Chi (Χ) In antiquity, the
cross, i.e. the
instrument of Christ's crucifixion (, ), was taken to be
T-shaped, while the
X-shape ("
chiasmus") had different connotations. There has been scholarly speculation on the development of the Christian cross, the letter Chi used to abbreviate the name of
Christ, and the various pre-Christian symbolism associated with the chiasmus interpreted in terms of "the mystery of the
pre-existent Christ". In
Plato's , it is explained that the two bands which form the "world soul" () cross each other like the letter Chi, possibly referring to the
ecliptic crossing the
celestial equator:
Justin Martyr in the 2nd century makes explicit reference to Plato's image in in terms of a prefiguration of the Holy Cross. An early statement may be the phrase in
Didache, "sign of extension in heaven" (). The most commonly encountered Christogram in English-speaking countries in modern times is the Χ (or more accurately, Chi), representing the first letter of the word
Christ, in such abbreviations as
Xmas (for "Christmas") and
Xian or
Xtian (for "Christian").
Iota Chi (IX) from
Constantinople An early form of the monogram of Christ, found in early Christian
ossuaries in
Palestine, was formed by superimposing the first (capital) letters of the Greek words for
Jesus and
Christ, i.e.
iota Ι and
chi Χ, so that this
monogram means "Jesus Christ".
Chi Rho (ΧΡ) combined with
Alpha and Omega, in 1669 labelled ,
Milan Cathedral The
Alpha and Omega symbols may at times accompany the Chi-Rho monogram. Since the 17th century, (; also ) has been used as a
Neo-Latin term for the Chi Rho monogram. Because the was used as a kind of "invocation" at the beginning of documents of the
Merovingian period, the term also came to be used of the "
cross-signatures" in early medieval charters. in this context may refer to the Merovingian period abbreviation
I. C. N. for , later (in the
Carolingian period) also
I. C. for , and still later (in the high medieval period) just
C. for .
St Cuthbert's coffin (late 7th century) has an exceptional realisation of the Christogram written in
Anglo-Saxon runes, as ᛁᚻᛋ ᛉᛈᛋ, transliterated to the Latin alphabet as 'IHS XPS', with the
chi rendered as the
eolh rune (the old
z or
algiz rune) and the
rho rendered as the
p-rune.
IHS In the
Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many
Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the
Greek name of Jesus, ,
iota-eta-sigma, or . The Greek letter
iota is represented by 'I', and the
eta by 'H', while the Greek letter
sigma is either in its lunate form, represented by 'C', or its final form, represented by 'S'. Because the Latin-alphabet letters
I and
J were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, "JHS" and "JHC" are equivalent to "IHS" and "IHC". "IHS" is sometimes interpreted as meaning or in Latin (or ) , ('Jesus, Saviour of men [or: of Jerusalem]' in Latin) or connected with . English-language interpretations of "IHS" have included "In His Service" or "In His Steps." Such interpretations are known as
backformed acronyms. Used in Latin since the seventh century, the first use of
IHS in an English document dates from the fourteenth century, in
Piers Plowman. In the 15th century,
Saint Bernardino of Siena popularized the use of the three letters on the background of a blazing sun to displace both popular pagan symbols and seals of political factions like the
Guelphs and Ghibellines in public spaces (see
Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus). The IHS monogram with the H surmounted by a cross above
three nails and surrounded by a
Sun is the emblem of the
Jesuits, according to tradition introduced by
Ignatius of Loyola in 1541.
Gallery with different formats of the symbol File:IHS with cross.jpg|IHS or JHS Christogram of western Christianity File:IHC-monogram-Jesus-medievalesque.svg|Medieval-style IHC monogram File:Interlaced IHS monogram on ceiling of church of Saint-Martin de L'Isle-Adam.jpg|Intertwined IHS monogram, Saint-Martin's Church,
L'Isle-Adam, Val-d'Oise File:Clontuskert Priory Doorway IHC Monogram 2009 09 16.jpg|IHC monogram from
Clontuskert Abbey, Ireland File:Jesuit emblem 1586.jpg|The Jesuit emblem from a 1586 print File:ReformationWallGeneva IHS cropped.jpg|ΙΗΣ on the
Reformation Wall in
Geneva,
Switzerland File:Church Door, Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania).jpg|Door at
Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania) showing (from left) arms of the parish; Marian monogram; the IHS Christogram; and arms of the
Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania File:Tapete de Corpus Christi em São Manuel, São Paulo, 2025.19.6.25.9.jpg|Corpus Christi carpet with the use of the acronym in
São Manuel,
São Paulo,
Brazil.
ICXC In
Eastern Christianity, the most widely used Christogram is a four-letter abbreviation, ΙϹ ΧϹ—a traditional abbreviation of the Greek words for 'Jesus Christ' (i.e., the first and last letters of each of the words , with the
lunate sigma 'Ϲ' common in medieval Greek), and written with
titlo (diacritic) denoting
scribal abbreviation (). On icons, this Christogram may be split: 'ΙϹ' on the left of the image and 'ΧϹ' on the right. It is sometimes rendered as 'ΙϹ ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ' (), meaning 'Jesus Christ Conquers'. 'ΙϹΧϹ' may also be seen inscribed on the
Ichthys. File:ICXC NIKA.svg|Depiction of the 'ΙϹ ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ' arrangement in medieval Greek tradition File:Spahr 63 1140 133312.jpg|'ΙϹ ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ' cross on the obverse of a 12th-century
Sicilian coin (
Roger II) File:The Greek Pantokrator on the Hungarian Holy Crown.jpg|
Christ Pantocrator on the
Holy Crown of Hungary (12th century) File:Christ Pantocrator, Church of the Holy Sepulchre.png|Christ Pantocrator,
Church of the Holy Sepulchre (1810)
Lhq After
Francis Xavier landed in
Kagoshima, Japan, in 1549, his missionary work grew and became widely distributed throughout Japan under the patronage of the . However, during the
Edo period (1603–1867), Christians were persecuted and forced to hide. Because they were forbidden to openly reverence the images of Christ or
Mary, it is believed that they transferred their worship to other carved images and marked them with secret symbols understood only by the initiates. Certain
Japanese lanterns, notably the (, 'Christian lanterns'), did bear the "Lhq"
monogram, which, a quarter turned, was engraved on the shaft (), which was buried directly into the soil without basal platform (). The 'Lhq' monogram corresponds to the distorted letters 'IHS'. ==Archaeology==