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What does Alpha and Omega mean?

Alpha (Α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega (Ω) is the last. Saying "Alpha and Omega" is like saying "A to Z": the beginning, the end, and everything in between.

The words come from the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. God says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega" (Revelation 1:8), and again at the end of the book: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13; see also 21:6). It echoes the prophet Isaiah, where God says, "I am the first and I am the last" (Isaiah 44:6).

For Christians the meaning is simple and enormous. Nothing comes before God and nothing outlasts him. Every story, including yours, begins and ends in his hands.

That is why the two letters have been carved on tombs, painted beside Christ in icons, and written on the Easter candle for centuries. It is one of the oldest marks of Christian hope, and a good one to wear.

There is comfort in that. The God who was there before anything began will still be there when everything else has passed away. Whatever chapter you are in right now, it is not the first word or the last. Christians have drawn the Alpha and the Omega beside the Chi-Rho, the first letters of Christ's name in Greek, since the early centuries of the Church, as a short way of saying that Christ is Lord over all of time. Each of our designs carries that same simple mark, drawn a different way.

About the icon

In icons of Christ the letters are often painted on either side of his head or written in the book he holds. Our designs set the Alpha inside the Omega, the beginning held within the end.