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Pisces & the Christian Symbol of the FishPisces & the Christian Symbol of the FishDue to the earth's precession the Vernal Equinox gradually moved from Aries the ram to Pisces the fish sometime vaguely around 1 CE to 300 CE. (Since there are no well defined borders between the zodiac constellations there's no definitive date.) Hence the symbol of a fish, representing Pisces, became the symbol of Christianity, because the Sun was in Pisces, the fish, on the Vernal Equinox. Sometimes the fish symbol has the Greek letters ΙΧΘΥΣ in it. This is just the Greek word for "fish" (see Strong's Greek #2486). Some people though have made use of the letters of the word as an acronym for a clever phrase. The symbol of the fish is also found in the miter the Pope wears. (See the fish in the side view?) As for Christ on the cross, the oldest artistic representations of the Christian cross depict a figure of a lamb (Aries). The practice of symbolising the saviour by a lamb continued until the Council of Constantinople (692 CE) under the pontificate of Agathon and during the reign of Constantine Pogonat. It was decreed that, instead of the ancient astrological symbol of Aries the lamb, all crosses depicted in art should be combined with the figure of Jesus. The retiring of the Lamb as the main Christian symbol, translated from the Latin, is as follows:
At first, Jesus was represented fully robed, standing calmly before the cross with outstretched arms. The lamb continued to be shown, usually at the foot of the cross. Later, the figure of Jesus was placed on the cross, undraped, bleeding and tortured by pain from wounds, as he is represented on crucifixes today. Pope Adrian I confirmed this point.1 [1] Larry M. Wright Christianity, Astrology and Myth pg. 79
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