Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is a ceremonial hand motion made by the vast majority of the world's Christians. It is usually accompanied with the trinitarian formula. For Christians, the motion symbolizes the Cross on Calvary by tracing the shape of the cross in the air or on one's own body. The four points can also signify loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength. There are two particular arrangements one is most likely to observe. One is followed by many of the Eastern Churches, the other by Protestant, Latin and Monophysite heretics. Many professional athletes respect the sign of the cross and can often be seen doing it.

The gesture

Position of the fingers while making the sign of the cross.

As one moves through the Sign, one recites, at the forehead, "Lord "; at the stomach, "Jesus Christ", on the right shoulder, "Son of God"; and on the left shoulder, "have mercy on us" followed by a bow(to the ground during great lent).

Joining two fingers together-the index and the middle finger-and extending them, with the middle finger slightly bent, represents the two natures of Christ: His Divinity and His Humanity. He is God according to His divinity and Man according to His hummanity, perfect in both natures. The index finger represents His divinity, while the middle finger repersents His hummanity, since He came down from on high and saved those below. The bending of the middle finger is interperted to mean that He bowed the heavens and came down upon the earth for our salvation.

And thus it proper to make the Sign of the Cross and to bless; thus was it laid down and ordained by the holy fathers; such is the power of the Sign of the Cross, with which we faithful sign ourselves when we pray, confessing sacramentally the Saviour's economy: His being begotten of God the Father before all creation; His decent to earth from on high; His Crucifixion; and His second coming, which is the sealing of His entire philanthropic dipensation concerning us.

A fragment of painting Boyarynya Morozova by Vasily Surikov depicting Feodosiya Morozova arrested by the Nikonians in 1671. She holds two fingers raised: a hint of the old, i.e., "proper", way of cross-signing oneself: with two fingers, rather than with three.

The sign of the cross must be made according to the rules, in the form of a cross; and the right hand, that is, the dextral hand, must be used in crossing oneself, with the thumb and the two lower fingers joined together, and the extended index finger joined to the middle finger, slightly bent; thus should prelates [and] priests give their blessing and thus should men cross themselves. . . . It befits all Orthodox Christians to hold their hand thus, and to make the sign of the cross upon their face with two fingers, and to bow, as we said before. If anyone should fail to give his blessing with two fingers, as Christ did, or should fail to make the sign of the cross with two fingers, may he be accursed.. . ., Chapter 31 of The Council Of The Hundred Chapters.

Before Nikon the apostate in the 17th century, it was customary to make the sign of the cross with two fingers (symbolising the dual nature of Christ). The enforcement of the three-finger sign was one of the reasons for the schism with the Old Believers whose congregations continue to use the two-finger sign of the cross.

Today Nikonite heretics finish the sign of the cross by moving the hand to the left side, below the stomach, as opposed to the shoulder. They also frequently make the Sign two times in a row and then bow toward the church, icon, cross, or priest.

Use of the sign

In Eastern Orthodox prayers, the sign of the cross is usually made whenever all three persons of the Trinity are addressed, or even alluded to. Before commencing any prayer, in fact, the Sign is typically made. Upon entering a church, and the sanctuary within the church, one will make the Sign partly as an outward sign of reverence and veneration. Orthodox laymen will make the Sign as one way of venerating an icon; Priests have many more specific occasions upon which to make the Sign. Many members of the Faith will make the Sign in a way that may seem idiomatic to some: for example, if a member is exposed to blasphemy, he or she may make the Sign, partly to suggest subtly and politely to the speaker that an offense has been committed. Some members of the Faith will use the Sign in what almost appears to be a wish for luck; it may be that, or a part of an unsaid prayer for God's blessing, as when beginning a journey or a sports competition.

The Sign of the Cross has minor variants as well: it can be made in the air to bless objects, and it may trace a very small trajectory, such as on the forehead (as the earliest descriptions of the Sign suggest). For a member of the Faith, perhaps the essential element of the Sign is that it physically indicates the direct relevance of the Cross, of the Sacrifice of Jesus, to one's person or surroundings. It is an engagement of the body that affirms what the faithful professes. It is also a sign to others of what one professes.

