Bible Dictionaries

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

Alpha and Omega

The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Used by Saint John in the Apocalypse (1; 2; 22) to designate, once, the Eternal Father and, three times, Christ. In Exodus 3:14, God calls Himself "the beginning and the end," that is, the One by whom and for whom all things are made. Used of Our Lord, it clearly implies His Divinity. The letters are often found on early coins, rings, paintings in catacombs, in frescoes of ancient churches, and on corner-stones to designate Christ.