Faith and Religion

Religion is a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements.

Religion is undoubtedly a major influence across the world and many cross stitchers will have considered stitching a piece that symbolizes their own faith; many have already done this. Have you ever created a religious cross stitch masterpiece? A fantastic selection of religious cross stitch patterns including beautiful religious icons, churches, temples and more.

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The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, commonly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is a church in Red Square in Moscow, Russia and is one of the most recognizable symbols of the country. The building, now a museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat.

✦ Saint Basil's Cathedral Cross Stitch Pattern | Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed

Basil the Blessed (known also as Basil, Basil, Wonderworker of Moscow; or Blessed Basil of Moscow, or Vasily Blazhenny) is a Russian Orthodox saint of the type known as yurodivy. He was born to serfs in December 1468 or 1469 in Yelokhovo, near Moscow (now in Moscow). His father was named Jacob and his mother Anna. According to tradition, he was born on the portico of the local church. He is thought to have died in 1552.

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☦ The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 200–260 million members. Eastern Orthodox theology is based on the Nicene Creed.

✦ Orthodox Church Cross Stitch Pattern | Russian Orthodox Church

☦ The Russian (Orthodox) cross is traditionally widely used by Russian Orthodox Church. Now it's also widely used by Polish Orthodox Church and Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church, which received their autocephaly from Patriarch of Moscow in 1948 and 1951 respectively. Sometimes this cross is used by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (e.g. in American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese). Though commonly associated with the Russian Orthodox Church, this version is found also in the Byzantine frescos of churches, which now belong to Greek and Serbian Orthodox churches.

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The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia. It is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world.

✦ Cathedral of Christ the Saviour Cross Stitch Pattern

The current church is the second to stand on this site. The original church, built during the 19th century, took more than 40 years to build, and was the scene of the 1882 world premiere of the 1812 Overture composed by Tchaikovsky. It was destroyed in 1931 on the order of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

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The church building has many symbolic meanings; perhaps the oldest and most prominent is the concept that the church is the Ark (as in Noah's) in which the world is saved from the flood of temptations; therefore, most Orthodox churches are rectangular in design.

✦ Church Cross Stitch Pattern | Orthodox Church | Eastern Orthodox Church

The church building is divided into three main parts: the narthex (vestibule), the nave and the sanctuary (also called the altar or holy place). Architectural patterns vary in shape and complexity, with chapels sometimes added around the main church, or triple altars; but in general, the symbolic layout of the church remains the same.

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Saint Nicholas of Myra also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of the ancient Greek maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor during the time of the Roman Empire. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker.

✦ Saint Nicholas Icon Cross Stitch Pattern | Nicholas the Wonderworker

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus ("Saint Nick") through Sinterklaas.

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Notre-Dame de Paris, referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral's construction began in 1160 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely complete by 1260, though it was modified frequently in the following centuries.

✦ Notre Dame Cross Stitch Pattern | Notre-Dame de Paris | Catholic Cathedral

Popular interest in the cathedral blossomed soon after the publication, in 1831, of Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (better known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).
✎ "Great buildings, like great mountains, are the work of centuries." © Victor Hugo.

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Cathedral. The chief church of a diocese, in which the bishop has his throne and close to which is his residence; it is, properly speaking, the bishop's church, wherein he presides, teaches, and conducts worship for the whole Christian community. The word is derived from the Greek kathedra through the Latin cathedra, throne, elevated seat. In early ecclesiastical literature it always conveyed the idea of authority.

✦ Catholic cathedral cross stitch pattern | Catholic Church

Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century.The first known use of the phrase "the catholic church" occurred in the letter written about 110 AD from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans.

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† A church building or church house, often simply called a church, is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly for Christian worship services. According to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings.

✦ Catholic church cross stitch pattern | basilica

The earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church (domus ecclesiae), the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256. In the second half of the 3rd century AD, the first purpose-built halls for Christian worship (aula ecclesiae) began to be constructed.

