First Presbyterian Church, Marianna, Florida
Lenten Luncheons Lent 2007
Reflections on the Cross of Jesus
by Huw Christopher, Pastor
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

The Greek Cross

Hymn: “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me”  stanzas 1 and 3


	Some of you who have visited Rachel and myself at the manse are aware of 
the way in which in our hallway we have pictures of the various former churches 
which we have served.  As I was looking at three of these pictures the other day I 
was reminded of the way in which the second church that I served in Kinston, 
North Carolina, had a combination of symbols of the cross.  On the steeple of the 
fellowship hall there was displayed a Latin Cross, which, as we remembered last 
week, is probably the most familiar form of the cross for us in the Western world. 
When a bell tower was added during my ministry there it also had a Latin cross at 
the top. On the front wall of the sanctuary, though, was displayed a large metal 
Greek cross.  Part of the history of that church is that when they moved to that site 
from a downtown area in the early 1950s they employed one of the leading church 
architects of the day, Harold Wagoner from Philadelphia.  At that time they built 
an educational building and a large area that was used as a sanctuary, fellowship 
hall, and even at one time as a church roller skating rink.  When the payments were 
completed on that part of the building they contracted with Harold Wagoner again 
to layout plans for a new sanctuary.  By this time in the mid-1960s he had visited 
Europe and had seen some of the more modern architecture there so it is said that 
the church got a far different sanctuary than if they had built everything at one 
time.  I do not know where Mr. Wagoner had visited in Europe but I was interested 
to see that he made the focal point above the communion table not the familiar 
Latin Cross but the Greek Cross which is generally associated with the Eastern or 
Greek and other Orthodox Churches. While this style of cross was used by the 
early church it eventually became more common in the East than in the West. It is 
said that Christian artists in the East under the influence of Greek culture preferred 
the beauty of the square Greek Cross with its equal size limbs to the more 
traditional shape of the Latin cross.  It is also suggested that Eastern artists recoiled 
from the cruelty suggested by the more obvious form of the Latin Cross, and 
preferred to help people to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross with a 
simple decorated square cross than with the more graphic Latin cross especially 
when the suffering body of Jesus was added to such a cross to form a crucifix.
I do not know what may have come to your mind when you saw the Greek 
cross displayed on the front of our bulletin last Sunday or as you saw it here on this 
banner this morning.  I know that one person in the church I served in Kinston told 
me on one occasion that when he had first come to the church he had never heard 
of such a thing as a Greek cross.  The only cross shape with which he was familiar 
was the more familiar Latin cross.  When he had seen the Greek cross displayed on 
the wall above the communion table he had thought that it was just a modern 
artist’s rendition to fit in with the contemporary architecture of the sanctuary, and 
that it really had no particular religious meaning or significance. 
Another person had told me that this cross shape for him was most positive not
because of any historic significance but because of the way in which it looked 
like the plus sign.  As such it reminded him of the positive action of God in Jesus 
Christ for us on the cross.  As Paul reminded us in the words we heard last Sunday, 
on the cross we see “the Son of God who loved us and who gave himself for us.” 
(Galatians 2:20)  In another place as he writes to the Christians in Corinth Paul says, 
“For in Jesus Christ every one of God’s promises is ‘Yes’” (II Corinthians 1:20)  
Certainly the use of these equal size limbs on this cross may not have prompted 
people originally when they used this cross symbol to think in mathematical terms 
of the plus sign, but, certainly, it is true that the cross is the clear sign to us that God 
treats us positively and not negatively, and that in the cross we are assured of mercy and 
not judgment, or forgiveness and not condemnation. 
As I was thinking about the Greek Cross this past week in the midst of group 
of advertisements that Rachel and I received in the mail was an announcement of the 
125 years of service of the American Red Cross.  As I looked at that cross I was reminded 
again that for many of us in this country this is the place where the Greek cross is seen 
most communally.  This organization was founded to aid those wounded in battle. The 
objective of the Red Cross emblem was to have a unified distinctive sign that would be 
respected internationally.  Until that time each nation used a different colored flag to
identify its medical services. In 1863, the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation 
convened a diplomatic conference which adopted the Geneva Convention for the 
Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field. This included the 
use of the red cross emblem. The reason a red cross on white background was chosen is not 
recorded in the minutes of the conference, so its choice is left to speculation. It might be 
from the red cross on white background of the crusader's cross. Some say it is the bloodied 
bandage on a white bed-sheet, like the red andwhite stripes of a barber shop sign. Others 
say the red cross is in recognition of early proponents Henri Dunant and Dr. Brire. These 
men were from Switzerland and the red cross on white background is the inverse of the 
Swiss flag, with its white cross on a red background. 
	         Although most conference attendees were from 'Christian' countries, 
it is unlikely that they intended to give any religious significance to the emblem. 
One of the aims of the group was humanitarianism between all nations and 
cultures. But once again as we saw last week in relationship to the Latin Cross in 
the Chapel of the College of William and Mary there were objections even to this 
not so obvious cross because it was seen especially in the Muslim world as a 
Christian symbol.  This led in 1919 to approval for the use of the red crescent 
alongside the more familiar Red Cross in Muslim areas.  Over the years, though, 
other countries and groups have objected that even these are both religious 
symbols. Therefore in December 2005 a Diplomatic Conference in Geneva 
adopted a Third Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, creating an 
additional emblem alongside the red cross and red crescent. Having no religious, 
political, racial, ideological or any other connotation, the new emblem adopted 
was the red crystal.
       Once again we have seen the power of symbols in the lives of human beings.  
The response to the Greek Cross on the Red Cross is a reminder to us as 
Christians that whatever shape the cross may take, even for those who want 
nothing to do with our faith, it is still seen as a symbol of what it means to be a 
Christian.  For us as Christians, of course, it is the reason that symbolically we 
would want to lift high the cross because for us it proclaims the love of Christ for 
us as seen in his death on that cross for us.  We lift high that cross because it is 
our desire that all the world may come to adore his sacred name and know the 
love, the forgiveness, the peace and the joy that he offers to us through his death 
for us on the cross. Let us remember again what it means to us to lift high that 
cross as we sing the hymn, “Lift High the Cross.”  We will sing the refrains and 
stanzas 1 and 3.

Hymn:                  “Lift High the Cross”     Refrains; Stanzas 1 and 3

Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you that we can lift high the cross in front of 
our own eyes to remind us of all of your love seen in Jesus Christ on that cross.  
We thank you that you give to us the privilege of lifting high that cross because 
you desire that the whole world may come to know of that love as well.  Help us 
by our words and by our deeds to lift high the cross and so to show forth your 
love to the whole world for we ask these things in the name of Jesus who died on 
the cross for us.  Amen.




 
 
 
 


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