Olive Branch Chrismon Pattern

The olive-branch is the emblem of reconciliation and peace. Noah was sent an olive leaf by the LORD in the mouth of a dove, after the waters of the Great Flood had receded. Genesis 8:11.

       The olive branch is a symbol of peace or victory and was historically worn by brides and virgins. This symbol, deriving from the customs of ancient Greece, is best known in Western culture. However, it can be found in almost every culture and religion in the Mediterranean basin.
       The olive branch appears with a dove in early Christian art. The dove derives from the simile of the Holy Spirit in the Gospels and the olive branch from classical symbolism. The early Christians, according to Winckelmann, often allegorized peace on their sepulchers by the figure of a dove bearing an olive branch in its beak. For example, in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome (2nd – 5th centuries CE) there is a depiction of three men (traditionally taken to be Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego of the Book of Daniel) over whom hovers a dove with a branch; and in another of the Roman catacombs there is a shallow relief sculpture showing a dove with a branch flying to a figure marked in Greek ΕΙΡΗΝΗ (Eirene, or Peace).

Scriptural References About Olive Branch Chrismons:

• "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever." Psalm 52:8 (ESV)
• "But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree," Romans 11:17 (ESV)
• "his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon." Hosea 14:6 (ESV)