Lamb (2)
Lamb
(as a Christian emblem), the symbol of Christ (Ge 4:4; Ex 12:3; Ex 29:38; Isa 16:1; Jeremiah 53:7; Joh 1:36; 1Pe 1:19; Re 13:8), who was typified by the paschal lamb, the blood of which was sprinkled on the door-posts and lintel of the doors like a Taucross, to preserve the Hebrews from destruction. In very old sepulchres the lamb stands on a hill amid the four rivers of Paradise, or in the Baptist's hand. It sometimes carries a milk-pail and crook, to represent the Good Shepherd. In the 5th century it is encircled with a nimbus. In the 4th century its head is crowned with the cross and monogram. In the 6th century it bears a spear, the emblem of wisdom, ending in a cross; or appears, bleeding from five wounds, in a chalice. At last it is girdled with a golden zone of power and justice (Isa 11:5), bears the banner-cross of the resurrection, or treads upon a serpent (Re 18:14). At length, in the 8th and 9th centuries, it lies on a throne amid angels and saints, as in the apocalyptic vision. When fixed to a cross it formed the crucifix of the primitive Church, and therefore was afterwards added on the reverse of an actual crucifix, as on the stational cross of Velletri. In 692 the council in Trullo ordered the image of the Savior to be substituted for the lamb. Jesus is the Shepherd to watch over his flock, as he was the Lamb, the victim from the sheep. Walafrid Strabo condemns the practice of placing near or under the altar on Good Friday lamb's flesh, which received benediction and was eaten on Easter day. Probably to this custom the Greeks alluded when they accused the Latins of offering a lamb on the altar at mass in the 9th century. In ancient times the pope and cardinals ate lamb on Easter day.
