded by the Roman soldiers was never found. The Roman Emperor Constantine, out of veneration for Christ`s death on the Cross, abolished it in the early fourth century A.D.
Thus for the early Christians, Christianity was symbolised by a lamb, and then when Crucifixion was first abolished, by a Jewelled Cross. Later period crucifixes were made and spread to combat a heresy that Christ was human and said that Christ was divine and invulnerable on the Cross.
Thus till the twenty first century” Cross” is today not only a symbol of Christianity but also a fashionable symbol of Hollywood and Bollywood Actors who are said to be wearing the same for cosmic energy and protection from evil. It has caught up such a fashion trend in India that one can find many domestic tourists who are not Christians in Goa posing joyfully with a cross on their necks
So paradoxically a symbol of suffering and defeat but also of triumph and salvation, the cross is the universal Christian symbol, acknowledged by all denominations as the single visual identifier of their faith as well as today an international fashion trend for all religions or faiths.
The Roman Catholic Church has decreed that above each of her altars there should be a Crucifix. That is why we find at all important places of the Church a Cross. Sometimes one wonders why such a pride of place for such a cruel reality. Why did the Church not direct to display the scenes of Christ`s birth above every altar or his resurrection or ascension? It is because the Holy Scriptures says that Jesus said that “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his Cross and follow me”. The Crucifix is the symbol that shows the path to eternal life, through the suffering and death that Christ took upon himself.
