The instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus (known in Latin as crux , in Greek as stauros ) is generally thought to consist of upright wooden beams added to a transom, thus forming a "cruciform" T-shaped.
Most Christian denominations present the Christian cross in this form, and the tradition of the T-form can be traced to early Christianity and to the Fathers of the Church. However, some scholars in the late 19th century have maintained that in reality it is a simple pole ( crux simplex ).
Video Instrument of Jesus' crucifixion
Presence or absence of crossbar
Ambiguity of the term used
The Koine Greek term used in the New Testament from the structure in which Jesus died is stauros (???????) and xylon (?????). Those words, which can refer to many different things, do not show the exact shape of the structure. Scholars have long known that the Greek word stauros and the Latin crux does not uniquely mean the cross. They also know that the words have the same meaning, and therefore are not necessarily considered to be the traditional image of the cross with transom.
The ambiguity of this term was noted by Justus Lipsius in his book De Cruce (1594), Jacob Gretser in his book De Cruce Christi (1598) and Thomas Godwyn in his book Moses and Aaron (1662).
John Pearson, Bishop Chester (c 1660) wrote in his commentary on the Apostles' Creed that the Greek word stauros originally signifies "Stake, Pale, or Palisador standing", but that " cross section or other prominence added in the perfect Cross, it retains the Original Name, "and he states:" The Crucifix in which our Savior suffers is not a simple thing, but a composite, the Drawings, according to The Custom of the , which by his Procurator he is condemned to die, in which not only is there a straight and erect piece of Wood mounted on Earth, but also a cross Beam that fasts on it towards it ".
Justus Lipsius creates a special terminology to distinguish between various forms that can be called crosses or crux . The basic two-sided difference is between crux simplex (simple pole) and crux compacta (a combination of two pieces of wood). The victim can be pasted into crux simplex or it can be stabbed on it. Lipsius then divided the crux compacta into three types:
Lipsius himself, like Gretser and Godwyn, argues that Jesus was nailed not to crux simplex, but to crux immissa. However, WE Vine and EW Bullinger, and Henry Dana Ward, consider that the "cross" (Greek stauros , in its original meaning really pale or erect) has no bar, and that the traditional image of Jesus in The cross with the crossbar is incorrect.
"Stauros" is defined as betting only
In his 1871 study of the history of the cross, Episcopal Henry Dana Ward's preacher was accepted as the only form of gibbet in which Jesus died "pale, strong pole, wooden pole".
Plymouth Brethren preacher WE Vine's The Expository Dictionary of the New Testament The words also state that the main meaning of stauros is the pale or upright bet in which the malefactors are nailed to execution. Vine says the shape of a two-eyed ecclesiastical cross has its origins in ancient Chaldea, and is used as a symbol of the god Tammuz (taking the form of mystic Tau, the beginning of his name) in Chaldea and nearby. land, including Egypt. He said third-century churches, who at that time had abandoned certain doctrines of the Christian faith, accepted unbelievers in faith to improve their prestige and enable them to maintain their pagan signs and symbols. "Therefore Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with cross-sections being lowered, is adopted to stand for the 'cross' of Christ."
The Anglican theologian EW Bullinger, in The Companion Bible (completed and published in 1922, nine years after his death), was so firm in his belief that stauros never meant two pieces - wood cuts are placed face to face at every angle, "but always from one part only... Nothing in the Greek of the PB even stops two pieces of wood." Bullinger writes that at Rome's catacombs Christ was never represented there as "hanging on the cross" and that the cross is a pagan symbol of life (ankh) in Egyptian churches borrowed by Christians. He quoted a letter from the English Dean John William Burgon, who questioned whether a cross occurred at any Christian monument during the first four centuries and wrote: "The discovery" was pre-Christian, and the "discovery" of its use. in the future, is the truth we need to remind in the present. Such evidence is complete, that God is executed on an upright post, and not on two pieces of wood placed in any way. "
"Stauros" is defined as a patibulum
Andreas J. KÃÆ'¶stenberger (2004) notes that the traditional academic reconstruction of the cross had Jesus first, then Simon of Cyrene bore "stauros," ie only the horizontal bar, Latin patibulum . But when Simon brought the Patibulum to Golgota, the crossbar was then lifted to the pole to make a traditional cross shape. SchrÃÆ'¶ter (1997) notes that the lack of reference in ancient sources, apart from Plautus ( The Charcoal Woman 2 and The Braggart Warrior 2.4.6-7) and Plutarch ( Moralia 554AB), to "bear the cross" implies that a criminal carrying his own patibulum is not very common.
