The Russian Orthodox Cross (or just the Orthodox Cross by some Russian Orthodox traditions) is a variation of the Christian cross since the 16th century in Russia, although it bears some similarity to a cross with a bottom crossbeam slanted the other way (upwards) found since the 6th century in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. The Russian Orthodox cross has three horizontal crossbeams, with the lowest one slanted downwards. Nowadays it is a symbol of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

Фещин А. Довірся Хресту // Християнский голос. — 2002. — № 18 (2854). С. 232. and a distinctive feature of the cultural landscape of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

.Бурштын Я
Ірына Дубянецкая: Дзякуючы намаганням РПЦ пачынае мяняцца культурны ландшафт Беларусі (Фота і відэа)
// Служба інфармацыі «ЕўраБеларусі», 16 ліпеня 2016 г. Other names for the symbol include the ''Russian cross'', and ''Slavonic'' or ''Suppedaneum cross''. The earliest cross with a slanted footstool (pointing upwards, unlike the Russian cross) was introduced in the 6th century before the break between Catholic and Orthodox churches, and was used in

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

frescoes, arts and crafts. In 1551 during the canonical isolation of the Russian Orthodox Church,

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Iva ...

Grand Prince of Moscow This is a list of all reigning monarchs in the history of Russia. It includes the princes of medieval Rus′ state (both centralised, known as Kievan Rus′ and feudal, when the political center moved northeast to Vladimir and finally to Mo ...

, first used this cross, with the footstool tilted the other way, on the domes of churches. From this time, it started to be depicted on the Russian state coat of arms and military banners. In the second half of the 19th century, this cross was promoted by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

in the former

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was Partitions of Poland, partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire, Habsburg Empire of ...

as a symbol of its

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cult ...

policy. One variant known as the Russian cross has only two horizontal crossbeams with the lower one slanted; another is the cross over crescent variant. Some Russian sources distinguish the Russian Orthodox cross from the Orthodox cross. In

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...

the symbol (☦) is denoted as ''Orthodox cross''. The same USVA headstone emblem is called ''Russian Orthodox cross''.

Name

According to many sources the name of the three beam slanted cross is Russian (Orthodox) cross (russian: русский православный крест Святейший Патриарх Московский и всея Руси Кирилл. Воздвижение Честного и Животворящего Креста Господня /
Тихвинский листок №41, 27 Сентября 2017.
/ref>). Sometimes it is also called the Byzantine cross.Becker U. The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. — New York London, 2000. P
71
Alternatively, "Byzantine cross" is also the name for a

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

with outwardly spreading ends, as it was the most common cruciform in the

. Other crosses ( patriarchal cross, Russian Orthodox cross, etc.) are sometimes as Byzantine crosses, as they also were used in Byzantine culture. Sometimes it is also called just Orthodox cross.Chwalkowski F. Symbols in Arts, Religion and Culture: The Soul of Nature. — Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016. P
112
/ref> At the same time the various Orthodox churches use different crosses, and any of them may be called an "Orthodox cross". Moreover, there are no crosses universally acknowledged as "Orthodox" or "Catholic": each type is a feature of local tradition. The cross has also been referred to as the "Eastern Cross," and "has a special place in Ukrainian religious life" and has been used by Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic churches. For example, this particular cross is also claimed to be Kievan and "Ukrainian" by Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

Meaning

The topmost of the three crossbeams represents Pilate's inscription which in the older Greek tradition is "The King of Glory", based on John's Gospel; but in later images it represents . The middle crossbeam is the main bar to which the victim's hands are fixed, while the bottom crossbeam represents the footrest which prolongs the torture. In many depictions, the side to Christ's right is higher, slanting upward toward the penitent thief

St. Dismas The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesu ...

, who according to the apocryphal traditionЯременко В. Золоте Слово: Хрестоматія літератури України-Русі епохи Середньовіччя IX—XV століть. Книга перша. — Київ: Аконіт, 2002. С. 485. was crucified on Jesus' right, but downward toward impenitent thief Gestas. It is also a common perception that the foot-rest points up, toward Heaven, on Christ's right hand-side, and downward, to Hell, on Christ's left. The cross is often depicted in icons "of the crucifixion in historic Byzantine style." One variation of the Russian Cross is the 'Cross over Crescent', which is sometimes accompanied by "Gabriel perched on the top of the Cross blowing his trumpet." Didier Chaudet, in the academic journal '' China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly'', writes that an "emblem of the Orthodox Church is a cross on top on a crescent. It is said that this symbol was devised by

, after the conquest of the city of

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzan is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and t ...

