542 



CRONSTADT CROSS 



CRONSTADT, of BURZENLAND (in Ilunga- 

 riaii Brassau) ; a firee royal city of Transylvania, in 

 the Land of the Saxons, 25 leagues E. S. E. of I ler- 

 manstadt, 31 N.N.W. of Bucliarest, with a citadel ; 

 lat. 45- 36' 30" N. ; Ion. 25 43' 47" E. It contains 

 six Lutheran, one Roman Catholic, two Greek Catho- 

 lic churches, one Lutheran gymnasium, one normal 

 M-hool; *5.(XK) inliabitants. Its commerce, clu'efly 

 \viih \\ aladiia. is coiisiilerable. 



CRONSTADT, or KRONSCHTAT ; a seaport 

 and fortress of Russia, in the government of St Peters- 

 burg, situated on the south-eastern extremity of the 

 island of Retusari, in the gulf of "Finland, two miles 

 from the coast of Ingria, and eight from that of Ca- 

 rclia, at the mouth of the Neva. It was founded by 

 Peter I. in 1710. Some of the streets are tolerably 

 regular ; but the houses are in general built of wood, 

 and there are scarcely any pavements. The principal 

 public buildings are the imperial hospital for sailors, 

 the civil hospitals, the barracks, the English and 

 German churches, &c. The population amounts to 

 about 40,000, of whom at least 10,000 are sailors. 

 The harbour is very spacious, and consists of the three 

 tlivisions ofthe merchants' harbour, the war liarbour, 

 and the man of'war's mole. The war harbour is the 

 principal station of the Russian fleet. Adjoining it 

 are the docks for building and careening sliips of war. 

 They can hold ten men of war, and are taced with 

 stone and paved with granite : they are 40 feet deep 

 and 105 broad. The man of war's mole is an interest- 

 ing structure, enclosed by a strong rampart of gra- 

 nite, built in the sea, under the direction of the late 

 admiral Greig. Here is a foundery for casting can- 

 non, and a ropewalk for manufacturing cables of all 

 sizes, with great magazines of naval stores. Cron- 

 stadt is defended towards the sea by two fortifications, 

 called Cronschlot, on the Neva, where this river is 

 2000 paces wide, and towards the land by ramparts 

 and bastions. About 1 100 vessels enter and leave 

 the port annually. The principal exports from this 

 liarbour are iron, flax, hemp, linseed, oil, and tar. 

 twenty-two miles west St Petersburg. Lon. 29 49' 

 30" E. ; Iat. 59 S9 7 26" N. 



CROSIER ; a tall staff of silver or gold, curved at 

 the upper end, which is carried before bishops, ab- 

 bots, and abbesses, as an ensign expressive of their 

 dignity, while they are exercising the functions of 

 their office ; and the figure of which is also borne in 

 their coat of arms. When bestowing the blessing 

 upon the people, they take the staff into their own 

 hands. It was originally a shepherd's crook, the 

 bishops being regarded as the pastors of their dio- 

 ceses. By degrees the humble emblem became high- 

 ly adorned, and was made of "costly materials. Artists 

 like Benvenuto Cellini and Giovanni da Bologna were 

 employed to make it. The investiture of the bishop 

 is indicated by the delivery of the crosier. Some 

 say that the crosier was originally only a simple 

 staff, which, from the earliest times, has been given 

 as an emblem of authority to judges, kings, &c. In 

 conformity to tliis explanation, St Isidore says that 

 bishops bear the staff because they have the right to 

 correct the erring, and the duty to support the weak. 

 The excess of splendour lavished in later times upon 

 this instrument, gave occasion to the following sati- 

 riral epigram, as translated from the French: 



Our fathers had, in the days of old, 



A cross of wood and a bishop of gold, 



But now we think it sufficiently good 



If the cross is of gold and the bishop of wood. 



