Outstretched hands and The Cross

[GakuseiDon]

I would say the Christian and post-Christian depiction on a cross is probably as much b/c of Moses; and subsequent Christian tropes, of course.*

Tertullian is clear about what shape the cross takes:

Every piece of timber which is fixed in the ground in an erect position is a part of a cross, and indeed the greater portion of its mass. But an entire cross is attributed to us, with its transverse beam, of course, and its projecting seat...

So by the time the crucifixion story gets to Tertullian, he takes it to mean that Jesus was crucified on a cross as we imagine it today. Given the period he lived in, it's reasonable to assume that it's an accurate portrayal of a standard crucifixion.

All the similies seem to be used to justify Christians using that shape of the cross: "like having outstretched arms", "like a Roman banner", "like a ship with full sails", "like the wooden frame that is used to make clay statues of gods". No doubt Scriptures like Psalm 22 were mined as well. (Though of course it may be that Psalm 22 was itself the inspiration for the idea.)

Associating the crucifixion with trees may also be connected to gods being in trees and on trees or related to trees. Who knows? But it's an interesting topic.

[MrMacSon]

I would say the Christian and post-Christian depiction on a cross is probably as much b/c of Moses; and subsequent Christian tropes, of course.*

Which I think evolved as I've outlined above: via readings of Psalm 22, and perhaps Isaiah 65.2, such as those reflected in Barnabas 12; perhaps via Paul (though he, like most if not all NT texts, only uses stauros, ie. stake or a variation or derivative of it); and the likes of Justin Martyr.
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And of course -

There are passages which specifically align the image of a tree with outstretched arms:

Sibylline Oracles 5.255-258: Then there shall come from the sky a certain / Exalted man whose hands he spread out upon the fruitful tree [ξύλου], / The noblest of the Hebrews who caused the sun to stand still / When he cries with fair speech and pure lips.

So let us imagine for a moment that the following poems are actual songs to be sung in worship:

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Odes of Solomon 27: 1 I stretched out my hands and sanctified my Lord, 2 for the extension of my hands is His sign, 3 and my expansion is the upright tree.

Odes of Solomon 42: 1 I stretched out my hands and approached my Lord, 2 for the stretching of my hands is His sign. 2 My expansion is the outspread tree which was set up on the way of the Righteous One. 4 And I became of no account to those who did not take hold of me and I shall be with those who love me. 5 All my persecutors are dead; and they sought after me who hoped in me, because I was alive. 6 And I rose up and am with them; and I will speak by their mouths.
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Ben asked, ''Could Odes such as these be what lies behind Galatians 3:1?''

There are, I think, noteworthy NT passages, and the passage in Barnabas, 8.5 which Ben noted, which would seem to be less reflective of the Christian concept of crucifixion than those Odes^ and Sibylline Oracles 5.255-258, viz. >>

We know that early Christians could describe the cross as a tree or as wood:

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Galatians 3.13:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us - for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree [ξύλου]."

1 Peter 2.24:
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree [ξύλον], that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Acts 5.30:
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a tree [ξύλου].

Acts 10.39:
And we are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And they also put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree [ξύλου].

Acts 13.29:
And when they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree [ξύλου] and laid Him in a tomb.

Barnabas 8.5:
Then there is the placing the wool on the tree [ξύλον]. This means that the kingdom of Jesus is on the tree [ξύλου], and that they who set their hope on Him shall live for ever.
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I wonder if Odes such as those Ben noted, reproduced above, +/- Sibylline Oracles 5.255-258, along with Barnabas 12 and Justin Martyr's First Apology 35, could be key to the final concept of the Christian crucifixion, which may not have been finalised even in Hippolytus' day, c.170–235 AD:

Hippolytus, On the Antichrist 61 ... during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church, which flees from city to city, and seeks concealment in the wilderness among the mountains, possessed of no other defence than the two wings of the great eagle, that is to say, the faith of Jesus Christ, who, having stretched forth His holy hands upon the tree [ἐκτείνας τὰς ἁγίας χεῖρας ἐπὶ τῷ ξύλῳ], unfolded two wings, the right and the left, and called to Him all who believed upon Him, and covered them as a hen her chickens. For by the mouth of Malachi also He speaks thus, “And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings” [Malachi 4.2].