James B. Torrance in the article "Cross" in the New Bible Dictionary writes that the Greek word for "cross" (stauros: verb stauro ?, Lat. Crux, crucifigo, "I fasten to the cross") means primarily poles or upright poles, but also allows the construction that Jesus and Simon of Cyrene carry the patibulum to Golgotha.
In applying the word stauros to the bar, these authors point out that the complete structure in which Jesus died is not an upright post but constitutes what is usually called the cross.
Raymond Edward Brown states that in the canonical Gospels "no single word is reported about the shape of the cross, of how it is affixed, about the amount of pain," but excludes the use of Jesus from the simplex core, he brings the cross [beam] to the place of execution ".
"Stauros" is defined as ambiguous in the sense
Greek-English Lexicon from Liddell and Scott reported that the meaning of the word "???????" in Homer's early Greek form, probably from the eighth to the sixth centuries BC, and also in the writings of the 5th century BC writer Herodotus and Thucydides and Xenophon beginning of the 4th century BC, are the "pale or upright poles" used to build a palisade or "a stack driven to serve as a foundation" It is reported that in the writings of the first century BC Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch AD first century and early second century Lucian - as well as in Matthew 27:40, Luke 9:23, 14: 27 - the word "???????" used to refer to the cross, either as an instrument of crucifixion or metaphorically of voluntary suffering; "The shape is shown by the Greek letter T". It also reports that Plutarch used the word in relation to pale to cornering the corpse. From the writers that Liddell and Scott gave using "???????" means the cross, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology states that in Diodorus Siculus the word probably means betting to hang. Plutarch (in An vitiosity ad infelicitatem sufficiat ) distinguishes the crucifixion on stauros from the beginning on the skolop.
Joel B. Green, in The Cambridge Companion to Jesus, says the evidence of Jesus' death is far more ambiguous than is generally recognized. The literary sensitivity of ancient Rome did not promote the graphical description of the crucifixion, and even the Gospels reported only, "They crucified him," adding no more detail. According to Green, the Romans were slaves without a standard crucifixion technique: "In describing the siege of Jerusalem by Roman soldiers, for example, Josephus reported that" the soldiers who came out of anger and hate were amused by nailing their prisoners in different positions. (JW 5.449-51). Elsewhere, we learn that the victims of the crucifixion may be tied to the stake to die, or stabbed after death as a general display. They may be nailed to the cross with nails or by ropes. nailed to the cross intimidated in several texts (John 20.25; Acts 2.23; Col 2.14; Gos. Pet. 6.21; Justin Dial 97). Nor can we turn to archaeological evidence for help. "
In his book The Crucifixions of Ancient times, Gunnar Samuelsson states that the New Testament terminology itself is not conclusive in one way or another: "There is a good possibility that, when, if used by evangelists, it has been accused of denotation which is different - from Calvary When, for example, Mark uses the noun that can mean 'cross' in the sense in which the Church then feels it. [...] The Gospel record may indicate that it can < i> signifies the "cross" in the meaning mentioned, but they do not indicate that it always happens. "In the pages of Q and A he adds:" (The Gospels) does not describe the event in length [...] However, non-detailed gospels do not contradict traditional understandings, so the traditional understanding of the Death of Jesus is true, but we can admit that it is more based on eyewitness accounts than the actual narrative of passion. "
