Apocalypse House

HOME

Contact: nhkox@yahoo.com

 

The Passion of the Christ

  

The Y-shaped Cross of Christ:

 Known by the names,

Ypsilon Cross, Y-Cross, Furca (The Fork), Gabelkreuz (Fork Cross, Branch Cross), Schacherkreuz (Thief’s Cross, Cross of Robbers)

CLICK: See Pictures

 

Summary: Yesu Christ was counted among the robbers (Mark 15: 27-28; Isaiah 53: 9-12). The Thief’s Cross on which he was crucified, would have consisted of two parts, the stauros (stipes, “upright post”) which was permanently set in place, and the patibulum or furca (“fork”), a wooden device shaped like the letter A. This part, weighing about 75 lbs, was carried to the place of crucifixion by the one being punished. The Alpha-shaped furca was placed over his head, and rested on the neck and shoulders, so that he was like an animal in a yoke. His outstretched arms were then bound to the underside of the A-shaped device. His head was covered with a sack and he was violently scourged. Then he was led through the streets where he was mocked. Arriving at the crucifixion site, the arms of the furca would be flipped up over his head, by the attending soldiers, so that he flopped backward onto the ground, still attached to the A. Then, laying face up with arms overhead, on top of the wood, nails were driven through his wrists at the heal of each hand. The inverted A-frame was then lifted up and fastened onto the stauros (7 ½ to 9 feet tall). It was either nailed or tied in place. Last of all, the dangling feet of the crucified were nailed to the upright stipes. The assembled cross formed a three pronged fork.

 

Four types of patibulum are suggested, A-shaped, V-shaped, Pi-shaped and straight. The victim was fastened to the patibulum before it was raised and nailed to the upright stake. The A-frame furca is the only design that would perfectly allow for this, with its cross beam completely exposed for nailing. The other three would have been difficult or impossible to fasten, with the victim stretched tightly upon the patibulum. It would have been impossible to get a hammer between his back and the wood he was tied to, thus leaving no way to nail it to the stake.

 

 

 

 

Some interesting points to consider in relation to the above text:

 

1.     Yesu Christ said, “Take my yoke upon you…” This is a reference to taking up the cross of Christ, i.e. becoming a follower of the Christ teachings. If we take up his yoke, we are not carrying it alone. He is in it with us, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11: 29-30). The Alpha-Yoke (furca) implies still more significance:

 

2.     Yesu was placed in the furca and scourged. Then he was brought before the crowd, “Behold your king?” (John 19: 14). He was presented in the lowest role, with a servant’s yoke around his neck. They must have recalled his saying, “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 20: 26-27; & 23: 11). The Alpha-yoke around his neck identified him as a slave, yet as a numeral, the Alpha is number one (first). Yahweh, in Yesu, said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End/the First and the Last” (Revelation 1: 8, 11). As he came to the end of his earthly life, his last steps were walked with the large wooden Alpha symbol framing his face. The symbol of the “Beginning” is what would “End” his physical life, on the devil’s FORK: the Forked Cross.

 

3.     Death was only temporary. It was just the end of his mundane physical body. Yesu had said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in three days” (John 2: 19-22). That which he raised up was a new creation, the glorified resurrected body, having the characteristics of both the physical and the spiritual, without the limitations of either. He is the “firstfruits” of the resurrection, the victory over death, the “firstborn from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15: 3-57; Colossians 1: 16-18). He is our hope in the resurrection, the perfection and completion of God’s creation plan. He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” When we take up our furca, we know it will not be easy. But that very same furca, the Alpha-Yoke, keeps us tied to Yesu. In the end, we will have a new beginning. He will transform our physical bodies to perfection. “We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him” (1 John 3: 2).

 

4.     Christ’s sacrifice on the cross brings life to those who receive him, and death to those who reject him. The Y symbolizes a tree with branches of life and death. The tree in the midst of the garden (of Eden) that brought LIFE also brought DEATH. Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil are symbolized in the Y-Cross, as it is referenced to Christ.

 

CLICK: See Pictures of the Y-cross

 

 

 

Following are Some References to the Y-shaped Cross : The Furca [fork] or Ypsilon Crucifix

 

 

Highlighted below in bold red letters,

the Y-cross texts which referenced the above hypothesis.

