The history of the sign of the cross.

Externally expressed in such a movement of the hand that it reproduces the symbolic outline of the Cross on which the Lord was crucified; at the same time, the overshadowing expresses the inner vo; into Christ as the incarnate Son of God, the Redeemer of men; love and gratitude towards, hope for His protection from the actions of fallen spirits, hope for.

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

The first three fingers folded together express our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as a consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, and 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 overshadow oneself with the sign of the cross without haste: put it on the forehead (1), on the stomach (2), on the right shoulder (3) and then on the left (4). Lowering your right hand, you can bow to the ground or to the ground.

Covering ourselves with the sign of the cross, we touch with three fingers folded together to forehead- to sanctify our mind, to belly- to sanctify our inner feelings (), then to the right, then to the left shoulders- to sanctify our bodily powers.

Of those who signify themselves with all fives, or bow before having finished the cross, or wave their hand in the air or across their chest, the saint said: "The 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.

Aware of our sinfulness and unworthiness before God, we, as a sign of our humility, accompany our prayer with bows. They are waist, when we bend to the waist, and earthly, when, bowing and kneeling, we touch the ground with our head.

"The custom of making the sign of the cross dates back to the times of the apostles." (Complete. Orthodoxy. Theological encycloped. Dictionary, St. Petersburg. Publishing house P.P. Soykin, bg, p. 1485). At the time, the sign of the cross had already deeply entered the life of Christians contemporary to him. In the treatise "On the Crown of a Warrior" (about 211), he writes that we protect our foreheads with the sign of the Cross in all circumstances of life: entering and leaving the house, dressing, lighting lamps, going to bed, sitting down for some activity ...

The sign of the cross is not only part of a religious ceremony. First of all, it is a great weapon. The motherlands, fathers and the lives of the saints contain many examples that testify to the real spiritual power that the image possesses.

Already the holy apostles performed miracles by the power of the sign of the cross. Once the Apostle John the Theologian found a sick person lying on the road, suffering greatly from fever, and healed him with the sign of the cross (Saint. Life of the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian. September 26).

With which hand is it correct to cross and how is it correct to be baptized - from left to right or from right to left? How to fold your fingers correctly? Why is it necessary to be baptized and should it be done before entering the temple?

The essence of the sign of the cross, why should you be baptized?

The sign of the cross for a believer unites several essences: religious, spiritual-mystical and psychological.

Religious essence consists in the fact that by overshadowing himself with the banner of the cross, a person shows that he is a Christian and lives with Christ; that he is part of the Christian community, values ​​its traditions and values ​​them. That he remembers and keeps in his heart the whole earthly life of Christ - from his first to his last day - and tries to match it to the best of his ability. That honors and tries to live according to the commandments that were given by Christ.

Spiritual and mystical essence lies in the fact that the sign of the cross itself has life-giving power - protecting the one who is baptized and sanctifying him. The cross is a spiritual image that a person puts on himself, “overshadows” himself with it - makes himself similar to Christ in the degree of his faith. Therefore, Christians have a reverent attitude towards the sign of the cross and they try to be baptized not in haste, "fidgety", but - with accountability.

At the same time, when it is said that the sign of the cross has a certain "mystical" essence, it does not mean that the cross is a "mathematical" formula - such as the Indian mantra, or the rituals of magicians - which begins to "act" from a simple repetition of a set of actions or words. In an inexplicable way for human understanding, the cross sanctifies everyone who is baptized, but at the same time everyone is "rewarded according to his faith" ...

The sign of the cross is a prayer and the attitude towards it should be appropriate.

Emotional and psychological essence of the sign of the cross lies in the fact that a believer unknowingly begins to be baptized when he is “used” (at certain moments of service), or at those moments when he wants to gather himself together internally (before an important matter, before a secret step), or simply when he experiences psychological fear of something. Or vice versa - we are filled with joy and gratitude to God. Then the hand "begins to cross itself."

With what hand and how should the Orthodox be baptized correctly?

In the Orthodox tradition, you need to be baptized with your right hand - regardless of whether you are right-handed or left-handed.

The order is as follows: forehead - belly - right - then left shoulder.

It is possible to “shrink” the sign of the cross (not the stomach, but the chest) - for example, in situations when there are unbelievers around, you want to cross yourself, but you try to do it “imperceptibly”.

