Sign of the cross - three-fingered and two-fingered - saints - history - catalog of articles - unconditional love. word of honour: the sign of the cross. why do people cross themselves, when did it appear and what does it mean

“... By the sign of the Cross, worthy and holy faith, miracles are performed ...”
(St. Grigor Tatevatsi).

Our ancestors, saying prayers, leaving the house in the morning, attending church, falling to the icons, sowing and harvesting, when it is difficult, when illnesses and dangers, starting any work, before and after the meal, setting off on a long journey - overshadowed yourself with the sign of the cross.
The custom of being baptized comes from ancient times. This is an old Hellenic (ancient Greek) custom - during a sermon, raise your right hand with “two-fingered fingers” (ritual addition of two fingers), which in the Greek sign language seemed to mean “attention, I’m talking.”
And in the ancient world and in the Roman Empire, the cross was a sign of inevitable death, reproach, suffering, and a person sentenced to such death was considered damned. Christ crucified died for us. Taking upon himself the curse of Adam's sin, He, by His Divine power, turned the instrument of death into a symbol of eternal life.

The Power of the Cross - Christ

The Apostle Paul (Poghos) says: "For the word about the cross, to us who are being saved is the power of God." As we make the sign of the cross, we remember that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins and saved us from the power of death. We ask the crucified Savior to always keep and protect us from all evil. We are baptized as follows: we connect the first fingers of the right hand (thumb, index, middle), touch the forehead, speaking; “In the name of the Father”, we lower it to the chest, saying “And the Son”, we lead it to the left side, saying “And the Spirit”, then to the right side, saying “Saint”, and lower it to the chest, saying “Amen”.

Advice on the Sign of the Cross, According to the Teachings of the Church Fathers

When we are baptized, connecting the thumb, index and middle fingers, we thus symbolize the Holy Trinity. The remaining two fingers (little finger and ring finger) pressed together to the palm symbolize Christ as a perfect God and a perfect man, and together they are a single entity (fingers are squeezed together). The raised fingers to the forehead symbolize life, the hand lowered to the chest - death. The left side of the chest is earthly life, and the right side is the afterlife. Raising our hands to our foreheads, we remember that we were in heaven, lowering our hands to our hearts, we remember that we came to Earth. When we bring our hand to the left side, we point out that we were among the sinners, bringing it to the right, we affirm that we want to be among the righteous. Consecrating ourselves with the cross, we first raise our hand up, thereby saying that our mind is crucified on the cross, and let the mind of Christ lead us from now on. When we lower our hand down, we say that henceforth we are not subject to the body, but to Christ.
Being baptized from left to right, we want to say that our hands were crucified on the cross and are now not fit for atrocities and sin and should only do good. Pressing the open palm to the heart, we say "Amen", that is, "True."
Having crossed ourselves, we want to say that Christ was in heaven, was on Earth, descended into hell, resurrected and sat down again at the right hand of the Father. When we make the sign of the cross on our foreheads, we always think of Christ crucified on the cross, as the prophet Ezekiel says: “Put a sign on the foreheads of these people.” By making the sign of the cross on the four sides of our body, we protect ourselves from four misfortunes, that is, earthly temptations, from Satan, atheists and sins.
We overshadow ourselves with the sign of the cross, because we serve the Lord Jesus, whose sign is the cross. Having been baptized, we point to the four corners of the world and ask for God's protection for them. The Sign of the Cross is protection from satanic influence. Having crossed ourselves, we crucify the sinful essence and resurrect with Christ. When we are baptized, we remember the saving sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for the salvation of mankind. We ask for God's help and mercy. Christians are baptized when, during the Holy Liturgy, services, rites and other spiritual ceremonies, a clergyman baptizes, blessing with the sign of the cross in the name of the Holy Trinity. During prayer, overshadowing our faces with the sign of the cross, we will ask the Holy Mother of God, the guardian angels, the Saints to intercede for us before the Heavenly Father. Having crossed ourselves, we offer the Creator a quiet prayer of our soul.

It should also be noted that in Russia the Old Believer double-fingering, which had never been practiced in the AAC, was in the most unexpected way declared the official “Armenian heresy”.

It would seem that it could be easier than to cross yourself? We put our fingers together and ... So. And how, in fact, to fold your fingers correctly?
And why exactly? Is it possible to fold your fingers differently? And what does all this mean?

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
The overshadowing of oneself or other people with a man-made cross is called the "sign of the cross." The word "sign" means "sign". That is, the sign of the cross is the sign of the cross, its image. Christians make the sign of the cross (baptized), asking for help from God, for confession or evidence of their faith in Jesus Christ, in His death on the Cross and His resurrection. By the way a person is baptized, one can determine what religion he or she is.

Nowadays, in most Orthodox churches, it is customary to make the sign of the cross in the following sequence. The fingers of the right hand are folded like this: the thumb, index and middle fingers are together, and the ring and little fingers (also folded together) are pressed to the palm. The first three fingers put together symbolize the unity of the Holy Trinity, our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The other two fingers point to the two natures of Jesus Christ - Divine and human, united in Christ invariably, inseparably, inseparably.