Professor Robin M. Jensen, in his book Cross: History, Art, and Controversy, says that ' stauros (Latin = core ) is not always means [a cross]. Historically, both Greek and Latin words point only to an erect pillar where the executed men may be bound or bound until they suffocate. Conventional features of the Latin cross ( crux immissa ) have been challenged for centuries because some scholars and even the Christian community have argued otherwise that Christ died on a T shaped crux comissa even on simple pole ( crux simplex ). '
"stauros" is defined as the cross in Jesus' case
New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology , which specifically addresses the crucifixion of Jesus, says that it is likely that stauros have transverse lines in the form of a crossbar. "Secular sources do not allow any conclusions to be drawn like the exact shape of the cross, whether it is crux immissa ( ) or core commissa T) It is therefore not very common to affix titlos (superscription, borrowed from Lat. titulus ), it does not always follow that cross has the form of crux immissa . "
The authors say there are two possible ways to set up stauros , which may be no higher than a man's height. The condemned man can be tied to the cross lying on the ground at the place of execution, then lifted onto it. Alternatively, it is possible to plant a stake on the ground prior to execution. The victim is tied to a cross and lifted with a horizontal beam and made fast to the vertical pole. They say that since this is a simpler form of erection, and carrying a crossbar (patibulum ) may be a form of punishment for slaves, the crux commissa can be taken as a normal practice.
- 1. stauros are stocks that are upright....
- 2. stauros is a torture tool for serious offenses, Plut. Ser. Num. Vind., 9 (II, 554a); Artemid. Onirocr., II, 53 (pp. 152, 4f.); Diod. S.. 2, 18 (-Ã, Â »III, 411. n.4). In its form we find three basic forms. The cross is a vertical, pointed pole ( skolops , 409, 4 ff.), Or is made upright with cross-beams on it ( T , crux commissa ), or consist of two intersecting blocks ( , crux immissa )
Other reference works argue that the cross is "a post with a cross beam" ( Theological Dictionary of the New Testament ), "a form usually seen in the image, Maps Instrument of Jesus' crucifixion
More technical details
Foundation ​​â € <â €
The question of the nature of the cross used for the crucifixion of Jesus relates to whether Jesus merely brings the Golgotha ​​patibulum or cross (patibulum and stipes) - as to whether the erect stipes are permanent fixtures at Golgotha, or whether there are permanent or specially reinforced holes for basic stipes. It also relates to the height of the cross, where estimates vary from 8 feet (2.4 m) to 15 feet (4.6 m) in height.
The victim binding method
Some theories suggest 3 spikes are used to tie the victim while others suggest 4 spikes. Throughout history, a large number of nails have been hypothesized, sometimes as high as 14 spikes. The placement of nails in hand, or wrist is also uncertain. Another theory suggests that the Greek word for the hand also includes the forearm and that the nail is placed near the fingers and ulna of the forearm. The rope may also be used to tie the hand apart the use of nails.
Footrest
Another problem is the use of hypopodium as a standing platform to support the feet, given that the hand may not be able to sustain its weight. In the 20th century, forensic pathologist Frederick Zugibe undertook a number of crucifixion experiments using ropes to hang human subjects at various angles and hand positions.
Terminology
Greek xylon ("wood , tree ")
In the Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy 21:23 states that "the curse of God is everyone who relies on a tree". In this Septuagint being ??? ????? ( epi xylou ). Word ????? (xylon ) can mean anything made of wood, even something as complicated as a Trojan horse, and applies also to trees, even living ones, as described in Revelation 22: 2 as the fruitful tree of life the moon and whose leaves function for healing. It is used in the New Testament to say that where Jesus died: 3 Peter's use of xylon (in the English Bible "tree") compared to Paul using only xylon " piece of wood "once.