Only partial texts are reproduced here. Click the links to see whole pages.

 

 

1.

Y-shaped cross (furca)

http://www.menantolstudio.freeserve.co.uk/sundischomepage.htm

THE LATIN CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX

The Latin cross hardly figures in surviving European pagan artforms as a separate image and seems to be a distinctly Christian symbol.

The actual mode of the supposed Crucifixion of Christ was obviously unknown. Many images show him hung from a Y-shaped cross (furca) or T-shaped cross (tau) as well as the more commonplace Latin Cross. Image dated to 1248 from the Chapel of San Silvestro in Rome.

[see Y-cross examples, http://nkox.homestead.com/YcrossPix.html]

It [the Latin cross] makes its decisive appearance about the middle of the 5th century after which it becomes more and more common on coinage, though other forms of Christian cross do not disappear altogether. A glance through the coinage of emperors from the 4th to the 7th centuries show a bewildering variety of symbols indicating a Christian belief: the Chi-Rho, Greek cross and Latin cross in various styles, frequently associated with pagan deities. The longer lower arm of the cross is often elongated still further to make a standard some six feet in length which may be associated with the goddess Victory or Roma, and which supplants earlier forms of military standard. The Chi-Rho had previously been shown as surmounting a military standard and some coins show this sign replaced by a St.Andrews Cross on top of a long staff. Whether this had any specific Christian significance is unclear.

“During the first five centuries Christians felt an unconquerable repugnance to the representation of the Saviour of the world nailed to an instrument of punishment.”

Crucifixion was used as a death penalty by various ancient nations and was one of several methods of capital punishment decreed by Athenian State law. The cross - stauros - comprised of two wooden beams with the horizontal arm placed slightly below the top of the upright beam to form a T-shape: the malefactor was hung naked from the vertical stake to which his feet were fixed with nails, the hands being nailed to each side of the transverse bar - sometimes the victim was bound to the ‘cross’ to prolong the agony with a lingering death from thirst and hunger. Forlong writes that the stauros was used to fasten down men who were to be flayed or disemboweled, and that, up until ad65 the crux was only known as an instrument of torture to thrust through the body of one on the stauros. He writes that the Roman furca was like a Y, similar to the Druidic sacred tree, and considered that Jesus [Yesu] was probably crucified on a ‘cross’ of this shape since Jews never used a cross for punishments: he goes on to emphasise that both Y and T were highly phallic - “more especially with a dead man hung thereon”.

The original Greek of the New Testament described Christ as being executed on a stauros - a straight piece of wood erected in the ground on which a cross-bar was usually fixed. The term cross was not applied to the Cross of Christ until the time of Justin Martyr (mid-2nd century) when early translators of the Gospels into Latin used crux to describe death by crucifixion. The stauros was commonly erected as a permanent feature at Roman execution sites and it is probable that, if the story of the Crucifixion is historically true, Christ only carried the cross-bar as it was the practice under Roman law for criminals to carry their own ‘cross’ to the place of execution. But Christian art would adhere to the strict letter of the Latin translation of New Testament texts.

Early crucifixes tended to be symbolical rather than realistic. It was not until medieval asceticism took hold in the Christian mind that the crucifix was altered to show more bodily pain - a trend seized upon by later artists to show off their skills in depicting facial expression and knowledge of anatomy.

Christian art depicting the Crucifixion shows the ‘cross’ in such a wide variety of forms that it is clear the actual instrument of Christ’s death was not known, and that the precise form used in Roman execution procedure had either been forgotten or was not compatible with the shape of the Cross sanctioned by the Church as a representation of the Saviour.

http://www.menantolstudio.freeserve.co.uk/sundischomepage.htm

 

2.

Furca: Forked Cross

 

http://www.hope-of-israel.org/crosschr.htm

 

 

THE "CROSS" OF CHRIST!