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Baptists are Christians distinguished by baptizing professing believers only (believer's baptism, as opposed to infant baptism), and doing so by complete immersion (as opposed to affusion or sprinkling). Diverse from their beginning, those identifying as Baptists today differ widely from one another in what they believe, how they worship, their attitudes toward other Christians, and their understanding of what is important in Christian discipleship.

✦ Baptist Church Cross Stitch Pattern | Church Building

In 1638, Roger Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the First and Second Great Awakening increased church membership in the United States. Baptist missionaries have spread their faith to every continent. Baptists, like other Christians, are defined by school of thought - some of it common to all orthodox and evangelical groups and a portion of it distinctive to Baptists.

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In Buddhism, Buddha, "awakened one" is a title for someone who is awake, and has attained nirvana and Buddhahood. The title is most commonly used for Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, who is often simply known as "the Buddha". On December 8, Bodhi Day celebrates Buddha's enlightenment underneath the Bodhi Tree.

✦ Buddha Cross Stitch Pattern | Embroidery Bodhi Tree

The Bodhi Tree, also known as Bo, "peepal tree", or "arasa maram", was a large and ancient sacred fig tree located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who became known as the Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment or Bodhi. According to Buddhist texts, the Buddha meditated without moving from his seat for seven weeks (49 days) under this tree.

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The lotus flower has many different names such as the "Indian Lotus", the "Sacred Lotus", and the "Bean of India". In Buddhist symbolism the lotus is symbolic of purity of the body, speech, and mind as while rooted in the mud, its flowers blossom on long stalks as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire.

✦ Lotus flower cross stitch pattern | Padma embroidery

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Padma, the lotus, a symbolic flower repeatedly referred to in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. "I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained" (Zhou Dunyi).

✦ Pink Lotus Flower cross stitch pattern | Pink Lotus

In Buddhist symbolism the lotus is symbolic of purity of the body, speech, and mind as while rooted in the mud, its flowers blossom on long stalks as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. It is also symbolic of detachment as drops of water easily slide off its petals.

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In the classical written and oral literature of many Asian cultures the lotus is present in figurative form, representing elegance, beauty, perfection, purity and grace, being often used in poems and songs as an allegory for ideal feminine attributes. It is often colloquially called a water lily.

✦ Gold Lotus Flower Cross Stitch Pattern

The padma is held to be a flower with a thousand petals and is therefore associated with the Sahasrara and indeed all the chakra. Nelumbo nucifera is the species of lotus sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. In Buddhist symbolism, the lotus represents purity of the body, speech and mind, as if floating above the murky waters of material attachment and physical desire. The lotus is mentioned in the Bible is Job 40: 21 – 22 when God speaks to Job. In Christianity, the St. Thomas Cross features a lotus being at the base of the cross.

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Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. Yogini (sometimes spelled jogan) is a Sanskrit term for a female master practitioner of yoga, as well as a formal term of respect for female Hindu or Buddhist spiritual teachers in Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Greater Tibet. The term is the feminine Sanskrit word of the masculine yogi, while the term "yogin" is used in neutral, masculine or feminine sense.

✦ Yoga Cross Stitch Pattern | Yogini | Asana

Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga. The Sanskrit word हठ haṭha literally means "force" and thus alludes to a system of physical techniques.
✔ ॐ - Om or Aum is a sacred sound and a spiritual symbol in Indian religions. It signifies the essence of the ultimate reality, consciousness or Atman.
✔ नमस्ते - Namaste, sometimes spoken as Namaskar and Namaskaram, is a customary Hindu greeting. In Hinduism, it means "I bow to the divine in you". Namaste may also be spoken without the gesture, or the gesture may be performed wordlessly.
✔ “Yoga is the journey of the Self, through the Self, to the Self.” © The Bhagavad Gita.

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A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves, built in traditions originating as stupa in historic South Asia and further developed in East Asia with respect to those traditions, common to Nepal, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist, and were often located in or near viharas.

