Christian Symbolism and the Cross Necklace

Cross Necklaces or cross pendants are not the first symbol in Christian history. As far as we know the first real symbol widely used by early Christian is what we now Call the Christian Fiish or the Itchus symbol.

Early Christian were persecuted by the Roman Empire and other enemies. The Christians used the sign of the fish it identify who was a Christian and who wasn't. The idea being that those who didn't understand what the fish symbol mean't wasn't a Christian.

The Christian Fish is a grand Christian symbol considering how often the Bible refer to a fish. Personally I'd like to see it gain more popularity in jewelry like it did in the 1960's and 1970"s.

The Christian symbol of the Cross is well over a thousand years old manifested in the Bzyantine, Canterbury and Greek styled crosses. The Cross necklace may be one of the oldest symbols still in use today in all of the world of jewelry.

At first only the Priests and various Clergy could afford to wear them, even in their crudest form. Then the wearing of Cross necklaces spread out among other members of high standing in the church like royalty or nobility.

Throughout history, different religions, geogrphical locations and cultures created their own style of the cross. Some of the popular ones are the Orthodox cross necklace and the Celtic Cross Necklace. In the case of the Ankh cross necklace it was first considered an Egyptian symbol of life then it was adopted by Christianity as a Cross of Life.

In the study of Cross necklaces and cross symbolsim there are so many names given to the same style of cross. for instance the Latin Cross necklace was also given the name as the Western cross which meant is was popular in Western Europe and eventually in America. It also derived the name of Church cross because many Christian denominations built their Churches in the shape of a Latin cross.

While Cross necklaces are worn to show ones faith in Christian values and to serve as a constant visual reminder of all that the cross stands for there is also alot of symbolsim added to these crosses used in creating cross necklaces. They may be cross necklaces associated with a particular Christian denomination.

The actual cross itself is highly symbolic. But Cross Necklaces have much more symbolsim depending if the cross necklace is an old styl cross, an Orthodox cross or a specific Church cross. This added symbolsim is added to the design of cross by artisans. To see a much broader selection of Crosses and their symbolism and their use as a cross necklace click on Cross Necklaces.

This post only scratches the surface of What's behind cross necklaces. Wear your Cross necklace in good faith.