Nine, forty, crescent/cross

[Jack Kollmann]

         Explanations for the slanted crossbar on some 6-,  7-, and
8-pointed crosses, frequently called the "Orthodox cross."

         In Orthodox apochryphal tradition, Christ's feet at the
Crucifixion were nailed to a small platform or crossbar.
(1)  When Christ died on the cross, "the earth shook, rocks split apart,
and tombs opened" (Matthew 27:51) and the bottom crossbar was knocked askew.
(2)  The  bottom crossbar points up towards the good thief being crucified
next to Christ, down towards the bad (the one who rejects him).
(3)  Folk belief:  one of Christ's legs was shorter than the other, so that
when they nailed his feet to the crossbar, it wound up being slanted.

         As with the symbolism of different cross types (e.g., the type
with a quarter-moon at the base that we've been discussing),
interpretations and explanations vary, and one can't count on the maker of
a cross knowing what we think he was supposed to know.  Nor are multiple
explanations excluded.  The Church tended not to fix such things in stone,
but to receive rather openly interpretations that might seem to us to be
unfounded and/or contradictory.

         Explanation #1 above is the most frequently given in church
literature I've looked at (although the art history authority I cited in my
previous email opts for #2).  The slanted bottom crossbar is seen
frequently on crosses atop churches and on altar and processional crosses
and is said to signify not only Christ's sacrifice for our sins, but the
miracle of his resurrection, an event celebrated in the liturgy in the
church and on the altar (which is called Christ's "throne" in Russian).  A
significant bit of evidence favoring #1 is that, in some iconostases where
icons of both the Crucifixion and the Deposition (lowering of Christ's body
from the cross) are included, one frequently (though not always) sees the
bottom crossbar straight in the Crucifixion scene (he is still alive), but
slanted in the Deposition scene (the earth shook when he died).

         I fear this has gone beyond the language focus of this list (more
appropriate for ESSL), but I trust that all of us have wondered about this
question and may have heard various explanations for the slanted crossbar
(including, no doubt, many beyond the 3 cited above).  Given the richness
of folk traditions, the relatively uneducated condition of the masses (and
even priests) in old Russia, the lack of a Church-decreed form the cross
should take (and explanations why), and the generally receptive attitude of
the Church to multiple sources of tradition, one can hardly give a
definitive answer explaining the slanted crossbar, although points #1 and
#2 above should be granted some degree of authority.

Jack Kollmann


At 10:41 AM 10/1/01 +0200, you wrote:
>(Anyone want to hear the several explanations as to why the
> > bottom crossbar is sometimes slanted, a topic briefly touched on by Hugh?)
>
>Sure.
>
>Jan Zielinski
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                 http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------