Our Mascot

"They very soon came upon a Gryphon, lying fast asleep in the sun."
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Beware of the Veritas Gryphon! He is a dual-natured enigma, ferocious yet graceful, atrocious yet attractive and powerful yet subtle. He is archaic, and yet always new. The inscrutable Gryphon has the wings and head of an eagle, and the body of a lion. The Gryphon is utterly fantastic.

It was because of these attributes that this fabulous creature became the mascot of the Veritas Academy. The Gryphon is like Veritas. The Veritas Academy is, of course, dedicated to the pursuit of the Truth (Veritas). We believe, unlike many in our postmodern society, that truth is singularly knowable. We know, moreover, that truth is truly knowable only through the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Ancient of Days, the Son of Man, also the Truth itself. So how can a chimerical creature represent an institution dedicated to the pursuit of truth?

The truth about Veritas Academy is that, like the Gryphon, it is a human invention. Veritas Academy is not the truth itself, nor does it even see itself as having any special claim on the truth. Rather, it is a means by which we pursue the truth. As such, Veritas is, in many ways, a dual-natured enigma. It is a school, but it is not the primary educator of our children. It is a Christian school, but it does not have a chapel. It is classical school and thus imitative of the oldest models of pedagogy but, as part of the Classical School Movement, it is very au courant. It is fundamentally conservative, but it is the most radical school in town.

The Gryphon stands for much that Veritas Academy stands for. The Gryphon, which can be spelled several ways, including ‘griffin' and ‘griffon', is found in classical mythology and in medieval symbolism. Throughout iconographical history, the gryphon has represented many things including the dual nature of Christ. Like the unicorn, a similarly fantastic beast, the gryphon represents the human imagination. As the combinative product of man as sub-creator, it represents the creative arts of poetry, art and fantasy. Veritas students are taught to understand the fantastic worlds produced by poets as explorations and investigations into the nature of God's world, which is more intriguing, richer and more satisfying than any fantasy. Poetry is like all scholarly inquiry, it is a means of ascent. Dante understood this when in Purgatorio he described the triumphal ascent of the church as a procession led by a chariot pulled upward into the heavens by a majestic gryphon.

So, beware of the Veritas Gryphons! They are wonderful and surprising and they are ‘on the move.' You cannot be sure when you will meet one, or what will happen when you do. They have already ventured beyond the academy's walls. Savannah's middle-school volleyball and tennis players have already met them. Others soon will. When they do, "Watch out!" The gryphons are utterly fantastic.