Interrelation of Platonic and Jewish-Christian Aspects of the Symbolism of the Cross in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, Church Fathers and Christian Iconography

Abstract

Considering the symbolism of the cross in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, scholars interpreted it in terms of Platonic and Gnostic influences. In this article I made an attempt to demonstrate a more profound ancient mythological and Jewish-Christian mystical background of this symbolism, which can be traced later in Christian Patristic writings and iconographic patterns.