There is no need to dwell on the esoteric meaning of the word Fish(for Payne Knight, Inman, Gerald Massey and others did it). Its theological meaning is phallic, but its metaphysical meaning is divine. Jesus was called the Fish, just like Vishnu and Bacchus; ΙΗΞ, the “Savior” of Humanity, is only a monogram of the God Bacchus, who was also called ΙΧΘΥΞ, the Fish.
It is well known that the earliest Christian emblems - before attempts were made to depict the bodily form of Jesus - were the Lamb, the Good Shepherd and Fish. The origin of the last emblem, which so confused archaeologists, thus becomes clear. The whole secret lies in the easily grasped fact that, despite the fact that "Kabbalah" the messiah king is called the "Interpreter", or the Revealer of the secret, and is indicated as fifth emanation, in "Talmud"- for reasons which we will now explain - the messiah is very often designated as "Dag", or fish. This is a heritage from the Chaldeans, and refers - as the name itself shows - to the Babylonian Dagon, the fish man, who was a teacher and interpreter for the people to whom he appeared. Abarbanel explains this name by stating that the sign of the time of his (the Messiah's) coming "is the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the sign [zodiac] Pisces." Therefore, since Christians intended to identify their Christ with the messiah Old Testament, - they accepted it so readily that they forgot that its true origins can be traced even further back than the Babylonian Dagon. With what ardor and detail the early Christians united the ideal of Jesus with whatever cabalistic and pagan teachings were possible can be concluded from the words of Clement of Alexandria addressed to his fellow believers.
When they discussed choosing the most suitable symbol, which would remind them of Jesus, Clement advised them in the following words: “Let the carving on the gem of your ring depict or pigeon or boat driven by the wind(argha), or fish." Was this good father, when he wrote this, under the impression of the memory of Joshua the son of Nun (called Jesus in the Greek and Slavic versions), or has he forgotten the actual interpretation of these pagan symbols? Yeshua, son of Nan or Navi (Navis) could rightfully appropriate the image ship or even fish, since Yeshua means Jesus, the son of the fish god; but, truly, it was too risky to associate the emblems of Venus, Astarte and all the Hindu goddesses - arghu, dove And fish- with the “immaculate” birth of your god! It is as if in the days of early Christianity very little distinction was made between Christ, Bacchus, Apollo and the Hindu Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu, with whose first avatar the symbol of the fish was born.
In the Hari Purana, in the Bhagavad Gita, as well as in several other books, the god Vishnu is shown as taking the form of a fish with a human head in order to restore the Vedas, lost during the flood. Having given Vishvamitra the opportunity to escape in the ark along with his entire tribe, Vishnu, pitying the weak and ignorant humanity, stayed with them for some time. It was this god who taught them to build houses, to cultivate the land, and to give thanks to the unknowable deity whom he represented by building temples and instituting constant worship: and since he remained all the time half-fish, half-man, at every sunset he returned into the ocean, where he spent his nights.
“He is the one,” says the holy book, “who taught people after the flood everything that was necessary for their happiness. One day he plunged into the sea and never returned, as the land was again covered with vegetation, fruits and livestock. But he taught the Brahmas the secrets of all things." (“Hari Purana”).
Until now we see in this narrative double the narrative given by the Babylonian Berossus about Oanna, the fish-man, who is none other than Vishnu - unless we believe that Chaldea civilized India!
< ... >Perhaps we can shed further light on the puzzling question of the fish symbol if we remind the reader that, according to Genesis, the first living thing created, the first type of animal life, was the fish.
“And the Elohim said: “Let the waters give birth to abundantly moving creatures, having life"...And God created great whales... and there was morning and evening fifth day." < ... >
« Big fish" - This Cetus, the Latinized form of Keto is κητω, and Keto is Dagon, Poseidon, whose feminine is Keton Atar-gatis - the Syrian goddess and Venus from Ascalon. A figure or bust of Der-Keto or Astarte was usually placed at the bow of the ship. Jonah (Greek Jonah or pigeon, dedicated to Venus) fled to Jaffa, where they worshiped the god Dagon, the fish man, and did not dare to go to Nineveh, where the dove was revered.