The fingers folded in this way are first placed on the forehead (sanctification of the mind), then on the stomach (and not on the chest at all!) - this is the sanctification of feelings, then on the right and left shoulder. This is the sanctification of bodily forces.

When making the sign of the cross, it is customary to say to oneself: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen" (if no other prayers are said at the same time). One should be baptized avoiding too fast, abrupt, jerky or circular movements. The sign of the cross suggests slowness and feeling. The bow or earthly bow is made after the sign of the cross, and not simultaneously with it. First we depict the Cross of the Lord on ourselves, and then we worship it.
If strangers are baptized in a different way (for example, from left to right), one should not rush to reprimand them: it is possible that they were brought up in a different liturgical culture. Otherwise, Old Believers, believers of the Armenian Gregorian confession, Catholics are baptized (they are baptized with an open palm and in a different sequence: from the left shoulder to the right) and those Protestants who, in principle, do not deny the sign of the cross.

In Slavic, fingers are called "fingers", so folding the fingers in a certain way to make the sign of the cross is called finger folding. The method of adding fingers, adopted in the Orthodox Church, is called three-fingered.
Until the 17th century, the Russian Church used two fingers: the index and middle fingers were folded together, and the thumb, ring and little fingers, folded, were pressed to the palm, symbolizing faith in the Holy Trinity. In our time, the Old Believers are baptized in this way. Three-fingered and double-fingered are different ways of making the sign of the cross, therefore it is impossible to consider one of them the only possible or, on the contrary, erroneous.

Nevertheless, one can often see an erroneous version of the sign of the cross, which is found in many old textbooks: instead of the stomach, fingers are placed on the chest. Even in V. Artemov's recently published book "Orthodox Divine Liturgy" it is said: the forehead, chest, right and left shoulder are baptized. This method is distorted because if the cross, built by mentally connecting points on the forehead, chest and shoulders, turns out to be inverted: its lower end is shorter than the upper one.
Christians have begun to overshadow themselves with the sign of the cross since the 1st century - this was transmitted from the apostles. Until the 5th century, the sign of the cross was generally performed with one finger, most likely with the index finger. The imposition of a full (forehead - stomach - shoulders) sign of the cross is first mentioned in Georgian sources - in the "Life of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina". The sign of the cross in the form of two fingers began to be used after the 5th century in connection with the struggle against the heresy of Monophysitism. This method of the sign of the cross was adopted in order to confirm the unity of the Divine and human nature of Christ. Later, triplets appeared.

Sign for life
According to Orthodox teaching, the power of the sign of the cross, like prayer, calls for God's help and protects from the influence of demonic forces. In addition, it is known from the biographies of the saints that sometimes the sign of the cross was enough to dispel demonic spells and perform a miracle. The Church uses the mark of the cross in all divine services and sacraments. In Byzantium, in especially important documents, three crosses were put instead of the name, believing that it was more responsible to vouch for the power of the cross than with the name. The Cross of Christ sanctifies a wide variety of actions and objects, so the sign of the cross accompanies a believing person all his life.

When is it necessary to be baptized? It is customary to do this at the beginning and at the end of the prayer. When approaching a particular shrine. When entering the temple and leaving it, the sign of the cross in this case is performed three times. Before kissing a cross or an icon. At one point or another in worship. In particular, during the litany: after singing "Lord, have mercy", "Give, Lord", "Thee, Lord" they are baptized once. They are baptized once and with a small doxology: "Glory to the Father and the Son ...".

Once the sign of the cross is made with the exclamations "Take, eat ...", "Drink everything from her ...", "Yours from Yours ...", and also "Glory to You, Christ God ...". Once you should be baptized when reading or singing "Most Honorable Cherub ...". The sign of the cross is made three times while reading or singing "Hallelujah", the Trisagion, "Come, let us worship ...", as well as during the exclamation "Glory to Thee, Christ our God ...". At each reading of the words "let's bow", "worship," fall down "the sign of the cross is performed once. The sign of the cross is performed once and when invoking the Lord, the Mother of God and the saints during the canon at matins. At the end of reading or singing each prayer or hymn the sign of the cross is also made.In all these cases, the sign of the cross is made with a bow from the waist.

The threefold sign of the cross with a bow to the ground is performed during fasting at the entrance or exit from the temple. In addition, there are many more cases when it is necessary to make the sign of the cross in the temple. The knowledge of this comes to believers with experience. There are certain rules that do not allow in this or that case the sign of the cross.

It is not allowed to be baptized while singing psalms. Bows to the earth are not allowed on the days of the Nativity of Christ until Baptism, from Easter to the Day of the Holy Trinity, on the days of the Transfiguration and Exaltation. True, in the latter case, three earthly bows are given to the Cross.

When people in the temple are overshadowed by the Cross, the Gospel, an icon or a Chalice, everyone should be baptized, bowing their heads, and when they are overshadowing people with candles, a hand or incense, it is not necessary to be baptized, but only bow.

