„Take up thy cross and follow Jesus…” The image of a man bearing a cross as an allegory of monastic life

Abstract

The article is a monograph on the idea of following Christ, expressed in Christian iconography through the metaphor of bearing the cross together with Christ. „Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38) was Christ’s powerful message. „Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34, par. in Matthew 16:24). Abiding by those words, Commentators of Biblical texts, experts on exegesis, theologians and mystics for centuries have developed, elaborated and explicated on the idea of following Christ, readily using the Biblical metaphor of „taking the cross upon one’s arms”.

Keywords

• cross
• Jesus Christ
• allegory
• monastic life
• the Passion of the Christ