\tThroughout our history, Christian art has been used to teach about our faith. In centuries when illiteracy was common, icons, statues, frescoes and stained glass were the \u201ccatechism books\u201d that taught biblical stories and theological lessons. You don\u2019t have to delve too deeply into Christian art to see that lots of these images are adorned with abbreviation designed to clarify the message in the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Probably the most common of these abbreviations is \u201cIHS\u201d In Greek this stood for Iesus Hemerteros Soter<\/em>, or Jesus our Savior.\u00a0 The Latin equivalent was Iesus Homimum Salvator, or Jesus, Savoir of Humankind.\u00a0 Other interpretations of IHS are \u201cIn hoc salus,<\/em>\u201d or in this (cross) is salvation, or \u201cIn Hoc Signo<\/em>,\u201d \u201cIn this sign you will conquer,\u201d from a vision reportedly received by the emperor Constantine in 313.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another common abbreviation in Christian art is INRI, depicted on a plaque or sign affixed to the Cross.\u00a0 It means in Latin, \u201cIesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum<\/em>,\u201d or Jesus Christ, King of the Jews.\u00a0 This is the sign that, according to Scripture, Pilate had placed on the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Occasionally you may see the appreviation UIODG, in Latin \u201cUt in Omnibus glorificetur Deus<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0 This phrase, popular among the followers of St. Benedict, translates to \u201cthat God may be glorified in all things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \tAnother abbreviation, seen frequently as a monogram on liturgical vestments and paraments, looks like PX, or really XP. These are really the Greek letters Chi and Rho. They are the equivalent of CH and R in English, and are a traditional abbreviation for Christ. This monogram is related to another common word that evolved from the Chi-Rho, the contraction \u201cXmas\u201d for Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \tChristian art and iconography express the living faith of people through the centuries. Often the key to decoding these works of art and faith lies in understanding not just the scene and characters, but the backgrounds, props, and the inscriptions that serve as theological footnotes for careful observers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Throughout our history, Christian art has been used to teach about our faith. In centuries when illiteracy was common, icons, statues, frescoes and stained glass were the \u201ccatechism books\u201d that taught biblical stories and theological lessons. You don\u2019t have to delve too deeply into Christian art to see that lots of these images are adorned with abbreviation designed to clarify the message in the picture. … Continue reading Abbreviations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts-of-faith","tag-facts-of-faith"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5FUlW-6t","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/corporalworks.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}