Talk:Military Order of Christ

Symbolism of 8

The number 8 is a mystical one, because it represents the infinite, as it has no beginning or end; eight is also the number of fate, destiny and justice.

According to whom?

1. From a handbook on symbolism:

The meaning of the octagram: it is the expression of the "Law of Cause and Effect". Those two are inextricably tied together: "What ye sow, ye shall reap". (compare with Karma / Wheel of life) That makes the number 8 the number of fate, destiny and justice.Transformative qualities are: resurrection, immortality and prosperity. http://www.stichtingtrinity.nl/Trinity/Britxt/B02archeo.htm

1. Some say:

"Eight and the octagon represent resurrection and rebirth, because Christ rose from grave 8 days after entry into Jerusalem. Thus they became symbols of baptism, the spiritual rebirth of a person, and many baptistries and baptismal fonts are octagonal."NUMBER SYMBOLISM in the MIDDLE AGES ©Paul Calter, 1998. All Rights Reserved. Dartmouth College http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit8/unit8.html#eight%20and%20baptism

1. Others Say that:

http://geocities.com/metaco8nitron/temples.html

1. Or:

octagon shape symbolizes the regenerating power of God's word, which is transmitted through the personality of the minister. http://www.eden-ucc.org/EdenContent.asp?id=125

1. the symbolism of the octagon (signifying the "eighth day" of eternity)

http://www.saltlakecathedral.org/7.php

1. Hence, the octagon, with its eight sides, is the traditional configuration of baptistries and baptismal fonts. This reflects historic Christendom’s recognition of Holy Baptism as a "washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5) Aside from this most appropriate symbolism, the shape of the octagon lends itself well to the Lutheran architect’s desire to gather the congregation around pulpit, font, and altar as active participants in the divine service. The eight-sided configuration of our sanctuary is also reflected in the pulpit, the baptismal font, and the altar. Within this House of God, through the ministry of Word and Sacrament, we become a part of God’s new creation, rising from the death of sin to newness of life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

http://www.osl.cc/ff/architechture.html

1. Eight symbolises the number of perfect expression, the octagon, representing, among other things, the cube. [...] The meaning here [referring to a magic square] is "The eight (balance) is the way to the nine." Nine stands in Arabic for the letter Ta, whose hidden meaning is "secret knowledge".

Robin Phenomena Co-ed http://messageboard.cinescape.com/phenomenamagazine/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Area51&Number=5829&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

• the good part of the symbolism of the eight is that the meaning is contextual, the eight symbol meanings can be infinite CristianChirita 13:59, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The untold history of the octogon

THE CIRCULAR CHURCH AND ITS DERIVATIVES

It was stated at the outset of the article that all ecclesiastical architecture may be said to have been developed from two primitive germs, the oblong and the circular chamber. Of those very numerous churches, principally, but by no means exclusively, Eastern or Italian, which may be regarded as the products of the second line of development, we shall speak very briefly. That a circular chamber without any kind of annex was unsuitable for the ordinary purposes of public worship is plain enough. And the most obvious modification of this rudimentary form was to throw out a projecting sanctuary on one side of the building, as in St. George's, Thessalonica, or in the little church of S. Tommaso in Limine, near Bergamo. It was hardly less obviously convenient to build a projecting porch or narthex on the opposite side, as in St. Elias's, also at Thessalonica, and to complete the cross by means of lateral projection, as in the sepulchral chapel of Galla Placidia at Ravenna. Thus it was that churches having the form of a Greek cross, as well as other varieties of what German authors call the Centralbau, may be said to owe their origin to a very simple process of evolution from the circular domed building. Among the almost endless varieties on the main theme may be here enumerated:

buildings in which a circular, or polygonal, or quadrilateral aisle, whether in one or more stories, surrounds the central space, buildings in which, though the principal open space is cruciform, and the whole is dominated by a central cupola, the ground-plan shows a rectangular outline, the cross being, as it were, boxed within a square; and buildings in which one of the arms of the cross is considerably elongated, as in the Duomo at Florence, St. Peter's in Rome, and St. Paul's in London. The last-named modification, it is to be observed, has the effect of assimilating the ground-plan of those great churches, and of many lesser examples of the same character, to that of the Romanesque and Gothic cruciform buildings whose genealogical descent from the columned rectangular basilica is contestable. Among ecclesiastical edifices of historical importance or interest which are either circular or polygonal, or in which the circular or polygonal centre predominates over subsidiary parts of the structure, may be mentioned the Pantheon in Rome, St. Sergius at Constantinople, S. Vitale at Ravenna, S. Lorenzo at Milan, the great baptisteries of Florence, Siena, and Pisa, and the churches of the Knights Templars in various parts of Europe. St. Luke at Stiris in Phocis, besides being an excellent typical instance of true Byzantine architecture, affords a good example of the "boxing" of a cruciform building of the Greek type, by enclosing within the walls the square space between the adjacent limbs of the cross. Practically, however, the full development of cruciform from circular buildings became possible only when the problem had been solved of roofing a square chamber with a circular dome. This has in some cases been done by first reducing the square to an octagon, by means of "squinches" or "trompettes", and then raising the dome on the octagon, by filling in the obtuse angles of the figure with rudimentary pendentives or faced corbelling. But already in the sixth century the architect and builder of Santa Sophia had showed for all time that it was possible by means of "true" pendentives, to support a dome, even of immense size, on four arches (with their piers) forming a square. The use of pendentives being once understood, it became possible, not only to combine the advantages of a great central dome with those of a cruciform church, but also to substitute domical for barrel-vaulting over the limbs of the cross, as at S. Marco, Venice, St-Front, Périgueux, and S. Antonio, Padua, or even to employ domical vaulting for a nave divided into square bays, as in the cathedral at Angouleme and other eleventh century churches in Perigord, in S. Salvatore at Venice, in the London Oratory, and (with the difference that saucer domes are here employed) in the Westminster Cathedral. Nor should it be forgotten that in the nave of St. Paul's, London, the architect had shown that domical vaulting is possible even when the bays of nave or aisles are not square, but pronouncedly oblong. Indeed, if account be taken of the manifold disadvantages of barrel-vaulting as a means of roofing the nave of a large church, it may safely be said that the employment of some form of the dome or cupola is as necessary to the logical and structural perfection of the architecture of the round arch as ribbed groining and the use of flying buttresses are necessary to the logical and structural perfection of the architecture of the pointed arch.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

The date of 1465 for the death of Prince Henry is simply wrong. He died in 1460. Who are these people who don't even know the facts but still write for the Wikipedia?