Expert: Brenda Martin - 6/6/2003

Question
when was the sign of the cross originated and who was the pope at that time.

Answer
Hi there,You asked--  

1.WHEN WAS THE SIGN OF THE CROSS ORIGINATED?

Did you know that the cross actually has a pagan origin? The facts show that, rather than being the exclusive symbol of Christianity, the cross was in use centuries before the birth of Christ. This is admitted by The Catholic Encyclopedia --

“The sign of the cross represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization.”

Showing the pagan religious origin of the cross, the book The Ancient Church by clergyman W. D. Killen says –

“From the most remote antiquity the cross was venerated in Egypt and Syria; it was held in equal honour by the Buddhists of the East; . . . about the commencement of our era, the pagans were wont to make the sign of a cross upon the forehead in the celebration of some of their sacred mysteries.”

Further showing its connection with Babylonish religion, W. E. Vine, in An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Vol. 1, page 256), says that the cross “had its origin in ancient Chaldea [Babylon], and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau [or T], the initial of his name).”

2.WHO WAS THE POPE AT THAT TIME?

Showing how and when such use of the cross began among professed Christians, W. E. Vine, in his book, says:

“By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had [made a distorted imitation of], certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, . . . with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”—Vol. 1, page 256.

So it looks like we are looking for a Pope in office about the middle of the 3rd century—

The title “pope” (from the Greek pa´pas, father) was not used during the first two centuries. Former Jesuit Michael Walsh explains: “The first time a Bishop of Rome was called ‘Pope' seems to have been in the third century, and the title was given to Pope CALLISTUS . . . By the end of the fifth century ‘Pope' usually meant the Bishop of Rome and no one else. It was not until the eleventh century, however, that a Pope could insist that the title applied to him alone.”—An Illustrated History of the Popes.

Very interesting I thought, all the best brenda