Criptogramele Crucii într-o versiune slavonă sud-est transilvăneană din secolul al XVI-lea
Cryptograms of the Cross in a Slavic Version from South-Eastern Transylvania in the 16th century

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines the combinations of initial letters (2 to 6 units) which occur around the image of the cross on various religious ritual objects, tombstones, and in the xylloprints of certain manuscripts and prints from previous centuries. The combinations of initial letters, the singnificance of which is no longer known, represent cryptograms of the cross. After a brief survey of the attempts to decipher such cryptograms so far, the author publishes 36 cryptograms of the cross and their explanations, found in the Slavic text Poxvala çs*ñnom krs*ñ „Praise to the Honoured Cross” of Bratul Codex (1559-1560). Owing to the number of cryptograms it contains (21 more cryptograms than the Slavic Erminia published by V. Brătulescu), this version of Priest Bratul allows us to decipher the significance of other groups of initials which occur in various representations of the cross in old times.

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