Serbian cross
The Serbian cross, also known as the Firesteels, is one of the national symbols of Serbia. It is present on the coat of arms and flag of Serbia. The cross is based on a tetragrammic cross emblem of the Palaiologos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, with the difference in Serbian use being that the cross is usually white on a carmine red background, rather than gold on a red background. The Serbian cross was adopted from the Eastern Roman Empire and the Byzantine cross in the 10th century.
It is composed of a cross symbol with four "fire striker" shapes, originally four Greek letters beta. Serbian tradition attributes the letters to Saint Sava, the 13th-century Archbishop of the Serbs, and interprets the four "fire striker" shapes as four Cyrillic letters "С", for the motto Only Unity Saves the Serbs. The Serbian cross has been frequently used in Serbian heraldry, and along with the Serbian eagle, is the main heraldic symbol which is widely used by Serbs as an ethnic identifier.
History
Crosses with firesteels have been used since Roman times as symbols, but not as coats of arms or emblems. Some historians connect it with the labarum, the Imperial flag of Constantine the Great. In the 6th century, the cross with four fields appeared on Byzantine coins. The symbol was adopted by the First Crusaders starting with the People's Crusade.Michael VIII Palaiologos adopted the symbol when he resurrected the Byzantine Empire, with the initials of the imperial motto of the Palaiologos dynasty: "King of Kings, help the King".
It was used on flags and coins. The symbol appears on the Imperial flag divellion used in front of all other banners, recorded by Pseudo-Kodinos wrongly as "a cross with firesteels", and depicted in the Castilian Conosçimiento de todos los reynos atlas. As Alexander Soloviev writes, the use of letters in western heraldry is nonexistent.
The oldest preserved historical source of the cross used in Serbia is from the Dečani oil-lamp, which was a gift to King Stefan Milutin, the ktetor of Visoki Dečani, now preserved at the Monastery of Prohor Pčinjski. Stojan Novaković argued that the recorded use of the Serbian cross, as a national symbol, began in 1397, during the rule of Stefan Lazarević. Serbian historian Stanoje Stanojević argued that it entered its use in 1345, with Stefan Dušan's elevation to Emperor. In the Middle Ages, both the "Greek style", with closed fire-steels, and the "Serbian syle", with open fire-steels, were used in Serbia.
A 1439 map by Gabriel de Vallseca used both the Serbian cross and eagle when depicting Serbia.
In South Slavic heraldic sources, the Serbian cross is found in the Korenić-Neorić Armorial, which shows the coat of arms of Serbia as a white cross over a red background, with four firesteels, also depicting the Mrnjavčević noble house with the same design, with inverted colours and the Serbian eagle in the center of the cross. According to Mavro Orbini, it was used by Vukašin Mrnjavčević and Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović. Next, it is found in the Belgrade Armorial II, the Fojnica Armorial, the Armorial of Stanislaus Rubcich, and Stemmatographia, while still continuing to be used in foreign heraldic sources.
The Metropolitanate of Karlovci, established in 1691, adopted it in its seal.
After the Serbian Revolution, the Serbian cross then appeared on all official Serbian coats of arms, except the Serbian coat of arms adopted in 1947, which had the cross removed, leaving four stylized S; this was done symbolically by the Yugoslav government to "socially curtail and politically marginalize religious communities and religion in general". Miloš Obrenović adopted the Serbian cross as the military flag when forming the first units of the regular army in 1825.