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Joined: Apr 2005
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How does The Church of the East make the sign of the cross?
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Joined: Oct 2003
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Fatman,
Left to right:
Oriental Orthodox
Oriental Catholics
Syro-Malabarese Catholics (despite common origins with the Assyrians, Ancient Church of the East, and Chaldeans)
Maronite Catholics
Latin Catholics
Right to left:
Eastern Orthodox
Old Ritualists
Eastern (Byzantine) Catholics
Chaldean Catholics
Assyrians
Ancient Church of the East
Don't think I left anyone out.
Many years,
Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
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Yes, but what about how thy hold there fingers while making the sigh of the cross?
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Holding the three fingers together to form one unit, symbolizes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as being ONE...
IMHO, it is quite a beautiful symbolism to explain the sacred theology of the Triune God--just like St. Patrick's use of the three leaf clover-
While we are on the subject, I would like to ask why the Western form of crossing oneself holds all the fingers open?
Thanks,
Alice
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I have been told that the West uses all five fingers in making the Sign of the Cross in honor and recalling of the Five Wounds. I don't guarantee that answer, but I've not encountered any other.
Fr. Serge
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And some in the West use the first two fingers while holding the thumb against the two smaller fingers as a sign of the Two Nature of Christ plus the Holy Trinity.
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I have been told that the West uses all five fingers in making the Sign of the Cross in honor and recalling of the Five Wounds. I don't guarantee that answer, but I've not encountered any other. I've seen this, and many other ways, too--but most often the sign of the cross is made so quickly and furtively that it's almost impossible to tell what is being done.
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Christ is Risen!
For some reason I thought Oriental Orthodox used the index finger of their right hand to cross themselves from left to right to signify their miaphysite Dogma of the Nature of the Son.
Where did I get that idea? Maybe the priests bless with the index finger. I don't remember.
In Christ God,
Robert
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The finger formation of crossing oneself in Latin Christianity is not as uniform as it is in Byzantine Christianity. From everything I've ever seen, there are no hard and fast rules. Most do the open palm/five finger approach, which as Fr. Serge said, symbolizes the Five Wounds Our Lord received on the Cross - though whether this explanation came after the practice, I don't know.
I use the "Byzantine" finger formation, but of course cross myself left-to-right, as a Latin Catholic.
It is also very common in Latin Catholicism, especially among Hispanics, to cross one's index finger and thumb (imitating the shape of a cross) and to kiss it/venerate it after having made the larger Sign of the Cross. I've always thought this is a beautiful way to "venerate" the Cross.
Alexis
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