< ... >It should be noted that this double designation of "Messiah" and "Dag" (fish) of the Talmudists could well be applied to the Hindu Cherry, the "Preserving" Spirit, the second person of the Brahmanic trinity. This deity, having already manifested, is still regarded as the future Savior of mankind, and is the chosen Redeemer who will appear in his tenth incarnation or avatar, like the Messiah of the Jews, to lead the blessed forward and return to them the primary Vedas. In his first avatar, Vishnu allegedly appeared to humanity in the form of a fish. In the temple of Rama there is an image of this god, which fully corresponds to the description of Dagon given by Berossus. He has the body of a man emerging from the mouth of a fish, and in his hands he holds the lost Veda. Moreover, Vishnu is in one sense the god of water, the Logos of Parabrahma; since these three personalities of the manifested deity are constantly exchanging their attributes, we see him in the same temple represented reclining on the seven-headed serpent, Ananta (eternity), and moving like to the spirit God, above the primary waters.
THE MEANING OF ANCIENT CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS,
DISPLAYED AROUND THE ST. ILINA TEMPLE.The earliest Christian symbolic images date back to the first persecution of the Church in the Roman Empire.
Floor mosaics from the time of Constantine and Helena in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Then symbolism was used primarily as a cryptogram, secret writing, so that co-religionists could recognize each other in a hostile environment. However, the meaning of the symbols was entirely determined by religious experiences; thus it can be argued that they brought to us the theology of the early Church. Lamb, Cross, vine, basket of bread, cup, dove, Good Shepherd, lily, peacock, fish, phoenix, anchor, pelican, eagle, chrisma, rooster, lion, olive branch, alpha and omega - these are the most common early Christian symbols.
A mosaic floor with images of grape leaves and grapes carrying a Eucharistic meaning, complemented by images of Eucharistic cups and next to them pomegranate fruits - one of the variants of the fruits of the Tree of Life.
The symbolism of early Christian art is much deeper than simple encrypted images; these images were a kind of visual sermon for Christians, like the parables that the biblical prophets resorted to and Jesus Christ often addressed in his conversations.
In 2012, during the improvement of the territory of Ilyinskaya Mountain, ancient Christian symbols were depicted with the help of decorative paving on the western and eastern, northern and southern sides of the St. Elias Church: lily, chrisma, fish and anchor. What do they mean?
Depicted in the decorative paving in front of the entrance to the temple, the lily is a symbol of innocence and purity, a symbol of a soul loving God. The Book of Song of Songs says that Solomon's Old Testament temple was decorated with lilies. According to legend, on the day of the Annunciation, Archangel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary with a white lily, which has since become a symbol of Her purity, innocence and devotion to God. In the Middle Ages, saints glorified by the purity of their lives were depicted with the same flower. Among the first Christians, the lily represented martyrs who remained pure and faithful to Christ, despite severe persecution.
So we must enter the temple of the Lord with pure and meek hearts if we want to take part in Divine Liturgy and worthily partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
CHRISMA.
Chrisma or chrismon is a monogram of the word Christ, which means the Anointed One, Messiah, and which consists of the two initial Greek letters of this word “ΧΡΙΣΤὈΣ” - “Χ” (hee) and "Ρ" (ro), superimposed on one another. The Greek letters "a" and "ω" are sometimes placed along the edges of the monogram. This use of these letters goes back to the text of the Apocalypse: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8) .
Coin of Emperor Magnentius with the image of a chrysma.
Christianity became widespread in epigraphy, on the reliefs of sarcophagi, in mosaics, including floor ones, and probably dates back to apostolic times. It is possible that its origin is connected with the words of the Apocalypse: "the seal of the living God" (Rev. 7:2). Greek name monograms "crisma" (proper “anointing”, “confirmation”) can be translated as "seal".
Monogram of Christ on the floor of the ancient Christian basilica of Chrysopolitissa.
