How to make the sign of the cross.

Any sacred object during worship or personal prayer.

Testimonies of the sign of the cross are found in the monuments of Christian literature, starting from the 2-3 century. In ancient times, blessing with the sign of the cross was part of the rite of catechesis (announcement), in the West it was called "the first sign" or "the sign (seal) of the cross". After such a blessing by the clergyman, the catechuchman had the opportunity to make the sign of the cross himself. Initially, the sign of the cross was performed (sometimes 3 times in a row) with one finger of the right hand on the forehead, as well as on the chest, lips, eyes, arms, and shoulders. After the condemnation of Monophysitism at the IV Ecumenical Council (451), the two-fingered became widespread among the Orthodox - the sign of the cross, performed with the help of the index and middle fingers connected together, which symbolize the two natures of Jesus Christ - Divine and human. Over time, in a two-fingered form, the thumb, ring fingers and pinky folded together began to be perceived as a symbol of the Trinity. The blessing hand (Jesus Christ, bishops, saints) with extended index and middle fingers (the position of the other fingers could vary) is found in ancient iconography, both in the East and in the West. In early liturgical monuments, the form of the sign of the cross with the blessing was not specified. The sign of the Cross, performed by three fingers folded together - thumb, forefinger and middle - and the ring and little finger pressed to the palm (three fingers), symbolized the Trinity (the ring and little fingers pressed to the palm did not initially carry a symbolic load).

Over time, the forms of the sign of the cross began to unify within the local church traditions. The sequence of gestures remained unchanged: first - vertical (from top to bottom), then - horizontal.

During the adoption of Christianity, Russia borrowed two-fingered from Byzantium.

Apparently, in the 12-13th centuries in Byzantium, the three-fingered became the generally accepted form of the sign of the cross. In Russia, they continued to adhere to the old custom until the 1650s, when, during the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, the two-fingered sign of the cross was replaced by a three-fingered one. The question of the form of the sign of the cross has become one of the key in the polemics of the Old Believers (see Old Believers) with the dominant Church. Under the influence of these disputes, the adherents of the new rite began to interpret the connection of the ring finger and the little finger with three fingers as a symbol of the God-manhood of Jesus Christ.

In the Orthodox East, overshadowing oneself with the sign of the cross is accomplished by alternately touching the forehead, chest, right and left shoulders (horizontal movement - from right to left; Nestorians are baptized in the same way).

To bless the sign of the cross, Orthodox bishops and priests use the so-called nominative sign, which appeared probably no later than the 16th century as a derivative of two-fingered and depicting the tetragram ICXC (Jesus Christ) - an extended index finger, a half-bent middle finger, crossed thumb and anonymous, half-bent little finger ( moreover, the bishop blesses with two hands at the same time, and the presbyter - only one). Deacons, monks, and lay people can bless (outside of worship) by folding their hand in the same way as to overshadow themselves. During the divine service, the deacon signs himself with the sign of the cross with the help of the orarion (part of the liturgical vestments), and also performs the censing on the cross. At certain moments of the service, the priest makes the sign of the cross with the help of a censer, a cross, the Gospel, a Eucharistic cup, and the bishop blesses the people with a dikiri (two-candlestick) and a trikiriy (three-candlestick) in a cross-like manner.

In the West, in the Middle Ages, different ways of making the sign of the cross coexisted (including with three fingers and from right to left), but after the Council of Trent, a single form of the sign of the cross was established: from left to right (they are also baptized in Monophysite churches). In modern Catholic practice, overshadowing oneself with the sign of the cross can be done in different ways: with the thumb (the so-called small sign of the cross - the sign of the cross is drawn alternately on the forehead, lips and chest; this is the most ancient form), connected by the thumb and nameless with the index and middle fingers extended together , connected by the thumb and forefinger, an open hand with outstretched fingers (the hand alternately touches the forehead, chest, left shoulder, right shoulder).

