What is the symbolism of the candelabra in christian churches?

Answer 1

The meaning is to show that in the Jewish religion, an oil lamp was only holding enough oil for one day but burned for eight. Thus, the eight candle holders on the candelabra.

--not quite true. during chanukah, which is related to the miracle above, the menorah is 9 branches. one candle for each night, and the ninth, the shamash, to light them.

the 7-branch one was a symbol of the temple, possibly relating to moses and the burning bush, when god commanded moses to fashion it, and exactly how to do it. among other things, it exemplifies that the jewish people "be a light unto the world."

Answer 2

an offshoot of the menorah during the 1st and 2nd temple period. Romanized Christianity did good job of erradicating the jewishness of Jesus, but copied then retranslated a lot of Jewish sources, including its liturgy process.in Medieval times, as a custom of that time, not during the time of Jesus and the early followers,the jews would light their menorah when shabbat or sabbath was approaching and or during hannukha or the festival of lights or any of the festivals that required it. Since the candelabra was a copy of a process, they too had their man made festivals and would light up this piece of equipment.