The Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is a common practice and is easily recognized by most people as a Christian gesture. It is often done with two fingers to symbolize the two natures of Christ, with the remaining three fingers touching to symbolize the Holy Trinity.  The motion of moving from the forehead to the torso symbolizes Christ lowering Himself to become man at the Incarnation.  The Left to Right motion symbolizes Christ passing from death to the right hand of the Father.  At times, the sign of the cross is made by tracing a cross with the fingers on the forehead, lips, and breast.  This is to remind us that the Gospel should be ever in our mind, on our lips, and in our heart.

There are some Christians, however, who reject its use as a “Catholic practice” that is superstitious and unbiblical.   A simple explanation is often all that is needed to refute this claim.  After all, it is not uncommon for Christians to hang crosses in their places of worship or in their homes to serve as a reminder and a source of comfort when needed.  People have put crosses on Bibles, jewelry, clothing, signs, and bumper stickers for the same purpose. Making the sign of the cross upon ourselves, then, should seem only natural to Christians, given the cross’s importance to the Christian faith.  Furthermore, the sign of the cross is not of superstitious origin, but was rather intended to be a mindful prayer, recalling our salvation through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross and reminding us that we belong to Him.  Because we are both body and soul, our prayers may be offered through both words and gestures, such as kneeling, folding our hands, holding hands with each other, or outstretching our arms in front of us.  None of these gestures are considered superstitious, but rather reflect the respect and dignity owed to God, our love of Jesus Christ, and the fellowship and communion that we have with each other.

This is only emphasized by the words that often accompany the sign of the cross;

”In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.”

It should be immediately apparent to Christians that this recited formula comes straight from Scripture as Jesus told the apostles, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).  The Sign of the Cross, therefore, also reminds us of our baptism and the promises that came with it.  The gesture itself, a cross over the body, is implicitly found in the book of Ezekiel: “Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it” (Ezek. 9:4). The mark was given to those who remained faithful to the Lord and would be spared from God’s wrath and judgment.  The word used here for mark is the Hebrew letter, taw. In Greek it is the letter tau, which is T-shaped.  This mark on the forehead of the faithful is also found in Revelation 7:3, 9:4, and 14:1.

The sign of the cross has been in use since the early Church, as we find evidence in the Church Fathers that the practice was already familiar to Christians by the second century.  Tertullian of Carthage wrote in 211 C.E.; “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupieth us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross” (The Crown 3:2).  St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote; “Let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are travelling, and when we are at rest”(Catecheses 13:36).   In the fourth century, St Jerome records the sign of the cross being traced on the lips  (Jerome, “The Life of Paulus the First Hermit”) and Aurelius Clemens Prudentius records Christians tracing the cross on the heart (Prudentius, “Cathemerinon.”, 6:129).  Epiphanius of Salamis tells  of a holy man Josephus, who gave a vessel of water the power of overthrowing magical incantations by “making over the vessel with his finger the seal of the cross” (Panarion 30:12).  Sozomen (VII, xxvi), describes how Bishop Donatus “made the sign of the cross with his finger in the air.”

Even Martin Luther urged his followers to use the sign. In his Catechism of 1529 he instructed fathers to teach their households the following: “In the morning, when you rise from bed, sign yourself with the holy cross and say, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.’…At night, when you go to bed, sign yourself with the holy cross and say, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.’”