[mlinssen]

It is easy to see where the need for setting this story "straight" comes from: Mark's gospel and the others describe someone being impaled, and that was not a good image for "a suffering servant"

Again, what do you die of in the cross? Blood loss, fatigue - you slowly sink into a state of unconsciousness hours or even days before you die.
Not Jesus, He lasted only 6 hours, 3 if you believe John, and he was rather talkative until his final moment, when he even gave a loud cry

That's very consistent with being impaled, sinking that last part of an inch and piercing a crucial organ

That was the story then, and it made perfect sense. But if you want to make an icon or of your sacrificial lamb, you need an incredibly more pleasing picture than that

So, nothing like a cross in the initial stories, and it might indeed have been Justin Martyr who started it all?

[MrMacSon]

... Mark's gospel and the others describe someone being impaled, and that was not a good image for "a suffering servant"

... Jesus...lasted only 6 hours, 3 if you believe John, and he was rather talkative until his final moment, when he even gave a loud cry

That's very consistent with being impaled, sinking that last part of an inch and piercing a crucial organ

That was the story then ...
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Seems like it.

But if you want to make an icon or of your sacrificial lamb, you need an incredibly more pleasing picture than that

One would think so, and more pleasing imagery had been espoused: see the passages from the Oracles and Odes above ...

... and no doubt accounts of Moses ...

So, nothing like a cross in the initial stories, and it might indeed have been Justin Martyr who started it all?

Perhaps not a wooden † or T cross in the gospel stories, but perhaps Justin was not using them: perhaps he was using other imagery ...

[MrMacSon]

Justin Martyr, First Apology 55

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But in no instance, not even in any of those called sons of Jupiter, did they imitate the being crucified; for it was not understood by them, all the things said of it having been put symbolically. And this, as the prophet foretold, is the greatest symbol of His power and role; as is also proved by the things which fall under our observation. For consider all the things in the world, whether without this form they could be administered or have any community. For the sea is not traversed except that trophy which is called a sail abide safe in the ship; and the earth is not ploughed without it: diggers and mechanics do not their work, except with tools which have this shape. And the human form differs from that of the irrational animals in nothing else than in its being erect and having the hands extended, and having on the face extending from the forehead what is called the nose, through which there is respiration for the living creature; and this shows no other form than that of the cross. And so it was said by the prophet, "The breath before our face is the Lord Christ".1 And the power of this form is shown by your own symbols on what are called vexilla [banners] and trophies, with which all your state possessions are made, using these as the insignia of your power and government, even though you do so unwittingly. And with this form you consecrate the images of your emperors when they die, and you name them gods by inscriptions. Since, therefore, we have urged you both by reason and by an evident form, and to the utmost of our ability, we know that now we are blameless even though you disbelieve; for our part is done and finished.
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1 This could refer to >

Genesis 2:7 ?

Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Ezekiel 37:5, 6, 8 and 9 ??

5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.

6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.

9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life”.’ ”

Job 12:10 ?

In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

Job 27:3 ?

as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils

Job 32:8 ??

“But it is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

Job 33:4 ?

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Psalm 33:6 ??

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.

Psalm 150:6 ?

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

How about Isaiah 42:5 ? -

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Thus says God the Lord,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and its offspring,
Who gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it
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[GakuseiDon]

Justin Martyr, First Apology 55

And the human form differs from that of the irrational animals in nothing else than in its being erect and having the hands extended, and having on the face extending from the forehead what is called the nose, through which there is respiration for the living creature; and this shows no other form than that of the cross.

Interesting thing I noticed: the idea of a projection from the cross. Here Justin Martyr refers to it as like a "nose" "on the face extending from the forehead". Tertullian seems to allude to the same thing in "Ad nationes" as a "projecting seat":
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... ian06.html

Every piece of timber which is fixed in the ground in an erect position is a part of a cross, and indeed the greater portion of its mass. But an entire cross is attributed to us, with its transverse beam, of course, and its projecting seat...

So the cross-shape stake had a projecting seat. Not sure it means much, but it is interesting!