Lit .: Golubinsky E.E. To our polemic with the Old Believers. 2nd ed. M., 1905.S. 158-159; Kapterev N.F. Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Sergiev Posad, 1909. T. 1. M., 1996. T. 1. S. 187-188; Golubtsov A.P. From readings on church archeology and liturgy. Sergiev Posad, 1917. Part 1. SPb., 1995. Part 1; Dölger J. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Kreuzzeichens // Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum. 1959 Bd 1; Uspensky B. A. On the history of three fingers in Russia // Uspensky B. A. Studies on Russian history. SPb., 2002; he is. Cross and circle: from the history of Christian symbolism. M., 2006; Righetti M. Manuale di storia liturgica. Mil., 2005. Vol. one.

In 1656 in Moscow, already in connection with the church reform, the book "Tablet" was published, in which was placed, translated from Greek from the book "Treasure" (Θησαυρός) of the middle of the 16th century, an essay by Damascene monk, subdeacon and Studite "Word in worship of the honest and life-giving Cross, spoken of the third week of holy fasts ”, it says that one must be baptized with three fingers, and the mark of the cross must be done on the forehead, on the belly (Church-Slavic belly, Old Greek. κοιλία ), on the right shoulder, on the left shoulder: " great perst, and othergіѧ twò sꙋ́schaѧ close є҆gѡ̀. also the first one, let’s put you your own, the second one in your own body, the third one to the right frame, and the fourth to the right frame, and the fourth to the right frame»

The more ancient, but less used "two-finger" is used in the "old rite" of worship in the same faith and Old Believers. At the present time, it is not forbidden to use two fingers in the Russian Orthodox Church, where the "three fingers" and "name-bearing finger", used when blessed by priests and bishops, have become more common.

Two fingers

Two fingers (also two-fingered) was adopted together with the Baptism of Rus and prevailed until the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the middle of the 17th century and was officially recognized in Moscow Rus by the Stoglav Cathedral. It was practiced until the middle of the 13th century in the Greek East (Constantinople). It was later supplanted by the three-fingered.

Two-fingered was officially condemned in the Russian Church at Local Councils: the Cathedral of 1656 and at the Great Moscow Cathedral, all baptized with two fingers were proclaimed heretics and anathema, that is, excommunicated and subjected to the most severe persecution. At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, all pre-Nikon Russian rituals, including the ancient sign of the cross with two fingers, were recognized as Orthodox, and anathemas on them are considered to be "as if they were not."

When making two fingers, two fingers of the right hand - the index and middle - are joined together, symbolizing the two natures of one Christ, while the middle finger is slightly bent, which means divine indulgence and incarnation. The three remaining fingers are also joined together, symbolizing the Most Holy Trinity; Moreover, in modern practice, the end of the thumb rests against the pads of the other two, which cover it from above. Then, with the tips of two fingers (and only with them), they successively touch the forehead, abdomen or lower part of the perseus (chest), right and left shoulder. It is emphasized that one cannot be baptized at the same time as bowing; bow, if required, should be performed after the hand is lowered.

In the ancient rite, three fingers are not used, it is believed that the image of the cross with three fingers in honor of the Holy Trinity is symbolically incorrect, because Jesus Christ crucified and suffered on the Cross with his created soul and body, and not the whole Trinity by divine nature.

Three fingers folded together symbolize the Most Holy Trinity; the symbolic meaning of the other two fingers at different times could be different. So, initially among the Greeks, they did not mean anything at all. Later, in Russia, under the influence of polemics with the Old Believers (who claimed that “the Nikonians abolished Christ from the cross of Christ”), these two fingers were rethought as a symbol of the two natures of Christ: Divine and human. This interpretation is now the most common, although there are others (for example, in the Romanian church, these two fingers are interpreted as a symbol of Adam and Eve, leaning to the Trinity).

The hand, depicting a cross, touches first the right shoulder, then the left, which symbolizes the traditional for Christianity opposition of the right side as the place of the saved and the left as the place of the perishing (see Matt.). Thus, raising his hand first to his right shoulder, then to his left shoulder, the Christian asks to be included in the lot of the saved and to deliver him from the fate of the perishing.

