Making the Sign of the Cross

The custom of making the sign of the cross is as old as Christianity.  In the Roman Empire, the cross was an instrument to execute the death penalty.  Being nailed to the cross, Christ converted that instrument of death to a symbol of eternal life.  To make the sign of the cross is the external sign of belonging to the Christian faith.  It is permissible to make the sign of the cross anywhere and any time:  on entering the church, before and after saying a prayer, and during Holy Liturgy every time the priest turns and blesses the faithful.

To make the sign of the cross, we join the tips of the thumb, the index and the middle finger as a sign of the Holy Trinity.  The other two fingers, the ring and the little finger are clutched together in the palm as a sign of Christ being the perfect God and the perfect man in a single nature.

We first take our three joined fingers to our forehead as we say, “In the name of the Father”, then we lower them to our chest as we say “and the Son”, then to the left side of the chest as we say “and the Holy”, then to the right side of the chest as we say “Spirit”, and finally, we place the open palm to our chest as we say “Amen”.

To touch the forehead symbolizes the heavenly life that we have lost and want to recover by the mediation of the Crucified Savior.  Lowering of the hand to the chest signifies the fall from the heavenly to the earthly life.  Moving our hand to the left signifies being placed in the rank of the sinners, while to the right, means the blessed life and being placed in the rank of the righteous.

The cross is the sign of Christ that we mark on four sides of our body to stay away from temptations of the world, from the devil, from non-believers and from sins.

The sign of the cross reminds us of the crucified Christ, whose death became the salvation of man.  The “Amen” in making the sign of the cross confirms the truth of all of the above.