It's all Ελληνικά to me!

Behind every Tattoo is a story...and here is the story of mine:

This is a 'Jesus Pizza'. That is the official and technical term the tour-guide used when I was in Turkey (was that really five years ago?!). This is roughly the shape you would get if you were to write ΙΧΘΥΣ as a stack instead of as a word. ΙΧΘΥΣ (ick-thuss) is the Greek word for

fish. It is also an acronym, ΙΧΘΥΣ stands for: 

Ιησους – Jesus

Χριστος – Christ

Θεου –God’s

Υιος – Son

Σωτηρ -Savior

This acronym is the origin of the oldest symbol of Christianity: the 'Christian Fish' 

This symbol was used by ancient Christians to identify one another. Because so many followers of Christ were being persecuted for their faith, the early church developed this secret symbol to keep the fellowship of believers alive. 

Learning all of this made me realize how much I take for granted being a Christian 'out in the open'. I can wear my cross necklace and carry my Bible and not be killed for it. But these ancient Christians had to create acronyms and symbols to express their faith to one another.  

Not only did this intrigue me, but it stuck with me...and now it's stuck on me!