, as a symbol of the victory of Christianity over Islam through his soldiers". Another variation is the monastic ''Calvary Cross'', in which the cross is situated atop the hill of

Calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early medie ...

, its slopes symbolized by steps. To the viewer's left is the

Holy Lance The Holy Lance, also known as the Lance of Longinus (named after Saint Longinus), the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Spear, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion. Biblical references The l ...

, with which Jesus was wounded in his side, and to the right, the pole topped by a hyssop sponge with which he was given vinegar. Under Calvary are

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

skull and bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

; the right-arm bone is usually above the left one, and believers fold their arms across their chests in this way during Orthodox communion. Around the cross are abbreviations in

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Her ...

. This type of cross is usually embroidered on a schema-monk's robe.

Current usage

The Russian (Orthodox) cross (☦) is widely used by the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

, and has been widely adopted in the Polish Orthodox and the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Churches, which received their autonomous status from the Patriarch of Moscow in 1948 and 1951 respectively. It is also sometimes used by the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

(e.g. in the

American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America (ACROD) is a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with 78 parishes in the United States and Canada. Though the diocese is directly responsible to the Patriarchate, it is under th ...

). "Though commonly associated with the Russian Orthodox Church, this rossis found also in the Greek and Serbian Orthodox churches" and is also used by Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. This cross is also found in Byzantine frescoes in churches now belonging to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous ( ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population ...

churches. Also the Cross is used by the AIPCA churches in Kenya.

History

The slanted cross with three horizontal crossbeams existed already in the 6th century, long before the Great Schism. However, it was used only in church paintings, arts and crafts, and never on church domes. There are old frescoes depicting this type of cross in the regions of modern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

. One Byzantine icon featuring the three-bar cross, with the slanted crossbeam for the feet of Christ, is an 11th century mosaic of the resurrection. The three-bar cross "existed very early in Byzantium, but was adopted by the Russian Orthodox Church and especially popularized in Slavic countries." At the end of the 15th century this cross started to be widely used in Muscovy when its rulers declared themselves the " Third Rome", successors of Byzantium and defenders of Orthodoxy.Гнідець Р
Св. Хрест, його форма та різновиди в Україні
// Греко-Католицька Традиція №9 (193), вересень 2013 р. In 1551 at the council of the canonically isolated Russian Orthodox Church, the

decided to standardize the cross on Russian church domes to distinguish Muscovy from the " Lithuanian, Polack cross". Белы А.br>Крыж Еўфрасінні Полацкай
// Наша Слова. № 29 (817) 1 жнiўня 2007 г. This was the first time the Russian Orthodox Cross was used on church domes. Between 1577–1625, the Russian Orthodox cross was depicted between the heads of a

double-headed eagle In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle (or double-eagle) is a charge associated with the concept of Empire. Most modern uses of the symbol are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the late Byzantine Empire, origi ...

in the

coat of arms of Russia The coat of arms of Russia derives from the earlier coat of arms of the Russian Empire which was abolished with the Russian Revolution in 1917. Though modified more than once since the reign of Ivan III (1462–1505), the current coat of arms ...

. It was drawn on military banners until the end of the 17th century. In 1654, the Moscow council, erasing the vestiges of the canonical isolation of 1448-1589, coordinated Russian Orthodox liturgy with that of other Orthodox churches.Мицик Ю. Московський Патріархат // Енциклопедія історії України : у 10 т. / редкол.: В. А. Смолій (голова) та ін. ; Інститут історії України НАН України. — К.: Наук. думка, 2010. — Т. 7 : Мл — О. С. 87. At this council,

Patriarch Nikon Nikon ( ru , Ни́кон, Old Russian: ''Нїконъ''), born Nikita Minin (''Никита Минин''; 7 May 1605 – 17 August 1681) was the seventh Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' of the Russian Orthodox Church, serving officially from ...

ordered the use of the

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

instead of Russian Orthodox cross. These reforms provoked the

Raskol The Schism of the Russian Church, also known as Raskol (russian: раскол, , meaning "split" or "schism"), was the splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It ...

