Our knowledge of the part played by Constantine in connection with the
symbol of the cross, except so far as we can gather it from a study of
ancient coins and other relics, unfortunately comes to us solely
through Christian sources. And the first that famous bishop and
ecclesiastical historian Eusebius of Caesarea, to whom we owe so large
a proportion of our real or supposed knowledge of the early days of
Christianity, tells us about Constantine and the cross, is that in the
year A.C. 312--a quarter of a century before his admission into the
Christian Church--Constantine and the Gaulish soldiers he was leading
saw at noon _over the Sun_ a cross of Light in the heavens, bearing
upon it or having attached to it the inscription EN TOYT{omega} NIKA,
_By this conquer_.
The words of the Bishop, who is reporting what he states the Emperor in
question to have told him personally, are:--
"He said that at mid-day when the sun was beginning to
decline he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross
of light in the heavens, above the Sun, bearing the
inscription EN TOYT{omega} NIKA; he himself, and his
whole army also, being struck with amazement at this
sight."[33]
Though this marvellous cross, declared by Christian writers of that
century to have been the so-called Monogram of Christ {image
"monogram1.gif"} or {image "monogram3.gif"} or {image "monogram2.gif"}
or {image "monogram4.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53