U+2626 "☦" Orthodox Cross Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
☦
U+2626 "☦" Orthodox Cross is a pictorial representation of the Russian or Eastern Orthodox cross, distinguished by its three horizontal bars: the top bar represents the inscription placed over Jesus' head, the long central bar is where his hands were nailed, and the lower, slanted bar symbolizes the footrest, which in Orthodox tradition is tilted to point upward toward the good thief and downward toward the unrepentant one. This cross is deeply symbolic within Eastern Orthodox Christianity, often used in religious art, icons, and ecclesiastical contexts to denote faith, tradition, and the specific theological interpretations of the Crucifixion held by Orthodox churches.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+2626 |
| Version Added | 1.1 |
| Name | Orthodox Cross |
| Block | Miscellaneous Symbols |
| General Category | Other Symbol |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Other Neutral |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ☦ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ☦ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE2 0x98 0xA6 |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x2626 |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x00002626 |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u2626 |