 

A number of churches (including the Jehovah Witnesses) claim that Jesus [Yesu] Christ was nailed to a simple upright post or "stake." In so-called "passion plays" you often see a complete cross (upright AND crossbeam) being dragged to "Golgotha" by the one playing the role of Christ. Some sources claim Jesus [Yesu] carried just the CROSSBEAM to the place of execution which, along with Himself, was hoisted up and attached to an existing stake. However, in reality, Christ was nailed to something FAR DIFFERENT to what most people have been led to believe! This article examines all the crosses used by the Romans for executing criminals, and PINPOINTS the exact type that Christ died upon. Be prepared for surprises!

John D. Keyser

The "Furca"

Jewish author and lawyer Haim Cohn, in his book entitled The Trial and Death of Jesus [Yesu], discusses the first form of crucifixion mentioned by Seneca:

In cases of crucifixion, however, the scourging was particularly elaborate: the convict was first UNDRESSED, THEN HIS HEAD WAS COVERED, then a forked instrument with two prongs (furca) was placed on his back and his two hands bound to it, each hand to one of the prongs and thus the convict had to drag the furca to the place of crucifixion; once arrived there, he was flagellated while remaining bound to the furca. -- KTAV Publishing House, New York. 1977. Pages 376-377.

A little more information is provided by James Hastings:

It [the stipes, upright post] was erected on some spot outside the city, convenient for the execution, AND REMAINED THERE AS A PERMANENT FIXTURE, ONLY THE CROSS-BAR OR PATIBULUM BEING CARRIED TO THE SPOT, usually by the person who was to suffer death. This consisted sometimes of a single piece of wood, MORE OFTEN of two parallel bars joined at one end, between which the head of the victim passed, and to the ends of which his hands were fastened. -- A Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. I. Edinburgh: T.& T. Clark, 1951. P.528.

 

There is something else to consider. According to the medical report in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the major effect of the crucifixion process was the interference with NORMAL RESPIRATION or breathing:

The weight of the body, pulling down on the OUTSTRETCHED ARMS AND SHOULDERS, would tend to fix the intercostal muscles in an inhalation state and thereby HINDER PASSIVE EXHALATION. Accordingly, exhalation was primarily diaphragmatic, and breathing was shallow. It is likely that THIS FORM OF RESPIRATION WOULD NOT SUFFICE and that hypercarbia would soon result. The onset of muscle cramps or tetanic contractions, due to fatigue and hypercarbia, WOULD HINDER RESPIRATION EVEN FURTHER. ADEQUATE EXHALATION REQUIRED LIFTING THE BODY BY PUSHING UP ON THE FEET AND BY FLEXING THE ELBOWS AND ABDUCTING THE SHOULDERS.

This would be impossible for someone crucified to the crux simplex or stake: With the arms fully stretched ABOVE THE HEAD it would be impossible to flex the elbows and abduct the shoulders! Death by asphyxiation would QUICKLY result.

Heart failure is also brought on by the crucifixion process. Some years ago Dr. Hermann Modder of Cologne, Germany carried out some scientific tests to determine the cause of Christ's death. He discovered an interesting fact:

In the case of a person suspended by his two hands the blood sinks VERY QUICKLY into the lower half of the body. AFTER SIX TO TWELVE MINUTES blood pressure has dropped by 50% and the pulse rate has DOUBLED. Too little blood reaches the heart, and FAINTING ENSUES. This leads to a SPEEDY orthostatic collapse through insufficient blood circulating to the brain and the heart. Death by crucifixion is therefore [also] due to heart failure. It is a well authenticated fact that victims of crucifixion did not usually die for two days or even longer. On the vertical beam there was often a small support attached called a "sedile" (seat) or a "cornu" (horn). If the victim hanging there eased his misery from time to time BY SUPPORTING HIMSELF ON THIS, the blood returned to the upper half of his body and the faintness passed. When the torture of the crucified man was finally to be brought to an end, the "crurifragium" was proceeded with: his legs were broken below the knee with blows from a club. That meant that he could no longer ease his weight on the footrests and HEART FAILURE QUICKLY FOLLOWED. -- The Bible as History, by Werner Keller. Pages 348-349.

Once again, it would be difficult for a man nailed to the crux simplex or stake, with his arms stretched out ABOVE HIS HEAD, to push (and pull) himself upwards sufficiently to bring complete circulation back to the upper part of his body. With the circulation AND breathing problems associated with crucifixion, the single stake type of transfixion afforded little relief and the victim died quickly. Someone crucified in this fashion COULD NOT SURVIVE MORE THAN A FEW HOURS! This, then, strongly suggests Christ was NOT nailed to the crux simplex or "torture stake" as the Jehovah's Witnesses and others claim.

