The Cross itself is a
symbol. It speaks to us of the death of the only-begotten Son of God who loved us and gave
Himself for us. The cross which hangs here is beautiful, only in its main form recalling the rude beams upon which our Savior died. It might be appropriate to have rough, unfinished wood for the cross, but it would not then be a symbol but almost the thing itself. We have chosen a beautiful cross because by His death and resurrection Christ transformed the instrument of pain. We stand on the other side of Easter from that Black Friday on which He died. The form of the cross is Celtic, so that those who know the alphabet of symbolism will know at once upon entering this church that it is Presbyterian. This is the shape of the cross which comes from the Island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides off the coast of Scotland, whence Columba and the other missionaries evangelized Scotland and England and Europe. One explanation of its form is that the ring is the old Druid circle and that in the ancient pagan rites a human sacrifice was made of the person upon whom the sun annually shone through that ring. The Christian cross is superimposed upon it, forever blocking those barbaric sacrifices by the only adequate sacrifice, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Another point of interest is that the cross is said to be of such design that the sunrise at the season of Easter used to make a halo of light around it through the spaces within the circle. |
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 On this circle
now is woven the Crown of Thorns.
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At the ends of the
limbs of the cross are shown the traditional symbols of the four Gospel writers, drawn
from the vision of the prophet recounted in the first chapter of Ezekiel. While in
captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel had a vision in which he saw four living creatures, each
with four faces and four wings, one face being that of a man, one that of a lion, one that
of an ox, and one the face of an eagle.The symbols have been variously applied, but the
commonest usage today is that adopted here. The winged man in the symbol of Matthew, because he begins his gospel by tracing the human descent of Jesus.  The symbol of John is the eagle, because his gospel soars in the heavenlies as if on eagle's wings. These figures also appear in the rose window at the rear of the sanctuary.  The lion denotes Mark, because that writer opens his inspired book by describing the ministry of John the Baptist who was as the voice of one crying in the wilderness.  The ox is a representation of Luke because of his stress on the sacrificial death of our Lord. |
Back to: Chancel Symbols - Appendix
On the staff is intertwined the Vine of Life. 
At the bottom are the
heads of two beasts, symbolizing the triumph of the Cross over the powers of evil. 
The circular motifs on
the staff have twelve parts, eight circles and four squares, recalling the groups of
twelve who went out on their missionary journeys from Iona. 
At the top, twelve little spheres represent the
Apostles. On each arm of the cross a grouping of five spheres recalls the five wounds of
Christ, the nail-prints in hands and feet and the spear-thrust in His side.
In the center is the "Chi-Rho" symbol, the first
two letters of the Greek name "Christos," with a horizontal bar to make a cross.
The "rho" is in the form of a shepherd's crook.