“Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are in the way and when we are still. Great is that preservative; it is without price, for the poor’s sake; without toil, for the sick, since also its grace is from God. It is the Sign of the faithful, and the dread of evils; for He has triumphed over them in it, having made a shew of them openly; for when they see the Cross, they are reminded of the Crucified; they are afraid of Him, Who hath bruised the heads of the dragon. Despise not the Seal, because of the freeness of the Gift; but for this rather honor thy Benefactor.”
— St. Cyril of Jerusalem, A.D. 315 – 386
Although this particular historical information about the origins of Catholic traditions is reassuring, I am particularly mindful of the first sentence: “Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified.”
Various writers have highlighted when Peter declared his belief in Christ, it was called a ‘Confession’. (Matt 16:13-20).
We think of ‘confession’ in the modern sense as revealing to others our personal sins or wrong-doing (i.e., our innermost secrets). Here, the context of confession is a public acknowledgement of our belief – an act that puts Peter and other believers of that age at risk of condemnation and persecution.
It is in that context that we understand the sign of the cross from the earliest days as an act of public confession – i.e., a profession of the faith.
The other point I read somewhere was that the crucifix was not an immediate icon of the earliest Christians – this was because the death of Christ was a given – and the Christians were already harshly persecuted for their beliefs. The icons then were that of the Risen Christ – icons of hope and consolation. It was only later, when the excess of the Church and its relationship to power, property and wealth that the crucifix became an icon for believers to return to their roots.
This point too tugs at the heart of the Catholic Church – its roots from the earliest Christians, and the Seat of St Peter as the first leader of the Church in the heart of the Roman Empire. In essence, the salvation story of Christ is deeply intertwined with the roots of the foundation of Jesus’ Church. The Bible too, finds meaning within the Tradition of the Church founded by Christ, because it was the direct witnesses, the apostles and disciples of Jesus, who assembled the writings and written history of the Ministry of Jesus, that it defined to be inspired and to be divine revelation.
See also Henry Corbin on Icons and Idols