Of course, this list is not limited to everything. It is permissible to be baptized in all significant cases of life: in danger and trial, in joy, in sorrow, in labor.
The sign of the cross is used not only in relation to oneself, but also to others. The priest blesses the faithful with the sign of the cross. But he overshadows the bowed head of the believer with a cross from left to right, and not from right to left, like a person overshadowing himself. A mother makes the sign of the cross to her child, spouses to each other, one loved one to another (for example, when a loved one sets off on a journey). Such a sign of the cross is called a blessing.
It is customary to make the sign of the cross over food before eating it, and in some cases other personal or household items (for example, a bed before going to bed).

The cross is my guard
The sign of the cross has several meanings. Confessional, sanctifying, and, finally, protective. The sign of the cross, imposed with faith, gives strength to overcome evil and do good, to overcome temptation and passions. True, it is necessary to discard the superstitious ideas that the sign of the cross or the wearing of a cross in itself is "protection from evil forces." The sign itself is worth nothing without inner spiritual participation and sincere faith in the power of the Cross.

History knows many examples when the Lord, according to the faith of people through the sign of the cross, worked miracles. The Apostle John the Theologian, as his disciple St. Prochorus tells us, healed a sick man lying on the way with the sign of the Cross. And the pious Ir, on the instructions of the Apostle Philip, inscribed with his hand the image of the Cross of Christ on the damaged parts of the body of the ailing Aristarchus - and immediately the withered hand became stronger, the eye began to see, the ear opened and the patient became healthy. Saint Macrina, sister of Saint Basil the Great, suffered from a chest disease, asked her mother to overshadow the sore spot with the Cross and immediately received healing.

The miraculous Cross of Christ not only healed ailments, but also resurrected the dead and made the human body unharmed. Thus, the First Martyr Thekla blessed the firewood and brushwood collected for her burning with the Cross, and the fire did not dare to touch her body. Martyr Vasilisa of Nicomedia protected herself with the sign of the Cross, and in the midst of the flames in the kindled furnace stood for a long time in the fire without any harm. The martyrs Avdon, Sinnis, the great martyr Panteleimon and many other martyrs doomed to be torn to pieces by wild beasts made the sign of the cross, and the fierce beasts, like meek lambs, kissed the feet of God's people. With the almighty power of the Cross of Christ, deadly poisons also proved to be harmless, as is evident from the lives of St. Juvenaly and St. Benedict.

Nowadays it is often said that miracles do not happen now. Say, miracles happened only in antiquity. But just recently, one of such miracles happened in Russia, in which the life-giving and saving power of the sign of the cross was clearly manifested.
One of the priests drove into a small hotel where several people were already living. They were all offered lunch. And when they gathered at the table, the priest, as the shepherd of the Church, suggested: "Brothers, first of all, let's stand in prayer. Let's pray before we eat." Everyone stood up, the priest read the Lord's Prayer "Our Father" and, finishing it, turning to the table, overshadowed everything with a cross-shaped pastoral blessing.

And at the same moment, a large decanter of kvass, standing on the table, for no apparent reason and without any blow from the side, shattered into smithereens. Kvass spilled, everyone gasped. The hostess of the hotel clutched her head, rushed into the next room, from where her cry came. Immediately she ran back, threw herself at the priest's feet and confessed that she had put this decanter on the table by mistake. It contained poisoned kvass prepared to kill her husband. She wanted to put another decanter with good kvass on the table, but she mixed it up, since both decanters were exactly the same. And if it weren’t for the Lord’s prayer, if the shepherd didn’t overshadow the table for a meal with his blessing, then many people would have died.

There are many such stories these days. The cross strengthens and saves the sincere believer. Even when dying, at the last moment, a Christian with a cold hand overshadows himself with the sign of the cross, protecting and sanctifying himself on his last journey. And a cross is placed on the grave of a Christian so that everyone knows that a believer rests under this cross.

Purification, enlightenment and transformation
From the story about the sign of the cross, it is so natural to move on to talking about the cross itself. In our case, it is about the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. We all know that this type of death penalty existed in the Roman Empire, but hardly anyone other than theologians and professional historians imagines the horror of the crucifixion.
The cross was in the Roman Empire a method of execution intended for slaves and for those cases when they wanted to strengthen the death penalty with dishonor. The crucifixion was considered by the Romans to be the most terrible death penalty. As Cicero said, "the very name of the cross is contrary to the Roman ear, sight and hearing."

First, the cross was placed upright, then the convict was attached to it, nailing his hands to the tree with nails. The legs were also often nailed, but sometimes they were only tied with ropes. To the foot, at the height of the legs, for their support, they nailed a horizontal plank or arranged a crossbar in the middle (hence the expression "sitting on the cross", which is found in many descriptions of the execution on the cross). All this was done so that the hands were not torn apart by nails, and the body would not fall down.

F. Ferrar in the book "The Life of Jesus Christ" writes: "Death on the cross contained everything that is terrible and outrageous in torture and death: dizziness, convulsions, loss of strength, insomnia, fever due to wounds, tetanus, publicity of shame , the duration of suffering, Antonov's fire in open wounds - all this, taken together and in the highest degree, but without deprivation of feelings, which alone could become some relief for the sufferer. gangrene gnawed away near the nails, the arteries - especially in the head and stomach - swelled and strained from the rush of blood. To all these varied and ever-increasing torments, unbearable heat and excruciating thirst were added. The combination of all these torments at the same time produced such unbearable anguish , this terrible unknown enemy, at the approach of which every person trembles, did pleasant, the dream of her - sweet."