In the summer of 1968, a discovery was made in Jerusalem that strongly indicates the common mode of crucifixion, during the time of Christ, was NOT the crux simplex or stake. During the clearing of a construction site on the hill of Givat Hamivtor on the eastern edge of the city, workers uncovered the grave of one Johanan Ben Ha'galgol. The grave and remains were dated to the time between 7 A.D. and 70 A.D.

Werner Keller, in his book The Bible as History, records what they discovered:

It was noticed with feelings of horror that his feet were separated from the smashed skeleton and were lying one on top of the other and joined together by a rusty nail WHICH HAD BEEN DRIVEN THROUGH BOTH FEET. Fragments of wood, the remains of a wooden slab, were attached to it. Behind Johanan's feet, the nail was bent obviously by having been driven into harder material. JOHANAN'S FOREARMS ALSO SHOWED SIGNS OF HAVING HAD NAILS [PLURAL] DRIVEN THROUGH THEM. In the course of Johanan's death struggles, his skin had suffered abrasions on the nails [plural].

Finally, the Bible itself refutes the possibility of the crux simplex being used in Christ's execution. Notice John 20:24-25: "Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus [Yesu] came. When the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, he declared, 'Unless I see the nail marks IN HIS HANDS and put my finger where the NAILS [GREEK: PLURAL] were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it. "'

Ralph Woodrow, in his book Babylon Mystery Religion: Ancient and Modern, also noticed this: "The statement of Thomas about the print of NAILS (PLURAL) in the hands of Jesus [Yesu] (John 20:25) would seem to indicate a CROSS PIECE, for on a single stake his hands would have probably been driven through with ONE NAIL." (P.53).

 

Just What Was Jesus [Yesu] Nailed To?

Since we have ruled out the crux simplex or stake, just WHAT was our Savior nailed to?

Let Ernest Martin answer the question:

Many scholars today believe it is inconceivable that Christ, who had been subjected to extensive beatings and whippings, could have carried a fully assembled Latin cross that would have weighed 200 pounds or more [well over 300 pounds according to The Journal of the American Medical Association report]. This certainly had to be the case. The "cross" he transported was only the UPPER CROSSPIECE which was nailed to a larger and more substantial support. It was to this board plank that Christ's arms or his wrists were affixed, and THIS IS WHAT SIMON OF CYRENE CARRIED THE FINAL DISTANCE TO GOLGOTHA. Such crosspieces associated with crucifixion were given a technical name in Latin (patibulum). When Golgotha was finally reached, Christ then had his arms or wrists nailed to the patibulum. Both he and the patibulum were then hoisted upwards and the crosspiece was nailed to some SUBSTANTIAL STOCK OF WOOD large enough to support the person being crucified. It was also common to bend the victim's legs upwards and nail the feet to the stock of wood itself. -- Secrets of Golgotha, pp.169-170.

Most scholars accept this viewpoint. Notice what A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by James Hastings, has to say:

Stau.ros means properly a stake, and is the translation not merely of the Latin CRUX (CROSS), but of palus (stake) AS WELL. As used in the NT, however, IT REFERS EVIDENTLY NOT TO THE SIMPLE STAKE USED FOR IMPALING, of which widespread punishment crucifixion was a refinement, BUT TO THE MORE ELABORATE CROSS USED BY THE ROMANS IN THE TIME OF CHRIST...The upright post to which alone the name properly belongs, was usually a piece of some strong, cheap wood, pine or oak, of such length that when firmly planted in the ground the top was from 7 1/2 to 9 ft. high...It was erected on some spot outside the city, convenient for the execution, AND REMAINED THERE AS A PERMANENT FIXTURE, ONLY THE CROSSBAR OR PATIBULUM BEING CARRIED TO THE SPOT, usually by the person who was to suffer death. This consisted sometimes of a single piece of wood, more often of two parallel bars joined at one end, between which the head of the victim passed, and to the ends of which his hands were fastened. The cross which Jesus [Yesu] carried was doubtless simply the CROSSBAR in one of these two forms. Keim argues IN FAVOR OF THE SIMPLER, partly because Jesus [Yesu] is represented as clothed, which would hardly have been the case had He carried the double patibulum; partly because of the CARRYING OF IT BY SIMON, which he regards rather as a rude joke of the soldiers than as rendered necessary by the weight of the crossbar, WHICH COULD IN NO CASE HAVE BEEN VERY HEAVY (Jesu von Nazara, iii. 398, Eng. tr. vi. 125). -Vol. I. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1951. P.528.

