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Salib, sejak zaman dulu sampai sekarang, merupakan lambang [[Kekristenan]] yang paling mudah dikenal di seluruh dunia. Sudah diindikasikan dalam pandangan-pandangan anti-Kristen yang dikutip dalam tulisan berjudul ''Octavius'' karya Minucius Felix, bab IX dan XXIX, yang dibuat di akhir abad ke-2 M (197 M) atau permulaan abad berikutnya.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-04/anf04-34.htm ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second | Christian Classics Ethereal Library]</ref><ref>Minucius Felix speaks of the cross of Jesus in its familiar form, likening it to objects with a crossbeam or to a man with arms outstretched in prayer ([http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-04/anf04-34.htm#P5713_906729 Octavius of Minucius Felix], chapter XXIX).</ref>
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Pada awal abad ke-3 salib telah sedemikian dikaitkan dengan [[Kristus]] sehingga [[Klemens dari Alexandria]], yang meninggal antara tahun 211 dan 216, tanpa takut disalahartikan menggunakan frasa ''{{lang|grc|τὸ κυριακὸν σημεῖον}}'' (tanda Tuhan) yang berarti "salib", ketika dia mengulangi ide yang baru berkembang sejak munculnya [[Surat Barnabas]], bahwa angka 318 (dalam penulisan angka Yunani menggunakan huruf-huruf ΤΙΗ) dalam {{bibleverse||GenesisAlkitab|Kejadian 14:14}} wasadalah asuatu foreshadowingramalan (aperlambang "type") of thesemacam crosssalib (T, angaris uprighttegak withdengan crossbargaris melintang, standingmelambangkan fornilai 300) anddan of JesusYesus (ΙΗ, thedua firsthurud twopertama lettersnama-Nya ofdalam hisbahasa nameYunani, ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, standingmelambangkan fornilai 18).<ref name="CA">[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-stromata-book6.html Stromata, book VI, chapter XI]</ref>
HisTokoh contemporaryKristen yang hidup sezaman, [[Tertullian]] coulddapat designatemengistilahkan thekelompok bodyorang ofKristen Christianyang believerspercaya assebagai ''crucis religiosi'', ''i.e.artinya'' "devotees of thepengikut CrossSalib".<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0301.htm ''Apology''., chapter xvi.] In this chapter and elsewhere in the same book, Tertullian clearly distinguishes between a cross and a stake.</ref> In his book ''De Corona'', written in 204, Tertullian tells how it was already a tradition for Christians to trace repeatedly on their foreheads the sign of the cross.<ref>"At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign" ([http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.vi.iii.html ''De Corona'', chapter 3])</ref>
The Jewish Encyclopedia statesmenulis:
{{quote |TheSalib crosssebagai assimbol aKristen Christian symbol oratau "sealmeterai" camemulai dipakai paling awal pada abad ke-2 into use at least as early as the second century (see "Apost. Const." iii. 17; Epistle of Barnabas, xi.-xii.; Justin, "Apologia," i. 55-60; "Dial. cum Tryph." 85-97); and the marking of a cross upon the forehead and the chest was regarded as a talisman against the powers of demons (Tertullian, "De Corona," iii.; Cyprian, "Testimonies," xi. 21-22; Lactantius, "Divinæ Institutiones," iv. 27, and elsewhere). Accordingly the Christian Fathers had to defend themselves, as early as the second century, against the charge of being worshipers of the cross, as may be learned from Tertullian, "Apologia," xii., xvii., and Minucius Felix, "Octavius," xxix. Christians used to swear by the power of the cross.<ref>see Apocalypse of Mary, viii., in James, "Texts and Studies," iii. 118</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=899&letter=C JewishEncyclopedia.com - CROSS:]</ref>|}}
Although the cross was known to the early Christians, the [[crucifix]] did not appear in use until the 5th century.<ref name="soc" /> French Medievalist scholar and historian of ideas M.-M. Davy has described in great details Romanesque Symbolism as it developed in the Middle Ages in Western Europe.<ref>M.-M. Davy, ''Initiation à la Symbolique Romane''. New edition. Paris: Flammarion, 1977.</ref>
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