Christianity: Symbols

1 Three linked circles

(the unity of God)
2 The Lamb of God,
John the Baptist’s
description of Jesus
and his redeeming
death, recalling the
Jewish Passover lamb
3 The Dove of Peace,
symbol of God’s spirit
at the baptism of Jesus
4 The Crown of Thorns
(Christ on the cross)
5 Alpha Omega: Christ
the beginning and the
end (letters of the
Greek alphabet)
6 Palm leaves (Palm
Sunday), triumph over
death and sin
7 Crossed keys of St
Peter, the keys to
Heaven
8 Flames of fire (the
Holy Spirit)
9 Chi Rho, the first two
letters of “Christ” in
Greek, superimposed
10 Scallop shell, pilgrim
symbol for St James
(the Greater) of
Compostella
11 INRI (Iesus Nazarenus
Rex Iudaiorum, “Jesus
of Nazareth, King of
the Jews,” the Latin
inscription over the
cross
12 Fish symbol, used from
the late 2nd century.
The Greek word for
“fish,” icthus, forms the
initial Greek letters of
“Jesus Christ, God’s
Son, Savior”