"The cruel feature of the death penalty was that in this terrible state one could live in terrible agony for three or four days. Bleeding from wounds in the hands soon stopped and could not be fatal at all. The true cause of death was the unnatural position of the body, which caused a terrible circulatory disorders, terrible headaches, pain in the heart and, finally, numbness of the members.Crucified on the cross, if they had a strong physique, they could even sleep and die only of hunger.The main idea of ​​​​this cruel execution was not the immediate killing of the condemned with the help of certain injuries his body, but putting the pub with nailed hands, of which he failed to make good use, to the pillory, where he was presented to decay, "wrote Renan.

The cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, according to legend, was discovered during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius (14 - 37 years). Then the bishop of Jerusalem was Saint James. Then this cross was lost for a long time and was found only by the wife of the holy Emperor Constantine, Saint Helen in the 4th century.

The scope of the excavations organized by her was great, and as a result, Saint Helen found three crosses, but did not know on which of them Jesus Christ suffered. In the end, she ordered the body of a dead man to be brought and laid it on one of the crosses. The contact had no effect on the dead. Elena ordered that the body be placed on the second cross, then on the third. Upon contact with the third cross, the dead immediately resurrected. Thus was found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Helena sent part of this cross to Emperor Constantine, who, in turn, sent to the Pope. A fragment of the shrine is still kept in Rome in the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. Elena buried most of the cross in the church built on the site of Golgotha.
Next to the cross was found a tablet with the inscription "Jesus of the Nazarene, King of the Jews", which was also sent to Rome. From that moment on, the cross becomes the highest symbol of Christianity. And in the first centuries, the attitude of Christians towards the cross was ambivalent. Since the execution on the cross was considered shameful in the Roman Empire, at first Christians hated the cross. It took the efforts of the apostles to change the situation.

Even then, ideas about the saving worship of the cross are combined with the ideas of carrying the cross. Evangelist Mark writes about Christ: "And having called the people with his disciples, he said to them: whoever wants to follow Me, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me." The disciples of Christ taught not only the worship of the cross, but also the ascension to the cross. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans writes: “And thus we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life… If we died with Christ, we believe that we also should live we will be with him."

"The cross is the union of heaven and earth and the trampling of the underworld," wrote John Chrysostom. For Christians, the cross is both cleansing, and enlightenment, and transfiguration, and a guarantee of the future age. Blessed Augustine wrote in the 5th century: "If the sign of the cross is not used either on the forehead of the faithful, or in the anointing with which we were anointed, or over the holy sacrifice by which we are fed, then everything is fruitless."

The cross is also a symbol of Christ. The two "arms" of the horizontal axis signify the two fundamental ideas of Christianity: forgiveness and redemption and God's punishment. The two intersecting axes that make up the cross represent the dual nature of the Savior: the horizontal axis is His earthly nature, the vertical one is Divine.
The cross is a manifestation of spirit and power. The whole life path of a Christian is the knowledge of the Cross, and at the end of such a path a person can say: "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians, II, 19-20). "And the Church has her own trophy over death - this is the Cross of Christ, which she wears on herself," says Hippolytus of Rome.

Demons run from him
Already the first Christians, when turning to God, had their own prayer sign. The theologian of the II-III centuries Tertullian wrote: "With every success and luck, with every entrance and exit, when dressing and putting on shoes, starting a meal, lighting lamps, going to bed, sitting down for some occupation, we protect our forehead with the sign of the cross" .
True, unlike modern Christians, in ancient times they overshadowed themselves with the so-called small crosses, imposing them on various parts of the body separately: on the forehead, on the chest, on the eyes, and so on. (By the way, even today some people, for example, yawning, often cross their mouths, as if protecting themselves from the penetration of evil spirits).
The origin of the Russian word "cross" is lost in the mists of time. Sometimes it is produced from the German Christ - Christ. In fact, the original meaning of the word "cross" has nothing to do with Christianity. The greatest connoisseur of Russian antiquity A. Afanasyev in his book "Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature" proved that the word "cross" is associated with the concepts of "fire" and "solstice". The very old Russian word "cross" means "revival", hence - to resurrect, that is, to come to life. But the words "peasant" and "peasant woman", according to V. Dahl, mean "baptized person". Both words appeared in the Russian language relatively late, after the baptism of Russia. Obviously, not the last role in their invention was played by the consonance of the words "cross" and Christ.

One of the twelfth feasts is dedicated to the glorification of the Cross of the Lord. The first stichera of the service begins with the words: "The cross is lifted up, and the demons are driven away ...". And further on this is said many times: "... today the Cross is erected, and the demons run, today the whole creature is freed from aphids." In the sanctuary, at the end of the canon, it says: "The Cross, the guardian of all universes; The Cross, the beauty of the Church; The Cross of the faithful in affirmation; The Cross, the glory of angels and the plague of demons."

The main feature of this holiday is the removal from the altar to the middle of the church of the Holy Cross. The same thing happens on the Holy Week of Great Lent and on the feast of the first Savior. There is a pious tradition when on Maundy Thursday a believer depicts the sign of the cross on the windows and doors of his house.

