The sign of the fish is probably the most ancient symbol of the Christian confession of faith. In Greek the word ichthus (fish) is an acrostic, in which each letter stands for a word:

"Jesus Christ - God's Son, Savior"

...as the Apostle John wrote: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life (salvation) in His name" - John 20:31.

In this way, when persecuted Christians in the first century drew a fish in the sand, they immediately recognized one another. With the passage of time, the "fish" symbol of faith was added to, and by the end of the fourth century the Councils at Nicea (325 A.D.) and Constantinople (381 A.D.) composed the...

Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to bear their cross, follow Him and confess Him: "Then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels'" - Luke 9: 23-26.

But belief must always be combined with justice and love: "In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ...And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us the commandment" - 1 John 3:10 and 23.

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