Latin, Greek, and a Proliferation of Forms

The Latin cross, with its long lower arm, is distinguished from the Greek cross of four equal arms, which dominates Byzantine usage and church ground plans. Many regional and confessional variants developed: the tau or T-cross associated with Anthony of Egypt and later the Franciscans; the Celtic ring cross; the Coptic, Jerusalem and Maltese crosses; and the Russian Orthodox cross with its slanted footrest. Medieval legend elaborated the wood itself, the Legend of the True Cross traced the timber to a tree grown from Adam's grave, and relics of the cross multiplied to the point that Erasmus and later Calvin remarked there was enough to build a ship. The empty cross favoured in most Protestant traditions and the crucifix of Catholic and Orthodox practice mark a real devotional difference over whether to stress the resurrection or the crucified Christ.

The proliferation of cross forms tracks Christianity's own fracturing and spread: the Coptic cross, often set with an ankh-like loop, reflects Egyptian Christianity's continuity with older Nile Valley visual habits; the eight-pointed Maltese cross became the badge of the Knights Hospitaller and later of Malta; and the Jerusalem cross, a large cross flanked by four smaller ones, was adopted by Crusader kingdoms and is read as representing Christ's wounds or the gospel's spread to the four corners of the earth. Heraldry multiplied the count further, with crosses fitchy, patonce, moline and bottony distinguished by the treatment of their arm ends, serving as identifying charges on coats of arms independent of theological content. The Reformation-era argument over bare cross versus crucifix made a real claim about where devotion should be directed, away from Christ's suffering body and toward the preached word, a dispute still visible in many Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox church interiors today.