Serbian cross

See also: Coat of Arms of Serbia

Serbian cross

Serbian tetragrammatic cross
Tradition	Central and Eastern European

The Serbian Cross (Serbian: Cрпски Kрст / Srpski Krst) is a national symbol of Serbia, part of the Coat of Arms of Serbia, and the flag of Serbia. It is composed of a cross symbol with four C-shapes on each of its corners, in use as a national emblem since the 14th century.

The C-shapes are interpreted either as Cyrillic letter C (/s/), or as "firesteels" (ocilo).

History

The "tetragrammatic cross", emblem of the Palaiologos dynasty from the mid-13th century

Origins

Further information: Byzantine heraldry

Crosses with firesteels have been used since Roman times, as symbols, but not as coats of arms or emblems. Some historians connect it with the labarum, the Imperial flag of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337). In the 6th century the cross with four fields (with either letters or heraldry), tetragramme, appear on Byzantine coins. The symbol was adopted by the First Crusaders since the first event, People's Crusade (1096). Michael VIII Palaiologos (1261–1282) adopted the symbol when he resurrected the Byzantine Empire, with the initials (letters β) of the imperial motto of the Palaiologos dynasty: King of Kings, Ruling Over Kings (Greek: βασιλεύς βασιλέων, βασιλεύων βασιλευόντων Basileus Basileōn, Basileuōn Basileuontōn). It was used in flags and coins. The symbol appear on the Imperial flag "Divelion" (διβελλιον), a naval war flag, used in front of all other banners, recorded by Pseudo-Kodinos (fl. 1347-1368) wrongly as "a cross with fire-steels" (σταυρον μετα πυρεκβολων), and depicted in the Castilian Conosçimiento de todos los reynos atlas (ca. 1350). As Alexander Soloviev writes, the use of letters in western heraldry is non existant. In the Middle Ages, both the Greek style, with "closed fire-steels" (β - B), and the Serb syle, with "open fire-steels" (C - S), were used in Serbia.

The four symbols surrounding the cross have thus been interpreted as either letters, or flints or firestones.

Serbian

The coat of arms of Serbia in the Fojnica Armorial (17th century), based on the 1595 design in the Korenić-Neorić Armorial.

Stojan Novaković argues that the recorded use of the Serbian cross, as a national symbol, began in 1397, during the rule of Stefan Lazarević. It was possibly derived from a known candle chandellier from the Visoki Dečani. The known Serbian historian Stanoje Stanojević argues that it entered its use in 1345, with Dušan the Mighty's raising to a Serbian Empire.

The Serbian cross is found in the Korenić-Neorić Armorial (1595), which shows the coat of arms of Serbia (Svrbiae) as a white cross over a red background, with four firesteels, also depicting the Mrnjavčević noble house with the same design, with inverted colours and the Serbian eagle in the center of the cross. According to Mavro Orbini (1607), it was used by King Vukašin (1365–1371) and Tsar Lazar (1371–1389). The Serbian cross then appeared on all Serbian coats of arms, except the Serbian coat of arms dated 1974, with the letters C without the cross.

A modern interpretation is that the four symbols around the cross are Cyrillic letters С, an acronym of a slogan: "Only Unity Saves the Serbs" (Serbian: "Само Слога Србина Спасава" - "Samo Sloga Srbina Spasava"). An alternative is "Saint Sava - Serbian Patron" (Serbian: "Cвeти Caвa - Cpпcка Cлaвa" - "Sveti Sava - Srpska Slava").^{[citation needed]}

References

Sources

• Atlagić, M. 1997, "The cross with symbols S as heraldic symbols", Baština, no. 8, pp. 149-158.
• Atlagić, M. 2007, "Dečanski polijelej", Baština, no. 22, pp. 245-250.
• Palavestra, A. "O ocilima", Glasnik SHD, June 1998
• Mitja Velikonja, Religious separation and political intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina, p. 299; footnote 19. Texas A&M University Press, 2003

See also

• Coat of arms of Serbia