Jewish author and lawyer Haim Cohn agrees with this:

In cases of crucifixion, however, the scourging was particularly elaborate: the convict was first undressed, then his head was covered, then a forked instrument with two prongs (furca) was placed on his back and his two hands bound to it, each hand to one of the prongs -- and thus the convict had to drag the furca to the place of crucifixion; once arrived there, he was flagellated while remaining bound to the furca. A MILDER FORM OF CASTIGATION was for the convict to carry his own gallows to the place of execution: THE VERTICAL STAKE OF THE CROSS WAS A PERMANENT FIXTURE, or also ready installed beforehand for each particular execution, while the TRANSVERSE BAR (PATIBULUM) WAS LOADED ON THE BACK of the convict, for him to drag to the place of execution; in some instances he was already bound or nailed to the patibulum on his way there, in others he was allowed to carry the patibulum FREELY ON HIS BACK and would be bound or nailed to it only there. -- The Trial and Death of Jesus, pages 376-377, note 25.

http://www.hope-of-israel.org/crosschr.htm

 

3.

The Person to be Scourged in the Furca had his Head Covered

 

“…then his head was covered, then a forked instrument with two prongs (furca) was placed on his back and his two hands bound to it, each hand to one of the prongs -- and thus the convict had to drag the furca to the place of crucifixion; once arrived there, he was flagellated while remaining bound to the furca.”

(The Trial and Death of Jesus, pages 376-377, note 25; cf. http://www.frugalsites.net/jesus/cross.html).

According to the Bible

Yesu’s tormentors covered his head entirely.

 

“Then did they spit on His Face and buffeted Him, and others struck Him in the Face with the palms of their hands, saying: Prophesy, 0 Christ, who is he that struck thee.” (Matt. XXVI, 67, 68.)

“And some began to spit on Him and to cover His Face and to buffet Him, and to say to Him: Prophesy.” (Mark, XIV, 65.)

“And the men that held Him mocked Him and struck Him. And they blindfolded Him and smote Him on the Face. And they asked Him, saying: Prophesy who it is that struck thee? And blaspheming, many other things they said against Him.” (Luke, XXII, 63.)

“Cover” and “blindfold” are both translated here from the same Greek word:

Cover, from Greek perikalupto, to cover all around, i.e. entirely.

Blindfolded, from Greek perikalupto, to cover all around, i.e. entirely.

They covered Yesu’s head entirely, as was the practice with slaves or criminals placed in the furca yoke for scourging. They probably used some kind of sack over his head, as a blindfold, before beating him.

 

4.

Shape of the Cross Confirmed

 

“…the crucifixion, it was not the common form of the Cross that was used but the form that appears on the Gothic chasuble with its arms pointing upwards.” (The Holy Shroud and Four Visions, p. 41).

 

The Evidence from the Holy Shroud for the Form of the Cross

 

Experts on the Holy Shroud are agreed about two facts which, once pointed out, can be observed by anyone. The first fact is that there is a trace of blood along both arms of Our Lord from the wound in the hand towards the shoulder, not made by any wound on the arms but caused by the flow of blood along the arms from the wounds in the hands. This flow of blood could only have run along the arms if they were tight against the cross-bars thus forming a sort of furrow, and had remained so until the death of Christ.