In the environment Slavic peoples Ancient Christian Christianity acquired a new meaning, becoming a symbol of the Incarnation or the Nativity of Christ, according to the first letters - “P” and “X” - its Slavic spelling.
Chrism on the south side of the St. Elias Church in Vyborg
FISH.
Fish is one of the earliest and most common Christian symbols. "Ichthys" (Ancient Greek Ἰχθύς - fish)- ancient acronym (monogram) name of Jesus Christ, consisting of the initial letters of the words: Ίησοὺς Χριστὸς Θεού Ὺιὸς Σωτήρ (Jesus Christ Son of God Savior), that is, expresses in brief form the confession of the Christian faith.
The New Testament connects the symbolism of fish with the preaching of the Disciples of Christ, some of whom were fishermen.
At the same time, Christians themselves were often depicted in a symbolic way - in the form of fish. One of the early Church Fathers, Tertullian, wrote: “We, little fish, following our Jesus Christ, are born in water (of grace) and only by remaining in it can we be unharmed.”
The symbolic image of a fish also has a Eucharistic meaning. In the oldest part of the Callista catacombs, researchers discovered a clear image of a fish carrying on its back a basket of bread and a vessel of wine. This is a Eucharistic symbol denoting the Savior, Who gives people the food of salvation, new life.
An ancient mosaic depicting a stupa with loaves and fishes, with which the Lord fed the suffering, is located in the Altar next to the sacred stone. On the stone, as some New Testament researchers suggest, the Savior stood when he blessed the fish and bread before feeding the people with them.
In other catacombs and on tombstones, the image of a fish is often found in combination with other symbols and means the saturation of the people in the desert with loaves and fishes (Mark 6:34-44, Mark 8:1-9), as well as the meal prepared by the Savior for the Apostles after His Resurrection (John 21:9-22) on the shore of Lake Tiberias.
Ancient Christian symbol of fish from the East
sides of the St. Elias Church in VyborgANCHOR.
In early Christian art, the anchor was a symbol of hope. The source for the emergence of this image was the Epistle to the Jews by St. Apostle Paul, where we can find the following words: “God, desiring to show the heirs of the promise the immutability of His will, used an oath as a means, so that... we, who have come running to take hold of the hope set before us, may have firm consolation, which for the soul is like a safe and strong anchor, and enters into the interior behind the veil, where the forerunner Jesus came in for us, becoming a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (6:17-20). Thus, the anchor is for us an attribute of the personified hope of salvation in Christ Jesus from eternal death.
Floor mosaic of the Naval Cathedral.
An anchor as an ancient Christian symbol of hope from the northern side of the St. Elias Church in Vyborg.
Over time, the One Undivided Church of Christ, by its conciliar mind, by the 82nd rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council rejected the image of the Lamb as a symbol of the Sacrifice of Christ: “On some honest icons, a lamb is depicted, shown by the finger of the Forerunner, which is accepted as an image of grace, through the law showing us the true lamb, Christ our God. Honoring the ancient images and canopy, devoted to the Church, as signs and the destinies of truth, we prefer grace and truth, accepting it as the fulfillment of the law. For this reason, so that by the art of depiction the perfect thing may be presented to the eyes of all, we command from now on the image of the lamb who takes away the sins of the world, Christ our God, to be represented on icons according to human nature, instead of the old lamb: that through this, contemplating the humility of God the Word, we are brought to the remembrance of His life in the flesh, His suffering, and saving death, and in this way the completed redemption of the world.”
Also, by the 73rd rule of the same Council, the Church prohibited the depiction of the Life-giving Cross of Christ on earth: “Since the Life-giving Cross has shown us salvation, then it is fitting for us to use every diligence, so that due honor will be given to that through which we were saved from the ancient Fall. Therefore, Bringing veneration to him in thought, word, and feeling, we command that the images of the Cross, drawn by some on the ground, be completely blotted out, so that the sign of our victory will not be insulted by the trampling of those walking...”
