ROOD (rood)
A
cross or crucifix
Common
clues: Cross; Large cross; Wooden crucifix; Crucifix; Ritual
cross; Crucifixion symbol; Big cross
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
2 times a year
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in English language:
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Even
symbolic crucifixion is no day at the beach
Video:
Resurrection
Sunday Dance, Budapest, Hungary
When
he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
– John 19:30
Rood
has several distinct meanings, all derived from the same basic
etymology. The two most significant are an obsolete English
measure of area, and a term for a cross or crucifix, especially a
large one in a church.
[Courtesy:
Brian
Gannon]
"Rood"
was originally the only Old English word for the instrument of
Jesus Christ's death. The words crúc and in the North cros
(from either Old Irish or Old Norse) appeared by late Old
English; "crucifix" is first recorded in English in the
Ancrene Wisse of about 1225. In modern English rood usually
refers to a large sculpture or sometimes painting of the cross
with Christ hanging on it in a church. More precisely, "the
Rood" referred to the True Cross, the specific wooden cross
used in Christ's crucifixion. The word remains in use in some
names, such as Holyrood Palace and the Old English poem The Dream
of the Rood. The phrase "by the rood" was used in
swearing, e.g. "No, by the rood, not so" in
Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 4).
In
church architecture rood, or the (tautologous) rood cross, means
a roughly life-size crucifix with figure displayed on the central
axis of a church, normally at the chancel arch. The earliest
roods hung from the top of the chancel arch, or rested on a plain
"rood beam" across it, usually at the level of the
capitals of the columns. This original arrangement is still found
in many churches in Germany and Scandinavia, although many other
surviving crosses now hang on walls. Numerous near life-size
crucifixes survive from the Romanesque period or earlier, with
the Gero Cross in Cologne Cathedral (965–970) and the Volto
Santo of Lucca the best known. The prototype may have been one
known to have been set up in Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel at
Aachen, apparently in gold foil worked over a wooden core in the
manner of the Golden Madonna of Essen, though figureless jewelled
gold crosses are recorded in similar positions in Hagia Sophia in
Constantinople in the 5th century. Many figures in precious metal
are recorded in Anglo-Saxon monastic records, though none now
survive. Notables sometimes gave their crowns (Cnut the Great at
Winchester Cathedral), necklaces (Lady Godiva to the Virgin
accompanying the rood at Evesham Abbey), or swords (Tovi the
Proud, Waltham Abbey) to decorate them. The original location and
support for the surviving figures is often not clear but a number
of northern European churches preserve the original setting in
full – they are known as a "Triumphkreutz" in
German, from the "triumphal arch" (chancel arch in
later terms) of Early Christian architecture. As in later
examples a Virgin and Saint John often flanked the cross, and
cherubim and other figures are sometimes seen. A gilt rood in the
10th century Mainz Cathedral was only placed on a beam on special
feast days.
Rood
cross on rood screen at Albi Cathedral, FranceRood screens
developed in the 13th century, as a wooden or stone screens, also
usually separating the chancel or choir from the nave, upon which
the rood now stood. The screen may be elaborately carved and was
often richly painted and gilded. Rood screens were found in
Christian churches in most parts of Europe by the end of the
Middle Ages, though in Catholic countries the great majority were
gradually removed after the Council of Trent, and most were
removed or drastically cut down in areas controlled by Calvinists
and Anglicans. The best medieval examples are now mostly in the
Lutheran countries such as Germany and Scandinavia, where they
were often left undisturbed in country churches.
Rood
screens are the Western equivalent of the Byzantine templon beam
, which developed into the Eastern Orthodox iconostasis. Some
rood screens incorporate a rood loft, a narrow gallery or just
flat walkway which could be used to clean or decorate the rood or
cover it up in Lent, or in larger examples by singers or
musicians. An alternative type of screen is the Pulpitum, as seen
in Exeter Cathedral, which is near the main altar of the church.
The
rood itself provided a focus for worship, most especially in Holy
Week, when worship was highly elaborate. During Lent the rood was
veiled; on Palm Sunday it was revealed before the procession of
palms and the congregation knelt before it. The whole Passion
story would then be read from the rood loft, at the foot of the
crucifix, by three ministers.
No
original medieval rood now survives in a church in the United
Kingdom. Most were deliberately destroyed as acts of iconoclasm
during the English Reformation and the English Civil War, when
many rood screens were also removed. Today, in many British
churches, the rood stair which gave access to the gallery is
often the only remaining sign of the former rood screen and rood
loft.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Rood".
ROOD
(75) 36
We- >1 09 Crucifix
17
Th >1 04 Cross FORD MEET ONUS SPAN
7
We >1 08 Large cross
2
Th- >1 06 Chancel cross
2
Th- LAT 04 Big cross
09
Land measure ACRE
07
Primitive cross
1
Th WaP 07 Ritual cross
1
Fr CSy 04 Length between 5.5 and 8 yards
02
40 square rods
1
Th LAT 02 Crucifixion symbol
02
Large crucifix
1
Th WSJ 01 Altar piece
1
Sa LAT 01 Medieval church symbol
1
We CSy 00 Chancel's crucifix
1
Fr CSy 00 Impolite-sounding cross?
1
Th NYT 97 Chancel entrance display
1
Th WaP 97 Original cross word
1
Th NYT 96 Chancel decoration
1
Th NYT 95 Any soap opera
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