CROSS ; one straight body laid at any angle upon 

 another ; the ensign or emblem of the Christian reli- 

 gion, as being a representation of the instrument of 

 punishment, on which Jesus Christ suffered death 

 ii'urn the Jews ; the form in which many churches and 



cathedrals are built. The cross of the ancients wns 

 simply a piece of wood, fastened Across a tree or up 

 right post, on which were executed criminals of the 

 very worst class. After the crucifixion of Jesus, and 

 the extension ofthe Christian religion, the cross was 

 assumed as the ensign of his followers. The cross 

 was used emblematically before the Christum era. 

 Upon a multitude of medals and ancient monuments, 

 are to be found crosses placed in the hands of statues 

 of victory, and of figures of emperors. It was also 

 placed upon a globe, wliich, ever since the days of 

 Augustus, lias been the sign of the empire of the 

 world and the image of victory. The shields, the cui- 

 rasses, the helmets, the imperial cap, were all thus de- 

 corated. The cross lias also been often stamped 

 upon the reverses of money, as is proved by the old 

 English game of cross and pile. The corns struck at 

 Constantinople, and those of the Franks, from the 

 tune of Clovis, were also thus marked. Examples of 

 these are given in the dissertation by Ducange, Sur 

 les Medailles Byzantines, and in the treatise by Le 

 Blanc, Sur les Monnaies de France. The cross is 

 now the universal Christian emblem, being used upon 

 the arms and banners of the soldier, the vestments of 

 the priest, and in the armorial bearings of nobles. 

 The forms of cathedrals, and often the patterns of 

 their pavements, are adapted to the representation of 

 the cross, wlu'ch is also sculptured and elevated upon 

 tombs and sepulchres. Sculptured crosses of various 

 descriptions, elevated upon handsome pedestals, were 

 formerly erected in cemeteries and market-places, to 

 designate peculiar events ; as the queen's crosses at 

 Northampton, Waltham, &c. Very fine ones are still 

 to be seen in many parts of Great Britain, and par- 

 ticularly in Ireland. 



In order to understand the meaning of the sign of 

 the cross among the first Christians, it must be kept 

 hi i ii i 1 11 1. that the cross was in their time an instrument 

 of i i ila nioiis punishment, like the gallows at present, 

 and that they assumed this sign to show that they glori- 

 ed in being the followers of Christ, notwithstanding the 

 infamy which had been attempted to be thrown upon 

 him, by the manner of his execution. The custom 

 of making the sign of the cross, in memory of Jesus, 

 may be traced to the third century. Constantine the 

 Great had crosses erected in public places, in pa- 

 laces and churches. This emperor is generally sup- 

 posed to have been the first who ordered the cross to 

 be used as the sign or emblem under which he would 

 fight and conquer, in remembrance of the miraculous 

 appearance of a cross in the heavens. A certain le- 

 gend relates that, before his battle with Maxentius, a 

 cross appeared to him bearing the words Touru n5 

 (Under this thou shalt conquer, In hoc signo uinces), 

 in consequence of which he had a standard made 

 bearing this image, and called labarum. It was cus- 

 tomary, in his time, to paint a cross at the entrance 

 of a house, to denote that it belonged to a Christian. 

 Subsequently, the churches were, for the greater 

 part, built in the form of this instrument. But it did 

 not become an object of adoration, until the empress 

 Helena (Constantine 's mother) found a cross in Pales- 

 tine, wliich was believed to be the one on which 

 Christ suffered, and conveyed a part of it to Constan- 

 tinople. This is the origin of the festival of the find- 

 ing of the cross, which the Catholic church celebrates 

 on the third of May. Standards and weapons were 

 now ornamented with it, and the emperor Heraclius 

 thought he had recovered the palladium of liis em- 

 pire, when he gained possession of a piece of the true 

 cross, in 628, which had fallen into the hands of the 

 Persians, in 616. In memory of this event, the festi- 

 val of the exaltation of the cross was instituted, He- 

 raclius having caused the cross to be erected at Jeru- 

 salem, on mount Calvary. This festival is celebrated 



