The Beauty of Christian Symbolism
There are few things in this world that offer as immersive of an adventure as symbology. Each fish, anchor, or skull and crossbones seems mundane on the surface, but digging deeper allows readers to feel like they have stepped onto the set of Raiders or The Last Crusade. There is a certain allure to the unknown and that which we cannot access, it brings out curiosity in its purest form. From secret societies to persecuted groups, symbolism has been harnessed for millennia as the most primal form of communication. Symbols are keys to the gate of something bigger. Take the classic skull and bones.
Nowadays, the skull and bones are almost kitschy; printed on cheap halloween costumes and displayed in sub-par tattoo parlours. This symbol, however, carries a important meaning. Beyond striking fear into the hearts of British midshipmen, the symbol represents memento mori, a representation of death and reminder of our own mortality.
Early Christianity relied heavily on symbols and iconography, mainly to subvert Roman persecution. There are an assortment that were used, but there was one key symbol, shrouded in enigma, that has seen use in popular culture as well: The ROTAS/SATOR Square.
This cryptic square made its first appearance at the preserved site of Pompeii. The square itself consists of five five-letter latin words: SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS. The square is symmetrical in that it can be read quad-directionally. The cross in the middle is formed by palindromic word TENET, from tenere/teneo, meaning to continue or persist. Early translations decrypted the ROTAS square to mean, on the surface, “Farmer Arepo functions to operate work wheels.” This translation, however, offered no clear explanation into its Ancient Roman popularity. This square has also seen use in popular culture. A prime example of this is Christopher Nolan’s 2020 film Tenet. The first reference is the namesake of the film itself, TENET. Next, we see the opera (OPERA) house used for the opening scene of the film.
After that, we see two characters with reference to the square, including villain Andrei Sator (SATOR), and Arepo (AREPO), the man who forged the Goya drawing.
Finally, we see mention to a security company hired by Andrei Sator, which carries the name Rotas (ROTAS) Security. With this, Nolan makes reference to all five components of the ROTAS square. Vox has an in-depth article about connection between the movie Tenet, and the ROTAS square. There is more than meets the eye with this cryptic square, however.
If we look a level deeper, we see that the letters that compose this square: R*4 S*2 A*4 T*4 O*4 E*4 P*2 N*1. This brings us to the evolved version of the SATOR square, the paternoster cross.
This decrypted symbol shows the true meaning of the ROTAS square. When all the letters of the square are rearranged, we find a cross that reads PATERNOSTER vertically and horizontally. Paternoster is a uniquely Christian phrase. The direct translation of pater noster from Latin is our father, the first two words of The Lord’s Prayer. The A and O that surround the cross represent Greek letters alpha Ɑ and omega ω. These two letters offer a reference to the finality and totality of god, directly meaning “the beginning and the end.” Like most Christian symbols at the time, the ROTAS square was emblazoned on the walls of Christian households who sought to display their devotion in a secretive way.
Another popular symbol for persecuted Christians is the Ichthys, colloquially referred to as the “Jesus fish.” Christians, upon crossing paths with another suspected Christian, would draw half of the ichthys. If the suspected Christian reciprocated and completed the fish, it would confirm to both the status of their beliefs. The last symbol, seen above, its two-fold. The first is the anchor, which is the shallowest of the symbols presented. It was used simply because the cross at the top of the anchor symbolized the cross of Christ. The second symbol, chi-rho (☧), has modern-day implications, however. It is combination of two Greek letters: chi Χ and rho ρ. Much like the paternoster cross, chi-rho represents the first two syllables of the greek word Kristos, which means Christ. The chi-rho is one of the first known christograms, which are abbreviated versions of Christ’s name, often used as identifiers and holy symbols by the church. In popular culture as well, we see the symbol for chi co-opted into a shortened reference to christ, hence the common use of “X-mas.”
We see, in early Christianity specifically, usage of symbols to help subvert persecution and identify fellow adherents. Secrecy was paramount as to not arouse Roman suspicion. As a result, the symbols and avenues of communication are incredibly cryptic. Nevertheless, Christian symbolism is incredibly intuitive in its communicative and congregational properties.
