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CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM OF THE MALTA CROSS
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Thomas
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Plato
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Entering into the world of classical thought can prove to be a difficult challenge. Different works from different writers create a completely different mental picture. For instance; the works from Plato are very recognizable and human in their tone. Plato is never pushy in his style and describes his Socrates adventures in very charming and intelligent balanced stories. Completely different and of marginal literary value are the muddled fragments of which the four gospels are made up. The most prosaic of all New Testament books is probably Revelations, even though the book is definitely not recommended as bedtime reading. Even more fragmented than the four official gospels is the gospel of Judas Thomas, discovered in 1945 near the Egyptian town of Nag Hamadi. This gospel is part of an old Christian tradition called Gnosticism. It is important to understand that even during the first centuries of prosecuted Christianity, the religious opinions were so diverse, that several Church fathers made it their personal goal to extinguish these wide spread manifestations of "heretic" (read non-official) misbelieve. Thanks to the Roman emperor Constantine, the Christian church that by now exists for almost 2000 years managed to prevail. It is always the victors that decide what will become history, and as such, since the council of Nicaea of 325AD, we retroactively speak of the only "True Christianity" as described in the gospels of the New Testament. From a historical point of view it is however regrettable that the many other manifestations of Christian believe have been so carefully censored. Whenever a forgotten book scroll is excavated in the Middle East, it immediately becomes clear how much more was going on than what we learn through the Bible. The Qumran findings picture a highly organized Jewish sectarian group that had its own religious literature. In the Bible they are mentioned as "those expecting the end of time". The Thomas gospel pictures an independent Gnostic Christian believe that is much more mystical than mainstream Christianity. We can only hope that new findings and historical research will lead to more insight into this fascinating era that laid the foundations for 2000 years of Christian "civilization". Some more of the heretic texts that were so zealously destroyed by the holy Ignatius and others, would have provided a wealth of information about the origin of Christian believe. For the time being you will however have to satisfy yourself with the speculations in this article. Christian Symbols
Early Christianity used various symbols that could express the essence of their believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Within the roman catholic church, the Latin cross became the most used symbol, because it expresses the concept of salvation through the death of Christ. During the first days of Christianity this cross was rarely used at all because it was seen as an every day torture instrument used by the hatred Romans to execute criminals and rebels. Much more common was the symbol of the fish, called Ichthus in Greek, as some sort of anagram for Ιησους Χριστος. Also known was the so called Chrismon, the famous P & X monogram, which in reality stands for the Greek letters Chi and Rho, the first two letters of the name Χριστος. The Malta Cross Another very old Christian symbol is the so called Mata Cross. This cross has the most remarkable qualities of all Christian symbols, jet no one has ever written about it. The official "cross literature" wants us to believe that the deeper symbolism of this type of cross resides in a form of four arrows pointed inwards. This example of meaningless idiocy has been provided merely for its entertainment value. The true explanation of this fascinating symbol is entirely different. In previous chapters of this article it has already been explained elaborately how mathematics obtained a religious mystical value during the Classical era that by now is almost impossible to imagine. Heaven and Earth, God and Man, were mysteries of the same dimensions as the circle and the square. Immeasurable and incalculable! In our time the π button on our calculator has broken this spell, but during antiquity philosophers could be easily agitated by this kind of cosmic mysteries. Within this historical framework of lines and circle the Malta cross will be reconstructed as a symbol that unites the circle (God & Heaven) and the square (Man & Earth) in the person of Ιησους Χριστος. (Jesus Christ) Another widely accepted symbolic explanation of the circle and the square represents their symbolic value of Motion and Rest. What has been hidden through the centuries is the fact that the Malta Cross has originally never been a cross but an oblique symbol, resembling a letter X, as in the name Χριστος. As mentioned above, the Malta Cross is a symbol that represents the union between Circle and Square. The geometrical construction is very simple and starts with drawing a square. Next step is to draw four quarters of a circle inside the square in such a way that they all touch each other in the centre of the square.
The figure that is drawn in this way is almost complete. The only thing missing is the four indentations that are unique for the Malta cross. These indentations are crated by uniting the eight intersection points of the square and the four internal circles by means of two horizontal and two vertical lines.