The author ventures to end this article with an excerpt from the oldest Russian written monument, The Tale of Bygone Years, dated 1068. Almost a thousand years ago, our ancestors wrote about the power of the Cross in this way: “Behold, God, show the power of the cross, because Izyaslav kissed the Cross, and I and; God brought the same trash, save Java the honest Cross on the day of the Ascension Vseslav sighed and said: Oh "Honest Cross! Ponder to you, by faith, deliver me from this ditch! God, however, showed the power of the cross on the testimony of the land of Rus, but do not transgress the Honest Cross who kissed it; if anyone transgresses, then he will accept execution here, and on the previous vice, eternal punishment. Greater is the power of the cross: For the Cross, demonic forces are vanquished, The Cross, as a prince, will help in boaneh, in boaneh, with the Cross, we bring people back to defeat adversaries. , if they come from a demon of dreaming, those who marked the face with the Cross are driven away.

What can our contemporary add to such an ancient Russian hymn to the Cross? Probably only one thing: Amen!

Alexander Okonishnikov

"HONESTLY" , September 12, 2007

For the sign of the cross, we fold the fingers of the right hand like this: we put the first three fingers (thumb, index and middle) together with the ends exactly, and bend the last two (ring and little fingers) to the palm.

The first three fingers put together express our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as a consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, and the two fingers bent to the palm mean that the Son of God, after His incarnation, being God, became a man, that is, they mean His two natures are divine and human.

It is necessary to make the sign of the cross slowly: put it on the forehead (1), on the stomach (2), on the right shoulder (3) and then on the left (4). And only lowering the right hand, make a bow in order to involuntarily prevent blasphemy by breaking the cross laid on oneself.

About those who signify themselves with the whole five, or bow before they have finished the cross, or wave their hand in the air or on their chest, St. John Chrysostom said: “Demons rejoice at this frantic waving.” On the contrary, the sign of the cross, performed correctly and slowly, with faith and reverence, frightens demons, calms sinful passions and attracts Divine grace.

In the temple, the following rules regarding bows and the sign of the cross must be observed.

be baptized no bows follows:

be baptized with a bow follows:

be baptized with a bow to the ground follows:

Belt bow without the sign of the cross put:

Even a little enlightened person knows that the Old Believers are baptized differently than Christians of other denominations. This sign of the cross is called duplex", because it consists of not 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. By the sign of the Cross at the beginning of every work, we testify that everything we do is for the glory of the Crucified Christ.

The sign of the cross, i.e. the custom of drawing a cross on the body by laying fingers on the forehead, persi and ramen (shoulders) is an ancient custom that appeared along with Christianity. The custom of Christians to overshadow themselves with the sign of the cross in the prayer of St. Basil the Great refers to the number of such that we received from the apostolic tradition by succession.

How to put fingers together during the sign of the cross?

For the sign of the cross, we put the fingers of the right hand like this: “the great one with two small ones.” This signifies, according to the teachings of the Greater 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 Divinity is one. The Father is not begotten, and the Son is begotten, not created; The Holy Spirit is neither born nor created, but is the source (Great Cat.). The two fingers (index and great middle), having joined together, we have outstretched and somewhat inclined - this forms the two natures of Christ: Divinity and humanity; with one (index) 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 the heavens 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 Divinity, but from Him before the age the Son was born, and in the last times bow the heavens, descend to the earth and become a man". When we put our fingers on our stomach, we mean 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; He was born of her and lived on earth, suffered in the flesh for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day, and raised up from hell the righteous souls who were there. When we put our fingers on the right shoulder, this is interpreted as follows: first, that Christ ascended into heaven and is at the right hand of God the Father; second, that on the day of judgment the Lord will place the righteous on His right hand (on the right hand), and sinners on the left hand (on the 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 (Great Catech., ch. 2, folios 5, 6).

Where did the duplicity come from?

The custom to fold the fingers in this way was adopted by us from the Greeks and has been preserved with them invariably from the time of the apostles. Scientists, prof. Kapterev and Golubinsky collected a number of testimonies that in the 11th-12th centuries the Church knew only two-fingered fingers. We also find double-fingeredness on all ancient icon images (mosaics and frescoes of the 11th-14th centuries).

Information about two-fingeredness is also found in ancient Russian literature, including the writings of St. Maxim the Greek and the famous book Domostroy.

Why not tripartite?

Usually believers of other faiths, for example, New Believers, ask why the Old Believers are not baptized 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 Rite tradition. On the right - two-fingered, the Old Believers overshadow themselves with this sign of the cross

This can be answered as follows:

• Two-fingeredness was commanded to us by the apostles and fathers of the ancient Church, to which there is a lot of historical evidence. Three-fingering is a newly invented rite, the use of which has no historical justification;
• The storage of two fingers is protected by a church oath, which is contained in the ancient rite of acceptance from heretics Jacob and the resolutions of the Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551: “If anyone does not bless Christ with two fingers, or does not imagine the sign of the cross, let him be damned";
• The double finger reflects the true dogma of the Christian Creed - the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, as well as the 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 fingers distort 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 forbade the use of signs and symbols that have a heretical and non-Orthodox meaning.
  Thus, arguing with the Catholics, the holy fathers also pointed out that the mere change of species creation, the use of customs similar to heretical ones, is in itself heresy. Ep. Nikola Mefonsky wrote, in particular, about unleavened bread: The one who consumes unleavened bread, already from some similarity, is suspected of communicating with these heresies.". The truth of the dogma of two-fingeredness is recognized today, although not publicly, by various New Rite hierarchs and theologians. So oh. Andrey Kuraev in his book “Why Orthodox are like this” points out: “ I consider two-fingeredness to be a more accurate dogmatic symbol than three-fingeredness. After all, it was not the Trinity that was crucified, but “one of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God» ».

