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Crucifix

For other uses, see Crucifix (disambiguation).

Crucifixion of Christ at the winged triptych at the Church of the Teutonic Order in Vienna, Austria. Woodcarvings by an anonymous master; polychromy by Jan van Wavere, Mechelen, signed 1520. This altarpiece was originally made for St. Mary's Church, Gdańsk, and came to Vienna in 1864.
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A crucifix (from the Latin cruci fixus meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the corpus (Latin for 'body').[1][2] The crucifix emphasizes Jesus' sacrifice, including his death by crucifixion, which Christians believe brought about the redemption of mankind. Most crucifixes portray Jesus on a Latin cross, rather than a Tau cross or a Coptic cross.

The crucifix is a principal symbol for many groups of Christians, and one of the most common forms of the Crucifixion in the arts. It is especially important in the Catholic Church, and is also used in the Eastern Orthodox Church, most Oriental Orthodox Churches except the Armenian & Syriac Church, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism.[3][4][5] The symbol is less common in churches of other Protestant denominations, and in the Assyrian Church of the East and Armenian Apostolic Church, which prefer to use a cross without the figure of Jesus (the corpus).[6][7]

Roman Catholics see the crucifix as the perfect fulfillment of that inferred by the serpent created by Moses in Numbers 21:8—9,[8] called the Nehushtan. It was promised that those sinners who looked upon the Nehushtan would be healed. The section of Numbers about the Nehushtan is one of the readings on Exaltation of the Cross that occurs on September 14 in the Roman Catholic Church. It is paired with John 3:14–15[9] as the gospel reading. Taken together, these readings explain the striking front and center position of a large crucifix normally fixed above or behind a Catholic altar.

Western crucifixes usually have a three-dimensional corpus, but in Eastern Orthodoxy Jesus' body is normally painted on the cross, or in low relief. Strictly speaking, to be a crucifix, the cross must be three-dimensional, but this distinction is not always observed. An entire painting of the crucifixion of Jesus including a landscape background and other figures is not a crucifix either.

Large crucifixes high across the central axis of a church are known by the Old English term rood. By the Late Middle Ages these were a near-universal feature of Western churches, but they are now very rare. Modern Roman Catholic churches and many Lutheran churches often have a crucifix above the altar on the wall;[10] for the celebration of Mass, the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church requires that "on or close to the altar there is to be a cross with a figure of Christ crucified".[11]

  1. ^ Luchs, Alison; Distelberger, Rudolf; Verdier, Philippe; Barbour, Daphne S.; Wilson, Timothy H.; Sturman, Shelley G.; Vandiver, Pamela B. (1993). Rufolf Distelberger, Western Decorative Arts (National Gallery of Art 1993), p. 15. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521470681.
  2. ^ Bradshaw, Paul F. (2002). Paul F. Bradshaw, The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship (Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2002). SCM Press. ISBN 9780334028833.
  3. ^ "New Beginnings (formerly Cade Lake Community Chapel)". Unity of the Brethren. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Our Savior's Lutheran Church, "Sanctuary and Chapel"". 13 September 2008.
  5. ^ "St. John's Lutheran Church of Topeka, KS, "The Altar Crucifix"". Archived from the original on 19 June 2012.
  6. ^ "Sign of the Cross". Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East - Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020. Inside their homes, a cross is placed on the eastern wall of the first room. If one sees a cross in a house and do not find a crucifix or pictures, it is almost certain that the particular family belongs to the Church of the East.
  7. ^ "History of St Yeghiche Church, Kensington, London".
  8. ^ Numbers 21:8–9
  9. ^ John 3:14–15
  10. ^ "Palanga Lutheran Church Beautified with New Crucifix". LCMS International Mission. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  11. ^ "General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 117" (PDF).

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