 

The second fact is that there is another trace of blood on the back of Our Lord’s left hand (the right hand is hidden under the left) where a little of the blood from the wound in the hand trickled down between the hand and the wood of the Cross. As this blood dripped down vertically, it gives the angle which Our Lord’s arms made with that line—or what amounts to the same thing—the angle which the arms made with the horizontal and the perpendicular. …

 

Engineer Cordonnier, another of the experts on the Shroud, just gives a drawing of the angle among his illustrations and makes it about 45°. …the arms of Our Lord could not have been tight enough to the Cross to prevent the blood from flowing down to the ground before it reached the elbow, unless the arms of the Cross sloped upwards at the same angle as the arms of Our Lord. …these two traces of blood on Our Lord’s arms, about which the experts are agreed, can be explained only by the form of the Cross that appears on the Gothic chasuble. Furthermore, the arms of Our Lord must have remained tightly pressed to the Cross for the whole time that He hung on it, otherwise the blood would have dripped down at the point where they parted from the Cross. In practice, this could only have happened if the arms were tied to the Cross. (The Holy Shroud and Four Visions, pp. 42-43).

 

5.

Furca

 

Unsigned article on pp562-563 of

William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.

 

FURCA, which properly means a fork, was also the name of an instrument of punishment. It was a piece of wood in the form of the letter A, which was placed upon the shoulders of the offender, whose hands were tied to it. Slaves were frequently punished in this way, and were obliged to carry about the furca wherever they went (Donat. ad Ter. Andr. iii.5.12; Plut. Coriol. 24; Plaut. Cas. ii.6.37); whence the appellation of furcifer was applied to a man as a term of reproach (Cic. in Vatin. 6). The furca was used in the ancient mode of capital punishment among the Romans; the criminal was tied to it, and then scourged to death (Liv. i.26; Suet. Ner. 49). The patibulum was also an instrument of punishment, resembling the furca; it appears to have been in the form of the letter P (Plaut. Mil. ii.4.7, Mostell. i.1.53). Both the furca and patibulum were also employed as crosses, to which criminals were nailed (in furca suspendere, Dig. 48. tit.13 s.6; tit.19 s.28 §15; tit.19 s.38). See Lipsius, de Cruce.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Furca.html

http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0570.html

note: When the A-shaped furca was inverted and fastened to the upright stipes, it formed a Y-shaped cross.

 

6.

Furca

The furca, two pieces of wood, fastened together in the form of the letter A, used by the Romans as an instrument of punishment. It was placed over the shoulders of the criminal, and his hands were fastened to it, condemned slaves were compelled to carry it about with them, and those sentenced to be flogged would be tied to it; crucifixions were sometimes carried out on a similar shaped instrument.

http://23.1911encyclopedia.org/Fork

note: When the A-shaped furca was inverted and fastened to the upright stipes, it formed a Y-shaped cross. 

 

7.

Furca, Forks, Yoke

Forks: The gallows. (Latin, furca.) Cicero (de Divinitate, i. 26) says, "Ferens furcam ductus est, " often quoted in proof that criminals condemned to the cross were obliged to carry their own cross to the place of execution. But the ordinary meaning of furca is a kind of yoke to which the hands of criminals were fastened. The punishment was of three degrees of severity: (1) The furca ignominiosa; (2) the furca pænalis; and (3) the furca capitalis. The first was for slight offences, and consisted in carrying the furca on the shoulders, more or less weighted. The second consisted in carrying the furca and being scourged. The third was being scourged to death. The word furcifer meant what we call a gallows-bad or “vile fellow.”

http://www.xent.com/FoRK-archive/august97/0399.html

 

8.

Furca

FURCA: A two-pronged forkAn instrument shaped like a fork, and put on the back of a person to help him carry his load [viz. as a yoke]… Slaves were sometimes punished by being compelled to carry a furca, or two pieces of wood shaped like a V, round their necks, with their hands tied to the end of this instrument. They were also scourged under such a furca. … Also, a sort of gallows for slaves and robbers(Leverett’s Latin Lexicon, p. 352).

 

9.

Patibulum

 

Patibulum: A fork-shaped yoke, an instrument of punishment fastened on the neck of slaves and criminals. (Cassell’s Latin Dictionary: Latin-English, English-Latin, 1957, P. 395).

 

 

10.