schism. Replacement of the Russian Orthodox cross by Greek cross was caused by Russian disrespect for the second one.Русский крест: символика православного надглавного креста. — Москва, 2006. С. 147. Soon, however, the Russian Orthodox Church began to use the Russian Orthodox cross again. According to the Metropolitan of Ryazan and Murom Stefan, the Russian Orthodox cross was worn by Czar Peter I (1672-1725), who transformed the Moscow Patriarchate into the Most Holy Synod. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Russian Orthodox cross was promoted by the

and

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

as a part of Russification policies.Щербаківський В. Чи трираменний хрест із скісним підніжком – національний хрест України? // Визвольний шлях. — 1952, листопад. — Ч. 11 (62). С. 33—34.Білокінь С. Українська форма хреста // Укр. слово. — 1994. — № 17 (2713). At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the Russian Orthodox Church replaced many traditional Greek Orthodox crosses in Belarus with Russian Orthodox crosses. This suggests that it was understood as an nationalist Russian symbol rather than a religious Orthodox one. The Russian Orthodox cross is depicted on emblems of several Russian ultra-nationalist organizations such as

Brotherhood of Russian Truth The Brotherhood of Russian Truth (russian: Братство Русской Правды) was a Russian counter-revolutionary nationalist organization established in 1921 by Pyotr Krasnov and other former members of the White movement, including ...

and

Russian National Unity Russian National Unity (RNU; transcribed Russkoe natsionalnoe edinstvo RNE) or All-Russian civic patriotic movement "Russian National Unity" (russian: Всероссийское общественное патриотическое движен� ...

Gallery

File:Battle of Kulikovo 17th century miniature.jpg, A 17th-century miniature of the

Battle of Kulikovo The Battle of Kulikovo (russian: Мамаево побоище, Донское побоище, Куликовская битва, битва на Куликовом поле) was fought between the armies of the Golden Horde, under the command ...

(1380). A warrior bears a red banner with a cross File:Coat of Arms of Russia 1577.png,

Coat of arms of Russia The coat of arms of Russia derives from the earlier coat of arms of the Russian Empire which was abolished with the Russian Revolution in 1917. Though modified more than once since the reign of Ivan III (1462–1505), the current coat of arms i ...

from the seal of

Ivan IV Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

(the Terrible), 1577 File:Russia03.gif, Coat of arms of Russia from the seal of Fyodor I, 1589 File:01 130 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops.jpg, Russian military flag, 1696—1699 File:Знамя Войсковое Донского казачье 1706 года.jpg, Russian military flag, 1706 File:Orth Kreuz.gif, A copper cross typical for Old believers File:Orthodox priest cross.png, A cross of a

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

priest File:The True Cross. Saint Cyril and Methodius.jpg, A modern memorial to Ss.

Cyril and Methodius Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited wit ...

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk ( rus, Ха́нты-Манси́йск, Khánty-Mansíysk, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty language, Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi language, Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the admini ...

, Russia File:Coat of arms of Moscow Oblast FULL.svg, Coat of arms of

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...

, 2005 File:Eglise notre dame de l assomption 7.jpg,

Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery (french: Cimetière russe de Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois) is part of the ''Cimetière de Liers'' and is called the Russian Orthodox cemetery, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Paris, France. History The ...

, the resting place of many eminent Russian émigrés. File:Podlaskie - Białystok - Białystok - Antoniuk Fabryczny 13 - Cerkiew św. Ducha - ENE - Widok - v-W.jpg,

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

(Poland): Crosses on the domes of the Church of the Holy Spirit File:Christ the Saviour Orthodox Cathedral - Johnstown, Pennsylvania 05.jpg,

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropol ...

: Christ the Saviour Cathedral of the

(under the

) File:Svidnik pravoslavny kriz.jpg,

Svidník Svidník ( hu, Felsővízköz, german: Oberswidnik, rue, Свідник, uk, Свидник) is a town in eastern Slovakia, the capital of the Svidník District in the Prešov Region. It has a population of around 11,000. There is a monumental ...

(Slovakia): Cross in front of a church File:Brotherhood of Russian Truth.png, Flag of the

File:Russian National Unity Flag.svg, Flag of RNU File:USVA headstone emb-05.svg, USVA Headstone Emblem5 "Russian Orthodox cross"

References

External links

* * * {{Christian crosses Byzantine Rite Crosses by form Crosses by culture National symbols of Russia