What do the letters "IHS" stand for?

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Elzee

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Anyone know what the letters ‘IHS’ stand for? I see these letters depicted on hosts in artwork from time to time.

Thank you.
 
Elzee said:
Anyone know what the letters ‘IHS’ stand for? I see these letters depicted on hosts in artwork from time to time.

Thank you.
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Monogram of Jesus. The Catholic Encyclopedia is your friend.

Of course, everyone (or at least, those of us in on the secret) know that it’s actually the initials of some pagan Egyptian gods sneaked in by Constantine to pevert the true faith as expounded by people like Chick.:rolleyes: 😛 😉 But don’t tell anyone or the Vatican will find out and send the Jesuit assasination squads after you.
 
AJV said:
Monogram of Jesus. The Catholic Encyclopedia is your friend.

Of course, everyone (or at least, those of us in on the secret) know that it’s actually the initials of some pagan Egyptian gods sneaked in by Constantine to pevert the true faith as expounded by people like Chick.:rolleyes: 😛 😉 But don’t tell anyone or the Vatican will find out and send the Jesuit assasination squads after you.
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Thank you!
 
Yes, it only took one reply, but to avoid a link, they are Latin alphabet representations of the letters iota, eta, sigma, the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek. And when you see an X over a P, it is chi ro, the first two letters of Christ.

Pontius Pilate caused to have affixed to the cross of Jesus a board which read in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, Iesus Nazaenus Rex Judaeorum. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
 
Some have the mistaken idea that the early Christians spoke English, and that IHS means “In His Service”.
 
VociMike said:
Some have the mistaken idea that the early Christians spoke English, and that IHS means “In His Service”.
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If the King James Version was good enough for Paul. it’s good enough for me! 😃
 
Some have the mistaken idea that the early Christians spoke English, and that IHS means “In His Service”.
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Or “I have suffered,” another ill-formed anglophonic notion.
 
I was going to say Isis, Horus and Seb, but I thank those before for correcting me. :rolleyes:

(Jack Chick/Alexander Hislop joke)
 
I have also heard that it either
  1. Stands for “In Hoc Signo” in this sign, the first of the words that Constantine saw in the sky (That is in hoc signo vinces, in this sign you will conquer)
  2. Stands for the first three letters of Jesus name in Greek
A lone Raven
 
My mother told me it meant “I have suffered.” Ignore everything else you have read here. For once, I am right.
 
Scottgun said:
If the King James Version was good enough for Paul. it’s good enough for me! 😃
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I actually had a guy argue that point to me - only the KJV-1611 was the true and authentic word of God. People come to absurd conclusions sometimes.
 
AJV said:
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Of course, everyone (or at least, those of us in on the secret) know that it’s actually the initials of some pagan Egyptian gods sneaked in by Constantine to pevert the true faith as expounded by people like Chick.:rolleyes: 😛 😉 But don’t tell anyone or the Vatican will find out and send the Jesuit assasination squads after you.
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actually, I thought it was Opus Dei (Or how ever you spell that) with their albino monks that will come and get you if you talk…uh oh, there’s a guy with a huge violen looking case on my front door step, gotta fly out the back secrety passage!
 
jbuck919 said:
Yes, it only took one reply, but to avoid a link, they are Latin alphabet representations of the letters iota, eta, sigma, the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek.
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Actually 🙂 they are not from the latin alphabet. Those are upper case Greek Letters. They just look like latin alphabet letters cus they have the same shape.

Just like X (eks) looks like X (chi) and P (pe) looks like P (pi) . They look different as lower calse letters.

IHSOYS is Jesus in upper case greek. In greek as in latin the IHS would stay fixed and the endings would change to indicate the part of speach (subject, direct object, object of preposition, indirect object, etc)
 
pnewton said:
I was going to say Isis, Horus and Seb, but I thank those before for correcting me. :rolleyes:

(Jack Chick/Alexander Hislop joke)
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You beat me to it! The esteemed Church historian Jack Chick had discovered the revolutionary fact that, not only did the ancient Egyptians use flat bread hosts for their pagan worship, but their secret liturgical language used the Latin alphabet! I am currently writing a doctoral dissertation on the research of Mr. Chick and his oft-maligned contribution to theological scholarship . . . with my wife, Morgan Fairchild, …:bowdown:
 
In the days before printing, many abbreviations were used. Instead of an apostophe, a line was usually put above the letters – this is seen frequently on icons. The line was often put through the eta become h to form what seemed to be a cross.
 
How about “SPOR”? That is one of the abbreviations (as best I can tell) on the cross in the church in my parish. It’s below a basin and vase/pitcher and appears to me to be a reminder of Jesus’ washing of his Apostles’ feet.
 
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