In the Greek text, the word English
In English too, the words "tree" and "wood" are applied to the imagined cross of Christ as is the case with transom: the songs sung in honor Good Friday of the cross have the phrase: "Faithful The Cross The Saints rely on, The tree's Noble is incredible! [...] Sweet wood, sweeten the iron, Sweet loads they bear! "
Terminology used by the ancient author
Apart from the meaning of pegs, the word stauros is also used by early Christian period writers to refer to the construction with transom.
Using the Greek word ??????? in his oral form, the Jewish historian Josephus also wrote about the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70, telling that Jews who were caught outside the walls of the city "were first whipped, and then tortured with all sorts of torture, before they died, and then crucified in in front of the city walls... the soldiers, out of their anger and hatred carrying the Jews, nailing the people they capture, one by one, and one by one, to the cross, by joking. "
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who lived at the time of Jesus' birth, described how those who were cursed to be crucified were taken to the place of execution:
"A Roman citizen who does not have an obscure station has ordered one of his slaves to be executed, escorting him to his fellow slaves to be taken away, and for his punishment to be witnessed by all, directing them to drag him through the Forum and every striking part of the city others when they whipped him, and that he had to leave before the procession that the Romans at that time did in honor of the gods The people were commanded to lead the slave for his punishment, Having stretched out his hands and tied him to a piece of wood. > which stretches across his chest and shoulders as far as his wrists, follows him, tears his bare body with lashes. " Roman Antiquities
Dionysius here uses the Greek xylon (?????) for the horizontal bar ("patibulum") used in Roman crucifixion; he describes how the cursed hand is tied to him ( ?????? ?????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????
The second-century astrologer of the 2nd century Artemidorus spoke of the crucifixion as something that happened on the crucifix that had the breadth and height: "Because he is a criminal, he will be crucified at the top and in the extension of his hand" (Oneirocritica 1:76).
Lucian of Samosata (121-180) describes the crucifixion of the mythical Prometheus by nailing him to a cliff in the Caucasus "with his hand outstretched (from the cliff to the cliff)" from the cliff to the cliff. "
Initial Christian Description
Although there is a discussion about the meaning or meaning of the words ??????? and the crux of the time, and of the form or form that the gibbon-gibbons possessed, first-century Christians agreed in describing the particular structure in which Jesus died as having a transom, not as simple as honest.
The Epithent of Barnabas pseudepigraphic, which scholars suggest may be before the end of the 1st century, and certainly earlier than 135, whether the author is an orthodox Christian or not, describes the shape of a person when it is associated with the device that Jesus died: comparisons drawn with the characters of the Old Testament will have no validity for its readers if they imagine Jesus dead on a simple pole. Referring to what he saw as the Old Testament statement of Jesus and his cross, he equated the cross with the letter T (the Greek letter tau, which has a numerical value of 300), thus describing it as having a crossbar. He also wrote, in connection with Exodus 17: 11-12: "The Spirit said to Moses' heart, that he should make a kind of cross and He who suffered, that except, thus He, they will set their hope on Him, the war will be waged against them forever, so Moses hugged each other in the midst of the encounter, and stood on the ground higher than the others he stretched out his hand , and Israel once again won. "
Celsus (as quoted by Origen Contra Celsum, II: 36) and Origen himself using the verb "???????????", which originally meant "to pierce", the crucifixion of Jesus. It is considered identical to "??????", which also seems originally to mean "to pierce", and is applied also to the mockery of Jesus' execution; but the form of gibbet compared to Origen with the one in the letter ? . The last words of the Exam in Vowel Court, ???? ????????? , 12.4-13 found among Lucian's works, also identifies the form of ??????? with it from the letter ? . And, as already mentioned, at Prometheus on Caucasus Lucian describes the crucified Prometheus "with his arms outstretched".
