the symbol of the christian fish, we have all seen it before many christians have them on the back of their cars, but what does the fish actually mean?

the fish is a sign of our faith but where is the link? it is commen miss-conception that the symbol means "fishermen of men" which true we are called to be fishermen of men, this is not what the symbol means.

to find out you have to take a look at greek history between 0000 and 0300 AD.

at this time christians found themselves persecuted for their fauth, it was dangerous to be known as a christian. so when a christian meet a stranger they would draw the top half of the christian fish symbol. if the stranger too was a christian they would recognise the symbol and finish it indicating their faith to one another.

so how does that make it greek?

well during this time the greek word for fish were greek symbols that look like IXQUS which translates to ICHTHYS

in the greek language theses letters can be used as the begining of greek words:

I        Iota            the first letter in the greek word Iesous - Jesus

X       Chi             the first letter in the greek word CHristos - Christ

Q       Theta        the first letter in the greek word THeos  -  of God

U      Upsilon        the first letter in the greek word Yios     -  Son

S      Sigma         the first letter in the greek word  Soter    - Saviour

it was because of this link to the words JESUS CHRIST OF GOD SON, SAVIOUR that the christians at the time used the fish symbol to show thier faith, where a non christian would just see a fish a christian would recognise a brother/sister

so now you all know that the fish symbol stands for "Jesus Christ Gods own son and our saviour"

(other translations to IXQUS are, IXTHUS, ICHTHUS, ICHTHYS, ITHQUS, IXTHYS)

i use the keyboard symbols > and < to create the fish shaped <>< as a sign of my faith