Armenian Cross

Khachkar or Sirun Khach

Since the early years of the 4^th century,  Armenia has been one of the oldest Christian nations in the world. Armenian crosses mirror some of the designs favoured in those days: vines and floral swirls.

Their winged crosses have a busy design where the lower shaft is usually just slightly longer than the arms and top, and all four members have distinctive double tips. An alternative name is the Sirun Khach (Siroun Cross). Sirun is an Armenian girl's name that means 'lovely'.

On original stone crosses we see lovely intricate carving, like the interlacing pattern seen in Celtic knots. These stones are called khachkar (khach = cross, kar = stone). The guidebook of Holy Saviour's Church in Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city, says of the four "wings", the upper wing symbolizes the Kingdom of Heaven, the lower symbolizes the demolition of Hell, on the right symbolizes grace and the left wing symbolizes the remission of sins.

The guidebook continues with an alternative suggestion by an (un-named) ancient-Armenian historian, that the upper wing symbolizes love, the lower symbolizes modesty, the right symbolizes obedience and the left symbolizes patience; four virtues we should all strive for.

Armenian crosses are usually without a corpus, giving focus to the risen Christ more than the Passion. Rejecting the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon, there is greater emphasis on the divine nature of Christ.

At the end of each arm is sometimes a small disc (sometimes more than one, as seen in the example above) and each of these are suns, which represent the light of Christ. In the Armenian Church this symbol is emphasised during morning services.

The intersection of the bars signifies the four corners of the world meeting at life's centre. This is a concept that has been carried forward from earlier syncretistic pagan art forms.

Just as a snowflake always has six rays, yet no two snowflakes are alike, Armenian Crosses are recognised by the distinctive 'wings', yet the rest of the design is often unique.

In fact this cross is sometimes confused with the Snowflake Cross, or other crosses such as the fishtail St. John's Cross.

There are similar forked heraldic crosses, such as the Croix Fourche, or crescents, as in the Croix Croissant (known in Wicca as the Lunate Cross), which in turn are similar to the Teutonic Cross. But on the Armenian Cross we see no forks or crescents. Rather than moons (which could be confused with the identity of neighbouring Muslim regions), the Armenian Cross usually has suns.

On the right is our sketch from a khachkar at a monastery in Vayots Dzor, where the ends of each cross member are similar to fleur de lis, but could also be seen as flames. The braided geometric design has similarities with both Celtic and Romanesque art.

The majority of Armenians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. That's the national church of Armenia and has been a central part of Armenian identity for centuries.

Whatever cross style is chosen by Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic or Armenian Evangelical churches, the cross almost invariably features the double-tipped arms, making eight points. These eight points, as with the St. John's Cross, represent the eight beatitudes. 

Multiples of eight are significant in Armenian church architecture. The churches are built on sixteen pillars, consecrated to the twelve apostles and four evangelists, and the churches are often topped with an octagonal dome.

But all these interpretations of the cross design are relatively recent. The cross is truly ancient and was used by Armenian Pagans long before Christians adopted the cross in the 9^th century.

Old Pagan fertility dragon stones (vishapakar) can be seen in Armenia near lakes, rivers and springs, where they represent the Tree of Life and the biblical Garden of Eden. These fish-shaped vishapakars were carved and erected thousands of years before the Christian khachkar stones.

Although the vishapakars evolved into khachkars, the fish tail was retained along with its Tree of Life and Wisdom interpretation. An addition was the equilateral geometry which symbolizes harmony. (See also Sacred Geometry.) Such geometry is typical of Caucasian art, as seen in the Kazak nomad's horse blanket on the right.

Actually it's a woven rug; unlikely to be of use by a Kazak nomad and far too small for use as a blanket. We bought it (new) from a carpet shop in Turkey in 1989 as a wall decoration, stricken by its traditional symmetrical style of many oriental rugs, showing animals, peacocks and other birds on Noah's Ark (click photo to enlarge). Whether it was woven in Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Bangladesh or elsewhere, we'll never know.

Interesting that the photo has been lifted from this webpage and posted on Pinterest and other websites; not that we care too much. Having the actual rug is more precious than just a photo of it.

Similarly with the precious stone crosses in Armenia. These khachkars are treasures but thousands over recent years have been destroyed by invaders who have looted and vandalized them.