Justin Martyr describes crucifixion in terms of the Passover lamb, in "Dialogue with Trypho", while invoking Isaiah's "I have stretched out my hands" passage:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... rypho.html

The mystery, then, of the lamb which God enjoined to be sacrificed as the passover, was a type of Christ; with whose blood, in proportion to their faith in Him, they anoint their houses, i.e., themselves, who believe on Him. For that the creation which God created--to wit, Adam--was a house for the spirit which proceeded from God, you all can understand. And that this injunction was temporary, I prove thus. God does not permit the lamb of the passover to be sacrificed in any other place than where His name was named; knowing that the days will come, after the suffering of Christ, when even the place in Jerusalem shall be given over to your enemies, and all the offerings, in short, shall cease; and that lamb which was commanded to be wholly roasted was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ would undergo. For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of the cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb...
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When He speaks by Isaiah, 'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the shearer,' He speaks as if the suffering had already taken place. And when He says again, 'I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people;' and when He says, 'Lord, who hath believed our report?'--the words are spoken as if announcing events which had already come to pass.

[MrMacSon]

Justin Martyr, First Apology 55

And the human form differs from that of the irrational animals in nothing else than in its being erect and having the hands extended, and having on the face extending from the forehead what is called the nose, through which there is respiration for the living creature; and this shows no other form than that of the cross.

Interesting thing I noticed: the idea of a projection from the cross. Here Justin Martyr refers to it as like a "nose" "on the face extending from the forehead". Tertullian seems to allude to the same thing in "Ad nationes" as a "projecting seat":
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... ian06.html

Every piece of timber which is fixed in the ground in an erect position is a part of a cross, and indeed the greater portion of its mass. But an entire cross is attributed to us, with its transverse beam, of course, and its projecting seat...

So the cross-shape stake had a projecting seat. Not sure it means much, but it is interesting!

Cheers G'Don. The whole chapter of "Ad nationes" which that passage comes from - Chapter XII / 12 - is interesting, as the title, -

"The charge of worshipping a cross. The heathens themselves made much of crosses in sacred things; nay, their very idols were formed on a crucial frame."

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Ad nationes XII

As for him who affirms that we are "the priesthood of a cross," we shall claim him as our co-religionist. A cross is, in its material, a sign of wood; amongst yourselves also the object of worship is a wooden figure. Only, whilst with you the figure is a human one, with us the wood is its own figure. Never mind for the present what is the shape, provided the material is the same: the form, too, is of no importance, if so be it be the actual body of a god.

If, however, there arises a question of difference on this point what, (let me ask,) is the difference between the Athenian Pallas, or the Pharian Ceres, and wood formed into a cross, when each is represented by a rough stock, without form, and by the merest rudiment of a statue of unformed wood? Every piece of timber which is fixed in the ground in an erect position is a part of a cross, and indeed the greater portion of its mass. But an entire cross is attributed to us, with its transverse beam, of course, and its projecting seat. Now you have the less to excuse you, for you dedicate to religion only a mutilated imperfect piece of wood, while others consecrate to the sacred purpose a complete structure. The truth, however, after all, is that your religion is all cross, as I shall show.

You are indeed unaware that your gods in their origin have proceeded from this hated cross. Now, every image, whether carved out of wood or stone, or molten in metal, or produced out of any other richer material, must have had plastic hands engaged in its formation. Well, then, this modeller, before he did anything else, hit upon the form of a wooden cross, because even our own body assumes as its natural position the latent and concealed outline of a cross. Since the head rises upwards, and the back takes a straight direction, and the shoulders project laterally, if you simply place a man with his arms and hands outstretched, you will make the general outline of a cross.

Starting, then, from this rudimental form and prop, as it were, he applies a covering of clay, and so gradually completes the limbs, and forms the body, and covers the cross within with the shape which he meant to impress upon the clay; then from this design, with the help of compasses and leaden moulds, he has got all ready for his image which is to be brought out into marble, or clay, or whatever the material be of which he has determined to make his god. (This, then, is the process:) after the cross-shaped frame, the clay; after the clay, the god. In a well-understood routine, the cross passes into a god through the clayey (sic) medium.

The cross then you consecrate, and from it the consecrated (deity) begins to derive his origin. By way of example, let us take the case of a tree which grows up into a system of branches and foliage, and is a reproduction of its own kind, whether it springs from the kernel of an olive, or the stone of a peach, or a grain of pepper which has been duly tempered under ground. Now, if you transplant it, or take a cutting off its branches for another plant, to what will you attribute what is produced by the propagation? Will it not be to the grain, or the stone, or the kernel? Because, as the third stage is attributable to the second, and the second in like manner to the first, so the third will have to be referred to the first, through the second as the mean.

