"And bearing His cross, He went out to the place spoken of the forehead."

In. 19, 17

What is more familiar to Christians than the cross of Christ, which, meeting our entry into the world, accompanies us everywhere during our entire pilgrimage on earth – to our humble bed in the earthly womb, over which it is set for the last time as a witness to the faith and hope of the departed? What is more famous than this sacred, terrible for demons and salvific for Christians four-pointed form of the Life-Giving Cross, which we so often depict on ourselves and even more often see in the Holy Church on the top of churches, in various sacred actions, on holy icons, on sacred vessels and vestments? Who does not know and venerate the Holy Cross about the four ends from the elder to the youth? And this well-known form of the cross, this most ancient shrine of faith, the seal of all the sacraments, as something new, unknown to our ancestors, which appeared yesterday, was suspected by our imaginary Old Believers, humiliated, trampled on in broad daylight. Spewing blasphemy against that which from the very beginning of Christianity has served and continues to serve as a source of sanctification and salvation for all, venerating only the eight-pointed, or three-part cross. That is, a straight shaft and three cross-sections on it, arranged in a certain way, they call the so-called four-pointed cross, the seal of the Antichrist and the abomination of desolation, which is the true and most common form of the cross (for it is only in the course of time that the eight-pointed cross became customary), as if after the destruction of the two cross-sections – the title with the pedestal – the cross ceases to be a cross and the figure with four ends can in no way be called one.

We will devote this discussion to the study of the cross of Christ, and we will present an archaeological study of its form, in order to show the schismatics from the very antiquity and universality of the use of the four-pointed cross, that this form of it is the true form and that all other types of the cross are only modifications of this true form of the cross, and in essence constitute one and the same cross of Christ. By this of itself, the blasphemy of the schismatics against the four-pointed cross will be refuted as absurd and without any foundation. As for the grounds of the alleged Old Believers, cited in support of their beliefs in the eight-pointed cross, we proposed to briefly analyze and refute them at the very end of the argument.

On the Shape of the Holy Cross

Composition and division of the essay

From ancient times, in the church and in the private family life of the faithful, two kinds of the same cross have been very sharply differentiated and almost equally widely used: one is material, made of matter or matter, or depicted on some thing in such a way that it remains on it permanently or only for a certain time, and can be felt with the hands and constantly seen with the eyes; the other – immaterial, depicted by the hand or something else in the air or on a person and on various consecrated things – is the sign of the cross. The first kind of the cross, as a material one, did not always have and has the same form, and often diversifies according to the variety of craftsmen who make it, retaining, however, their fundamental compositions; the second, as a sign, which from a certain time it has been customary to depict once and for all in a certain form according to a certain form, for this very reason it is always almost constant and the same, and it happens, only more or less. It is to these two kinds of crosses, considered according to their form, that we will turn all our attention in this work.

It is thus divided into two parts. In the first part, in which we will follow the form of the cross at all times, we will speak about the material cross, and precisely, first of all, about the original Cross, the Lord's Cross: about its appearance and composition; Then, if possible, in chronological order, a number of numerous material monuments and images of the Holy Cross, preserved from ancient times to later times, will be presented. Here, among other things, will be placed the story of the finding of the Cross in the fourth century, since the history of this finding can very well serve as an indication of the true form of the cross in other places as well. In the second part it will be said how the so-called Old Believers, who rise up against the four-pointed cross, themselves, as it were, unconsciously use it in the sign of the cross; further, about the apostolic origin of the sign of the cross, about its use in the celebration of all the sacraments, and about its frequent and fruitful use by Christians of the first centuries.

But before we begin to speak about the thing itself, let us turn to its shadow – and cite several testimonies of Sts. of the Fathers on the Foreshadowing of the Cross in the Old Testament.

Note. In order that the Old Testament transformations of the four-pointed cross, which we wish to cite, may have all the force of proof, let us cite in advance a few testimonies of Sts. of the Fathers that images of something must have and do resemble what they form, and that for this reason they are called images. The schismatics say that the four-pointed cross is the image and shadow of the cross, and not the truest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, and by this they express the idea that the image or shadow has nothing in common with the thing itself or the prototype (Scribe of the Solovy Chelob.). Let us, therefore, listen to what the Holy Fathers say about this. Clement of Alexandria in his "Treasures" says1: "Images always have a resemblance to the original." In the book where he proves that in all the writings of Moses the mystery of Christ is revealed, he says the following about Abraham and Melchizedek (ch. 6): "Images must necessarily represent the prototype."