We all know perfectly well what an exceptional role the sign of the cross plays in the spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian. 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 Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of Christ. And this is not accidental, because in Christianity there is no more ancient custom than the sign of the cross, i.e. overshadowing oneself with the sign of the cross. At the end of the third century, the famous Carthaginian church teacher Tertullian wrote: “Traveling and moving, entering and leaving a room, putting on shoes, taking a bath, at the table, lighting candles, lying down, sitting down, with everything that we do - we must overshadow cross your forehead." A century after Tertullian, Saint John Chrysostom wrote the following: "Never leave your house without crossing yourself."

As we can see, the sign of the cross has come down to us from time immemorial, and our daily worship of God is inconceivable without it. However, if we are honest with ourselves, it will become absolutely obvious that quite often we make the sign of the cross out of habit, mechanically, without thinking about the meaning of this great Christian symbol. I believe that a short historical and liturgical digression will allow all of us later to make the sign of the cross more consciously, thoughtfully and reverently.

So what does the sign of the cross symbolize and under what circumstances? The sign of the cross with three fingers, which became part of our daily life, arose quite late, and entered the liturgical life of the Russian Orthodox Church only in the 17th century, during the notorious reforms of Patriarch Nikon. In the Ancient Church, only the forehead was covered with a cross. Describing the liturgical life of the Roman Church in the 3rd century, Hieromartyr Hippolytus of Rome writes: “Always try to humbly make the sign of the cross over your forehead.” Then they say about the use of one finger in the sign of the cross: St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, Blessed Jerome of Stridon, Blessed Theodoret of Kirr, church historian Sozomen, St. Gregory the Dialogist, St. John Moskh, and in the first quarter of the 8th century, St. Andrew of Crete. According to the conclusions of most modern researchers, the overshadowing of the forehead (or face) with a cross arose back in the time of the apostles and their successors. Moreover, it may seem incredible to you, but the appearance of the sign of the cross in the Christian Church was significantly influenced by Judaism. A fairly serious and competent study of this issue was conducted by the modern French theologian Jean Daniel. You all perfectly remember the Council in Jerusalem described in the book of Acts of the Apostles, which took place approximately in the year 50 after the Nativity of Christ. The main question that the apostles dealt with at the Council concerned the method of accepting into the Christian Church those people who were converted from paganism. The essence of the problem was rooted in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ preached in the midst of the Jewish God-chosen people, for whom even after the adoption of the Gospel Message, all the religious and ritual prescriptions of the Old Testament remained binding. When the apostolic preaching reached the European continent and the early Christian Church began to be filled with newly converted Greeks and representatives of other peoples, the question of the form of their acceptance naturally arose. First of all, this question concerned circumcision, i.e. the need for converted pagans to first accept the Old Testament and be circumcised, and only after that receive the Sacrament of Baptism. The Apostolic Council resolved this dispute with a very wise decision: for the Jews, the Old Testament Law and circumcision remained obligatory, while for Gentile Christians, Jewish ritual prescriptions were canceled. By virtue of this decision of the Apostolic Council in the first centuries in the Christian Church there were two most important traditions: Judeo-Christian and linguistic Christian. Thus, the Apostle Paul, who constantly emphasized that in Christ “there is neither Greek nor Jew,” remained deeply attached to his people, to his homeland, to Israel. Consider how he speaks of choosing the infidels: God chose them to arouse jealousy in Israel so that Israel would recognize in the person of Jesus the Messiah they expected. Let us also remember that after the death and Resurrection of the Savior, the apostles regularly gathered in the Jerusalem temple, and they always began their preaching outside of Palestine from the synagogue. In this context, it becomes clear why the Jewish religion could have a certain influence on the development of the external forms of worship of the young early Christian Church.

So, returning to the question of the origin of the custom of making the sign of the cross over oneself, we note that in the Jewish synagogue worship of the time of Christ and the apostles there was a rite of inscription of the name of God on the forehead. What is it? The book of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 9:4) speaks of a symbolic vision of a catastrophe that should befall a certain city. However, this death will not affect pious people, on whose foreheads the angel of the Lord will depict a certain sign. This is described in the following words: “And the Lord said to him: pass through the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and on the foreheads of people who mourn, sighing for all the abominations that are committed among him, make a sign.” Following the prophet Ezekiel, the same inscription of the name of God on the forehead is mentioned in the book of Revelation of the holy Apostle John the Theologian. So, in Rev. 14:1 says, “And I looked, and behold, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having the name of the Father written on their foreheads.” Elsewhere (Rev. 22:3-4) the following is said about the life of the future age: “And nothing will be cursed anymore; but the throne of God and the Lamb will be in him, and his servants will serve him. And they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads."

