The Alpha and Omega
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, used for Christ as the beginning and the end of all things (Revelation 22:13).
What the Alpha and Omega means
Alpha (Α) and Omega (Ω) are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The Book of Revelation gives Christ the title: "the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13; see also 1:8). As a symbol it professes the divinity of Christ.
The letters appear on altars, walls and vestments, often with a cross or the Chi-Rho. Each year at the Easter Vigil the celebrant cuts a cross into the new paschal candle, marks Alpha above it and Omega below it, and places the four numerals of the current year between the arms of the cross.
HistoryThe earliest known Christian example is a dated Roman inscription from 295. A mid-fourth-century fresco in the catacomb of Praetextatus shows the letters with a monogram cross, and a fifth-century panel on the doors of Santa Sabina in Rome places them on either side of the risen Christ. Early writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian also called Christ the Alpha and Omega.
