II. Of the Crosses Found in the Roman Catacombs

The crosses found in the Roman dungeons, which constituted the secret refuges and eternal resting places of the Christians of the first three centuries at a time of great persecution against them, are found on various things unearthed in these catacombs: on the stone tombstones, on the candlesticks with which these dark and deep caves were illuminated, as well as on the underground winding passages in the church of St. Sylvester, Pope of Rome, built in the underground baths of Domitian, and finally, on sarcophagi or marble arches, the outer sides of which are decorated with sculptural images from the history of the Old and New Testaments.

Let us speak in order about all these things, having in mind mainly the very form of the Holy Cross.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, when they were eagerly engaged in the search for and study of various monuments of antiquity hidden in the Roman dungeons (coemeterium), among other rarities, a number of tombstones with inscriptions were dug up, some of which indicated the time in which the famous martyr suffered; For example, together with the image of the cross, palm tree, brazier, etc., symbols of martyrdom, the name of the emperor or the Roman consuls under whom the martyr suffered was also indicated.

Let's imagine three such stones, the first two of which are in the picture. The so-called Old Believers must believe at least the ancient Orthodox underground Rome, if they do not believe the later Rome out of contempt and prejudice. Although the work entitled "Underground Rome" was written in modern times in the Roman language by a Roman writer, this should not embarrass our brothers in the faith: Aringus wrote his huge work and embellished it with many photographs from the ancient monuments of Christianity, in order to show to the whole world the most precious treasures of the first centuries of Christendom, which for more than a thousand years69 had been hidden unknown in the dungeons of Rome. And, of course, not so that, for example, in a photograph from the famous stone that was on the grave of a martyr, it is possible to imagine a four-pointed cross and thereby convince the Russian imaginary Old Believers of the truth of the form of the four-pointed cross: such work is not undertaken for the sake of falsehood, but only in the name of truth and for the sake of truth.

Here is one of these stones:70

On it, as you can see, the name of Cassta, a Roman martyr, is read. That Cassta was a martyr is, in addition to the acts of martyrdom in which her name is recorded, proved by a palm tree, which is found only on the tombstones of martyrs. This wonderful stone was dug out of the cemetery of St. Clement.

Another tombstone has been preserved with an inscription, on top of which, in the middle of the longitudinal line, a four-pointed cross is inscribed, and on the sides – on the right side – the name of Christ the Savior, and on the left – a palm tree of valiant martyrdom. Since the Latin words of this inscription are almost ordinary printed large letters of the Roman alphabet, we will not bother to take a picture of them and will present them in ordinary script. The shape of the stone is quadrangular, large.

From the inscription on the stone it is clear that the martyr Alexander suffered under the emperor Antoninus, and Antoninus reigned in the first half of the second century and at the very beginning of the second. This means that the monument also dates back to the same time.71 Let our misguided brethren look at it and be convinced that the four-pointed cross is the true cross of Christ, and not the seal of the Antichrist.