What is the name of God and how can it be depicted on the forehead? According to the ancient Jewish tradition, the name of God was symbolically imprinted with the first and last letters of the Jewish alphabet, which were “alef” and “tav”. This meant that God is Infinite and Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Eternal. He is the fullness of all conceivable perfections. Since a person can describe the world around him with the help of words, and words consist of letters, the first and final letters of the alphabet in writing the name of God indicate that the fullness of being is contained in Him, He encompasses everything that can be described by human language. By the way, the symbolic inscription of the name of God with the help of the first and last letters of the alphabet is also found in Christianity. Remember, in the book of the Apocalypse the Lord says about himself: "I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end." Since the Apocalypse was originally written in Greek, it became obvious to the reader that the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet in the description of the name of God testify to the fullness of Divine perfections. Often we can also see icon-painting images of Christ, in whose hands an open book with an inscription of only two letters: alpha and omega.

According to the above passage from the prophecy of Ezekiel, the elect will have on their foreheads the inscription of the name of God, which was associated with the letters "aleph" and "tav". The meaning of this inscription is symbolic - a person who has the name of God on his forehead - has completely given himself to God, dedicated himself to Him and lives according to the Law of God. Only such a person is worthy of salvation. Wishing to outwardly show their devotion to God, the Jews of the time of Christ already imposed on their foreheads the inscription of the letters "aleph" and "tav". Over time, in order to simplify this symbolic action, they began to depict only the letter “tav”. It is 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 the cross on his forehead meant, as in Judaism, the dedication of his entire life to God. Moreover, the imposition of a cross on the forehead already resembled not so much the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, but rather the Savior's sacrifice on the cross. When the Christian Church finally freed itself from 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 about the first meaning, Christians of later eras filled the sign of the Cross with new meaning and content.

Approximately by the 4th century, Christians began to overshadow their entire body with a cross, i.e. the well-known "wide cross" appeared. However, the imposition of the sign of the cross at this time was still preserved with one finger. Moreover, by the 4th century, Christians began to cross over not only themselves, but also surrounding objects. So a contemporary of this era, the Monk Ephraim the Syrian writes: “Our houses, our doors, our lips, our chest, all our members are overshadowed by the life-giving cross. You, Christians, do not leave this cross at any time, at any hour; May he be with you wherever you go. Do nothing without the cross; whether you lie down or wake up, work or rest, eat or drink, travel on land or sail on the sea - constantly adorn all your members with this life-giving cross.

In the 9th century, one-fingeredness gradually began to be replaced by two-fingeredness, which was due to the wide spread of the heresy of Monophysitism in the Middle East and Egypt. When the heresy of the Monophysites appeared, it used the hitherto used form of finger-composition - single-fingeredness to propagate its teaching, since it saw in single-fingeredness a symbolic expression of its teaching about the one nature in Christ. Then the Orthodox, contrary to the Monophysites, began to use the sign of the cross with two fingers, as a symbolic expression of the Orthodox teaching about the 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 inserted deep doctrinal truths into the external forms of worship of God.

An earlier and very important evidence of the use of two fingers by the Greeks belongs to the Nestorian Metropolitan Elijah Geveri, who lived at the end of the 9th-10th centuries. Wishing to reconcile the Monophysites with the Orthodox and the Nestorians, he wrote that the latter disagreed with the Monophysites in depicting the cross. Namely, one sign of the cross is depicted with one finger, leading the hand from left to right; others with two fingers, leading, on the contrary, from right to left. Monophysites, crossing themselves with one finger from left to right, emphasize by this that they believe in one Christ. Nestorians and Orthodox, depicting the cross in a sign with two fingers - from right to left, thereby confess their belief that on the cross humanity and deity were united together, that this was the reason for our salvation.

In addition to Metropolitan Elijah Geveri, the well-known St. John of Damascus also wrote about double-fingeredness in his monumental systematization of Christian doctrine, known as the Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.

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 by the 12th century the struggle with the Monophysites had already ended, the double-fingeredness lost its demonstrative and polemical character. However, double-fingering made Orthodox Christians related to the Nestorians, who also used double-fingeredness. Desiring to make a change in the external form of their worship of God, the Orthodox Greeks began to overshadow themselves with the sign of the cross with three fingers, thereby emphasizing their veneration of the Most Holy Trinity. In Russia, as already noted, the three-finger was introduced in the 17th century during the reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

Thus, summing up this message, it can be noted that the sign of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is not only the most ancient, but also one of the most important Christian symbols. Its accomplishment requires from us a deep, thoughtful and reverent attitude. Many centuries ago, John Chrysostom exhorted us to think about this with the following words: “You must not just draw a cross with your fingers,” he wrote. "You have to do it in faith."

Hegumen PAVEL, Candidate of Theology, Inspector of MinDA
minds.by

Why not tripartite?

Usually believers of other faiths, for example, New Believers, ask why the Old Believers are not baptized with three fingers, like members of other Eastern churches.