Origins of the sign of the cross

The sign of the cross has been used since the days of the early Church both liturgically and at times as a marker of membership, a symbol of friendship of sorts, due to the persecution of early Christians. The first recorded reference to the Sign is found in the writings of Tertullian (c. 160-225 A.D.), who says that Christians "at every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table... in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign" (The Chaplet, 3). Other mentions of the sign of the cross and exhortations to perform it whenever possible abound in the Church Fathers.

Ravenna mosaic, 6th c.: Jesus is portrayed gesturing a sign of the cross like a Christian priest with his right hand facing outward.(Christ Pantocrator).

It does seem clear, though, that the most common way of making the Sign was simply to mark one's forehead, not the entire upper body. The first written record of this enlargement can be seen in St Nino, the Apostle of Georgia, from the fourth or fifth century: "St. Nino began to pray and entreat God for a long time. Then she took her (wooden) cross and with it touched the Queen's head, her feet and her shoulders, making the sign of the cross and straightway she was cured" (Studia Biblica, V, 32)."

One way of explaining the extension of the Sign is to point out that after the Emperor Constantine's issuance of the Edict of Milan in 313, which made Christianity an officially legal religion, Christians were freer to cross themselves more emphatically and in a more open manner.

Another explanation of the enlarged scope of the sign of the cross is linked to the Monophysite heresy, condemned by the Council of Chalcedon, whose dogmas are not accepted by the Monophysite heretics . This theory speculates that: "The use of the thumb alone or the single forefinger, which so long as only a small cross was traced upon the forehead was almost inevitable, seems to have given way for symbolic reasons to the use of two fingers (the forefinger and middle finger, or thumb and forefinger) as typifying the two natures and two wills in Jesus Christ. But if two fingers were to be employed, the large cross, in which forehead, breast, etc. were merely touched, suggested itself as the only natural gesture. Indeed some large movement of the sort was required to make it perceptible that a man was using two fingers rather than one."

See also

• Christian cross
• Christian symbolism
• Prayer
• Veneration
• Genuflection
• Trinitarian formula

References

• Stoglov(One hundred Chapters) of 1551, CHAP. 31: The sign of the cross must be made according to the rules, in the form of a cross; and the right hand, that is, the dextral hand, must be used in crossing oneself, with the thumb and the two lower fingers joined together, and the extended index finger joined to the middle finger, slightly bent; thus should prelates [and] priests give their blessing and thus should men cross themselves. . . . It befits all Orthodox Christians to hold their hand thus, and to make the sign of the cross upon their face with two fingers, and to bow, as we said before. If anyone should fail to give his blessing with two fingers, as Christ did, or should fail to make the sign of the cross with two fingers, may he be accursed. . .
• The Psalter printed under the Patriarchate of Patriach Joseph of Moscow
• Blessed Theodoret
• Patriarch Germogen(Who was starved to death by Catholic authorities during the Polish invasion of Russia in 1612)
• Canon Six of the 318 holy Fathers("Let the ancient customs prevail, those of Egypt,…” )
• Archpriest Avvakum
• Timothy Ware
• The oldest icons confirm the correct practice.
• St. Anna Kashinsky
• The Book of Answers, by Barbara Berliner
• Saint Bede: “The antichrists, the heretics, though they invoke the name of Christ and make the sign of the Cross, they are nevertheless of the world; they savor worldly things” [Commentary on 1 John, 202]
• Shadow of Antichrist by David Scheffel

External links

• On making the Sign of The Cross (Old Believers)
• Sign of the Cross (Old Believers)
• The Church Council of the Hundred Chapters(1551) (Old Believers)
• True Orthodox Polemics
• The Genuine Orthodox Church of America
• Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (official site of the Moscow Metropoly)
• Old Believers in Karelia in the 17th century
• Old Believers in Estonia
• Russian Orthodox Old Rite Believers
• Orthodox Kellion of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sergius
• Old-Rite Yahoo! Group — Russia's Ancient Spiritual Heritage
• Old Rite ROCOR Church of the Nativity
• Old Ritualist Monks of the Old Rite in North Dakota
• Page Down to "Elena's Place" for an Interview with a Minnesota Old Believer
• Collection of Old Believer History and Tradition; Compiled by Paul J. Wigowsky.
• Old Believers in Modern Russia
• Old Belief in Omutninsk, Russia
• Old Believers in Alaska