✦ Pagoda Cross Stitch Pattern

Pagodas traditionally have an odd number of levels, a notable exception being the eighteenth century pagoda designed by Sir William Chambers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London. Also Pagodas come in many different sizes, as some may be small and others may be large. Many pagodas have a decorated finial at the top of the structure, and when made of metal, this finial, sometimes referred to as a "demon-arrester", can function as a lightning rod.

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Of the Japanese pagoda's many forms, some are built in wood and are collectively known as mokutō, but most are carved out of stone (sekitō). Of the Japanese pagoda's many forms, some are built in wood and are collectively known as mokutō, but most are carved out of stone.

✦ Japanese Pagoda Cross Stitch Pattern | Sakura | Bonsai

✔ Sakura. A cherry blossom is a flower of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese. In Japan, cherry blossoms symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhist influence, and which is embodied in the concept of mono no aware.
✔ Bonsai. It is an Asian art form using cultivation techniques to produce small trees in containers that mimic the shape and scale of full size trees. Similar practices exist in East Asian cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penzai from which the Japanese version Bonsai originated, and the derivative miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese Hòn Non Bộ. The Japanese tradition dates back over a thousand years.

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Al-Masjid an-Nabawī ("The Prophet's Mosque") is a mosque established and originally built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, situated in the city of Medina in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. The mosque was built by Muhammad in 622, after his arrival in the city of Medina. It is the second-holiest site in Islam, after the Great Mosque in Mecca. It is a major pilgrimage site. Many pilgrims who perform the Hajj go on to Medina to visit the mosque, due to its connection to Muhammad. Millions visit it every year, since it is a tradition to visit the mosque after the pilgrimage to Mecca.

✦ The Prophet's Mosque Cross Stitch Pattern | Al-Masjid An-Nabawi | Green Dome

The Green Dome is a green-coloured dome built above the tomb of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and early Muslim Caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar. The dome is located in the south-east corner of Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina.

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The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum with a mosque on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".

✦ Taj Mahal Cross Stitch Pattern | Crown of the Palaces

The Taj Mahal was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan, the builder. The tomb is the centerpiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.

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Synagogues are consecrated spaces used for the purpose of prayer, Tanakh (the entire Hebrew Bible, including the Torah) reading, study and assembly; however, a synagogue is not necessary for worship. There is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. In fact, the influence from other local religious buildings can often be seen in synagogue arches, domes and towers.

✦ Synagogue Cross Stitch Pattern

Synagogues have a large place for prayer (the main sanctuary) and may also have smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices. Ancient Samaritan synagogues are mentioned by literary sources or have been found by archaeologists in the Diaspora, in the wider Holy Land, and specifically in Samaria. During the first Christian centuries, Jewish-Christians used houses of worship known in academic literature as synagogue-churches. Scholars have claimed to have identified such houses of worship of the Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah in Jerusalem and Nazareth.

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The Nicanor Gate stood in front of Herod’s Temple. It gave access from the Court of the Women to the Temple Courts. In front of this gate were fifteen semi-circular steps on which Levites sang the fifteen "Psalms of the Steps" (Psalms 120-134 of Degrees or Ascents). The gold-covered Temple towered above all other buildings.

✦ Herod's Temple | Second Temple | Nicanor Gate in Jerusalem

The Second Temple was the Jewish holy temple which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple (the First Temple), which was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE, when Jerusalem was conquered and part of the population of the Kingdom of Judah was taken into exile to Babylon.

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🔎 In early Egyptian mythology, Anhur (also spelled Onuris, Onouris, An-Her, Anhuret, Han-Her, Inhert) was a god of war who was worshipped in the Egyptian area of Abydos, and particularly in Thinis.

✦ Anhur Cross Stitch Pattern | God Of War | Egyptian God | Onuris | Deity

🔎 Anhur was depicted as a bearded man wearing a robe and a headdress with four feathers, holding a spear or lance, or occasionally as a lion-headed god (representing strength and power).

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Figure Skating Cross Stitch Pattern | Figure Skater | Ice Skater

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