Nominative sign

An Orthodox priest, when blessing people or objects, puts his fingers in a special sign, called the name-word. It is believed that fingers folded in this way represent the letters ICXC, of \u200b\u200bwhich then it is necessary to add IC XC and mentally add a title to get a name Jesus Christ - І͠С Х͠С ( Ιησούς Χριστός ) in ancient Greek writing. With a blessing, the hand when drawing the transverse line of the cross is led first to the left (relative to the one giving the blessing), then to the right, that is, the person who is blessed in this way is first blessed with the right shoulder, then the left. The bishop has the right to teach blessing with both hands at once.

In Orthodox iconography, the hand folded in the sign of the cross is a common element. Usually, this is how priests are depicted with a hand raised for blessing, but sometimes the sign of the cross as a symbol of confessing their faith is also depicted on the icons of saints without holy orders. Usually saints are depicted with two-fingered or with a nomenclature finger, extremely rarely - with three fingers.

Catholicism

In Catholicism, in contrast to Orthodoxy, there have never been such conflicts regarding the folding of the fingers at the sign of the cross, as, for example, in the Russian Church, there are still various variants of it. So, Catholic prayer books, speaking of the sign of the cross, usually cite only the prayer being said at the same time (lat. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti - "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit"), without saying anything about the combination of fingers. Even Catholic traditionalists, who are usually quite strict about the rite and its symbolism, allow the existence of various options here. The most accepted and widespread option in the Catholic world is making the sign of the cross with five fingers, open palm, from left to right, in memory of the five wounds on the body of Christ.

When a Catholic makes the sign of the cross for the first time, entering the church, he first dips his fingertips in a special bowl of holy water. This gesture, which seems to be an echo of the ancient custom of washing hands before celebrating the Eucharist, was later rethought as a rite performed in remembrance of the sacrament of Baptism. Some Catholics perform this ritual at home, before starting home prayer.

The priest, blessing, uses the same sign of the sign as at the sign of the cross.

In addition to the usual, large cross, a small cross was preserved in the Latin rite as a remnant of an ancient practice. It is celebrated during Mass, before the reading of the Gospel, when priests and worshipers with the thumb of their right hand depict three small crosses on the forehead, lips and heart.

For a Catholic, making the sign of the cross - in any form, in any ceremony - means, first of all, the proclamation of belonging to Christ. Thomas Aquinas wrote: "The sign of the Cross is a sign of the Passion of Christ, which we perform not just for sanctification or blessing, but for the confession of our faith in the power of the Passion of the Lord."

Notes

Dyachenko, Grigory Mikhailovich. ... - S. 329.
, from. 329: “Through the extension of the long and medium, two natures converged in Christ, that is, we confess the Savior Christ Himself, God is perfect, and man is perfect in two being and in the nature of the believer and knowable. With the position of the finger on the forehead, we confess this two, as if we were born from God and the Father, as our word comes from the mind, and as if from above from above according to the Divine word that speaks, bow down to heaven and from below. And by the position of the hedgehog's fingers on the navel, his hedgehog on the ground, the hedgehog in the Most Pure Womb of the Mother of God, his conception is irreplaceable, and his nine-month habitation, we clearly proclaim. And by watering the hedgehog from there all hands to the right hand and to the left country, we can clearly form a bitter response from the righteous who stand at the right hand of the Judge, to the wicked and sinners, according to the Divine Voice of the Savior, speaking to the opposing and unrepentant June. "
Manuscript 201. Maximus the Greek composition (unspecified) . Library of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra... old.stsl.ru. Date of treatment November 22, 2017.
Russian: Maxim the Greek "A fairy tale, how to be marked with the sign of the cross." (unspecified) (March 26, 2014). Date of treatment November 22, 2017.
: "Place the first on the forehead, the same on the Persian, to speak on the heart, and then on the right shoulder, the same on the left shoulder, that is, the true imagination of the sign of the cross."
(Russian). Wikisource... Date of treatment November 22, 2017.

