IHS

I had the pleasure of celebrating the recent Christmas liturgy at Conception Abbey, as is my family’s tradition. One thing that was different this year was that different vestments were used for much of the liturgy. These vestments prominently feature the letters IHS, and I was reminded that many may not be aware of the meaning of this common symbol in Christian art.

What is no longer intuitive to most of us is that these are the first three letters in Jesus’ name in Greek. This is especially confusing because we tend to see the letter H and think of the eighth letter of the English alphabet. It is also a capitalized version of the Greek letter eta, which is a vowel. Jesus’ name in Greek is ΙΗΣΥΣ (IHSUS). So, whenever you see IHS in Christian art, know that it stands for Jesus.

you also may like our study of the Gospel According to John
The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth, a 25-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, examines the Fourth Gospel’s view of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, with special emphasis on the institution of the sacraments of the Church as the means by which Christians are purified and made holy. This recently revised study includes maps and additional commentary, and takes a closer look at the way in which Jesus relates to individual men and women. Click here to view a sample of the first lesson.

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