Chi-rho-iota Page Book of Kells

I've actually seen the real Book of Kells while visiting Ireland this summer. Photography is not allowed in the room in which it is housed so I really have no physical proof or pictures of my own. Also, each day a new page is turned in the Book, usually to reveal a new illuminated page. We were privileged to see a beautiful page illuminated on one side of the spread and text on the other. Some of the guys I was with were big Latin and Greek scholars and they started translating the page. Now THAT was really cool.

This page is one particular illuminated page from the Book of Kells. It is the Chi-rho, a symbol still used in the Roman Catholic Church, that symbolizes Christ's name as it is the first two letters of the word. The most fascinating thing about the Book of Kells is that everything was done by hand with such precision and detail. There is nothing that is just filled in with a color. Everything has designs and patterns infused within it and to the smallest scale. With the same effect as impressive, beautiful cathedrals, this illuminated text of the four Christian gospels inspires reverence and interest in what it is professing.