Symbolism of the Cross:

The Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Symbolized in the Y-Cross

(The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil also brought DEATH, so, the Y symbolizes life and death)

 

The Pythagoreans are said to have made use of the sign Y, whose vertical line represented life's path. The point where the vertical line converges with the two diagonal lines represented the choice between the good (the right stem) and the evil (the left stem). In Christian symbolism this sign is known as the ypsilon cross, the furca (Latin for fork), or the cross of the robbers, since the two robbers crucified on both sides of the cross of Christ were, according to some sources, nailed onto gallows of this shape. But as often T, below in this group, is called the cross of the robbers.

# http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/04/0432.html

 

11.

The following site references the low-tau or Latin Cross

to the crucifixion of Christ.

It shows one of the Roman Crosses as a tree;

The above mentioned

“Roman furca was like a Y, similar to the Druidic sacred tree.”

 

What kind of cross was Jesus [Yesu] crucified on?

 

Click Here: See Three Roman Crosses

Pictured are three types of crosses commonly used by the Roman army in the first century A.D. Each carried an inscription stating the victim's capital offense and a seat-like projection, not designed for the victim's comfort, but to prolong their agony. Nails and ropes held the victim's legs and arms in place.

 

The cross on the left was called a "high tau" cross because it was shaped like the capital Greek letter tau ("T"). The middle cross was known as a "low tau" cross, shaped like the lower case tau ("t"). In both cases the central post was generally set permanently in the ground while the cross bar was carried to the site by the victim. The cross on the right was an actual tree still in the ground (dead or alive) with its limbs serving as the cross bar. …

 

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a013.html

 

12.

Cross

 

After the conversion, so-called, of Constantine the Great (A.D. 313), the cross first came into use as an emblem of Christianity. He pretended at a critical moment that he saw a flaming cross in the heavens bearing the inscription, "In hoc signo vinces", i.e., By this sign thou shalt conquer, and that on the following night Christ himself appeared and ordered him to take for his standard the sign of this cross. In this form a new standard, called the Labarum, was accordingly made, and borne by the Roman armies. It remained the standard of the Roman army till the downfall of the Western empire. It bore the embroidered monogram of Christ, i.e., the first two Greek letters of his name, X and P (chi and rho), with the Alpha and Omega. (See Alpha.)

http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/cross.html

 

13.

HUNGRY DOGS

And the

Height of the Cross

 

Wild dogs lived at Golgotha where they lapped-up the blood of the crucified and sometimes feasted on the flesh of human corpses. Crucifixions were done close to the ground, so dogs and other wild beasts could reach the legs of the victims, sometimes still alive, and actually bite and tear meet off of them, adding to their suffering.

 

“Was the painting Golgotha? What I remember is a gruesome night scene, dogs lapping at the puddles of blood that had formed at the base of a crucifix. Why am I being drawn to this painting? It was the focus on the dogs that stuck in my mind. There could have been dogs at Golgotha, and if there were they would have licked the blood that pooled beneath the executions. The dogs would not have distinguished between criminals and the Incarnation. …we are to believe it was the very blood of God that the dogs digested.”

(http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~simmers/89subsol.htm).

 

“…it was common for people who were crucified in that day to be left on their crosses, that were low to the ground, and be eaten by dogs.” (http://www.whoisthisjesus.tv/answerreview.htm).

 

“The cross was… much lower than it is usually represented in Christian Art. Hanging thus quite near to the ground…” (Dictionary of the Bible, James Hastings, p. 193)

 

“This cross-bar was then lifted and secured to the upright post, so that the victim’s feet, which were then tied, were just clear of the ground, not high up as so often depicted.” (The New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas, 1962, p. 279).

 

“…the feet of the condemned were a foot or two above the earth, and he was lifted upon it, or else stretched upon it in the ground and lifted with it.” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 1977, p. 122).

 

“Normally it took two or three days to die. You'd be crucified naked, exposed to the sun and the heat during the day, the cold at night. The final humiliation of the corpse is that the corpse would typically be left on the cross so that it could be eaten by dogs and by vultures, or alternatively buried; and a crucified person was typically crucified only six inches off the ground.”

(http://www.mnet.co.za/Mnet/Shows/carteblanche/story.asp?Id=1957).

 

“Most of the tens of thousands of Jews crucified by the Romans during the first century were left up on the crosses to serve as carrion for bird and dogs.” (http://www.mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/tomb.html).

