Krzyż i miecz. Na marginesie powieści Jana Dobraczyńskiego „Święty miecz”
The Cross and the Sword. Notes on The Sacred Sword by Jan Dobraczyński

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the symbolism of the cross and the sword in the history of Christianity. By referencing the biographical novel of Paul the Apostle by Jan Dobraczyński, the author points out that the original symbol of the Jewish Messiah was supposed to be a sword – one that would rescue the Chosen People from the rule of the Roman Empire. Jesus altered this idea by preaching peace and love, culminating with him dying for sinners in an act of salvation; thus the sword was replaced by the cross. As a result, Christianity could be considered the religion of the cross, not the religion of the sword, one in which a voluntary sacrifice replaces violence. However, after Christianity became the official religion of the empire, it was used as an ideological justification for the persecution of pagans. Thus, it not only returned to the sword, it actually replaced the cross with the sword and even consecrated the cross as a sword. The final scene in The Sacred Sword in which the apostle christens a Roman soldier and gives him a sword, not a cross, to kiss, is a symbolic confirmation of such an interpretation of Christianity’s history.

• Details
• Contents