How did the cross become Christianity’s central symbol? 

Khachkars—Armenian carved stone crosses—are among the most distinctive expressions of Armenian devotion to the cross. After the iconoclastic controversies of the Byzantine Empire (8th–9th centuries), the Orthodox world elevated icons as objects of veneration. As Mkhitar Gosh observed in the twelfth–thirteenth centuries, “The Greeks and Georgians honor iconography more, and the Armenians the Cross.” («Յոյնք եւ Վիրք զպատկերագրութիւն առաւել պատուեն, եւ Հայք՝ զխաչ»).

The cross presided over Armenian altars until around the 13th century, when the image of the Virgin and Child became standard. In some churches, including Gandzasar in Artsakh until 2023, the cross remained the central altar image. 

Traditionally, scholars believed that the cross became Christianity’s fundamental emblem after Emperor Constantine’s edict of tolerance in 313. Recent research, however, shows that Christians used the cross even in pre-Constantinian times. Its public prominence grew in the centuries that followed. 

Before this shift, Christians favored other symbols: the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ’s name in Greek, and the dove—signifying the Holy Spirit and Christ’s baptism (Matthew 3:13–17, Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–23). Another major symbol was the word for fish in Greek: ἰχθύς (ichthys), an acronym for “Iesous Christos Theou Hious Soter,” or “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,” connected to Gospel narratives of fish (John 6:1-14; Matthew 14:17-19) and to Christ’s call to become “fishers of people” (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17).