The Relevance of Pagan Symbols in Christianity

1. The Relevance of Pagan Symbols in Christianity Mike Perez

2. Christians Use Many Pagan Symbols Symbols which have no apparent similarities Symbols that, while lacking strong similarities, are still clearly Pagan in origin Symbols that have the same or very similar meanings

3. Why Christians Use Pagan Symbols • Fusion of Cultures • Evasion of Persecution

4. Fusion of Cultures Prevalence of Religion: Paganism: Ancient times-Conversion of Constantine (4th century) Christianity: Birth of Christ-Present day

5. Fusion of Cultures (cont) From the death of Christ until The conversion of the Roman Empire, there was an overlapping of the prevalence of the two religions. Paganism Christianity The overlapping of these religions caused Christians to assimilate many pagan symbols into Christianity.

6. Dan Brown claims: “A newly emerging power will take over the existing symbols and degrade them over time in an attempt to erase their meaning. In the battle between the pagan symbols and Christian symbols, the pagans lost.” • “As part of the Vatican's campaign to eradicate pagan religions and convert the masses to Christianity, the Church launched a smear campaign against the pagan gods and goddesses, recasting their divine symbols as evil.”

7. Pagan Symbols Used By Christians Due to the Fusion of Cultures The Rose The Serpent The Pentacle

8. The Rose Christian uses of the Rose as a Symbol Paganism: Christianity: • Symbol of Venus (Aphrodite) • Came to stand for secrecy • Found on ceilings in affluent Roman households. • Symbol for the five wounds of Christ • Symbol for Virgin Mary It is clear that Christians in no way used the symbol of the rose to attach a negative connotation to this aspect of paganism.

9. Paganism: Used to represent evil God Set(hen) Christianity: Used to represent the devil Used to represent Christ himself The Serpent It is unlikely that Christians would have used the serpent to represent Christ if their intentions were to smear paganism.

10. Paganism: Used to represent humanity Used sometimes, however infrequently to represent the Goddess Venus Christianity Used to represent Christ Morning star Twelve apostles The Pentacle

11. Misconceptions Brown claims the pentacle is used to represent Venus, the devil, and war. However: • It is the eight pointed star that is used to represent Venus • The pentacle was not used to represent evil or the devil until the Nordics adopted this alternate meaning in the Middle Ages • Military stars are hollow bodied.

12. Evasion of Persecution Before Christianity dominated Paganism, Paganism dominated Christianity. Paganism Christianity Pagans were not persecuted until Chrisitianity dominated the Roman Empire. By then, most Christian symbols were in place. Therefore, Christians were severely persecuted by Pagans before the official conversion of the Roman Empire.

13. Evasion of Persecution It became necessary for Christians to disguise their symbols in existing Pagan symbols to avoid persecution. • Among these symbols are: • The fish • The gammadion • The equilateral cross

14. The Fish • Paganism: • Represents God Baal-Itaan • Represents animal and human fertility • Christianity • Represents Christ • Represents Christianity • Used as a secret code for Christians due to its prevalence in paganism. IHCOYC XPICTOC QHON YIOC CWTHP “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”

15. Modern Uses The fish is used today in a variety of places. It appears in churches everywhere, but most frequently can be found out of the church, on bumper stickers, jewelry etc. Clearly, Christians have not manipulated this symbol in any way to attach a negative connotation to paganism.

16. The Gammadion and Equilateral Cross Christians were able to disguise the symbol of the cross in the gammadion and the equilateral cross due to the ubiquitous nature of these two symbols in Paganism.

17. Gammadion and Equilateral Cross Since Hitler’s use of the Gammadion, this symbol has not been used in Christianity. However the equilateral cross is still omnipresent and remains the official emblem of the Greek Orthodox Church. • Paganism: • Represents the earth • Represents the movement of the sun • Represents the movement of the moon • Christianity: • Used as first from of the cross

18. The Trident Dan Brown claims that the trident was a divine symbol stolen from the Pagans and given to the devil by Christians. However, he fails to mention: Another symbol used to disguise the cross is the trident. • The trident is the tool used by all pagan Gods responsible for governing storms. • The trident was also used by Christianity to represent the cross • These facts make it improbable that Christians intended to slight Pagans through the manipulation of this symbol.

20. Now You Know • Christians did not manipulate Pagan symbols. • Christian symbols borrowed from Paganism can be divided into three categories: • Symbols which carry very similar meanings and therefore were subject to no manipulation • Symbols which have a few similarities in meaning, but still were not morphed for the purpose of manipulating Paganism • Symbols which have virtually no similarities in meaning and thus cannot be reasonably compared to each other. • Christians assimilated Pagan symbols in order to disguise their own and avoid persecution • The fusion of Christianity and Paganism is also responsible for the assimilation of Pagan symbols into Christianity. Dan Brown is off base in implying that the Vatican attempted to eradicate Paganism through the manipulation of their symbols. The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction.

21. These are just a few of the examples that prove that Christians did not intend to manipulate Paganism when the adopted their symbols. For more information and bibliography, see “The Relevance of Pagan Symbols” in it’s printable form.