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Dear Friends,

Mention was made of a "crucifix."

We once had a discussion on this, but I've forgotten it.

What is the difference between a "Crucifix" that presumably RC's have, and our Byzantine Crosses that depict Christ on them?

Alex

Alex

The RC Crucifix always shows Christ hanging from the Cross - His weight is taken from His hands so His shoulders are lower than His hands and His knees are always bent and He sags in pain.

My Byzantine Cross [ came from Kyiv ] shows His knees are straight and His feet supporting His weight.

Just an observation and I honestly can't say why the difference - would be nice to know though

Anhelyna

About $15. U.S. All kidding aside, I think the West has traditionally been more interested in displaying Christ's passion and death, so the suffering element is more prominent in their crucifixes. A notable exception would be the more recent and popular so-called "touchdown Jesus," or "Christ the Diver" crucifixes that show a risen Christ with arms raised over his head, not nailed to a cross. I think our Byzantine crosses simply display Christ on the background of a cross, not nailed to it. My own view is that the East is more interested in the cross as a necessary item on the way to the resurrection. So my opinion is that the East is more interested in displaying a resurrected Christ instead of a suffering Christ. However, I am not a theologian, so I am interested in what they have to say about this.

Thank you for the post. It was a nationalistic act, not Islamic. The name of the political party to whom the intruders belong is "Nationalist Movement Party." Most of the time nothing to do with Islam.

I won't comment on the majority of the posts in this topic as I don't want to provoke. There are biased extremists (as opposed to realists) everywhere, here (Istanbul) and there.

Welcome to the forum 14ALL41!

If you don't mind me asking, are you Christian?

I know that the Christian community is very small in Istanbul. If you are, are you Orthodox or Catholic?

Is it easy being Christian in a Muslim country?

Forgive my nosiness, but I find it much easier to relate to people on a religious forum, if I know what faith tradition they hail from and there is nothing on your profile.

Thank you.

In Christ our Lord,
Alice

I'm not a theologian either, but I have thought about that many times. I recall that Billy Graham when preaching in Russia, was told by the Metropolitan that he should put more emphasis on the resurrection.

Since then he has, but it never came out with the same 'triumphalism' towards the resurrected Christ, as in the East. Somehow the sorrows of Christ tend to touch us more. It softens our hearts, and fills it with compassion.

From that, I decided that the Eastern culture must be more triumphalistic, so that they in turn, reacte more to the truth of the ressurection.

Well, I then came to the conclusion, and decided that this is probably the reason our motives are so misunderstood in non-Western parts of the world. It could be that these people are perceiving as triumphism, everything we accomplish or try to do.

Just a simple observation, from a very 'limited' person.

Zenovia