Crucifix
A cross bearing the figure of the crucified Christ. Catholics and Lutherans use it in worship, the Orthodox avoid carved figures, and Reformed churches keep to the bare cross.
Meaning
A crucifix, in Britannica’s definition, is a model of the cross with a depiction of the crucified Jesus. In Catholic churches the General Instruction of the Roman Missal requires “a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified upon it, either on the altar or near it, where it is clearly visible to the assembled congregation.” The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) calls the crucifix “the principal ornament of the altar”, placed there to recall that the sacrifice offered on the altar is the same as the one offered on the Cross. It hangs on the Rosary, whose beads begin and end at the crucifix. The board above Christ’s head carries the letters INRI. The bare Latin cross is the same cross without the figure.
Origin and history
For centuries after Constantine, Britannica says, Christians avoided realistic pictures of Christ’s suffering. The earliest crucifixion scenes show him alive, eyes open, standing straight against the cross. They come in two types: an Eastern one, in which Christ wears a long sleeveless tunic, the colobium, and a Western one, in which he wears only a loincloth. From the ninth century artists stressed more and more the reality of his suffering and death. Romanesque crucifixes often give Christ a royal crown, which the Gothic type replaced with the crown of thorns; in the twentieth century the Christus Rex returned to Christ crowned and robed as king and priest.
When the crucifix came to stand on the altar is disputed within the Catholic Encyclopedia itself. A. J. Schulte (1907) thought the custom began not long before the sixth century and cited the Council of Tours in 567. Herbert Thurston (1908) read the same canon as almost certainly about how the pieces of the host were laid out, and could trace the altar cross no further back than the thirteenth century.
Crucifix or bare cross
Christians agree on the cross and differ on the figure. The Catholic Church requires a crucifix at every altar. Lutherans keep it too: the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod dedicated a new crucifix in the chapel of its International Center in St Louis on Holy Cross Day, and its Reporter quoted Paul McCain, who wrote that the crucifix was “a regular and routine feature of Lutheran worship” in Luther’s lifetime. McCain also answered the common claim that an empty cross shows the resurrection: the cross would have been empty “regardless of whether or not Christ had risen”, and both symbolize the death of Christ. The Reformed churches take the other view. The Heidelberg Catechism, as the Christian Reformed Church translates it, says God “can not and may not be visibly portrayed in any way”, and refuses images in churches even “in place of books for the unlearned”. The Orthodox churches use the crucifix, but since the Iconoclastic Controversy, Britannica notes, the Eastern church has kept a strong aversion to carved figures in the round; their crucifixes are made on the Orthodox cross.
Veiled before Easter
The rubrics the Catholic Encyclopedia gives (1907) cover the altar crucifix with a violet veil from Passion Sunday until it is unveiled on Good Friday.
Read next
- Next in Catholic symbolsBaptismal fontThe basin that holds the water of baptism, standing in a Catholic church or in a baptistery beside it.
- The title board above Christ on a Western crucifix.INRIINRI are the initials of the Latin for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”, the charge the Gospel of John says Pilate had fixed to Christ’s cross. Crucifixes in the Western churches show the four letters on a small board above his head.
See also
Rosary, Orthodox cross, Latin cross, Keys of St Peter, Papal tiara, Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Sources
- crucifix, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “crucifix”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, crucifix
- General Instruction of the Roman Missal, §308, The Holy See (vatican.va), nos. 117, 308
- Altar Crucifix, A. J. Schulte, “Altar Crucifix”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1912), via New Advent, Altar Crucifix
- The Cross and Crucifix in Liturgy, Herbert Thurston, “The Cross and Crucifix in Liturgy”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1912), via New Advent, The altar cross
- New crucifix installed, dedicated at LCMS International Center, Reporter (The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod), “New crucifix installed, dedicated at LCMS International Center”, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (Reporter), Article
- Heidelberg Catechism, Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Lord’s Day 35, Q&A 96–98, in the translation of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, Christian Reformed Church in North America, Lord’s Day 35, Q&A 97–98
- Rosarium Virginis Mariae, John Paul II, apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (16 October 2002), Holy See (vatican.va), no. 36
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from crosses.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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