We need not stay any longer in the discussion of this point, since by a natural law every kind of produce throughout nature refers back its growth to its original source; and just as the product is comprised in its primal cause, so does that cause agree in character with the thing produced. Since, then, in the production of your gods, you worship the cross which originates them, here will be the original kernel and grain, from which are propagated the wooden materials of your idolatrous images. Examples are not far to seek. Your victories you celebrate with religious ceremony as deities; and they are the more august in proportion to the joy they bring you. The frames on which you hang up your trophies must be crosses: these are, as it were, the very core of your pageants.

Thus, in your victories, the religion of your camp makes even crosses objects of worship; your standards it adores, your standards are the sanction of its oaths; your standards it prefers before Jupiter himself, But all that parade of images, and that display of pure gold, are (as so many) necklaces of the crosses. in like manner also, in the banners and ensigns, which your soldiers guard with no less sacred care, you have the streamers (and) vestments of your crosses. You are ashamed, I suppose, to worship unadorned and simple crosses.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... ian06.html
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[MrMacSon]

Dialogue with Trypho contains a few references to stretching hands too, often in relation to Moses and Joshua and Jesus

Chapter XIII / 13

And He shall bear our sins; therefore He shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoil of the strong, because His soul was delivered to death; and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sins of many, and was delivered for their transgression. Sing, O barren, who bearest not; break forth and cry aloud, thou who dost not travail in pain: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife. For the Lord said, Enlarge the place of thy tent and of thy curtains; fix them, spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; stretch forth to thy right and thy left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and thou shalt make the desolate cities to be inherited.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... rypho.html

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Chapter XC / 40

Trypho: "prove to us whether He must be crucified and die so disgracefully and so dishonourably by the death cursed in the law. For we cannot bring ourselves even to think of this."

"You know," said [Justin], "that what the prophets said and did they veiled by parables and types, as you admitted to us; so that it was not easy for all to understand [much] [of what they said], since they concealed the truth by these means, that those who are eager to find out and learn it might do so with much labour."

They answered, "We admitted this."

"Listen, therefore," say [Justin], "to what follows; for Moses first exhibited this seeming curse of Christ's by the signs which he made."

"Of what [signs] do you speak?" said [Trypho]

"When the people," replied [Justin], "waged war with Amalek, and the son of Nave (Nun) by name Y'hosua/ Iésous, led the fight, Moses himself prayed to God, stretching out both hands, and Hur with Aaron supported them during the whole day, so that they might not hang down when he got wearied. For if he gave up any part of this sign, which was an imitation of the cross, the people were beaten, as is recorded in the writings of Moses; but if he remained in this form, Amalek was proportionally defeated, and he who prevailed prevailed by the cross. For it was not because Moses so prayed that the people were stronger, but because, while one who bore the name of Iésous was in the forefront of the battle, he himself made the sign of the cross ...


Chapter XCI / 41

"And God by Moses shows in another way the force of the mystery of the cross, when He said in the blessing wherewith Joseph was blessed,

• 'From the blessing of the Lord is his land; for the seasons of heaven, and for the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath, and for the seasonable fruits of the sun, and for the coming together of the months, and for the heights of the everlasting mountains, and for the heights of the hills, and for the ever-flowing rivers, and for the fruits of the fatness of the earth; and let the things accepted by Him who appeared in the bush come on the head and crown of Joseph. Let him be glorified among his brethren; his beauty is [like] the firstling of a bullock; his horns the horns of an unicorn: with these shall he push the nations from one end of the earth to another.'

Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent any other fact or figure than the type which portrays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns. And the expression, 'With these shall he push as with horns the nations from one end of the earth to another,' is indicative of what is now the fact among all the nations. For some out of all the nations, through the power of this mystery, having been so pushed, that is, pricked in their hearts, have turned from vain idols and demons to serve God.

But the same figure is revealed for the destruction and condemnation of the unbelievers; even as Amalek was defeated and Israel victorious when the people came out of Egypt, by means of the type of the stretching out of Moses' hands, and the name of Y'hoshua / Iésous, by which the son of Nave (Nun) was called.

