Alpha & Omega, Stained Glass Version

Adapted and redrawn graphic of “Alpha & Omega” for the web by Kathy Grimm

The use since the earliest Christianity of the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha (α or Α) and omega (ω or Ω), derives from the statement said by Jesus (or God) himself “I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end”

Revelation 22:13, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.also”

Revelation 1:8,  ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

and

Revelation 21:6, “Then he said to me, “It has happened! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give a drink from the spring of the water of life to the one who is thirsty.”

Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega by Kathy Grimm

Alpha and Omega by Kathy Grimm

The term Alpha and Omega comes from the phrase “I am the alpha and the omega” (Koiné Greek: τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω), an appellation of Jesus in the Book of Revelation (verses 1:8, 21:6, and 22:13). In the Book of Revelation, it reads “I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” The first part of this phrase (“I am the Alpha and Omega”) is first found in Chapter 1 verse 8, and is found in every manuscript of Revelation that has 1v8. Several later manuscripts repeat “I am the Alpha and Omega” in 1v11 too, but it does not receive support here (He means in repetition, it does state it once even in the ancient versions.) It appears once within these verses in the oldest manuscripts, including the Alexandrine, Sinaitic, and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus.