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 book of Revelation
The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness, a 23-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, examines ways in which our traditional Christian view of heaven is built on Hebrew apocalyptic visions recorded in the Old Testament. This recently revised study includes maps and additional commentary and takes a close look at the role of the prophets in present-day Christianity. Illustrations by Tami Palladino depict the often-misunderstood images in the book of Revelation. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

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