George,

The earliest reference to the use of the sign of the cross is generally said to be in Tertullian's De corona 3 (ca. 204):

At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign. <http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.vi.iii.html> [frontem signaculo terimus]

Though now very old (1908), there is a thoroughly documented article "Archaeology of the Cross and Crucifix" by Orazio Marucchi in the old Catholic Encyclopedia <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04517a.htm>. There is also the well-known treatment by Herbert Thurston, "The Sign of the Cross" (orig. 1911), reprinted in Familiar Prayers: Their Origin and History, Westminster, Md: Newman Press, 1953. A recent work among many is Richard Viladesau, The Beauty of the Cross: The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts from the Catacombs to the Eve of the Renaissance, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. For changes in devotion to and depiction of the cross around the millennium there is much of interest in Rachel Fulton, From Judgment to Passion: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800–1200, New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Some suggest that the earliest surviving cross is from Herculaneum (before AD 79): <http://www.gliscritti.it/gallery2/v/album_022/>; cf. William L. Holladay, "The Herculaneum Cross", Journal of Bible and Religion, Vol. 19 (1951): 16-19. I'm not sure what the modern scholarly consensus is about this cross. (Does anyone know?)

The Alexamenos graffito may be from as early as the 1st c. or as late as the 3rd: <http://www.ntresources.com/alex_graffito.htm>. Other early crosses seem to be from mid- to late-3rd c. (various sarcophagi), sometimes in composite forms with ChiRho &c.

The earliest surviving crucifixions (i.e., with corpus) seem to be 5th c.:
1) an ivory panel dated ca. 420-430 now in the British Museum <http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/p/panel_from_an_ivory_casket_th.aspx>
2) a panel of the mid-5th-c. door of Santa Sabina in Rome, generally accepted as a crucixion of Christ and the two thieves, though some have seen orants or deliberate ambiguity <http://www.rome101.com/Christian/Sabina/>

Here is a page on the iconography of the crucifix with some further links from Augusta State University: <http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/crucifixion.html>. -- Paul Chandler

2008/9/10 George R. Hoelzeman <[log in to unmask]>

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

I've been asked to do a presentation on the history and use of the cross in Christian culture this Sunday and thought I might query the group about some
(somewhat last minute) resources on the use of the cross prior to the 4th Century. I seem to recall coming across some indications that ante-Nicean Christians
used a form of the sign of the cross and may have used it in catacomb inscriptions, etc. but thusfar have come up empty handed.

Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions.

George the Less

George R. Hoelzeman
G.R.Hoelzeman Studios
Liturgical Design Consultant
grhstudios.com
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