"Whenever you protect yourself with the sign of the cross, be filled with great boldness and submit yourself entirely as a pleasing sacrifice to God." Saint John Chrysostom.

From early childhood until his death, a Christian believer wears on himself, on his chest, a cross as a sign of Christ's victory, protection and strength. Every day, during morning and evening prayers, during divine services and before eating food, before the beginning of the teaching and at the end of it, we impose on ourselves the sign of the Honest and Life-giving Cross of Christ. The Christian begins the day with the sign of the cross and with the sign of the cross he goes to sleep, ending the day.

What does the sign of the cross symbolize and under what circumstances did the image of the cross appear?

The Sign of the Cross is a small sacred act in which a Christian, depicting the sign of the Cross of the Lord with the invocation of the Name of God, draws upon himself the Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit.

The cross is the main symbol of Christianity, representing the instrument of the execution of the God-man Jesus Christ, on which he was crucified to atone for the sins of the world. People who are far from the Church think that Christians worship the cross - an instrument of execution. This is a superficial glance, we worship the cross not as a symbol of death, but as a symbol of eternal life - the life-giving Cross - because Christ, subjected to a painful execution on the cross, redeemed us from ancient sin by his sufferings and gave us eternal life.

On the Cross we see the God-man Crucified. But Life itself mysteriously dwells in the Crucifixion, just as many future ears of wheat are hidden in a grain of wheat. Therefore, the Cross of the Lord is revered by Christians as a "life-giving tree", that is, a tree that gives life. Without the Crucifixion, there would be no Resurrection of Christ, and therefore the Cross from the instrument of execution turned into a shrine in which the Grace of God operates.

Thus, the sign of the cross is the image of human salvation, sanctified by Divine grace, leading us to our Primordial Image - to the crucified God-man who accepted death on the cross for the redemption of the human race from the power of sin and death.

The history of the development of the sign of the cross dates back to the Old Testament times. When Jerusalem and the Temple built by Solomon were burned to the ground by the soldiers of King Nebuchadnezzar, and most of the inhabitants of Judea were driven to Babylonia, the Old Testament Church was shocked by the tragedy that befell her. Under the influence of the experience of the tragedy in the Old Testament Church, the custom arises during prayer at moments of greatest tension to run a finger on his forehead, depicting the last letter of the alphabet ת (taf), which was a conventional tracing of the name of God. This movement of the finger on the forehead is a manifestation of the prayer that the angel of the Lord would put a sign on the forehead of the person praying, in accordance with the prophecy of Ezekiel: “And the Lord said to him: go through the middle of the city, in the middle of Jerusalem, and on the foreheads of the mourning people, sighing for all the abominations, taking place among him, make a sign ”(Ezek. 9: 4)

When the Old Testament Church was introduced by the Lord God in the New Testament period, the custom during prayer at moments of greatest tension to run a finger across his forehead, depicting the last letter of the alphabet ת (taf), did not disappear, because for Christians to have the inscription of the name of God on their foreheads meant a sign of belonging to the elect of God. In the "Revelation" the Apostle John the Theologian writes: "And I looked, and, behold, the Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand, with His Father's name written on their foreheads" (Rev. 14: 1)

What is the name of God and how can it be depicted on the forehead? According to ancient Jewish tradition, the name of God was symbolically imprinted on the first and last letters of the Jewish alphabet, which were "Aleph" and "Tav".