But, today, when modern media, it would seem, provide inexhaustible opportunities for knowledge of one’s own Faith, from nowhere, unfortunate “zealots” of their own ignorance appeared, who, from the inflammation of the still unresolved passions of their former life, began to blaspheme those depicted on the four sides of the St. Elias Church ancient -Christian symbols, falsely claiming that their images on earth are prohibited by the 73rd rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council. However, as we can see from the text of this rule, the Church prohibits depicting only the Life-giving Cross of Christ on earth, without even hinting at other ancient Christian symbols. Moreover, this rule speaks specifically about the “Life-Giving Cross”, and not about any other, simple or decorative, cross of lines. Because of the three crosses found by Queen Helena, Equal-to-the-Apostles, only one, the Cross of Christ, was life-giving and worthy of worship. The other two crosses, among which was the cross of the prudent thief, who, according to the word of the Lord, was the first to enter the heavenly abodes, were not life-giving and were not an object of worship for the Church.
Again, if we see the Life-giving Cross of the Lord in any crossroads of lines, we will be forced to refuse to use transport and roads that constantly cross, as well as sidewalks, which inevitably end in pedestrian crossings at intersections. At the same time, to the great joy of those who oppose our faith, we will be forced to jump like fleas, accidentally finding ourselves in the crosshairs of the seams of tile floors in public places.
Therefore, from ancient times, the Church, depicting the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, with two additional crossbars and the inscription on them indicates that this cross is not just a decorative cross of lines or ornaments, but is an image Life-giving Cross Christ, by whom we are saved “from the work of the enemy.”
As for other ancient Christian symbols, we repeat that the Church has never prohibited their depiction both on walls and on floors Christian churches, except during the shameful triumph of iconoclasm. Those who, being infected with proud conceit, contrary to the entire tradition of the One Undivided Church, are jealous of their ignorant opinions about the inadmissibility of depicting Christian symbols in Orthodox church building, not only on the walls, but also on the ground, are likened to the ancient Pharisees, who, instead of observing the fulfillment of the commandments God, they arbitrarily accepted to adhere to false piety: “Observe the washing of cups, pots, cauldrons and benches” (Mark 7:4).
And such people show themselves to be similar not only to the ancient Pharisees, but also to reveal themselves to be new iconoclasts, who, being infected with secret Manichaeism, forgot that everything was created "very good" (Gen. 1:31); and that we were created from the dust of the earth, which to this day we “trample” under our feet; and that the Lord, in His Holy Incarnation, took upon this our corporeality from the dust of the earth, joining it to His incorruptible Divinity; and that the Lord washed in His Sacraments not only our heads, but also our feet, which was clearly shown by the example of Peter (John 13:6-10); and that God is not only the God of Heaven, but also of earth (Rev. 11:4); and that on the day of Holy Epiphany we consecrate with holy agiasma not only the walls of our homes, but also “in all places, both stingy, and everywhere, even under our feet”; and that in the future age, the pre-radiance of which our churches are filled, “God will be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28)- such people want to take away from us not just the splendor, but the wealth of grace-filled and saving symbols that fill our churches, likening them to the sad desolation of Protestant churches.
Moreover, if we follow the logic of these new iconoclasts, then episcopal services should be prohibited. Because the bishops of the Church at divine services stand on nothing other than eagles, which depict the ancient Christian symbol of an eagle in the radiance of grace and a city with holy temples, and which, if you believe the fables of the latter-day iconoclasts, are the primates local Churches in “shameful ignorance” of true piety they are “trodden underfoot.” But we know that where there is a bishop, there is the Church, and where there is no bishop, there is no Church. Why should we now leave the Church to please the new iconoclasts? Let this not happen!
