The Church: Euro-centric?

 The Church is often viewed as European or Euro-centric.  Even among those who see Christianity as a 'foreign religion' they view it so because it is 'from Europe'.  The white man's religion! This is something quite taken for granted.  But we forget - very easily and comfortably - that Jesus and the early Christianity were all very much situated in the middle-East.  Jesus was born and later carried out his whole ministry in Israel. Though it is true that the apostles did cross national boundaries, it is actually with Constantine embracing Christianity and making it the state religion, that Christianity spread far and wide.  That Rome has played a central role in the development of Christianity as a popular universal religion can never be questioned.  But it all began in the middle-East - not in Europe!! 

The universality of the Church and of Christianity is not a quality of it being present in most of the world, and predominantly in Europe.  Universality is its virtue to be able to embrace the world - not the world embracing Christianity.  

The Ichthys

 For the early Christians, the cross was not the first choice of representation.  The cross was still too traumatic and tragic.  It was more a sign of oppression and tool of death, rather than salvation.  What was actually and most widely used as a symbol of Christianity was the Ichthys, the fish.  

The catacombs do not have a cross. Instead what is found in them is the image of the fish.  This represented the meal, the gathering for which Christians gathered, especially in hiding in the catacombs and in private homes. It represented the Eucharist!  

Perhaps it is with Helena bringing the cross from Jerusalem, along with the soil, and its exaltation as a basilica, that devotion the Cross gained popularity.  I suppose by then the Romans had given up using that means as a punishment (but not sure of that). And as time progresses, the cross soon replaces the fish as the symbol of Christian faith.  

Would Christianity have a different outlook or identity if we would have persevered or chosen to stick to the fish rather than the cross??  I believe it would have had significant impact on how we perceive ourselves to be!  For one, more Eucharistic, for certain!