Expert: Sal - 4/12/2005

Question
What do the letters at the top of the cross stand for?  I believe they are INRS?

Answer
Dear Julie:

The letters pictured above the cross are INRI. This is taken from the story found in the Gospel of St. John. “Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'” (19:19). Above the actual cross were the words not the abbreviations. The Romans commonly put a statement or, as they called it, a title on the cross so that anyone passing by would know what the crucified person was guilty of.  Pilate understood Jesus to be claiming to be king of the Jews. “'So you are a king?' Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king'” (18:37). People spoke or understood various languages. Therefore, the statement was put in the three common languages of the day-Hebrew, Latin, and Greek (see 19:20).

The INRI are the first letters of the title in Latin. Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jusus of Nazareth, King of the Jews).

Thanks for the question!

God Bless You,
Sal