The Second-century Odes of Solomon, perhaps by a heterodox Christian, includes the following: "I stretched out my hand and sanctified my Lord,/For the extension of my hand is His sign./And my extension is the erect cross (??) ???? ?). "
Justin Martyr (100-165) explicitly says the cross of Christ has the form of two beams: "The lamb commanded for the whole baking is a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ will experience." For lamb, which is roasted, baked and decorated in the form of a cross. spit twisted from the bottom to the head, and one on the back, which is attached to the sheep's feet. "
Like the Epistle of Barnabas, Justin saw the hand of Moses stretching in the battle against Amalek as the shadow of the cross of Jesus: "If he gives up any part of this sign, which is an imitation of the cross (??????), people are beaten, as recorded in the writings of Moses, but if he remains in this form, Amalek is proportionally defeated, and he who wins prevailed by the cross (???????).Because not because Moses prayed that the people become stronger , but because, while the person who interpreted the name of Jesus (Joshua) was at the forefront of the battle, he himself made the sign of the cross (??????). "
In his First Apology, 55 Justin refers to the various objects shaped like the cross of Christ: "The sea is not to be passed unless the trophy called sailing survives safely on the ship... And the human form is different from that of the irrational animal is nothing but being upright and has an extended hand, and has in the face extends from the forehead of what is called the nose, where there is respiration to living things, and this shows no other form than the intersection (???????).
Peter's apocryphal stories, from the second half of the second century, attached symbolic significance to the righteous and cross the cross of Jesus: "What else is Christ but the word, the voice of God? So that the word is a straight radiance ( to orthon xulon ) where I am crucified, and the sound is that which goes through (to plagion ), the nature of man and the nail that keeps the trees of the cross to the righteous in the midst of them is repentance and human conversion. "
Irenaeus, who died around the end of the 2nd century, speaks of the cross as having "five extremities, two long, two in the width, and one in the middle, where the [last] man rests upon the nails."
Hippolytus Romans (170 - 235 AD), wrote of the blessings that Jacob obtained from his father Isaac (Genesis 27: 1-29), saying: "The skin laid on his arm is the sin of both nations, which Christ, when his hands are stretched in the cross , tied there with Himself. "
In his Octavius ​​Marcus Minucius Felix (? -c, 250AD, Rome), responding to pagan jibe that Christians worship the wooden cross - an indication of how the cross symbol has been linked to Christians - denying the charge and then replied that the shape of the cross (the bar which is placed on the upright) is honored even by the unbelievers in their standard form and their trophies and in any case found in nature: "The cross, moreover, we do not worship or hope for you, who sanctifies the gods of wood, worships the cross as a part of your god.For your standards, as well as your banners, and your camp flags, what else are they but the crosses are gilded and decorated? The trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple cross, but also from a man attached to it.
We must have seen the sign of the cross, naturally, on the ship when it was brought along with a swelling screen, as it slid forward with an expanded oar, and when the military yoke is lifted, it is th cross mark; and when a man worships God with a pure mind, with outstretched hands. So the sign of the cross is either sustained by natural reasons, or your own religion is formed in connection with it. "In a language very similar to Minucius Felix, Tertullian, too, who distinguishes between the stiples and the crew, notes that it is a cross associated with the people people with Christianity. And he points out that the shape of the cross is the letter of the letter T: "The Greek letters Tau and our own T are the very form of the cross, which (God) predicts will be a mark on our forehead", and compared to the shape of the bird with its outstretched wings.
This anti-Christian argument is quoted in Octavius ​​of Minucius Felix, chapters IX and XXIX, and Tertullian's Apology , 16 indicating that the cross symbol has been associated with people Christians in the 2nd Century. Tertullian can designate the Christian body as the crucis religios , namely "the worshipers of the Cross". In his book De Corona , written in 204, Tertullian tells how it has become a tradition for Christians to trace repeatedly on their foreheads of the cross.
So closely connected with Christ is the cross that Clement of Alexandria, who died between 211 and 216, can without fear of ambiguity using the phrase ?? ???????? ??????? (the sign of God) means the cross, when he repeats the idea, now as early as the Epistle of Barnabas, that the number 318 (in Greek numbers ???) in Genesis 14:14 is a shadow (a "type") of the cross (T, erect with bar, standing for 300) and Jesus (??, the first two letters of his name ??????, standing for 18).
