He made extensive use of the Chi-Rho and the labarum later in the conflict with Licinius. 317, which proves that Constantine did use the sign at that time. Its first appearance is on a Constantinian silver coin from c. Both authors agree that the sign was not readily understandable as denoting Christ, which corresponds with the fact that there is no certain evidence of the use of the letters chi and rho as a Christian sign before Constantine. Those two accounts have been merged in popular notion into Constantine seeing the Chi-Rho sign on the evening before the battle. Eusebius then continues to describe the labarum, the military standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius, showing the Chi-Rho sign.

The traditionally employed Latin translation of the Greek is in hoc signo vinces- literally 'In this sign, you will conquer.' However, a direct translation from the original Greek text of Eusebius into English gives the phrase 'By this, conquer!' ДЄt first he was unsure of the meaning of the apparition, but the following night he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies. According to this version, Constantine with his army was marching somewhere (Eusebius does not specify the actual location of the event, but it clearly is not in the camp at Rome) when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words бјОЅ О¤ОїПЌП„бїі ОќОЇОєО±. In his later Life of Constantine, Eusebius gives a detailed account of a vision and stresses that he had heard the story from the emperor himself. The first, shorter one in the Ecclesiastical History leaves no doubt that God helped Constantine but does not mention any vision. ДЇrom Eusebius, two accounts of a battle survive. Having had their shields marked in this fashion, Constantine's troops readied themselves for battle. Obeying this command, 'he marked on their shields the letter X, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being the cipher of Christ'. Lactantius states that, in the night before the battle, Constantine was commanded in a dream to 'delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers'. On the evening of October 27, 312 AD, with his army preparing for the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the emperor Constantine I claimed to have had a vision which led him to believe he was fighting under the protection of the Christian God. 337) showing a depiction of his labarum spearing a serpent on the reverse the inscription reads SPES PVBLICA

Rho symbol in word shortcut