The four intersection lines crate a new, smaller internal square that relates to the main square as 1:√2. In previous chapters it has already been explained how this proportion was widely used in Classical architecture. A fact that is described by Vitruvius books on architecture. In our time it was the Danish scholar Tons Brunés that thoroughly investigated into the use of this proportion in numerous Classical buildings. Squaring the Circle According to Brunés this design is not merely an aesthetic diagram that represents the union between the square and the circle. He claims that it also provides the most practical method to draw the circumference of the circle in the form of a square because the length of one of the quarter circles inside the square is almost equal to the length of the diagonal of one half of the square. This is in fact a architecturally usable method to approach π because the inaccuracy is lower than 1% as demonstrated by the calculation below:
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As mentioned several times
before, everything that was immeasurable was directly attributed to God.
This mystical value of apparently simple geometry created the
architectural basis for almost all sacred buildings of antiquity, and most
probably also the basis of the Christian doctrine that survives already
for two thousand years.
The Malta Cross appears instantly the moment the relative parts of the diagram are filled up red. The form that appears like this is not a cross but a X (Chi). The X of Χριστος (Christ)
In reality this geometrical form has a much older origin than as symbol of Christian faith. The introduction of this mystical figure as symbol for Jesus Christ is definitely taken from the Hellenistic tradition. Within this form we find four highly suitable references to the divine nature of Jesus: 1. The union of Circle and Square as symbol for the union of God and Man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth 2. The X of Χριστος (Christ) 3. In upright form, the cross of salvation. 4. Thanks to the 8 points of the cross, an excellent symbol for the "eight-ness" of Christian Faith. More information on the important value of the number eight in Christian faith can be found in the first chapter. Here you will read about the eights day, our Sunday, as day of the resurrection. The same number eight is also found in the internal sum of the Greek name Jesus. The numeric value (Greek just as Jews used their normal alphabet to express number values) of the name Ιησους adds up to 888. A possible reference in this direction can be found in the illustration of a fourth century Christian ring containing three Malta Crosses and a fish. The three crosses could be explained as a reference to Christian "triple-ness" such as resurrection on the third day and the holy trinity. Considering however the eight-pointed crosses, it is most likely a reference to the 3 times 8 value of the name Jesus. It is Jesus himself in name and in person, that is represented by this threefold eight-ness
We are only 45° away from the Mata Cross as we all know it. That is to say, used in its original form. Up until the 15th century AD, the Malta Cross was almost always exclusively drawn with curved lines. The cross form with the straight lines that is most used today, is a variant of a later period. The illustration above also uses the curved line Malta Cross.
It is highly important to emphasize on the Hellenistic geometrical origin of the Malta Cross. It explains the complete independence of the so-called Latin Cross "of salvation". In no way the original cross used by the Romans to execute criminals and adversaries, has anything to do with the equal armed "Greek cross forms". The Roman cross must have looked like a T-formed instrument. The origin of the equal armed Greek crosses can only be explained within the context of the above mentioned symbolism. Besides the Malta Cross there exist two other Greek crosses that are derived from the same geometrical construction. Several other equal armed crosses with fancy extensions such as lilies and anchors have a medieval heraldic origin and should be explained as variations on the basic forms.
The fact that the three oldest surviving Greek cross forms originate from-, and were specifically intentioned as a geometrical symbol, emphasizes on an important mathematical tradition in early Christianity that has been neglected for two thousand years. It is this mathematical tradition that makes it possible to find a final answer to the entire mystery of Christianity that remains enclosed in the Passion of Jesus.
An important reference to the different symbolic meaning of the Malta Cross can be found in the Baptistery of Florence. The marble wall decoration above the altar makes it perfectly clear; The Latin cross is completely independent from the originally X-formed Malta cross. This wall decoration can most likely be dated back to the eights century AD, even though many details of the Baptistery are of classical origin. This remains a subject for art historians to answer.
The illustration above shows the coat of arms of the town of Pisa. The cross-form that is used is easily recognized as one of the three original Greek crosses shown in the illustration above. Those interested in the possible involvement of the Knights of St. John, or even the much discussed Knights Templar will find more information here.
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