Cross of St. Peter

As St. Peter's cross is called an upside-down Latin cross.

Christian background

According to Christian tradition, the apostle Peter asked, when he was arrested at his missionary work in Rome to be crucified, to be crucified upside down. To this end, he expressed that he was not worthy to die in the same manner as Christ.

Catholic churches are dedicated to St. Peter, wear or wore instead of the Latin cross, a St. Peter's cross on the tower. In art immerses the inverted cross, also together with the motif of the key, a symbol of the Apostle Peter.

Modern interpretation

In modern times, the inverted cross is also interpreted as an inversion of Christian values ​​. Thus, a new interpretation arose in the context of modern occultism. In the Black Metal scene about the cross is also detached from the religious context, like the pentagram, used.

In parts of the black scene this cross is used, but often as provocation, as a sign of rejection of the churches as organizations or the rejection of Christianity itself, and thus not mandatory, such as widely used as a symbol of Satanism.

Georg Baselitz offended with his inverted crucifixion image that he left the Protestant Church in Luttrum, aware of the rules of Christian iconography. In kindled in the 1990s a long-running dispute.