Crucifix
A cross bearing the figure of Christ crucified stands on or near the altar and is visible to the assembly.
Key points
- It directs attention to Christ's saving Passion.
- Look for: The figure of Christ upon the cross.
- An illustrative Roman Catholic parish in the Latin rite, assembled for study rather than surveyed from a single building. Plans, devotional furnishings, music, and the locations of the font and tabernacle vary; Eastern Catholic churches have other traditions. Sizes, materials, and spacing are illustrative, and displayed vessels represent different moments of worship.
- Images affirmed without prescribing the later icon screen (Historical connection): The council's decree affirms images of Christ, Mary, angels, and saints in churches and other settings. It distinguishes honorable reverence from the worship belonging to the divine nature. Orthodox and Catholic churches receive this council; Reformed teaching rejects the religious use of images, while other Protestant traditions differ.
- The decree does not prescribe a modern full-height iconostasis or establish when every arrangement of icons developed. Its theological authority and its distinction between veneration and worship are accepted differently across Christian traditions.
Scripture
- John 1:14–18 — Images affirmed without prescribing the later icon screen: The council's decree affirms images of Christ, Mary, angels, and saints in churches and other settings. It distinguishes honorable reverence from the worship belonging to the divine nature. Orthodox and Catholic churches receive this council; Reformed teaching rejects the religious use of images, while other Protestant traditions differ.