Rings of Faith and Love

One of the rings that I wear all the time, besides my wedding ring, is the ring that my husband gave me on our 20th Wedding Anniversary (13 years ago!) We asked a friend of ours, who is a christian jeweler, to make these rings for us to symbolize our love and faith. The fish symbol that is in between the rings of gold is the Ishthus, from the Koine Greek word for fish. A symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish, used by early Christians as a secret Christian symbol. Now it is known as the "sign of the fish" or the "Jesus fish". Christians, during their persecution by the Roman Empire in the first few centuries after Christ, used the fish symbol to mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes. When a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company. For my husband and I, we wanted to have the reminder of the bond of love and faith that we share. This is my offering for the word "Ring" for the July Heartfreek Challenge. May you all have a very blessed day whatever you are doing!