The saddest thing is that such are false teachers, “not entering by the door into the sheepfold” (John 10:1), deceive the hearts of the simple-minded and sow division in the one Church Body. It will be useful for them to remember well and not to forget a completely different rule of the same Sixth Ecumenical Council, the 64th, which reads: “It is not proper for a layman to pronounce a word before the people, or to teach, and thus take upon himself the dignity of a teacher, but to obey a devotee.” order from the Lord, to open the ears of those who have received the grace of the teacher’s word, and from them to learn from the Divine. For in the one Church God created different members, according to the word of the Apostle, which, when Gregory the Theologian explains, clearly shows the order found in them, saying: this, brethren, let us honor the order, Let us preserve this one; let this one be an ear, and that one a tongue; this one a hand, and let another one be something else; let this one teach, let that one learn. And after a few words, let him say further: let the one who learns be in obedience, the one who distributes, let him distribute with joy, the one who serves let us serve with zeal. Let us not all be tongues, If this is the closest thing, neither all are apostles, nor all are prophets, nor all are interpreters. And after some words he also says: Why do you make yourself a shepherd, being a sheep? Why do you become a head, being a foot ? Why do you attempt to be a military commander, having been placed in the ranks of soldiers? And in another place wisdom commands: do not be quick in words; do not prostrate the poor with the rich; do not seek the wise, be the wisest. If anyone is found to be violating this rule: let him be excommunicated from church communion for forty days.”
Chairman of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis
Vyborg diocese,
rector of St. Elias Church in Vyborg
Archpriest Igor Viktorovich Aksyonov.
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In the Rider-White deck, there is a fish in the pictures of each court card of the suit of Cups - Page of Cups, Knight of Cups, Queen of Cups and.
Symbolism of Pisces in Tarot cards
When we consider the meaning of the Pisces symbol in the Tarot, we enter the realm of the elements of water and emotions, where desires, dreams and intuition play a major role. On the cards we see Fish in a cup, which allows us to talk about deeply exciting aspirations and changes in the psyche or soul of a person.
Fish hints that a person perceives the world through personal feelings; it illustrates movements in the emotional world. When Pisces finds itself on land, it suffocates, but in its element it can maneuver as it pleases, without knowing any boundaries, because all waters are interconnected. This speaks to the general impracticality of the court cards of Cups - they compensate for this by understanding a person’s feelings and emotions.
In world cultures, Pisces is often associated with the feminine principle and the moon. Two fish - yoni, Indian symbol of reproduction and fertility. In prehistoric times, fish figurines resembled a phallus, which makes it possible to consider the Fish a symbol of both male and female sexuality, or even a symbol of a hermaphrodite.
It is also worth mentioning separately the Lenormand deck of cards, where there is a separate Fish card. She answers the King of Pentacles and symbolizes the catch, profit, successful completion of affairs, harvest.
Key meanings of the fish symbol
- The ability to control your emotions
- Expressing emotions without words, “silent conversation”
- Developed intuition that guides a person in the right direction
- Flexibility - the ability to respond to environmental changes
- Ability to absorb information
- Fertility, sexual instinct and reproduction
Fish symbol in Tarot cards
- Meaning of Pisces in the Page of Cups: You have all the means to curb your passion and sublimate it in a creative direction
- Meaning of Pisces in the Knight of Cups: The blue cloak decorated with scarlet fish refers us to astrological sign Pisces, which symbolizes the victory of spirit over matter
- Meaning of Pisces in the Queen of Cups: Fertility, maternal feeling, possible pregnancy and willingness to help others
- Meaning of Pisces in the King of Cups: You are in harmony with your experiences and manage your emotions
The connection of the Pisces symbol with deities in different world cultures
The Babylonian Ea, corresponding to the Sumerian Enki, could be represented as a fish man. Ea was credited not only with power and wisdom, but also with healing abilities. The fish-like Ea was depicted at the bedside of a sick child.
The ancient Babylonian god of fertility and harvest, Sannes, turned into a fish every night and swam out to sea.
In Egypt, the fish represented the god Osiris, who commanded the waters of the Nile, who gave life to the country. IN Ancient Egypt fish, as food for the pharaohs and the priestly caste, was tabooed.
For the Greeks, it is an attribute of Aphrodite, a symbol of love and fertility, but also of Poseidon as a symbol of the power of water. In the worship of Adonis, fish was an offering for the dead.
IN Ancient Greece There was a belief that the souls of the dead could move into fish, and if such a soul saw a pregnant woman, it could move into the fetus and gain another life.