And it seems that the type and sign, which was erected to counteract the serpents which bit Israel, was intended for the salvation of those who believe that death was declared to come thereafter on the serpent through Him that would be crucified, but salvation to those who had been bitten by him and had betaken themselves to Him that sent His Son into the world to be crucified. For the Spirit of prophecy by Moses did not teach us to believe in the serpent, since it shows us that he was cursed by God from the beginning; and in Isaiah tells us that he shall be put to death as an enemy by the mighty sword, which is Christ.
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Chapter CXI / 111

"And that it was declared by symbol, even in the time of Moses, that there would be two advents of this Christ, as I have mentioned previously, [manifest] from the symbol of the goats presented for sacrifice during the fast. And again, by what Moses and Y'hoshua/ Iésous did, the same thing was symbolically announced and told beforehand. For the one of them, stretching out his hands, remained till evening on the hill, his hands being supported; and this reveals a type of no other thing than of the cross: and the other, whose name was altered to Y'hoshua / Iésous, led the fight, and Israel conquered.

"Now this took place in the case of both those holy men and prophets of God, that you may perceive how one of them could not bear up both the mysteries: I mean, the type of the cross and the type of the name. For this is, was, and shall be the strength of Him alone, whose name every power dreads, being very much tormented because they shall be destroyed by Him. Therefore our suffering and crucified Christ was not cursed by the law, but made it manifest that He alone would save those who do not depart from His faith. And the blood of the passover, sprinkled on each man's door-posts and lintel, delivered those who were saved in Egypt, when the first-born of the Egyptians were destroyed.

"For the passover was Christ, who was afterwards sacrificed, as also Isaiah said, 'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.' And it is written, that on the day of the passover you seized Him, and that also during the passover you crucified Him.

"And as the blood of the passover saved those who were in Egypt, so also the blood of Christ will deliver from death those who have believed.

"Would God, then, have been deceived if this sign had not been above the doors? I do not say that; but I affirm that He announced beforehand the future salvation for the human race through the blood of Christ.

"For the sign of the scarlet thread, which the spies --sent to Jericho by Y'hoshua / Iésous, son of Nave (Nun)-- gave to Rahab the harlot, telling her to bind it to the window through which she let them down to escape from their enemies, also manifested the symbol of the blood of Christ, by which those who were at one time harlots and unrighteous persons out of all nations are saved, receiving remission of sins, and continuing no longer in sin.


Chapter CXII / 112

"But you, expounding these things in a low [and earthly] manner, impute much weakness to God, if you thus listen to them merely, and do not investigate the force of the words spoken. Since even Moses would in this way be considered a transgressor: for he enjoined that no likeness of anything in heaven, or on earth, or in the sea, be made; and then he himself made a brazen serpent and set it on a standard, and bade those who were bitten look at it: and they were saved when they looked at it. Will the serpent, then, which (I have already said) God had in the beginning cursed and cut off by the great sword, as Isaiah says, be understood as having preserved at that time the people? and shall we receive these things in the foolish acceptation of your teachers, and [regard] them not as signs?

"And shall we not rather refer the standard to the resemblance of the crucified Jesus, since also Moses by his outstretched hands, together with him who was named Y'hoshua Iésous, achieved a victory for your people?

"For in this way we shall cease to be at a loss about the things which the lawgiver did, when he, without forsaking God, persuaded the people to hope in a beast through which transgression and disobedience had their origin. And this was done and said by the blessed prophet with much intelligence and mystery; and there is nothing said or done by any one of the prophets, without exception, which one can justly reprehend, if he possess the knowledge which is in them ...


Chapter CXIII / 113

"What I mean is this: Y'hoshua/Iésous, as I have now frequently remarked, who had been called Oshea / Hosea [Num 13.8] but had been renamed by Moses [Num 13:16], was sent to spy out the land of Canaan. Why he did this you neither ask, nor are at a loss about it, nor make strict inquiries. Therefore Christ has escaped your notice; and though you read, you understand not; and even now, though you hear that Iésous/Jesus is our Christ, you consider not that the name was bestowed on Him not purposelessly nor by chance.

"But you make a theological discussion as to why one rho was added to Abraham's first name; and as to why one 'p' was added to Sarah's name, you use similar high-sounding disputations. But why do you not similarly investigate the reason why the name of Oshea the son of Nave (Nun), which his father gave him, was changed to Y'hoshua/Iésous?

