Many attempts have been made to discover some comprehensive scheme which underlies the decoration of the cross. There is general agreement that the representation of Saints Paul and Antony breaking bread symbolises the breaking of bread in the eucharist [See E.O. Carragain, 'The meeting of Saint Paul and Saint Antony: visual and literary uses of a eucharistic motif', in Keimelia. Studies in medieval archaeology and history in memory of Tom Delaney, ed. P. Wallace and G. MacNiocaill (Galway, 1988), 1-58, and 'Christ over the beasts and the Agnus Dei: Two multivalent panels on the Ruthwell and Bewcastle crosses', in Sources of Anglo-Saxon culture, ed. P. E. Szarmach and V. D. Oggins (Kalamazoo, 1986), 377-403] and that the desert themes of this scene and the adjoining ones of Christ standing above the beasts and the journey to (or from) Egypt were intended to remind those who saw the cross of the meanings of the monastic life, for which the desert was a common symbol. Paul Meyvaert considers that the figure scenes present a contrast between the life of the church (on the south side) and the monastic life (on the north side); this interpretation is linked to his view that the cross originally stood at the junction of nave and monastic choir in the church at Ruthwell [See P. Meyvaert, 'A new perspective on the Ruthwell Cross: Ecclesia and Vita Monastica, in The Ruthwell Cross, ed. B. Cassidy (Princeton, 1992), 95-166, at 104-138]. Eamonn O Carragain links the scenes carved on the south side of the cross, all of which were recalled in the Lenten liturgy [the healing of the man born blind (John ix.1-38) on Wednesday of the fourth week in Lent, the woman who wiped Christ's feet (Luke vii.36-50) on Thursday of the fifth week, and the annunciation on 25th March which was also considered to have been the date of the crucifixion], to the instruction given during Lent to those preparing for baptism. Whereas other writers tend to focus on the figure scenes and to ignore the two narrow sides of the cross, O Carragain believes that all four sides contribute to a single unified statement of belief and that the runic inscriptions form an essential part of this statement [See E. O Carragain, 'The Ruthwell crucifixion poem in its iconographic and liturgical contexts', Peritia 6-7 (1987), 1-71, at 38-42].
Barbara Raw
June 1994