October 25, 2007

• ~Our Family Pennant for the Medieval Feast~

  (Say a prayer for us today that the feast, this evening, is a great success!)

  The  flag is the double headed eagle of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. The double-headed eagle emblem is the symbol of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium-Byzantine Empire). The head on the left (West) symbolizes Rome, the head on the right (East) symbolizes Constantinople. The cross and orb in the claws symbolize, respectively, spiritual and secular authority. Above the eagle is our last name in Greek letters and below the eagle is the words of St. Constantine “”By this shalt thou conquer.”  And below the words a cross and Chi Rho. Chi Rho  are the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ in Greek, Χριστός and they were used on the Labarum of St. Constantine.  We used the flag of the Byzantine empire to represent our Greek Orthodox Christian Faith and Christian heritage. The cross represents, “our life in Christ” and the cross that St. Constantine, saw in the sky during battle when he proclaimed, “By this shalt thou conquer!”

   “…… while at the head of his troops, he saw in the sky after midday, beneath the sun, a radiant pillar in the form of a cross with the words: “By this shalt thou conquer”. The following night, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream and declared to him the power of the Cross and its significance. When he arose in the morning, he immediately ordered that a labarum be made (which is a banner or standard of victory over the enemy) in the form of a cross, and he inscribed on it the Name of Jesus Christ. “

  

      

   

  • 5:38 pm
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