"But since not only was his name altered, but he was also appointed successor to Moses, being the only one of his contemporaries who came out from Egypt, he led the surviving people into the Holy Land; and as he, not Moses, led the people into the Holy Land, and as he distributed it by lot to those who entered along with him, so also Jesus the Christ will turn again the dispersion of the people, and will distribute the good land to each one, though not in the same manner. For the former gave them a temporary inheritance, seeing he was neither Christ who is God, nor the Son of God; but the latter, after the holy resurrection, shall give us the eternal possession.

"The former, after he had been named Y'hoshua/Iésous, and after he had received strength from His Spirit, caused the sun to stand still. For I have 'proved' that it was Iésous/Jesus who appeared to and conversed with Moses, and Abraham, and all the other patriarchs without exception, ministering to the will of the Father; who also, I say, came to be born man by the Virgin Mary, and I lives for ever.

"For the latter is He after whom and by whom the Father will renew both the heaven and the earth; this is He who shall shine an eternal light in Jerusalem; this is he who is the king of Salem after the order of Melchizedek, and the eternal Priest of the Most High. The former is said to have circumcised the people a second time with knives of stone (which was a sign of this circumcision with which Iésous/Jesus Christ Himself has circumcised us from the idols made of stone and of other materials), and to have collected together those who were circumcised from the uncircumcision, i.e., from the error of the world, in every place by the knives of stone, to wit, the words of our Lord Jesus.

"For I have shown that Christ was proclaimed by the prophets in parables a Stone and a Rock. Accordingly the knives of stone we shall take to mean His words, by means of which so many who were in error have been circumcised from uncircumcision with the circumcision of the heart, with which God by Iésous/Jesus commanded those from that time to be circumcised who derived their circumcision from Abraham, saying that Y'hoshua / Iésous would circumcise a second time with knives of stone those who entered into that holy land."
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[mlinssen]

Justin Martyr, First Apology 55

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But in no instance, not even in any of those called sons of Jupiter, did they imitate the being crucified; for it was not understood by them, all the things said of it having been put symbolically. And this, as the prophet foretold, is the greatest symbol of His power and role; as is also proved by the things which fall under our observation. For consider all the things in the world, whether without this form they could be administered or have any community. For the sea is not traversed except that trophy which is called a sail abide safe in the ship; and the earth is not ploughed without it: diggers and mechanics do not their work, except with tools which have this shape. And the human form differs from that of the irrational animals in nothing else than in its being erect and having the hands extended, and having on the face extending from the forehead what is called the nose, through which there is respiration for the living creature; and this shows no other form than that of the cross. And so it was said by the prophet, "The breath before our face is the Lord Christ".1 And the power of this form is shown by your own symbols on what are called vexilla [banners] and trophies, with which all your state possessions are made, using these as the insignia of your power and government, even though you do so unwittingly. And with this form you consecrate the images of your emperors when they die, and you name them gods by inscriptions. Since, therefore, we have urged you both by reason and by an evident form, and to the utmost of our ability, we know that now we are blameless even though you disbelieve; for our part is done and finished.
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Logion 55, last line: line 8 from the bottom, letter 8 from the right

scan0011.jpg (354.9 KiB) Viewed 14822 times

Eighth line from the bottom, eighth letter from the right

It seems fairly blatantly obvious to me to Sweet Justin is describing the single letter that has become known as stauros, here in logion 55 of the gospel of Thomas

https://www.freelyreceive.net/metalogos ... can/11.jpg for a verifiable reference

A "T" is what a sail looks like, as does an axe, a hammer, and a primitive plough.
An erect human with his arms stretched left and right resembles this shape but the head is on top of it. When the person looks to the left (for our home viewers that is to the right) then indeed that looks like a capital D.
I have no idea to what Jus is referring to then, when finishing rambling about that D, but perhaps others do

The stauros - the stake. It has come into being in writing, and it shows, and this is the exact form. To this day no one really knows what Thomas meant with his funny letter and I have no idea when it appeared first, this T/R combo

Personally, I think it is one of the many jokes of Thomas, although he is serious about the penis, with the payable of the Sower that starts with CITE and end with COTE, and it all ends when one is nigh to him, nigh to the fire, the only female fire in his text: CATE. All stemming from the root CHT, for penis

Satyros

satyros.jpeg (19.55 KiB) Viewed 14822 times

https://greece.greekreporter.com/files/satyros.jpeg for verification

Carry your satyros in my way...