 

“The Romans usually left the bodies of the crucified on the cross until it was needed again – both as a means of adding to the disgrace and shame of the victim and as a hideous warning to others.  When cut down, bodies were left where they fell to be eaten by dogs.” (http://www.firstb.net/FEB%2022.htm).

“R. L. Harris, Editor; Gleason Archer, Jr. and Bruce Waltke, Associate Editors, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), p. 439. There are 32 occurrences of 'dog' in the Tanach, 'none of them positive.' '...for one's body to be eaten by dogs was the ultimate in tragic ends to a life.' The evil men enclosing the Prince (Psalm 22: 16-17), is paralleled by the first phrase, 'For dogs have compassed me...'” (http://www.seedofabraham.net/nltr25.html).

“Crucifixion was an ignominious form of death. Roman soldiers were left to their own devices regarding the treatment of the condemned. The humiliation deepened when the victims contemplated their end following a lingering death: being eaten by dogs. “Crucifixion was aggravated further by the fact that quite often its victims were never buried. It was a stereotyped picture that the crucified victim served as food for wild beasts and birds.” (http://www.ocucc.org/DeathPenalty/moreinfo.htm).of prey.”[i][11]

“Martyrdom of the Apostle Andrew: And having thus spoken, the blessed Andrew, standing on the ground, and looking earnestly upon the cross, stripped himself and gave his clothes to the executioners, having urged the brethren that the executioners should come and do what had been commanded them; for they were standing at some distance. And they having come up, lifted him on the cross; and having stretched his body across with ropes, they only bound his feet, but did not sever his joints, having received this order from the proconsul: for he wished him to be in distress while hanging, and in the night-time, as he was suspended, to be eaten up alive by dogs.(http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0819.htm).

“In many cases, the remains of the dead were simply left for birds and dogs to deal with. This was particularly true of the hundreds of thousands crucified by the Roman authorities. The ancient historian, Josephus reports two mass crucifixions. The first followed the death of Herod the Great upon which 2000 people were crucified. Nearly three quarters of a century later, following the destruction of the Temple, as many as 500 per day were forced to undergo this most excruciating form of capital punishment. Part of this punishment included the added disgrace of not allowing the crucified body to be properly disposed of. Leaving them to hang and rot and be eaten by animals also served as a warning to others. Such massive executions, however, would have also made proper burial cost-prohibitive.” (http://cliftonunitarian.org/sermons/IWantMyMummy.PDF).

“Crucifixion was a practice that originated with the Persians and was later passed on to the Carthaginians and the Phoenicians. The Romans perfected it as a method of execution which caused maximal pain and suffering over a period of time. Those crucified included slaves, provincials and the lowest types of criminals. … The crucifixion site "was purposely chosen to be outside the city walls because the Law forbade such within the city walls...for sanitary reasons ... the crucified body was sometimes left to rot on the cross and serve as a disgrace, a convincing warning and deterrent to passers by." (Johnson) Sometimes, the subject was eaten while alive and still on the cross by wild beasts. (Lipsius) The procedure of crucifixion may be summarized as follows. The patibulum was put on the ground and the victim laid upon it. Nails, about 7 inches long and with a diameter of 1 cm ( roughly 3/8 of an inch) were driven in the wrists . The points would go into the vicinity of the median nerve, causing shocks of pain to radiate through the arms. It was possible to place the nails between the bones so that no fractures (or broken bones) occurred. . Studies have shown that nails were probably driven through the small bones of the wrist, since nails in the palms of the hand would not support the weight of a body. In ancient terminology, the wrist was considered to be part of the hand. (Davis) Standing at the crucifixion sites would be upright posts, called stipes, standing about 7 feet high.(Edwards) In the center of the stipes was a crude seat, called a sedile or sedulum, which served a support for the victim. The patibulum was then lifted on to the stipes. The feet were then nailed to the stipes.” (http://prophecyandcurrentevents.com/thglory/passion.htm).

 

" For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. " (Psalm 22:16-17)

 

 

CLICK: See Pictures of the Y-cross

Apocalypse House

HOME

 http://www.kox.us/

 

Contact: mailto:nhkox@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

#


free hit counter