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The
History of the Christian Fish Symbol
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The fish's first known use as a Christian religious symbol was
sometime within the first three centuries AD. Christians began using the
Greek word for "fish" as an anagram/acronym for "Jesus Christ God's Son,
Savior." More about this later. |
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The fish outline is a logical symbol for the early Christian church
to adopt. Not only was fish a common food of the day, it was also used
by Jesus during His ministry. |
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Mark 1:17 |
"Come after
Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." |
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Matthew 12:40 |
"...Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of the great
fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth." |
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Matthew 14:17 |
"And they said
to Him, 'We have here only five loaves and two fish.'" |
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Luke 5:6 |
"And when they had done this, they
caught a great number of fish, and their net was
breaking." |
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Luke 24:42 |
"So they gave Him a piece of a
broiled fish and some honeycomb." |
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John 21:6 |
"And He said to them, 'Cast the
net on the right side of the boat, and you will find
some.' So they cast, and now they were not able to draw
it in because of the multitude of fish."
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A 'fishy' tale? |
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In the years following the ascension of the resurrected Jesus to
heaven, the Christian church grew rapidly.
Christians soon found themselves to be the subjects of persecution by
both the Romans and the Jews.
In many locales, it became dangerous to be known as a Christian.
Thus, when two strangers met and thought maybe they were fellow
believers, one of them would draw, on the ground, the upper half of the
fish symbol. |
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Recognizing the symbol, the stranger would add a second curved line
and complete the drawing of a fish. |
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It is a very simple shape to draw - just two
curved strokes. It could be drawn quickly, and erased just as quickly if
there was no sign of recognition on the part of the stranger.
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The 'Greek'
connection, #1 |
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We do not know whether the story above is true but we do know that
the fish's first known use as a Christian religious symbol was sometime
within the first three centuries AD. Possibly around the 16th century
Christians began using the Greek word ichthys for "fish". Ichthys
is the most commonly used word in the New Testament for fish.
Ichthys consists of five letters from the Greek alphabet: I-ch-th-y-s.
When these five letters are used as initials for five words, we obtain
this Christian Declaration: Iesous
Christos Theou Yios Soter.
This is an acrostic for 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior.'
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 ..-----
IXQUS
----- Ichthys
----- Jesus Christ, God's Son,
Savior
(pronounced
"eth - lee - us") |
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I |
Iota |
the first letter in the Greek word
Iesous |
Jesus |
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X |
Chi |
the first letter in the Greek word
Christos |
Christ |
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Q |
Theta |
the first letter in the Greek word
Theos |
Of God |
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U |
Upsilon |
the first letter in the Greek word
Yios (Huois) |
Son |
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S |
Sigma |
the first letter in the Greek word
Soter |
Savior |
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Greek meaning |
Iesous |
Christos |
Theos |
Yios |
Soter |
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English transliteration
... |
Jesus |
Christ |
Of God |
Son |
Savior |
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The 'Greek'
connection, #2 |
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The Greek symbol for
Alpha, the first letter
of the Greek alphabet, looks very much like the fish
symbol. |
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Rev 22:13 "I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the First
and the Last, the Beginning and the End." |
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Rev 1:8 "I am
the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is,
and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. |
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The 'keyboard' fish |
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<>< |
Use the < and > keys
to create the fish symbol. It can be added to your
stationery and e-mail signature (click
on: tools - options - signatures).
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Acrostic |
By taking the first letter of each
of the words, another word can be made up. This is a
form of word game called an acrostic. It doesn't work in
English, but in Greek, the first letters do make up a
word, and that word means "fish". The equivalent of
these five Greek letters in English is I CH TH Y S. In
modern English, we do have words derived from this Greek
word "ichthys" - ichthyology, for example, is the name
given to the scientific study of fish. |
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Transliteration |
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary: "to
represent or spell in the characters of another
alphabet" |
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theYin
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Can be transliterated in a Y or U.
(Ixqus or Ixqys, Ichthys or Ichthus, Yios or Huios)
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