For other examples of the use of the second century of the cross, in its familiar form, as a Christian symbol, see the reference in the Jewish Encyclopedia article on the cross:
- The cross as a Christian symbol or a "seal" began to be used at least since the 2nd century (see "Apostence Const." ii) Epistle of Barnabas, xi.-xii.; Justin, "Apologia," i. 55-60; "Dial Cum Tryph." 85-97); and the sign of the cross on the forehead and chest is considered a talisman against the forces of the devil (Tertullian, "De Corona," iii; Cyprian, "Testimonies," xi. 21-22; Lactantius, "DivinÃÆ'Â| Institutions," iv. 27, another place). Thus, the Christian Fathers must defend themselves, as early as the 2nd century, against the responsibility of being a worshiper of the cross, as can be learned from Tertullian, "Apologia," xii, xvii, and Minucius Felix, "Octavius," xxix. Christians used to swear by the power of the cross (see Apocalypse of Mary, viii., In James, "Text and Lesson," iii.
ArcheologyThe significance of human remains crucified in Palestine in the 1st century has been interpreted in different ways, and in any case does not prove that Jesus was executed in the same way.
The Alexamenos graffito, once considered the earliest pictorial representation of the crucifixion and has been interpreted as a Christian mockery, shows the cross as an instrument of execution. The date is uncertain: some have dated it since 85 years, but it may have been until the end of the 3rd century, and even before AD 300.
What now appears to be the most ancient of ancient Roman crucifixion is the graffito found in taberna (a lodging for travelers) in Puteoli, from the Trajan period (98-117) or Hadrian (117-138). The cross has a T shape.
The cross in the history of Christian art
In Christian art Jesus is generally described as carrying the whole cross - patibulum and stipes.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses affirm that the device used for Jesus' execution was a simple right, and that the cross was adopted as a Christian symbol only under the 4th century emperor, Constantine the Great. The New World Translation of the Bible therefore uses the phrase "torture pole" to translate the Greek word ??????? ( stauros ) in Matthew 27:40, Mark 15:30 and Luke 23:26.
A research edition of the New World Translation reproduces an illustration of a work by the 16th-century philosopher Justus Lipsius who shows a man hanged by a wrist on a crux simplex or pole erect. However, he omitted another Lipsius illustration of such an execution which shows a traditional cross-style with bars, especially those considered by Lipsius according to the execution of Jesus. James Penton, professor emeritus of history at Lethbridge University, Canada, commented: = M. James | title = Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zNfTBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA451&dq=Penton Lipsius & amp; hl = en & amp; sa = X & amp; ved = 0ahEngK2Pywm9fZAhXSe8AKHa9vDP8Q6AEIJzAA # v = onepage & amp; q = Penton% 20Lipsius & amp; f = false% 7C publisher = University of Toronto Press | year = 2015 | page = 451 | id = ISBNÃ, 9781442616059}} & lt;/ref & gt;
References
External links
- Crucifixion at Antiquity Website: "exegetics.org"
- Catholic Answers Website: Cross or Stake?
- Expository Time , February 1973 volume IXXXIV No. 6, Archeological Record of the Crucifixion , on the PBS website.
- Awake! , Journal of Jehovah's Witnesses, April 2006: " Bible Views: Is Jesus Really Dead on the Cross?
- Watchers of the Watch Tower World Website: Facts about crucifixion, stauros and "torture pole"
- Justus Lipsius, De Cruce , Antwerp 1594, shows many different forms of crucifixion, showing Jesus on the cross of two beams
- Justus Lipsius, De Cruce , Leiden 1695, more recent edition of the same book
- John Denham Parsons, The Non-Christian Cross - A Question of the Origin and History of Symbols Finally Adopted as Our Religion , London, 1896, a book that can be downloaded on the Project Gutenberg
- Herman Fulda, Das Kreuz and Die Kreuzung, Eine antiquarische Untersuchung . Breslau, 1878.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments