Footstep Ministries: Jewelry

Jewelry of the Early Church

produced by Elizabeth Sparks & Roland Grigorian

Elizabeth has had the pleasure of working with Roland Grigorian - a master Athenian jeweler - to produce and handmake two custom pieces of jewelry available for purchase below.

We hope you enjoy these wonderful crosses and pendants and that they remind you of your time spent with us as we traveled together overseas.

These sublimely detailed crosses pay testament to the early church and her desire to worhsip Jesus Christ. Using both the X (chi - the first letter in Christ) and P (rho, the second letter in Christ) as well as the symbolic "icthus," these crosses attest to the belief that Jesus is the "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 21: 6).

Made by our good friend Roland Grigorian, these 3/4 inch tall crosses make a wonderful reminder of your time spent studying the early church. The crosses come in sterling silver, oxidized sterling silver, and gold-plated, and each cross comes with a leather band.

Silver and Gold Plated Crosses

Silver and Gold PlatedPendants

These gold and silver pendants pay tribute to the early church's testament of faith in "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior." When put together, the first letters of each word in this phrase spell IXTHUS, the Greek word for fish. Both the true Greek letters and the fish are inscribed on the pendant. Above is the Christogram, used by the 5th century Christians as a symbol of their faith. It's circular pattern contains the IXTHUS letters overlapped upon each other inside of a laurel wreath, the symbol of victory in Ancient Greece.

We made these pieces as a testament to the faithfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ over the generations, and we hope you will enjoy their significance and beauty. Our silver pendant is 100% oxidized sterling silver, and our gold pendant is plated with eighteen carat gold. They measure 1.4 inches high and 3/4 of an inch wide and come with a leather band.

About The Pieces

Roland Grigorian, like his father before him, has spent his life making exquisite jewelry. With a workshop in the Plaka region of Athens, Roland sells his custom pieces to the many jewelers whose shops line the picturesque walkways of the Plaka.

Having been friends with Roland for many years, we had the pleasure to sit down with him an create these pieces together. Handmade in Greece, we hope these pieces will serve as a wonderful memory of your time in Greece or as a thoughtful gift for friends.

About The Symbology

The early church often used the symbol of the fish to represent their faith in Jesus Christ. In this fish (common in the 4th-5th centuries AD) we see the combination of the X and P. X (chi) is the first Greek letter in the word Christ. The P (rho) is the second Greek letter in the word Christ.

Ι Iota the first letter in the

greek word Iesous

- Jesus

Χ Chi the first letter in the

greek word CHristos

- Christ

θ Theta the first letter in the

greek word THeos

- God's

Υ Upsilon the first letter in the

greek word Yios

- Son

Σ Sigma the first letter in the

greek word Soter

- Savior

The Greek word for fish is "ixthus" or "icthus." The Christian fish symbol that many Christians place on their cars is known as the "ixthus." Five Greek letters form the word "ixthus," and those letters inside the fish form an acrostic which is a message that Christians clearly identified with. The first letter represented the word Jesus. The second letter represented the word Christ, the next two, God's Son, and the final letter represented the word Savior. This adds up to "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior."

The Icthus

The Alpha and Omega

The Christogram

The stone slab shown to the left is a combination of two Greek symbols. The first, the overlapping X (chi) and P (rho) are the first two letter in the Greek word for Christ. These letters are placed in circle along with two additional letters, an A (alpha) and an Ω (omega), the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. This represents God's eternal nature as revealed in Revelation 21:6, "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end."

Finally, the Christogram (originally from the 5th century AD) contains the letters of the word Icthus (ΙΧθΥΣ - meaning Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior) inscribed on top of each other inside of a laurel wreath. In ancient Greece, laurel wreaths were awarded to victors, symbolizing Christ's victory over death.