To this, the Old Believers answer:

Two-fingeredness was commanded to us by the apostles and fathers of the ancient Church, to which there is a lot of historical evidence. Three-fingering is a newly invented rite, the use of which has no historical justification.

The storage of two fingers is protected by a church oath, which is contained in the ancient rite of acceptance from heretics Jacob and the resolutions of the Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551: “If anyone does not bless with two fingers like Christ, or does not imagine the sign of the cross, let him be damned.”

The double finger reflects the true dogma of the Christian Creed - the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, as well as the 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 fingers distort 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, the holy fathers categorically forbade the use of signs and symbols that have heretical and non-Orthodox meaning.

Thus, arguing with the Catholics, the holy fathers also pointed out that the mere change of species creation, the use of customs similar to heretical ones, is in itself heresy. Ep. Nicholas of Methonsky wrote, in particular, about unleavened bread: “He who uses unleavened bread, already from some similarity, is suspected of communicating with these heresies.” The truth of the dogma of two-fingeredness is recognized today, although not publicly, by various New Rite hierarchs and theologians. So oh. Andrey Kuraev, in his book “Why are the Orthodox like that,” points out: “I consider two-fingeredness to be a more accurate dogmatic symbol than three-fingeredness. After all, it was not the Trinity that was crucified, but “one of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God.”

Source: ruvera.ru

So what is the right way to be baptized? Compare some of the photos below. They are taken from various open sources.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Bishop Anthony of Slutsk and Soligorsk clearly use two fingers. And the rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Healer" in the city of Slutsk, Archpriest Alexander Shklyarevsky and parishioner Boris Kleschukevich folded three fingers of their right hand.

Probably, the question is still open and various sources answer it differently. Even St. Basil the Great wrote: “In the Church, everything is fine and according to order, let it happen.” The sign of the cross is a visible evidence of our faith. To find out whether the Orthodox is in front of you or not, you just need to ask him to cross himself, and by how he does it and whether he does it at all, everything will become clear. Yes, and let us remember the gospel: “He who is faithful in little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10).

The sign of the cross is a visible evidence of our faith, so it must be performed carefully and with reverence.

The power of the Sign of the Cross is unusually great. In the Lives of the Saints there are stories about how demonic spells dissipated after being overshadowed by the Cross. Therefore, those who are baptized carelessly, fussily and inattentively, simply please the demons.

How to overshadow yourself with the Sign of the Cross?

1) You need to put three fingers of your right hand (thumb, index and middle) together, which symbolizes the three faces of the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. By connecting these fingers together, we testify to the unity of the Holy Indivisible Trinity.

2) The other two fingers (little finger and ring finger) are tightly bent to the palm, thus symbolizing the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ: Divine and human.

3) First, folded fingers are placed on the forehead, to sanctify the mind; then on the stomach (but not lower) - for the consecration of internal abilities (will, mind and feelings); after that - on the right, and then on the left shoulder - to consecrate our bodily forces, because the shoulder symbolizes activity ("turn the shoulder" - to help).

4) Only after lowering the hand, we make a waist bow so as not to “break the Cross”. This is a common mistake - bowing at the same time as the Sign of the Cross. This should not be done.

The bow after the sign of the Cross is made because we have just depicted on ourselves (overshadowed ourselves) the Calvary Cross, and we worship it.

In general, at present, on the question “How to be baptized?” many people don't pay attention. For example, in one of his blogs, Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov writes that “... the truth of the Church is not tested by how a person feels in her temple: good or bad ... being baptized with two or three fingers no longer plays any role, because these two rites are recognized Church of equal honor. In the same place, Archpriest Alexander Berezovsky confirms: "Be baptized as you like."

Here is an illustration posted on the website of the Temple of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Lyubimovka, Sevastopol, Crimea.

There is also a memo for those who are just joining the Orthodox Church and still do not know much. A kind of alphabet.

When should you be baptized?

In the temple:

Be sure to be baptized at the time the priest reads the Six Psalms and at the beginning of the singing of the Creed.

It is also necessary to overshadow oneself with the sign of the cross at those moments when the clergyman pronounces the words: "By the power of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross."

It is necessary to be baptized during the beginning of the singing of proverbs.

It is necessary to be baptized not only before entering the church, but also after you have left its walls. Even passing by any temple, you need to cross yourself once.

After the parishioner has kissed the icon or the cross, he must also cross himself without fail.

On the street:

Passing by any Orthodox church, one should be baptized for the reason that in every church in the altar, on the throne, Christ himself abides, the Body and Blood of the Lord in the cup, which have the fullness of Jesus Christ.

If you are not baptized, passing by the temple, you should remember the words of Christ: “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark. 8:38).

But, you should understand the reason why you did not begin to be baptized, if this is embarrassment, then you should cross yourself, if this is an impossibility, for example, you are driving and your hands are busy, then you should mentally cross yourself, also you should not be baptized, if for around, this can become an occasion for ridicule at the church, so you should understand the reason.

Houses:

Immediately after waking up and immediately before going to bed;

At the beginning of reading any prayer and after its completion;

Before and after meals;

Before starting any work.

Selected and prepared materials
Vladimir Khvorov