Perhaps.
But I digress. It is evident that just Just here is engaging in a wild damage limitation exercise, pretending it is anything good even, by fabricating a story about the "stros" exactly by the "stros", its form. And it must have been clear to anyone then that no one really knew what a "stros" was, never had seen one in use before, but they knew that their Jesus had been strossed, at least they had been told so.
And highly likely it had turned into a stauros because no one is able to pronounce the word without putting some vowels in between

And a stauros is what you get in your abdomen, your chest, or up your ass to guarantee a certain death, agonising, and slow. At least that's what the Egyptians and Sumerians and all those had many centuries of expertise with, and the real fun was of course in making their victims last as long as possible, but that was a real art. Records of 5 to 6 days have been claimed...

And again, it is in Thomas. The staurogram is in P66 and such, and all this funny business once again stresses the absence of oral tradition and the abundant presence of written tradition. And Justin Satyr here is trying to erect an image in the name of saving face by fabricating a story about Jesus on a cross AND JUSTIFYING THAT BY POINTING TO THE STAUROGRAM AS IT APPEARS IN WRITING

So. Settled that then, didn't we?

LOL

[MrMacSon]

Eighth line from the bottom, eighth letter from the right

Ⳁ - a version of the sampi, a Coptic letter or glyph -

(similar to the Chi-Rho ⳩ which is is next to in the Coptic chart here)

From the time of the earliest papyri, the square-topped forms of handwritten sampi alternate with variants where the top is rounded [ ] or pointed [ ].[25][26] The rounded form Ͳ also occurs in stone inscriptions in the Roman era. In the late Roman period, the arrow-shaped or rounded forms are often written with a loop connecting the two lines at the right, leading to the "ace-of-spades" form [ ], or to ⳏ. These forms, in turn, occasionally have another decorative stroke added on the left. It can be found attached in several different ways, from the top or the bottom . From these shapes, finally, the modern form of sampi emerges, beginning in the 9th century, with the two straight lines becoming more or less parallel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampi#Glyph_development

25, Foat, F. W. G. (1902). "Sematography of the Greek papyri". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 22: 135–173 link to pdf.
26. Soldati, Agostino (2006). " "Τὸ καλούμενον παρακύϊσμα": Le forme del sampi nei papiri". Archiv für Papyrusforschung und Verwandte Gebiete. 52 (2): 209–217.

Origins

...It is generally agreed to be derived from Phoenician tsade.

< . . omitted . . >

An alternative hypothesis to that of the historical identity between san and sampi is that Ionian sampi may have been a loan from the neighbouring Anatolian language Carian, which formed the local substrate in the Ionian colonies of Asia Minor. This hypothesis is mentioned by Jeffery[1] and has been supported more recently by Genzardi Brixhe suggested that sampi could be related to the Carian letter 25 "Θ", transcribed as ś. This would fit in with the "plausible, but not provable" hypothesis that the root contained in the Carian-Greek names spelled with sampi, "Πανυασσις" and "Οασσασσις", is identical with a root *uś-/waś- identified elsewhere in Carian, which contains the Carian ś sound spelled with Θ.[35] Adiego follows this with the hypothesis that both the Carian letter and sampi could ultimately go back to Greek Ζ (Ζ). Like the san–sampi hypothesis, the Carian hypothesis remains an open and controversial issue, especially since the knowledge of Carian itself is still fragmentary and developing.[2]

While the origin of sampi continues to be debated, the identity between the alphabetic Ionian sampi (/ss/) and the numeral for 900 has rarely been in doubt, although in the older literature it was sometimes mentioned only tentatively ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampi#Origins

At the top -

It was used as an addition to the classical 24-letter alphabet in some eastern Ionic dialects of ancient Greek in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, to denote some type of a sibilant sound, probably [ss] or [ts], and was abandoned when the sound disappeared from Greek.

Alphabetic sampi

It has been attested in the cities of Miletus, Ephesos, Halikarnassos, Erythrae, Teos (all situated in the region of Ionia in Asia Minor), in the island of Samos, in the Ionian colony of Massilia, and in Kyzikos (situated farther north in Asia Minor, in the region of Mysia). In addition, in the city of Pontic Mesembria, on the Black Sea coast of Thrace, it was used on coins, which were marked with the abbreviation of the city's name, spelled "ΜΕͲΑ".

