Lamb of God is an examination of the influence of Greco-Roman and Egyptian religion, myth and symbolism. This essay gives special attention to the syncretism invoked in the Early Christian archetype of the Sun-god as conqueror, protector and healer-savior. This essay was originally published in The Far Shining One: A Devotional to the Spirits of the Sun, Jun 2019.
The development of the Sun-god archetype in Early Christianity was shaped by the preceding language and symbolism of Egyptian and Greco-Roman religions. When Constantine first beheld the vision of the labarum, the prevailing patterns of syncretism had already provided a shape and direction for the form that the early Christian Sun-god would take. It was represented by the Greek symbol of Chi-Rho. The purpose of this essay is to explore the Greco-Roman and Egyptian origins of the labarum and the role that Horus played in the development of the early Christian archetype of the Sun-god as conqueror, protector, and healer-savior.
In 312 AD, Emperor Constantine had seen in the sky “a cross of light brighter than the noonday Sun”, under which he read the Greek words ‘by this sign conquer’. The war with Maxenius was in Constantine’s favor, and soon thereafter, it was adopted as a monogram of Christ.[1] This cross of light was the chi-rho, the labarum, a symbol derived of the Greek letters Chi (X) and Rho (R). Emperor Constantine, pulling on the cultural and political power of the ancient Roman title of Sol Invictus, or ‘conquering Sun’ engaged in the practice of syncretism by tying old symbols to the religious developments of his time. Although Constantine enacted the political and cultural changes necessary to usher in a more uniform monotheistic cult of the Sun, Allan Brent reveals:
“The coinage of Constantine continued to display images of Sol Invictus until 328 AD. One which depicted an image reminiscent of Christ-Apollo in the tomb of the Julii, a depiction of Sol radiate a globe in his left hand and a chlamys across his left shoulder.”[2]
Likewise, Rome had developed imagery of Christ riding the chariot of the Sun and radiate with the Chi-Rho. It was this symbolism, Allen Brent argues, that shared a great deal of similitude with Apollo and Sol Invictus.[3]
But where had Chi-Rho come from? And what did it mean? As Ernest Busenbark addresses in his book Symbols, Sex and the Stars, Chi-Rho had already appeared on Graeco-Bactrian coins from the second century bc and on Herodian coins in the first century bc.[4]
In Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth, John G. Jackson proposed that Chi-Rho was of Egyptian origin which he based on the work of Sir Flinders Petrie, who stated that:
“the monogram Chi-Rho was the emblem of the Egyptian god, Horus, thousands of years before Christs.”
Jackson expands upon another monogram of Christ IHS, which was also a sacred symbol of the Greek sun-god Bacchus or Dionysus.[5] Already we can begin to see the influence of Greek religion on Early Christianity through the fusion of the god forms of Apollo and Dionysus in association with the Christ. Jackson’s allusion to Egypt is an important one. Through Sir Flinders Petrie he linked chi-rho, which we already know to have predated Christ, to the Egyptian sun god Horus. EA Wallis Budge writes of Heru –ur, Horus the Elder, that he was first and primary of the faces of Horus, lord of the utchati, lord of the sun and moon.[6] So who exactly was Horus?
Egyptian mythology tells a tale of the conquering Sun-god born to the Great Mother Isis and the dying God Osiris. In many ways the tale of Horus is one of the soul reborn. DM Murdock addresses this subject when she writes:
“The apis embalming ritual recognizes the dead soul as ‘becoming’ the role of Osiris and after its purification (of the body) the resurrection of the soul which becomes the role of Horus (as the morning sun).”[7]
Horus then, is the representation of the resurrected Sun reborn daily, he is the Lord of the two horizons from the mount of sunrise (Bakhau) to the mount of Sunset (Manu), he is lord of two lands, he is the uniter of North and South and his symbols attest to his nature as the lord of the Sun.[8]
J.G. Jackson and D.M. Murdock pulled back the veil on the astro-theological perspective of the zodiacal symbols in revelation of a story that is not literal but rather very symbolic. Gerald Massey’s contribution to the comprehension of symbols and images is vital to capturing the meaning in pictography and hieroglyphics when he said:
“In beginning ab ovo our first lesson is to learn something of the symbolical language of animals, and to understand what it is they once said as zootypes. We have then to use that knowledge in simplifying the mysteries of mythology.”[9]
In his book Sun Lore of All Ages, William Tyler Olcott describes an archaeological discovery from Thebes of a statue of a scarab with the head of a ram and a head of a hawk. The scarab represented the rising sun and especially the coming of the Spring Sun of the vernal equinox, in the zodiacal sign of ram (Aries). Pliny held that the evidence of the scarab’s solar symbolism is found in the way in which the scarab, in its daily motions, mimics the motions of the sun.[10]
Massey further draws on the natural association which Pliny had alluded to, between zootype and meaning:
“…the sinking sun could be imaged naturally enough by the beetle boring its way down through the earth.”[11]
In her book Christ in Egypt, D.M. Murdock argues that ‘Lamb of God’ was both a reference to Sol in Aries, and an epithet of Horus. Other related epithets “the golden calf”, the lamb, “son of a sheep” invoke Horus in his aspects as protector and savior of souls (on Earth and in Amenti).[12] Murdock recognizes these epithets in terms of astro-theological concepts and their relationships to the zodiacal motions of the Sun.
