Questions

Question first appeared on June 9, 2002
Could you please explain why the body of Jesus Christ is on the cross in some churches and not in other churches?

On the surface it may appear to reflect the main theological doctrine that a particular branch of Christianity wishes to emphasize. A cross bearing the Acorpus@ or body of Christ would stress His sacrifice, suffering and APassion.@ An empty cross would point to the Resurrection.

It has been suggested by many theologians that Eastern and Western Christianity each has a particular emphasis in expressing the doctrine of the Church. The Eastern Church tends to stress the Incarnation and the Resurrection of Christ, the first being the union of divine and human natures, and the second being the Atrampling down death by death.@ Western Christianity has a tendency to stress the sacrifice of the Son of God in dying for our sins.

This explanation tends to break down, however, when we find crosses with and without the corpus in both Western and Eastern churches. We have many decorative budded crosses throughout our sanctuary without any corpus=s. For many years we had a cross in the apse behind the altar which had the corpus attached. But once a year, during the forty days between the Feasts of Pascha and Ascension, the corpus was removed, leaving an empty cross to stress the Resurrection.