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The Sign of the Cross Two truths typify Christianity: Christians used it from apostolic times by tracing it with thumb or forefinger on their foreheads. Probbly as a reaction against Monophysitism (the fifth-century heresy claiming that Jesus had only one nature, the divine), they began making the sign of the cross with a wider gesture, from brow to breast and from right shoulder to left. The thumb and first two fingers of the right hand are joined at the tips; the fourth and fifth fingers are folded over the palm. the two fingers and thumb signify the three Persons of the Trinity, while the other two fingers symbolize the two natures, the divine and human, in Jesus Christ (denied by the Monophysite heresy). With the fingers so joined, the forehad is touched first ("in the name of the Father"), then the breast ("and of the Son"), the right shoulder ("and of the Holy..."), and finally the left shoulder ("...Spirit. Amen.). Meanwhile, the head and shoulders are slightly bowed as a sign of submission to the Godhead. Byzantine Christians touch the right shoulder first, not the left as do Latin Rite Catholics. Before the end of the twelfth century, Christians of both East and West made the sign of the cross from the right to the left. At the time of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), Latin Rite Catholics began making it with all the fingers extended, and from the left shoulder to the right. This neweer way was to stress the fact that Jesus came from the Fater to earth by becoming man, then descended into the left side, i.e., into hell, by his death, and thence into Hif Father's right side, by His ascension. Another explanation was that making the sign from the left (the weak side, the side of sin) to the right (the side of salvation) would symbolize the death of Christ on the cross and our being carried by it from the left to the right side, to salvation. The earlier, more ancient way of making the sign of the cross, still practiced by Byzantine Christians, from the right to the left, is understood to mean that salvation passed from the Jews, who were at the right side of God (the side of honor, belonging to the chosen people) to the Gentiles, who were at his left. Touching the right shoulder first also expresses the Christian hope to be put among the righteous on the right hand of Christ, the Judge, at the Final Judgment. The ritual sign of the cross, whatever its form, is indeed the sig of Christ crucified, the sign of our redemption, and its accompanying words express our belief in the Holy Trinity and glofy It. Usually, Byzantine Christians cross themselves three times, each separate action honoring one Person of the Trinity. In addition, touching the forehead, breast and shoulders acknowledges that our faculties (mind and heart) and all our strength (the shoulders) are being dedicated to the service of the Triune God through the cross of Christ. Without even knowing it, people who cross themselves are imitating the early Christians. As far back as the second century, Christians blessed their day with the sign of the cross. "We cross ourselves," Tertullian (160-223AD) writes, "in all our travels, and movements, whenever we enter or go out of the house, in putting on our shoes, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, in whatever we do"... St. Cyril of Jerusalem says the same thing of the Christians in his day (the fourth century). "We make it, this sign," he writes, "over the bread we eat and over the cup we drink; whenever we come into or go out of the house; before our sleep, when we lie down, and when we get up; when we are on a trip, and when we are resting". We should do no less. Over and over again, we can dedicate and rededicate these ordinary acts of our day with this simple sign. |