No iconic pendant for a necklace is as universal and popular as the crucifix, which symbol definitely transcends beyond religious beliefs or revered dogmas of wearers. We know that because many non-Christians are seen to wear them on their necks or persons as well.
For devout Christians they know and swear to the crucifix as righteous symbol of their Master's supreme act of altruism, unjustly executed in the then prevalent punishment edict of crucifixion under the Roman Empire. A punishment reserved for the most vile of criminals though limited to males, who were brutally nailed to the cross to die a slow excruciating death.
We witness the ubiquitous presence of the crucifix in most places and as worn in persons, from the most profoundly appropriate to the utterly sacrilegious ones. From pious members of the clergy of most Christian denominations and their equally religious devotees, to the least holy like members of nefarious organizations, or those considered engaged in unethical activities like adult stars. What about crooked politicians? Regardless, many display them with obvious pride and aplomb.
We could actually hazard the guess that a prevalent reason for the crucifix' s popularity stems from the cluelessness, or ignorance, or even utter disregard on the part of the wearers in their understanding the symbolic significance of the crucifix. Many wear them simply as accepted accessory, rather than for their mystical ramifications as religious symbol.
Nowadays such pious regard could be farthest from the consciousness of the wearer. Beyond the fact that it is usually made of precious metal, some embedded with precious stones. In this rare instance, the extrinsic value is the metal it is made of, with the intrinsic value being its mystical representation, plus the inferred promise of personal salvation from a man hanging on a man-made cross.
History gives us a good peek at this atrocious but well applied savage practice for torts committed by men. And one doubts that what delineates the civil torts from the criminal deeds during those times was quite cloudy as to assume the facility of classifying one from the other, as dictated by exigencies or expediencies of the times. In other words, regardless what one's crime was or how one pleaded, the kind of punishment meted out depended largely on the magistrate imposing it.
We learn that it was the glory-imbued Persians who first used crucifixion as punishment for criminals. And 300 years later the Romans thought it proper to enshrine it in their unholy empire as proper punishment for grave crimes, perfecting the process for maximum pain and duration. To mark the trending ascent to the peak of inhumanity which over the ages man has shown to possess as one distinctive trait in his march to history.
The Romans did so much perfecting it, that modern medicine has detailed in writing in scholarly but antiseptic fashion all the racking effects of the process on the human body. To include those little tweaks the executioners applied for maximum duration of suffering. Like when the crucified is about to expire due to suffocation, the guards would insert a small stool under the nailed feet so he could painfully raise his agonized body to allow for some breathing.
The medical prognosis go into painful details about which parts of the anatomy were affected by the process. The joints on shoulders and elbows became disjointed or dislocated as the dead weight of the body mercilessly imposed. Muscles were stretched but starved with oxygen because of the ensuing difficulties in breathing from the lungs. The ribcage did its best to maintain normal functions but was not able to. The various chemical and fluid reactions as pain and suffering continued to harass the tiring body. And many more.
The short medical prognosis of the process of crucifixion and the subsequent death on all the affected parts of the human body is so gross and abominable, it is difficult to read to the end of the short treatise. More unconscionable is the highlighted part on pain and suffering inflicted on the human body as it struggles to stay alive. So savage and brutal we are told that a learned sage from that era had written that at times the tongues of those fo crucified were cut so as to prevent them from making those weird and indescribable shouts produced almost unconsciously Shouts that onlookers found so unbearable and objectionable. His name is known to many, it is Cicero.
Ironic to note that the adjective, excruciating, is derived from the otherworldly cries emanating from one in harrowing pain during crucifixion.
At the very least, crucifix wearers ought to be educated about this, if only to generate sorrow and remorse for what the world is leading humanity into. And more importantly, as resolve to right humanity's path away from its collective disregard for the rest.
BTW as disclaimer, as I kid I did have a small crucifix pendant with gold chain that our mother had us wear. Over time, it started to be well-worn until finally the chain broke. The pendant was kept somewhere and passed on to our kids
Unlike these days when gold pieces are made in 14k, during that time most came in 18k, and thus may account for quicker wearing away of the softer metal. Now, I wear a gold pendant with Chinese characters and has weathered through many years of usage.
