January 14 - Gone Fishin'

January 14 – Gone Fishin’

One of the symbols Christians have long been familiar with is the sign of the fish. The problem today is that we are used to seeing the icon, and many of us know that this was a symbol for early Christians in the midst of persecution used to identify themselves to other Christians, but that’s about all we know.

The sign of the fish – or ICHTHUS – came from Alexandria, Egypt. This was a seaport and fishing was a major industry. These people knew fish.

Guess what the Greek word for fish is? If you guessed ‘ICHTHUS,’ you are absolutely correct.

Iota
Chi
Theta
Upsilon
Sigma

It didn’t take long for someone to associate Jesus’ command to his disciples to become ‘fishers of men’ with Christians. The symbol began being used as a reminder of Christ. But, they didn’t stop with the image. They were able to use each letter as the first letter of another word – and we now see:

Iota = Iesous (Jesus)
Chi – Christos (Christ)
Theta – Theou (God)
Upsilon – uios (Son)
Sigma – soter (Savior)

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior – Ichthus.

This symbol is found on first century catacombs – the only identification that the buried person might have in those days of persecution that they were a Christian. It was used to mark meeting places. When Roman soldiers were everywhere, a hastily drawn sign of the fish in the dirt could identify another as a Christian and allow them to speak freely of their faith. Generally one Christian would draw one of the arcs of the symbol and the other person would finish the symbol, thus allowing them to know they were in safe company. A brush of the sandal across the sign would remove any evidence.

Until the time of Constantine, when Christianity was finally accepted as the state religion, Christians used this symbol as a means of communicating safely with each other.

The symbol’s continued use today also identifies each of us as Christians. Hopefully when someone sees that symbol on our cars or anywhere else we bear it, they also see that we are fishers of men … and that we live a life based on the One who called us.