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Did Christians ever come up with "secret" ways of knowing who other Christians were? I don't mean exactly a handshake, because I get that sometimes people don't (or can't) shake hands. Seems like it might be a bit pointless, like a joke you have with friends or something. But did they?

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You need more context here. I assume you're looking for historically significant examples rather than just two friends identifying themselves to each other. Based on the questions and the tags I think you're talking about early Christians and the sign of the fish. But why be cryptic. This isn't a quiz show. – wax eagle♦ Feb 25 at 17:48
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↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A start – svidgen Feb 25 at 20:42

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The idea of the ICTHUS (or Christian fish) symbol was an early example of this. It wasn't pointless, as it was used to identify each other in a society where persecution of Christians was extremely common. One person would draw one arc of the fish, probably in the dirt, and another would draw the other if they were a Christian as well. This wasn't done just for fun, but for protection, in much the same way as how WWII Allied soldiers would whisper "flash!", and another Allied soldier would respond with "thunder!" in order to identify themselves.

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Any source other than a myth propagated by sermons? – theosis Feb 26 at 1:32
You might want to try asking questions that don't assume facts. "Do you have any sources?" may be a good alternative way to ask the question without being argumentative. That being said, I looked it up, and I can't immediately find any evidence, so you may actually be right in your sideways statement disguised as a question. – David Morton Feb 26 at 1:59
It's also worth nothing, that, if the story were true, it probably woundn't be documented, so the answer to the question, more than likely, is, nobody knows. – David Morton Feb 26 at 2:09
It is in a movie about Christians made in 1950s – theosis Feb 26 at 19:06
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The fish sign is also featured in a highly researched price of historical fiction of the same name. librivox.org/quo-vadis-by-henryk-sienkiewicz – Peter Turner Feb 28 at 4:13
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The Sator square was likely used to secretly advertise a house as Christian to other Christians in the first century.

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