You're joking, right? We're talking about the freaking CROSS here. It didn't originate with the Templars or the Swiss. It began at Calvary. And it became an emblem for medicine in an era when most nurses were nuns.
No, I am referring specifically to the Swiss cross, which is an eight-way symmetrical cross, with arms equal to its height, comprising the five non-corner ninths of a 3 by 3 square, and is red set on a white background. Although presumably a highly stylized image of the crucifixion, it is abstracted to a degree that it has lost all elements of something apon which one could be crucified, including dimension, thickness and form.
The Red Cross society (now the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement) chose its symbol in honor of Swiss founder Henry Durant, and became a symbol used for medicine in the Geneva Convention. It had been the Swiss symbol since 1289.
I think if you do some honest research, you'll find the cross was used long before Calvary
“You’re joking, right? We’re talking about the freaking CROSS here. It didn’t originate with the Templars or the Swiss. It began at Calvary. And it became an emblem for medicine in an era when most nurses were nuns”
True, the concept began at Calvary, but I believe the Templars were the first order to use the red cross.
The esoteric meaning of the cross concept on Calvary is the Ruby Cross, the four points of which correspond to the attributes of sacrifice, selflessness, service and surrender, which the Knights exemplified.
The concept of the Calvary cross also indicates the nexus where spirit meets matter, the vertical bar being spirit and the horizontal representing matter. The center point is the point of divinity in man.
IMHO, the concept of the crucifix is an idea that runs counter to Christ’s teaching. Jesus was on the cross for 3 hours; the church has had him there 2000 years. His victory over death, not his death, was what I believe he wanted us to focus on.
These are concepts I believe the Templars knew and were a threat to the church.