Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.”

(Mark 1:16–18)

Long before the cross^a became the most prevalent symbol of Christianity, early worshipers used a fish. Evidence from written sources comes as early Clement of Alexandria (150–211), who told the readers of his Paedagogus to have either a fish or a dove engraved on their seals. Visual presentations of fish as a Christian symbol appear in early burial chambers such as the catacombs of St. Callistus (founded in the middle of the second century) and the catacombs of Priscilla (second and third centuries) with its “Greek Chapel,” which has a fresco depicting the Eucharist with a fish and basket of bread as part of the meal (from the late second century).