For the Romans, fish was the emblem of Venus and symbolized feasts in the blessed life ahead.
Among the Scandinavians, fish is an attribute of Frigga as a symbol of love and fertility.
Among the Slavs, the merman is considered the master of fish and the “fish shepherd”. He drives herds of fish from one lakes and rivers to others, protects them, enters into an agreement with fishermen about fish and helps them in fishing. But if you make him angry, he will not let the fish into the net, will tangle and break the net, and will punish you for fishing at night. The merman himself appears in the guise of a fish - pike, catfish or sturgeon.
Pike or gold fish appears in Slavic folklore,
as a wish-granting character.
In the Karelian-Finnish epic "Kalevala" main character Vainemäinen found the “spark of life” in a perch that was swallowed by salmon, which in turn was swallowed by a huge pike.
In one of the Chinese versions of the flood, Gun takes the form of a fish after death, and Yu emerges from his body, who manages to tame the waters. In China, fish symbolizes abundance (the words fish and abundance sound the same in Chinese), wealth, reproduction, harmony, the emperor's subordinates.
Among the Japanese, carp is consonant with the word and attribute of Guan-Yin, a deity who saves people from all kinds of disasters, the patroness of children and childbirth.
Fish was considered the receptacle of the god Vishnu in ancient Indian mythology. It was in this form that Vishnu was the teacher of Manu, the forefather of all nations and his deliverer from the Flood.
In Buddhism, it symbolizes following the Buddha, freedom from restrictions, liberation from desires and attachments.
The fates of biblical characters: Tobias and Jonah are also connected with fish. First giant fish she just wanted to devour it, but swallowed the second one, thereby depriving her of the opportunity to escape from fulfilling the command of God himself. “And the Lord commanded big whale devour Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights” (Book of Jonah 2:1).
The legend of Jonah symbolizes the rebirth of man
after meeting the deep layer of your soul
All four canonical Gospels present Christ and his disciples-apostles as “fishers of men.” “And Jesus said to Simon: Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men” (Gospel of Luke 5:10). “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and it caught fish of every kind” (Gospel of Matthew 13:47). Therefore, for the first Christians, Fish became a symbol of Christ and the Church.
The fish symbol can be found in ancient Christian images. What does the fish symbol mean in Christianity? In the Greek word ICHTHYS (fish) Christians ancient Church saw a mysterious acrostic composed from the first letters of a sentence expressing the confession of the Christian faith: Jesous Christos Theou Yios Soter - Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. “If the first letters of these Greek words are combined together, the word ICHTHYS, that is, “fish,” is obtained. The name of the fish mysteriously refers to Christ, because in the abyss of real mortality, as if in the depths of water, He could remain alive, that is. sinless"(Blessed Augustine. About the City of God. XVIII. 23.1).
Professor A.P. Golubtsov suggested: “This literal meaning of the word ICHTHYS was early noticed by Christian exegetes, and, probably, in Alexandria - this center of allegorical interpretation - the mysterious meaning of this famous word was first brought to light" (From readings on church archeology and liturgics. St. Petersburg ., 1995. P. 156).
However, it must be definitely said: not only the observation of a letter coincidence led to the fact that among the Christians of the Primitive Church, fish became a symbol of Jesus Christ. The consciousness of the ancient disciples of the Divine Savior undoubtedly found support for such an understanding in the Holy Gospel. The Lord says: Is there such a person among you who, when his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone? and when he asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him (Matthew 7:9-11).
The symbolism is clear and expressive: the fish points to Christ, and the serpent to the devil. When more than four thousand people were fed, the Lord performed a miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes: And taking the seven loaves and fishes, he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they all ate and were filled (Matthew 15:36–37). During another miracle of feeding the people there were five loaves of bread and two fish (see: Matt. 14: 17–21).
The Eucharistic understanding of the first and second saturation is evidenced by an image made on the wall of one of the Roman catacombs of St. Callistus: a swimming fish holds on its back a wicker basket with five loaves of bread and a glass vessel with red wine under them.