The meaning of this image lies in the fact that a person depicting the name of God on his forehead - he externally shows his devotion to God. Over time, in order to simplify this symbolic action, the Jews began to depict only one letter "tav". It is very noteworthy that the study of the manuscripts of that era showed that in the Jewish writing of the turn of the eras, the capital "tav" had the shape of a small cross. This small cross meant the name of God. In fact, for a Christian of that era, the image of a cross on his forehead meant, as in Judaism, the dedication of his whole life to God. Moreover, the imposition of the cross on the forehead resembled not so much the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet as the sacrifice of the Savior on the cross. When the Christian Church finally freed itself from the Jewish influence, then the understanding of the sign of the cross as an image through the letter “tav” of the name of God was lost. The main semantic emphasis was placed on the display of the Cross of Christ. Forgetting the first meaning, Christians of later eras filled the sign of the Cross with new meaning and content. The sign of the Cross is an external confession of one's faith in Christ Crucified (1 Cor. 2: 2; 2 Tim. 1: 8). It should be noted that for the persecutors of Christians of the first centuries, the sign of the cross was the main distinguishing feature by which they recognized a familiar person as a Christian. In one of the acts of martyrdom, a pagan of the first centuries said: "Because I know that they are Christians, that they make the sign of the cross on their foreheads every minute."

At the end of the third century, the famous Carthaginian church teacher Tertullian wrote: "At every arrival and departure, when dressing and putting on shoes, at baths, at tables, at lamps, on couches and seats, and in every matter we draw on our foreheads the sign of the cross." A century after Tertullian, St. John Chrysostom wrote the following: "Never leave your house without being baptized."

As we can see, the sign of the cross has come down to us from time immemorial and without it our daily worship of God is inconceivable. In the history of the Christian Church, there have been three forms of fingering: one-fingered, two-fingered, and three-fingered.

Around the 4th century, Christians began to overshadow their entire body with a cross, i.e. the "wide cross" known to us appeared. However, the imposition of the sign of the cross at this time was still preserved with one finger. In the 9th century, one-fingered gradually began to be replaced by two-fingered, which was due to the widespread heresy of Monophysitism in the Middle East and Egypt. When the heresy of the Monophysites appeared (rejecting human nature in Jesus Christ), she took advantage of the hitherto used form of finger-making - one-fingered to propagate her teaching, since she saw in one-finger a symbolic expression of her doctrine of a single nature in Christ. Then the Orthodox, in spite of the Monophysites, began to use two fingers in the sign of the cross, as a symbolic expression of the Orthodox teaching about two natures in Christ. It so happened that the one-finger in the sign of the cross began to serve as an external, visual sign of Monophysitism, and the two-finger - Orthodoxy. In this way, the Church once again put deep doctrinal truths into the outer forms of worship.

Around the 12th century, in the Greek-speaking Local Orthodox Churches (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Cyprus), the two-finger was replaced by the three-finger. The reason for this was seen in the following. Since the struggle against the Monophysites had already ended by the 12th century, the double-fingered movement lost its demonstrative and polemical character. However, two-fingered were related to Orthodox Christians with the Nestorians, who also used two-fingered. Desiring to make a change in the external form of their worship, the Orthodox Greeks began to overshadow themselves with the sign of the three-fingered cross, thereby emphasizing their veneration of the Most Holy Trinity. In Russia, as already noted, three-fingered was introduced in the 17th century during the reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

Every believing Christian, making the sign of the cross, should know the true meaning of three fingers. The first three fingers folded together express our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, and two fingers bent to the palm mean the two natures of Jesus Christ: Divine and human, because The Son of God, after His incarnation, being God, became at the same time a man. Covering ourselves with the sign of the cross, we touch with three fingers folded together to the forehead - to sanctify our mind, to the stomach - to sanctify our inner feelings (heart), then to the right, then to the left shoulders - to sanctify our bodily forces.

