XP

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to find out why we're called
XP (chi-rho)
It rhymes with "pyro"!

The Middle School Ministry of Morrison Hill Christian Church

WHY WE'RE CALLED XP (chi-rho, rhymes with "pyro")

Some of the first Christians used the XP symbol to mark the graves of martyrs
and to identify their secret meeting places when Christianity was illegal.
This symbol was used to represent Christianity several years
before they first used the IXTHUS Fish* and hundreds of years
before they started using the cross!

Here are a few very old examples of the XP symbol.

After Constantine became a Christian, Christianity became legal. In fact,
by 300 A.D., there were even XP symbols on coins in "Christianized" countries.
Here is one example: Want more? Read on...

All XP (rhymes with "pyro") symbols are a combination of two Greek letters,
the Xx (CHI, rhymes with "pie") and the Pp (RHO, rhymes with "toe").
In Greek, the word "Christ" is XPISTOS (sounds like "CREASE toss"),
and the X and P are simply the first two letters in that word.

Very often (including several examples on this page), the XP was combined
with two other Greek letters: Aa (ALPHA) and Ωw (OMEGA).
These are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet,
and were used in the book of Revelation when Jesus claimed to be
the "first and the last" of all reality (see Revelation 1:8, 21:6, and 22:13).
This combined symbol signified that Jesus was the Christ (the One
God sent to save us) and "the Beginning and the End" of all things.

Morrison Hill Christian Church began using the XP to as the symbol for our
Middle School Ministry several years ago. For us, it symbolizes two things:

1. We want the same faith that the earliest Christians had.

2. We want to be as radical and as faithful to Jesus as they were.

The version of the XP that we use was designed by Brokke Bilbrey.
We challenged all our middle school students at the time to create
a new, unique version of the XP symbol, and then all the other students
voted for their favorite design. We sent her winning sketch off to
UthStuph (uthstuph.com), and their artists turned Brokke's sketch
into the logo you see on the left.

*Extra Trivia

The popular IXTHUS (rhymes with "PICK loose") symbol began similarly.
The first letters of the Greek words for
Jesus Christ Son of God, Savior sounded like
the Greek word for "fish".

The fish symbol also reminded the earliest Christians of "the sign of Jonah"
(see Matthew 12:38-40) and their faith in all His resurrection means to us.