Wear an X

American Christians have been objecting, for a long time now, to calling Christmas "Xmas." "Put Christ back in Xmas!" they demand. Many have also resisted being called "Xians" (or "Xtians"). To these Christians, the X abbreviations appear to denigrate Christ and Christianity.

Some Rastas who tend to view Christianity as the false religion of Babylon have also taken to using the X in a derogatory way, calling Christians "Xians" and their religion "Xristianity" or "Xianity." Their point seems to be a claim that Christians worship a false Christ (a.k.a. "Jiizaas" or "Geezus"), not the true Y'shua of Scripture (about whom they have varied beliefs).

In reality, both the Christians who are offended by the X and the Rastas who try to use the X to insult Christians are wrong. Why? Because Christ starts with an X.

The first letter of Christos, the Greek word for Mashiach (Messiah), used as a title for Y'shua throughout the New Testament, is chi. Chi looks exactly like our X. So if your computer has "Symbol" font, the Greek word Christos looks like this: CristoV. (If your computer does not have Symbol font, the closest approximation to what Christos looks like is this: Xpistos.)

Two common ancient abbreviations for "Christ" have been handed down to us, especially in ancient Christian art. The most famous is the Chi-Rho (XP), the first two letters of Christos. It may look like a P with a horizontal bar through the middle, a P with an X through it, or like an X with a loop on its upper right arm. Sometimes a wavy line (~) is written above it to show it is an abbreviation. Less well known but also ancient is the abbreviation Chi-Sigma, the first and last letters of Christos. It usually looks like XC with a ~ over the top. The Chi-Rho tends to appear as a lone symbol, while the Chi-Sigma is more often used in a longer text, especially after IC, an abbreviation for Iesous (IhsouV, Y'shua, Jesus). Regardless which abbreviation is used, X has always stood for Christ among Christians.

For this reason, any Christian should be just as proud to be called a "Xristian" or "Xian" as a Christian. In fact, I would argue that anyone who honors Y'shua Ha Mashiach should be proud to wear his "X."