Having taken the zootypes in their mythological context we now turn to the stauros (cross) and the labarum. The cross as a symbol of the sun relates back to the sun’s crossing the sky and being hung on a cross during equinoxes. The crucifixion of the sun in its astro-theological context is expressed as the solar orb on the horizon as the sun crosses the sky. Sunrise is the time of “horus who crosses the sky”. The cross also symbolized the sun God “crossing the two lands of night and day”.[13]
The labarum is comprised of the two Greek letters Chi-Rho (Xp). Its reversal symbolized as Px, more popularized as Rx, the symbol of recipe. In the British Medical Journal, Jeff Aronson argues that Rx is derived from the Egyptian symbol of the utchat, the eye of Horus the Elder. In the story of Horus the Elder, he had two eyes, one was the sun and the other, the moon. In the battle between Horus and Set, Set stole the sun eye of Horus and cut pieces off of the moon eye of Horus, which Thoth renewed each month. Due to the restoration, “the eye of Horus became a potent symbol of good fortune and healing, later adopted by Greeks, Arabs and others.”[14]
Much like Horus, Asklepios had the power to heal by resurrecting the dead. Asklepios was a Greek god of medicine and healing who bore a caduceus for whose healing he was renown as the serpent-bearer or the serpent-healer. According to the myth of Asklepios so skilled was he in the art of healing that he was able to grant the restorative powers of immortality to the deceased. This angered Hades who prodded Zeus to take action. In response Zeus struck Asklepios down dead. Afterwards he placed Asklepios in the sky as the constellation Ophiuchus, ‘serpent-bearer’ and ‘rod of Asklepios’. Following this action Zeus decreed that all curatives henceforth were palliative only. Various artistic renderings of the labarum bore similitude with serpentine symbolism for the very reason that as Murdock alludes to, Chi-Rho was associated with the serpent-healer archetype and the Chrestos, the savior-healing principle.[15]
In Magical Alphabets, Nigel Pennick breaks down each of the Greek letters, their numerical value and meaning. Aside from providing that the labarum or Chrisimon is comprised of the letters Chi-Rho, Pennick has this to say of the letters independently:
“Chi, the 22nd letter signifies the cosmos on the human level, private property…the divine counterpart of the cosmos. Chi is the mark of possession, delimiting that which is already taken. It is also the gift symbol, which, looked at horizontally, links human to human, and seen vertically links the Gods to humanity.”[16]
“Rho, the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet, represents the creative female qualities that are present in all things. Both female and male. More specifically they are seen as being fruitfulness, the power of vegetative growth and production. Rho expresses the qualities of infinite adaptability and fluidity that lead to the ‘coming into being’ that is creation in all of its aspects.”[17]
From this we may postulate that Chi-Rho is a mark of the manifestation of that which is divine.
D.M, Murdock’s exploration of the root meaning of Chi-Rho from coinage, shields and other artefacts bears similitude with the idea that Chi-Rho as a sign is a manifestation of divinity or godhood. Chrysos (gold), Chrestos (good), Christos (anointed) all bear the root of Chi-Rho. Murdock adds that Chi-Rho was referred to as the chrestomatic mark of the ancients. Chrestomathy was a reference to the ‘useful learning’ of literary study aids. Additionally, Pagan Greek scribes marked in the margins of especially valuable passages the symbol XP, standing for “chreston”.[18] Therefore Chi-Rho forged the root “chr” bearing the prefix meaning of that which is possessed of the good or useful, of divinity or godhood.
It is important to examine the meanings of Chi-Rho and the meaning of its composite root, “chr”. It forms the foundation of words like “chrestes”, “chrestos”, “christos”, and “christ”. “Chrestos” and “chrestoi” made reference to “the title of ‘perfected saints’ in various mystery schools or brotherhoods, associated with oracular activity in particular.”[19] Chrestos was also popular as an epithet or on epitaphs at various Egyptian funerary sites at Alexandria and elsewhere, as life and death were an essential part of the sacred mysteries. Chrestos had long been utilized in conjunction with deity, religion, spirituality, mysticism, and magic. Chrestos was incorporated into epithets of the Egyptian “good” deities as well.[20] One that is possessed of divinity or godhood is essentially an oracle or prophet. Thus the “Chrestos”, the perfected saint, the man touched by the divine was much like a Dionysus, an Apollo or an Horus.
