132 THE PAGAN-CHRISTIAK OVERLAP OF THE WISE BIRD. 



for that of a Lamb was effected by the Quinisext Council held at 

 Constantinople A.D. 683, which decreed : " We pronounce that 

 the form of Him who taketh away the sin of the world be set up 

 in human shape or images henceforth, instead of the Lamb 

 formerly used." The lamb, indeed, when undistinguished by 

 the addition of some token of divinity, had been used in early 

 times to denote separately Abraham, Moses, S. John Baptist, 

 S. Peter, and the Church. For a century after this the Crucified 

 One was represented as clad in a tunic, with legs straight, and 

 subsequently as wrapped in a loin cloth, with legs crossed. 



The Father was originally depicted only by a right hand, 

 usually in the attitude of the Latin Benediction. In this position 

 the first three digits are extended, and the last two are bent upon 

 the palm. The thumb, stout and strong, denotes the Chief 

 Person of the Godhead ; the third finger, taller than the others, 

 denotes Christ, the most important Person in man's salvation j 

 and the second finger, as between the others, denotes the Holy 

 Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son. The two digits 

 bent upon the palm denote respectively the divine and the human 

 nature of Jesus. The Latin Benediction is, therefore, a sign of 

 trinity in unity. 



The attitude of the hand in the Greek Benediction is quite 

 different and has another meaning. The second digit (or fore- 

 finger) is extended to form the Greek letter iota, the third is 

 slightly flexed for sir/ma, the fourth is bent down and crossed by 

 the first (or thumb) to make clri, and the fifth digit (or little 

 finger) is curved for a second sigma. Thus the letters 12, XS 

 stand for 'bjo-oOs Xpiorts and constitute .the benedictional symbol, 

 not of the Trinity, but of the Saviour. 



The Holy Ghost was originally depicted as a dove. Full 

 personal effigies of all Three Persons in a group began to be 

 made about the llth century. Their divinity was generally, but 

 not always, indicated by a nimbus. This adjunct, which had its 

 origin in pagan times, was at first merely a circle round the head ; 

 then the solar cross appeared in it and it was called nimbus 