About those who signify themselves with all fives, or bow before finishing the cross, or wave their hand in the air or across their chest, St. John Chrysostom said: "The demons rejoice at this frantic waving." On the contrary, the sign of the cross, performed correctly and unhurriedly, with faith and reverence, frightens demons, calms sinful passions and invokes Divine grace. The unspeakable goodness of the Savior has given us in the power of the sign of the cross a powerful weapon against all our enemies, visible and invisible. Based on the centuries-old experience of the manifestation of this miraculous power of the Cross of the Lord, Orthodox Christians have always expressed and are expressing their faith in the power of the life-giving Cross in the fact that they crown their churches, mark their homes, bless their children, wear it on their chests and constantly use the sign of the cross in prayer. Unfortunately, many Orthodox Christians do not know the meaning of the sign of the cross, use it carelessly and incorrectly, and some very often abandon its use in necessary cases. Our pious ancestors, according to the tradition of the Church, used the sign of the cross in all cases of their lives, at the entrance to the house and at the exit, at the beginning of the business and at the end, when they sat down to a meal and when they got up because of it, when they went to bed and when they woke up. also in case of unexpected joy or sudden misfortune; they never passed by the holy icons and churches of God without crossing themselves.

If you delve into the meaning of the sign of the cross, it will be clear that this is not an external rite that can be arbitrarily violated or changed. No, the sign of the cross is a sacred symbol of our faith, and in it, according to the explanation of the holy fathers, all Christianity is depicted in abbreviated form. Why do we mark ourselves with the cross when we pray? Why are we not limited to other prayer signs, for example, raising our eyes to heaven, raising our hands, or stressing ourselves on the chest? The use of the sign of the cross is of particular importance. By the sign of the cross, we express our faith in the redemptive merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Divine Intercessor and Mediator, without whom our prayer could never ascend to the throne of God.

Combining our prayer with the sign of the cross, we do not rely on ourselves, not for the sake of our merits, we ask God, but for the sake of the merits of the Cross of Christ the Savior and for His name. The Lord undoubtedly accepts such a prayer, as the Savior Himself said: “If you ask the Father in my name, he will give you” (John 16:23), if only our sign of the cross is not only an outward movement of the hand, but an expression of inner heartfelt faith in the Divine intercession of Jesus Christ. The sign of the cross is not just part of a religious ceremony. First of all, it is a great weapon. The motherlands and the lives of the saints contain many examples that testify to the real spiritual power that the image of the Cross possesses.

The Monk Benedict of Nursia (480-543) for his strict life was elected in 510 as hegumen of the Vicovaro cave monastery. Saint Benedict ruled the monastery with zeal. Strictly observing the charter of the fasting life, he did not allow anyone to live of their own free will, so the monks began to regret that they had chosen such an abbot who did not at all fit their spoiled morals. Some decided to poison him. They mixed poison with wine and gave the abbot to drink during lunch. The saint made the sign of the cross over the cup, and the vessel by the power of the holy cross immediately shattered, as if from a blow with a stone. Then the man of God knew that the cup was deadly, for it could not withstand the life-giving cross. "

Thus, the sign of the Honest and Life-giving Cross of the Lord is for us a special sign through which the Lord sends us His Divine blessing and grace, therefore this sign requires from us a deep, thoughtful and reverent attitude.

The ecumenical teacher of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, exhorts us to reflect on this in the following words: "The cross is a symbol of the Divine gift, a sign of spiritual nobility, a treasure that cannot be stolen, a gift that cannot be taken away, this is the foundation of holiness."

Cross! This short word pierces, shakes the soul of a Christian to the innermost depths. To gaze at the Cross of Christ with the spiritual eyes of faith means to gaze at the mysterious Altar, where the Divine Lamb was slain as a Sacrifice for the sins of the world, Who with His Most Pure Blood reconciled us, who were once alienated and enemies (Col. 1:21). Christ overcame the world of sin, the world of spiritual darkness. We have in our hands a great and powerful weapon given by Christ - His Cross - a sign of our faith, the all-lasting and all-perfect victory of good over evil, light over darkness. This is the true beauty of the Church, this is the weapon of the world, an invincible victory!

