This fish was used as both a secret code and as anti-Roman symbols by those who were persecuted in the early days of Christianity. Why a fish? Not, as one might expect, because in Mathew 4:19, Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Rather, it was because each of the letters in the greek word for fish, ichthus, are the same as those in the phrase Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter: Jesus Christ, of God the Son, Savior.