As Murdock explains of
the Apis embalming rite, the personified act of becoming Horus occurred through
the resurrection of the soul. Central to the influence of Horus was the
savior-healing principle, the divine Sun that ushered in the new birth daily.
Horus very clearly dealt with the mysteries of life, death and rebirth when his
journey is examined through astro-theological and mythical perspectives. The
labarum is revelatory in its function as a symbol of the manifestation of
divinity. The application of the title Chrestos to the Egyptian funerary stele
and the Egyptian gods were prime examples of the fusion of Greco-Egyptian
culture and religion at Alexandria and its impact in the development of the
Sun-god archetype. Through Constantine’s vision the labarum invoked the power
of the conquering Sun into a new form for a new age.
Works Cited
Aronson, Jeff. “When I Use a Word…X Marks the Spot.” BMJ: British Medical Journal 318, no.7197 (1999): 1543. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25184858.
Brent, Allen, A political history of Early Christianity, London, T& T Clark, 2009.
Budge, E.A. Wallis, The Gods of the Egyptians: or, Studies in Egyptian Mythology, vol1, New York, Dover, 1969.
Busenbark, Ernest. Symbols, sex, and the stars, in popular beliefs : an outline of the origins of moon and sun worship, astrology, sex symbolism, mystic meaning of numbers, the cabals, and many popular customs, myths, superstitions and religious beliefs, New York, TruthSeeker Co., 1949.
Jackson, John G., Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth, New York, 1941. Internet Archive; https://ia801407.us.archive.org/15/items/PaganOriginsOfTheChristMyth/POCM.pdf.
Massey, Gerald, Ancient Egypt, the Light of the World, vol 1 and vol 2, London, 1907, Zuubooks, 2011.
Murdock, D.M, Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection, Stellar House Publishing, 2009.
Olcott, William Tyler, Sun Lore of All Ages: A Collection of Myths and Legends Concerning the Sun and Its Worship, New York, G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1914.
Pennick, Nigel, Magical Alphabets, Boston, Red Wheel/Weiser, 1992.
Truth Be Known. Chi-Rho Chrestos. http://www.truthbeknown.com/chi-rho-chrestos.html Last modified Jan 2018.
—– “Is Suetonius’ Chrestus a
reference to Jesus?” http://www.truthbeknown.com/suetoniuschresto.html Last modified Jan 2018.
[1] Ernest Busenbark, Symbols, sex, and the stars, in popular beliefs : an outline of the origins of moon and sun worship, astrology, sex symbolism, mystic meaning of numbers, the cabals, and many popular customs, myths, superstitions and religious beliefs, (New York: NY) TruthSeeker Co., 1949., p.139; Allan Brent, A Political History of Early Christianity, (T&T Clark, London: 2009), p.281.
[2] Brent, Early Christianity, p.281.
[3] Brent, Early Christianity, p.262.
[4] Busenbark, Symbols, sex and the stars, p.149.
[5] J.G. Jackson, Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth, (New York: NY, 1941), Internet Archive https://ia801407.us.archive.org/15/items/PaganOriginsOfTheChristMyth/POCM.pdf
[6] E.A Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians: or, Studies in Egyptian Mythology, (Dover, NY: 1969), pp.486-491.
[7] D.M Murdock, Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection ( Stellar House Publishing, 2009), p.250.
[8] Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, pp.468-472.
[9] Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt The Light of the World, (New York: NY, 1907 [republished by Zuubooks, 2011), p.11.
[10] William Tyler Olcott, Sun Lore of All Ages, (Knickerbacher Press, NY, 1914), pp.291-294.
[11] Massey, Ancient Egypt, p.10.
[12] Murdock, Christ in Egypt, pp. 331-332.
[13] Murdock. Christ in Egypt, p.342.
[14] Jeff Aronson, “When I Use a Word…X Marks the Spot.”. BMJ: British Medical Journal 318, no.7197 (1999): 1543 http://www.jstor.org/stable/25184858
[15] Truth Be Known, “Chi-Rho Chrestos”. last modified 20 Jan 2018, http://www.truthbeknown.com/chi-rho-chrestos.html
[16] Nigel Pennick, Magical Alphabets, 1992, p.57.
[17] Pennick, Magical, p.55.
[18] Truth Be Known, “Chi-Rho”.
[19] Truth Be Known, “Is Suetonius’ Chrestus a Reference to Jesus?”, last modified: 20.1.18… http://www.truthbeknown.com/suetoniuschresto.html
[20] Murdock, “Suetonius”.