Priest Vladimir Kashlyuk

Sign of the cross(Church Slavic "sign of the cross") - in Christianity, a prayer gesture, which is an image of a cross on itself. The sign of the cross is performed on different occasions, for example, when entering and leaving the church, before or after saying a prayer, during a service, as a sign of confessing one's faith and in other cases; also when blessing someone or something. The action of a person performing the sign of the cross is usually called “making the sign of the cross”, “making the sign of the cross” or “being baptized” (this latter should be distinguished from the word “baptized” in the meaning of “accepting the sacrament of Baptism”). The sign of the cross is used in many Christian denominations, however, it differs in the variants of folding the fingers (usually in this context the Church Slavonic word “fingers” is used: “folding of fingers”, “finger-making”), and the direction of movement of the hand.

Catholicism

In the West, unlike the Orthodox Church, there have never been conflicts regarding the folding of the fingers at the sign of the cross, as in the Russian Church, and even now there are various variants of it. Suffice it to say that in many Catholic prayer books, speaking of the sign of the cross, they quote only the prayer being said at the same time (In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti), without saying anything about the combination of fingers (a situation that is quite rare for Orthodox prayer books and almost impossible for Old Believers). Even Catholic traditionalists, who are usually quite strict about the rite and its symbolism, allow the existence of various options here.

The following description of the sign of the cross is given (translated into Russian) from exactly one American traditionalist site.

The sign of the cross is performed as follows:

* Option A. On your right hand, place your thumb and ring fingers together, and hold your index and middle fingers together in an indication of the two natures of Christ. This is the most common practice of Western Catholics.
* Option B. Hold the thumb and forefinger of your right hand together for the two Christ natures.
* Option C. Hold the thumb, forefinger, and middle fingers of your right hand (representing the Holy Trinity) together, with the ring finger and little finger (representing the two natures of Christ) bent to the palm. This is a typical practice for Eastern Catholics.
* Option D: Keep your right hand open with all five fingers - representing the 5 wounds of Christ - together and slightly bent, and your thumb slightly bent to the palm.

* Touch your forehead while saying (or praying mentally), "In nomine Patris" ("In the name of the Father").
* Touch the chest or upper abdomen while saying "et Filii" ("and the Son").
* Touch the left shoulder, then the right shoulder, saying, “et Spiritus Sancti” (“and the Holy Spirit”).

Note that some people end the sign of the cross by crossing their thumb and forefinger and kissing their thumb, as if "kissing the Cross."

From this description, it is easy to see that option A is a slightly modified two-fingered, and option C, as indicated there, is a three-fingered. In practice, however, at least in Russia, most Catholics use Option D.

As for the direction of movement of the hand when depicting a cross, initially in the West they were baptized in the same way as in the East, that is, first the right shoulder, then the left. Later, however, the opposite practice was formed in the West, when they first touch the left shoulder, and only then the right. This is symbolically explained in such a way that Christ, with his Cross, transferred believers from death and condemnation (which are still designated by the left side) to the right side of those who are being saved.

The priest, blessing, uses the same sign of the sign as at the sign of the cross, and leads his hand in the same way as an Orthodox priest, that is, from left to right.

In addition to the usual, large cross, it was preserved in the Latin rite as a remnant of an ancient practice, the so-called. small cross. It is celebrated during Mass, before the reading of the Gospel, when priests and worshipers with the thumb of their right hand depict three small crosses on their forehead, lips and chest.

Even a little enlightened person knows that Old Believers are baptized differently than Christians of other denominations. This sign of the cross is called " two-fingered", Because it does not consist of one, not three, not four or five fingers, but only two.

Why are Christians baptized?

The sign of the cross is placed by Christians as a sign that we confess the Lord crucified on the cross. With the sign of the Cross at the beginning of every work, we testify that everything we do takes place for the glory of the Crucified Christ.

Sign of the Cross, i.e. the custom of tracing a cross on the body by placing fingers on the forehead, percy and ramen (shoulders) is an ancient custom that appeared along with Christianity. The custom of Christians to cross themselves with the sign of the cross in the prayer of St. Basil the Great counts among those who we have received from the apostolic tradition by succession.

How to fold your fingers during the sign of the cross?

For the sign of the cross, we fold the fingers of our right hand like this: "the great one with two little ones." This marks, according to the teachings of the Great Catechism, the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, not three gods, but the One God in the Trinity, which is divided by names and persons, but the Deity is one. The Father is not born, and the Son is born and not created; The Holy Spirit was neither born nor created, but is original (Great Cat.). Two fingers (forefinger and great middle), joining together, we have extended and slightly inclined - this forms the two natures of Christ: the Divine and humanity; with one (forefinger) finger we mean the Divine, with the other (middle), slightly bent, we mean humanity; the inclination of the fingers is interpreted by the holy fathers as an image of the incarnation of the Son of God, Who "Bow down to heaven and come down to our earth for the sake of salvation".

Having folded the fingers of the right hand in this way, we put two fingers on our forehead, i.e. forehead. By this we mean that “ God the Father is the beginning of all Godhead, from Him first the Son was born and in the last times bow down to heaven, descended to earth and became a man". When we put our fingers on our stomach, we signify by this that in the womb of the Most Holy Theotokos by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit there was the seedless conception of the Son of God; from her was born and on earth from a man in gain, suffered in the flesh for our sins, was buried and on the third day he rose again and raised from hell the righteous souls who dwelt there. When we put our fingers on our right shoulder, it is interpreted as follows: first, that Christ ascended into heaven and gray at the right hand of God the Father; second, that on the day of judgment the Lord will set the righteous at His right hand (on His right hand), and sinners on His left hand. The standing of sinners on the left hand also means the position of the hand when making the sign of the cross on the left shoulder (Big Catech., Ch. 2, leaves. 5, 6).

Where did the two-finger come from?

The custom of folding our fingers in this manner was adopted by us from the Greeks, and they kept it invariably from the time of the apostles. Scientists, prof. Kapterev and Golubinsky, have collected a number of testimonies that in the XI-XII centuries the Church knew only two-finger sign. We also find two fingers on all ancient icon images (mosaics and frescoes of the XI-XIV centuries).

Information about two-fingered fingers can also be found in Old Russian literature, including the works of the Monk Maxim the Greek and the famous book "Domostroy".

Why not a three-finger?

Usually believers of other denominations, for example, new believers, ask why the Old Believers do not cross themselves with three fingers, like members of other Eastern churches.

On the left is a three-fingered sign, this sign of the cross is accepted by the New Believer tradition. On the right - two-fingered, the Old Believers sign the sign of the Cross

The answer to this is the following:

The two fingers were commanded to us by the apostles and fathers of the ancient Church, for which there is a lot of historical evidence. The three-finger, however, is a newly invented rite, the use of which has no historical justification;
The keeping of the two-finger is protected by the church oath, which is contained in the ancient rite of acceptance from the heretics Jacobite and the decrees of the Stoglava Council of 1551: "If anyone does not bless two fingers as well as Christ, or does not imagine the sign of the cross, be damned";
The two-finger reflects the true dogma of the Christian Creed - the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, as well as two natures in Christ - the human and the Divine. Other types of the sign of the cross do not have such a dogmatic content, and the three-finger distorts this content, showing that the Trinity was crucified on the cross. And although the new believers do not contain the doctrine of the crucifixion of the Trinity, St. the fathers categorically prohibited the use of signs and symbols that have a heretical and non-Orthodox meaning.
Thus, in polemicizing with Catholics, the holy fathers also pointed out that the mere change of the vision, the use of customs similar to the heretical ones, is in itself a heresy. Bp. Nikola Mefonsky wrote, in particular, about unleavened bread: “ The user of unleavened bread is already suspected of being in contact with these heresies out of some resemblance.". The truth of the two-fingered dogma is recognized today, albeit not publicly, by various New Believer hierarchs and theologians. So oh. Andrey Kuraev, in his book Why Orthodox Christians Are Like This, points out: “ I consider the two-finger to be a more accurate dogmatic symbol than the three-finger. After all, not the Trinity was crucified, but “one of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God» ».