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Circle
' 21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told
you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth
was founded? 22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens
like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. ' Isaiah
40
The Circle is a fairly universal symbol among world
religions, though the context may change. It is seen to represent
the sun, the moon, the door through which we all were born, and
the human eye. Since it has no beginning or end, it easily represents
God's love; birth, the Alpha and Omega; eternity, that which has
neither beginning nor end..
The circle has become a part of our religious heritage, seen for
example in the rose windows of our cathedrals. Or take the tradition
of the Advent Wreath, which may well have had its origins in a pagan
past.
During the dark days of winter, sun-worshippers would burn a cartwheel
to appease the sun god as they prayed for blessings of light and
life. In the Reformation era, seeing the circular wheel as a symbol
of the eternal, unchanging nature of God, Christians may have appropriated
this symbol for their Advent observances. To symbolize God's gift
of life, they covered the wheel with greens, and to symbolize the
light brought into the world by Christ, they added candles.
There is a legend of how St. Patrick when preaching to some soon-to-be
converted heathens was shown a sacred standing stone that was marked
with a pagan circle or wheel, symbolic of the sun or moon goddess.
Patrick made the mark of a Latin cross through the circle and blessed
the stone, effectively creating the first Celtic cross.
It is a nice story but there may be a kernel of historical truth
within it. Certainly it does point to a way in which the early Christian
missionaries sought to Christianize the symbols that were familiar
to the people among whom they were working - not destroying, but
using them as a building block upon which to illustrate and expand
their message.
One source suggests that the pagan sun wheel reminded the early
Christians in Ireland of another earlier historic symbol, the wheel
cross. The wheel cross, at least within the Christian community
had in turn evolved from the chi-rho symbol. The Greek letter chi,
the first letter in the title Christ - similar in appearance to
the letter "X" - was rotated until it formed the shape
of a cross. The Greek letter rho, the second letter in the title
Christ-similar to the letter "P" - was merged with the
rotated chi, and the whole symbol enclosed in a circle. Eventually
the rho disappeared, leaving a cross in a circle. The combination
of standing-stones with wheel crosses gave us the familiar form
of the Celtic Christian high cross.
The cross with its characteristic circle is probably the most widely
recognized of all Celtic symbols, emerging as a major sculptural
tradition in Ireland, Scotland and other Celtic lands from the 9th
century or earlier.
It might be seen as a criticism of Christianity that wherever its
missionaries have gone they seem to have adopted the pagan or pre-Christian
symbols of the people among whom they were evangelising, and simply
pasted over a Christian meaning - rather as we might paper over
the cracks on a wall. But that would be rather unfair, because the
mission of these early Christian saints was one of transformation.
The circle is a shape that is neither Christian nor pagan, but it
is a familiar enough symbol within the natural world for it to have
meaning for all.
Symbols are important, particularly among those who cannot, or have
difficulty expressing their belief system in words. Today we are
surrounded by visual aids, and the media bombards us with images
- they are used to reinforce the spoken and written word. Consider
the corporate logo, often costing millions to design and implement.
What does the logo do? A well-designed one says something about
the company that it represents, and is a visual reminder should
we see it on an advertising hoarding of who the company are and
what they stand for.
What better reminder, should we stand in front of a high Celtic
Cross is the circle that speaks of God's love which has no beginning
or end and, despite the pain and suffering of the cross, still continues
to be poured out.
There is another picture we can use of the circle. James, in his
letter (Chapter 2:23) talks about Abraham being called 'A friend
of God', and what greater joy is there to being invited into the
circle of friendship of God?
'On this subject the writer Tozer, in his book Men who met God says
this:
It is well for us to remember that Divine-human friendship originated
with God. Had God not first said "You are My friends,"
it would be inexcusably brash for any man to say, "I am a friend
of God." But since God claims us for His friends, it is an
act of unbelief to deny the offer of such a relationship....
'The spiritual giants of old were those who at some time became
acutely conscious of the presence of God. They maintained that consciousness
for the rest of their lives....
'The essential point is this: These were men who met and experienced
God! How otherwise can the saints and prophets be explained? How
otherwise can we account for the amazing power for good they have
exercised over countless generations?
'Is it not that indeed they had become friends of God? Is it not
that they walked in conscious communion with the real Presence and
addressed their prayers to God with the artless conviction that
they were truly addressing Someone actually there?'
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