< . . omitted . . >

The first known use of alphabetic sampi in writing native Greek words is an inscription found on a silver plate in Ephesus, which has the words "τέͳαρες" ("four") and "τεͳαράϙοντα" ("forty") spelled with sampi (cf. normal spelling Ionic "τέσσαρες/τεσσαράκοντα" vs. Attic τέτταρες/τετταράκοντα). It can be dated between the late 7th century and mid 6th century BC. An inscription from Halicarnassus has the names "Ἁλικαρναͳέ[ω]ν" ("of the Halicarnassians") and the personal names "Ὀαͳαͳιος" and "Π[α]νυάͳιος". All of these names appear to be of non-Greek, local origin, i.e. Carian. On a late 6th century bronze plate from Miletus dedicated to the sanctuary of Athena at Assesos, the spelling "τῇ Ἀθηνάηι τῇ Ἀͳησίηι" ("to Athena of Assessos") has been identified. This is currently the first known instance of alphabetic sampi in Miletus itself, commonly assumed to be the birthplace of the numeral system and thus of the later numeric use of sampi.

Pamphylian sampi

A letter similar to Ionian sampi, but of unknown historical relation with it, existed in the highly deviant local dialect of Pamphylia in southern Asia Minor. It was shaped like Ͳ. According to Brixhe it probably stood for the sounds /s/, /ss/, or /ps/. It is found in a few inscriptions in the cities of Aspendos and Perge as well as on local coins. For instance, an inscription from Perge dated to around 400 BC reads: ͶανάGreek Sampi Pamphylian.svgαι Πρειίαι Κλεμύτας Λϝαράμυ Ͷασιρϝο̄τας ἀνέθε̄κε (="Vanassāi Preiiāi Klemutas Lwaramu Vasirwōtas anethēke", "Klemutas the vasirwotas, son of Lwaramus, dedicated this to the Queen of Perge").[14] The same title "Queen of Perge", the local title for the goddess Artemis, is found on coin legends: ͶανάGreek Sampi Pamphylian.svgας Πρειιας[15] As ͶανάͲα is known to be the local feminine form of the archaic Greek noun ἄναξ/ϝάναξ, i.e. (w)anax ("king"), it is believed that the ͳ letter stood for some type of sibilant reflecting Proto-Greek */ktj/.

Numeric sampi

... According to Threatte, the earliest known use of numeric sampi in a stone inscription occurs in an inscription in Magnesia from the 2nd century BC, in a phrase denoting a sum of money ("δραχ(μὰς) ϡʹ) but the exact numeric meaning of this example is disputed. In Athens, the first attestation is only from the beginning of the 2nd century AD, again in an inscription naming sums of money.

Names

A curious name for sampi that occurs in one Greek source is "παρακύϊσμα" (parakyisma). It occurs in a scholion to Dionysius Thrax,[54] where the three numerals are referred to as "τὸ δίγαμμα καὶ τὸ κόππα καὶ τό καλούμενον παρακύϊσμα". The obscure word ("… the so-called parakyisma") literally means "a spurious pregnancy", from "παρα-" and the verb "κυέω" "to be pregnant". The term has been used and accepted as possibly authentic by Jannaris,[36] Uhlhorn[55] and again by Soldati.[26] While Jannaris hypothesizes that it was meant to evoke the oblique, reclining shape of the character, Soldati suggests it was meant to evoke its status as an irregular, out-of-place addition ("un'utile superfetazione"). Einarson, however, argues that the word is probably the product of textual corruption during transmission in the Byzantine period. He suggests that the original reading was similar to that used by Rabdas, "ὁ καλούμενος χαρακτήρ" ("the so-called character"). Another contemporary cover term for the extra-alphabetic numerals would have been "παράσημον" (parasēmon, lit. "extra sign"). A redactor could have written the consonant letters "π-σ-μ" of "παράσημον" over the letters "χ-κτ-ρ" of "χαρακτήρ", as both words happen to share their remaining intermediate letters. The result, mixed together from letters of both words, could have been misread in the next step as "παρακυησμ", and hence, "παρακύϊσμα".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampi#Names