The Anchor (as Symbol)

The anchor, because of the great importance in navigation, was 
regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. The Christians, 
therefore, in adopting the anchor as a symbol of hope in future 
existence, merely gave a new and higher signification to a 
familiar emblem. In the teachings of Christianity the virtue of 
hope occupies a place of great importance; Christ is the unfailing 
hope of all who believe in Him. St. Peter, St. Paul, and several 
of the early Fathers speak in this sense, but the Epistle to the 
Hebrews for the first time connects the idea of hope with the 
symbol of the anchor. The writers says that we have "Hope" set 
before us "as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm" (Hebrews 6:19-
20). The hope here spoken of is obviously not concerned with 
earthly, but with heavenly things, and the anchor as a Christian 
symbol, consequently, relates only to the hope of salvation. It 
ranks among the most ancient of Christian symbols. The well-known 
fragment of the inscription discovered in the cemetery of St. 
Domitilla -- which De Rossi reads (sepulc)rum (Flavi)orum -- 
contains the anchor, and dates from the end of the first century. 
During the second and third centuries the anchor occurs frequently 
in the epitaphs of the catacombs, and particularly in the most 
ancient parts of the cemeteries of Sts. Priscilla, Domitilla, 
Calixtus, and the Coemetarium majus. About seventy examples of it 
have been found in the cemetery of Priscilla alone, prior to the 
fourth century. In the oldest of these (second century) the anchor 
is found associated with such expressions as pax tecum, pax tibi, 
in pace, thus expressing the firm hope of the authors of these 
inscriptions that their friends have been admitted to Heaven. The 
anchor is also found in association with proper names formed from 
the Latin or the Greek term for hope -- spes, elpis. St. Ambrose 
evidently had this symbol in mind when he wrote (In. Ep. ad Heb., 
vi): "As the anchor thrown from a ship prevents this from being 
borne about, but holds it securely, so faith, strengthened by 
hope," etc.

                        VARIOUS FORMS OF THE ANCHOR

Different forms of the anchor appear in the epitaphs of the 
catacombs, the most common being that in which one extremity 
terminates in a ring adjoining the cross-bar while the other ends 
in two curved branches or an arrowhead. There are, however, many 
deviations from this form. IN a number of monuments of Sts. 
Calixtus and Priscilla the cross-bar is wanting, and in others the 
curved branches are replaced by a straight transversal. These 
departures from regularity do not appear to have any especial 
significance, but the cruciform anchor marks an interesting 
symbolic development. The rare appearance of a cross in the 
Christian monuments of the first four centuries is a well-known 
peculiarity; not more than a score of examples belong to this 
period. Yet, though the cross is of infrequent occurrence in its 
familiar form, certain monuments appear to represent it in a 
manner intelligible to a Christian but not to an outsider. The 
anchor was the symbol best adapted for this purpose, and the one 
most frequently employed. One of the most remarkable of these 
disguised crosses, from the cemetery of St. Domitilla, consists of 
an anchor placed upright, the transverse bar appearing just 
beneath the ring. To complete the symbol, two fishes are 
represented with the points of the curved branches in their 
mouths. A real cross, standing on a sort of pedestal to the right 
of this, is sufficient indication that the author of the figures 
intended a symbolic cross in this instance. Of even greater 
interest in this connection is the representation of a cross-
anchor with two fishes suspended from the cross-beam, also found 
in the cemetery of St. Priscilla. There can scarcely be any doubt 
that the author of this and similar representations intended to 
produce a symbolic picture of the crucifixion: the mystic Fish 
(Christ) on the suggested cross (the anchor). To the same category 
of symbols, probably, belongs the group of representations of the 
dolphin and trident. The anchor as a symbol is found only rarely 
in monuments from the middle of the third century, and early in 
the fourth century it had disappeared.

MAURICE M. HASSETT 
Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler