Thank you. Nice post, thanks! So, one is kissing the cross or physically, the sign thereof , not just the finger. In this case, the three fingers joined together represents the Trinity and the two fingers tucked down ring and pinky represent the two natures of Christ. Thus, the two fundamental theological positions of orthodox Christianity can be expressed in this gesture.
Of course, these rationales might just be post hoc! Good Question?? Thank you, I am new to this, and I am left-handed, so is head, heart, right to left correct? I am also a signer SASL so I the linguistics of left-handed signing is simply a reversal of signs on the left hand.
I can cross right hand, to be safe… Appreciate clarity on this. Hello guy. Thanks for the question. Using the right hand is merely a custom which allows everyone to be moving in sync. There is no inherent meaning in either hand. I would recommend using the right hand during worship in order to move in unison. I would recommend reaching out to see if any other signers have encountered this issue.
Thank you for the reply, I shall use right hand when crossing to avoid offending others for looking odd. I will ask around about signers who may have encountered this issue. Much appreciated. I am returning to Anglicanism after many years as an evangelical. I was raised in the Episcopal church,so the liturgy is very familiar to me. I feel a bit sheepish yet desirous of making the sign the cross, but I do feel like a rookie Anglican.
I am not yet formally in the Anglican church. I imagine it is still ok since I am a Christian. Thanks for commenting Leslie. Thankfully the sign of the cross is totally free for all! Blessings to you! Hi Leslie, just wanted to clear something up. Some of the founding fathers of Anglicanism were very much low-church, protestant, and Evangelical.
My late grandfather, who was an Anglican Priest and Rev. Canon, was very Evangelical and a member of the Evangelical Alliance, of which the well known John Stott, was as well. Lived it. My booklet got lost. Can you review this Episcpal suggestion? Greg, this information is so helpful. Then one day, I automatically crossed myself after drinking the cup. And it just felt right, although I never truly understood the symbolic intent.
I guess I did not need the instruction, but I am sure glad to have a deeper understanding! I was brought up in the Baptist church so much of the Anglican liturgy is new — but I love it, and the idea that people were using the same rituals to worship together for centuries.
Thanks for this blog — helped to answer some of my many questions…but I will progress slowly. Hi Greg! So glad you are sharing this info. Thank you for this article! Fairly new to Anglicanism, learning to make the sign of the cross is not unlike wearing a necklace with a cross hanging from it. Thank you for explaining this. Still learning how the be an Anglican! Thank you for the insightful article.
In my country Anglicans do not ever make the sign of the cross. So when i married a Catholic, I struggled with whether he was doing the right thing, and worried aboutnthe ritualistic nature of many catholic practices. Dear Greg. I was brought up believing the Catholic religion was a cult.
So, kneeling, making the sign of the cross, and going to confession were taboo. Thank you for clarifying this for me. The sign of the cross on ones person. I have seen people do it as you say from forehead to middle of chest and side to side. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
This article has been viewed , times. Learn more Crossing oneself is a common practice for Christians in liturgical churches, especially but not limited to the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican Episcopal churches. It is used to begin and end prayers and ceremonies, as well as occasionally as a stand-alone practice of asking God to bless oneself.
Many Christians also make the sign of the cross when they hear the name of the Blessed Trinity. To cross yourself following the Western tradition, lift your right hand and bring it to your forehead. Then touch the center of your chest.
Reach over to touch your left shoulder and then back to your right shoulder. For churches in the Eastern tradition, start by touching your forehead and chest in the same way.
Then touch your right shoulder before the left. Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet? Create an account.
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Method 1. Follow this tradition in Latin Rite and Protestant churches. This method is more common in the Western Catholic Church, and in Protestant traditions that support the sign of the cross, including most Anglican and Lutheran churches. Lift your right hand. Many worshippers make the sign of the cross with an open hand, their five fingers reminding them of the five wounds of Christ. Others raise the index and middle fingers together, symbolizing Christ's divine and human natures.
Many other hand shapes are also in use. There is no requirement to make a specific hand shape, but most leaders encourage you to follow your congregation's tradition unless you derive a spiritual benefit from another form. Touch the fingertips of your right hand to your forehead. The sign of the cross is made in many contexts, both privately and in church. At the start of worship or when blessing yourself outside of church, it is usually accompanied by an invocation of the Holy Trinity.
Begin "In the name of the Father Touch the center of your chest. Bring your hand down to your sternum. Say "and of the Son Touch the front of your left shoulder.
Say "And of the Holy Latin: " Touch your right shoulder in roughly the same location. Say " Say "Amen". Not me. I would strongly oppose messing with centuries of lay practice in that regard, as with attempts to get English-speaking Catholic laity to significantly change the Our Father, which mercifully have failed miserably my current pastor tries to overtalk the congregation in this regard, which is a rather unprogressive approach…. Btw, direction is not the only important difference between East and West.
I am Eastern Orthodox and we have never changed the way in which we make the Sign of the cross: forehead to stomach, right to left. This makes a rough Greek equal armed cross, In the West when a person crosses themselves the forehead, chest, the left to right direction reverses the original order. Karl Liam Sur is correct also in the finger formation in the Eastern Orthodoxy being different. I have made the sign of the cross on my body from right to left for most of my adult life.
I picked it up from the Ukrainians, and it felt more natural, so I stayed with it. Neither direction, nor finger formation, has any implicit significance — all interpretations on such emerge after the practice, and interpretations can be generated to support anything. I am a Roman rite priest of 30 years. Few of the people who actually notice it have ever said anything, and the only person to ever get cross was an English monk.
When before little children who are still learning the practice they do mirror me, and thus make the sign of the cross left to right; when blessing them they mirror the sign being made and so go right to left. Through the centuries following the Popes has many times led to a weakening of the faith and a divergence with Eastern Christianity.
Whether the sign of the cross, the changing of the Nicene creed, or the watering down to an almost Protestant form of the Catholic mass. Not looking for a fight just offering for sobre thought. It seems to me the beginning of this article made sense then you lost me.
It just so happens doing it this way if the priest or father is facing the individual, he goes left to right to give blessing, the person goes right to left to bless themselves and you get the mirroring effect as well. Right to left was first. It is the orthodox way, no distortion. To be on the right hand if God. Many things changed after the schism.
I believe, that it is the right way, from left to right, when you sign yourself. It seems to me that I have done that from childhood. It feels more natural that way, to bring your right had back to the center to join with the other hand. The 2 finger gesture is the bigger deal IMO and the oldest form also used by the early church evidenced in the oldest icons. The index and middle fingers pointing upward with the middle slightly bent symbolize the Christ being fully man and fully God with the thumb, ring, and pinky fingers all adjoined symbolizing the Trinity.
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