Ancient Christian writers did not limit themselves to the symbolic comparison of Jesus Christ with a fish. They extended this comparison to the followers of the Savior. Thus, Tertullian wrote: “ The sacrament of our water is life-giving, for, having washed away the sins of yesterday’s blindness with it, we are freed for eternal life!<…>We, fish, following our “fish” (ICHTHYS) Jesus Christ, are born in water, we preserve life only by remaining in water"(On baptism. 1.1).
Clement of Alexandria in his “Hymn to Christ the Savior” also compares the followers of Jesus Christ to fish:Eternal Joy of Life, Mortal Savior, Jesus, Shepherd, Plowman, Feeder, Bridle, Heavenly Wing of the holy flock! The fisher of men being rescued from the sea of wickedness! Catching pure fish from a wave hostile to sweet life! Lead us sheep
Shepherd of the wise!"(Teacher. Conclusion)
Father Job Gumerov
Instructions
Proponents of the first theory argue that the fish was chosen as a symbol of the new faith and an identifying mark among the early Christians, since the Greek spelling of this word is an acronym for the main tenet of the Christian faith. “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” - this was and remains to this day the creed of Christianity, and the first of these words in Greek (Ἰησοὺς Χριστὸς Θεoὺ ῾Υιὸς Σωτήρ) form the word Ίχθύς, “ichthys”, “ fish." According to this theory, early Christians, depicting the sign of the fish, professed their faith and at the same time recognized their fellow believers. In Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel “Quo vadis” there is a scene in which the Greek Chilon tells the patrician Petronius exactly this version of the origin of the fish sign as a symbol of Christians.
According to another theory, the sign of fish among the early Christians was a symbolic designation of followers of the new faith. This statement is based on frequent references to fish in the sermons of Jesus Christ, as well as in His personal conversations with his disciples, later the apostles. He metaphorically calls people in need of salvation fish, and the future apostles, many of whom were former fishermen, “fishers of men.” “And Jesus said to Simon: Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men” (Gospel of Luke 5: 10) The “Fisherman’s Ring” of the Pope, one of the main attributes of the vestment, has the same origin.
Biblical texts also claim that only fish survived the Great Flood, sent by God for the sins of people, not counting those who took refuge in the Ark. At the beginning of the era, history repeated itself, Greco-Roman civilization was experiencing a monstrous crisis of morality, and a new Christian faith was called upon to become the saving and at the same time cleansing waters of the new “spiritual” flood. “The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind” (Gospel of Matthew 13:47).
Also worthy of attention is the theory that fish became a symbol of Christianity due to its main, food function. The new creed primarily spread among the most oppressed part of the population. For these people, simple food like fish was the only salvation from starvation. This is precisely what some researchers see as the reason why fish has become a symbol of salvation from spiritual death, the bread of new life and the promise of life after death. As evidence, supporters of this theory cite numerous images in the Roman catacombs in places of ritual, where fish acted as a Eucharistic symbol.
Most fish have large and Round eyes, but they are constructed completely differently from those of other animals. This raises the question of how well and how fish are able to see.
Instructions
Fish vision is designed in such a way that they can easily see colors and even distinguish shades. Nevertheless, they see things a little differently, from the abodes of land. When looking up, fish are able to see everything without distortion, but if to the side, straight or at an angle, it is distorted due to the media of water and air.
Maximum visibility for occupants water element does not exceed 10–12 meters in clear water. Often this distance is reduced even further due to the presence of plants, changes in water color, increased turbidity, etc. Fish distinguish objects most clearly at a distance of up to 2 meters. Due to the peculiarity of the structure of the eyes, when swimming to the surface of the water, fish begin to see objects as if through.
Predators living in clear waters- grayling, trout, asp, pike. Some species that feed on bottom organisms and plankton (bream, catfish, eel, pike perch, etc.) have special light-sensitive elements in the retina that can distinguish weak light rays. Due to this, they can see quite well in the dark.
Being near the shore, the fish hear the fisherman very well, but do not see him due to the refraction of the ray of vision. This makes them vulnerable, so a big role