“Exactly,” said Severus; “that is the way we always represent the resurrection of Lazarus. Here look, is a touching expression of the hopes of our fathers in persecution: The three Babylonian children in the fiery furnace.”
A Ceiling in the Catacombs. In the Cemetery of Domitilla, third century.
“Well, now, I think,” said Torquatus, “we may come to the arcosolium, and finish this room. What are these pictures round it?”
“If you look at the left side, you see the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. The fish[104] is, you know, the symbol of Christ.”
“Why so?” asked Torquatus, rather impatiently. Severus turned to Pancratius, as the better scholar, to answer.
“There are two opinions about its origin,” said the youth, readily; “one finds the meaning in the word itself; its letters forming the beginning of words, so as to mean ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.’[105] Another puts it in the symbol itself; that as fish are born and live in the water, so is the Christian born of water, and buried with Christ in it, by baptism.[106] Hence, as we came along, we saw the figure of a fish carved on tombs, or its name engraven on them. Now go on, Severus.”
| The fishes and anchor. | The fishes and doves. |
“Then the union of the bread and the fish in one multiplication shows us how, in the Eucharist, Christ becomes the food of all.[107] Opposite, is Moses striking the rock, from which all drank, and which is Christ, our drink as well as our food.”[108]