Geocentric Cross & Chi Rho No. 1 | Orthodox Christian T-Shirt

The Chi Rho is a “Christogram,” a glyph representing Christ which combines the first two letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (“Christos”). It’s actually this sign which was seen in the sky by St Constantine, rather than the cross. The Chi Rho depicted here with the Greek letters Alpha and Omega is the “Chrismon of St Ambrose,” which is attested to have been used by St Ambrose of Milan to introduce catechumens of the 4th century Church into the mysteries of Christianity. 

The Alpha and Omega, quoted by Christ of Himself (Revelation 1:8; 21:6; and 22:13) as being the “beginning and the end” of heaven and earth, are also physical symbols found in nature pointing to His eternal dying and arising, with the sun setting and dawning every 24 hours since the creation of the world. Christ is prophetically referred to as the “sun of righteousness” in scripture (Malachi 4:2) and in the hymnography of the Orthodox Church, in particular the hymn of the Nativity:

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, 
has shown upon the world with the light of knowledge:
for thereby they who adored the stars
through a star were taught to worship Thee,
the Sun of Righteousness,
and to know Thee the Dayspring* from on high,
O Lord, Glory to Thee.

*Another translation here is “Orient,” referring to the direction from which the sun resurrects daily.

The Chi Rho itself points to Christ-as-Sun more specifically: both St Justin the Martyr and the Didache refer to its X shape as pointing to the line of the ecliptic (the pattern drawn across the sky by the sun over the course of a year) where it intersects the horizon. This "line" is in fact explicitly called out as communicating knowledge from the heavens in Psalm 19 (18 LXX):

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaimeth the work of His hands.
2 Day unto day poureth forth speech, and night unto night proclaimeth knowledge.
3 There are no tongues nor words in which their voices are not heard.
4 Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

Verse 4 is singled out for representation in the image due to what it’s pointing to, via an ambiguity in translation. The original Hebrew replaces “sound” with “[measuring] line” (Hebrew lemma: “qav”) which is how it’s translated in the King James (and how I’ve chosen to show it here). The “measuring line” is the line of the ecliptic followed by the sun, a conclusion drawn from the otherwise explicitly astronomical content of the Psalm and from its Christological significance. But “sound” is equally acceptable (after all, it’s how St Paul quotes this Psalm in Romans 10:18), since the sky is communicating information. What is this information? The setting and the rising of the life-giving sun are the dying and the rising of the life-giving Son, the Alpha and the Omega.

The Orthodox Church uses this same verse in every service dedicated to the apostles or saints who are “equal-to-the-apostles”: as the prokeimenon hymn in tone 8, sung immediately prior to the Epistle reading. Orthodox Christians seeing this design very likely heard the prokeimenon melody in their heads when reading the verse, while probably being confused at the word “line” replacing “sound.” The apostolic mandate, and ours, is to continue to communicate the “speech” being “poured forth” by the heavens: He died and arose from the dead, and when He returns, the entirety of the heavens will erupt with His glory.

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Description

All our t-shirt designs use Bella+Canvas 3001 shirts. These shirts are made with only the highest-quality Airlume cotton: a combed, ring-spun and long-staple cotton that feels softer to the touch than just about any other shirt on the market. We aim to have the quality of the texture of the fabric be just as remarkable as the designs printed on them! 

Features

• 100% Airlume combed and ringspun cotton (fiber content may vary for different colors)
• Light fabric (4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²))
• Retail fit
• Tear away label
• Ribbed-knit collars, to support shaping
• Runs true to size
• Dual side-seams hold the garment's shape longer
• Shoulder taping for better fit over time