The main thing is not to shrink the cross "inside yourself", to always remember about its greatness, importance and power.

How to fold your fingers correctly (photo)

The Orthodox tradition says that the fingers should be folded like this: the thumb, middle and forefinger are brought together - this symbolizes the Holy Trinity - and the ring finger and little finger are pressed to the palm.

Is it possible to cross in some other way, for example, with two fingers or from left to right? No - in the Orthodox Church it is customary to cross with three fingers from right to left and you need to do this - without reasoning. Even if we assume that the number of fingers is a convention and an earthly establishment (referring to the fact that Old Believers are still baptized in two, as all Orthodox in Russia once did), the very violation of tradition brings more spiritual harm to a person than good.

A page from the pre-revolutionary book "The Law of God", which also tells about how to correctly fold the fingers at the sign of the cross, and what all this symbolizes.

Should I be baptized before entering the temple or walking through the temple?

It is customary to be baptized when entering the temple. For a person who is just getting to know religion, this may seem like an artificial rule (sort of like "must"), but over time it becomes a natural and even a need - to "gather" internally, to overshadow himself with Christ's symbol and power, to pay tribute to the temple in which the sacraments are performed.

As for the situation when you just see the temple and walk past it, then a person must rely on his feelings and there are no rules. There are people who overshadow themselves with a sign every time they see the domes of the temple. There are those who do not do this, but at the same time in life they will be no less an example of a Christian.

Read this and other posts in our group in

It would seem, what could be easier than crossing yourself? We put our fingers together and ... So. And how, in fact, fold your fingers correctly?
And why is it so? 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 (are baptized), asking for help from God to confess or testify to their faith in Jesus Christ, in His death on the Cross and His resurrection. By the way a person is baptized, you can determine what religion he 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 together, and the ring and little fingers (also folded together) are pressed against the palm of the hand. 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.

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 the senses, then on the right and left shoulder. This is the sanctification of bodily powers.

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" (unless other prayers are said). One should be baptized, avoiding too fast, abrupt, abrupt or circular movements. The sign of the cross implies slowness and feeling. A bow or bow is performed 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 differently (for example, from left to right), you should not rush to make a remark to them: it is possible that they were brought up in a different worship culture. Otherwise, Old Believers, believers of the Armenian-Gregorian confession, Catholics are baptized (they cross with an open palm and in a different sequence: from the left shoulder to the right) and those of the 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 folding the fingers, adopted in the Orthodox Church, is called three fingers.
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, Old Believers are baptized in this way. Three-fingered and two-fingered are different ways of the sign of the cross, therefore, one of them cannot be considered the only possible or, on the contrary, erroneous.

Nevertheless, you can often see an erroneous version of the sign of the cross, which is found in many old textbooks: instead of the belly, the fingers are placed on the chest. Even in the recently published book by V. Artyomov "Orthodox Divine Service" it is said: the forehead, chest, right and left shoulder are baptized. "This method is distorted because if the cross, built by mentally connecting the points on the forehead, chest and shoulders, turns out to be inverted: its lower end is shorter than the upper one.
Christians began to overshadow themselves with the sign of the cross already from 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. The imposition of the full (forehead - belly - shoulders) sign of the cross was first mentioned in Georgian sources - in the "Life of St. Nina, Equal to the Apostles". 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, three fingers appeared.

A sign for life
According to Orthodox teaching, the power of the sign of the cross, like prayer, calls on God's help and protects from the influence of demonic forces. In addition, it is known from the lives 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 placed instead of a name, believing that it was more responsible to vouch with the power of the cross than with a name. The Cross of Christ sanctifies a wide variety of actions and objects, therefore the sign of the cross accompanies a believer throughout his life.

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

Once the sign of the cross is performed with the exclamations "Take, eat ...", "Drink everything from her ...", "Yours from Yours ...", as well as "Glory to Thee, Christ God ...". One should be baptized while reading or singing "The Most Honorable Cherubim ...". The sign of the cross is performed three times during the reading or singing "Hallelujah", the Trisagion, "Come, let us worship ...", and also with the exclamation "Glory to Thee, Christ our God ...". At each recitation of the words "let us bow down", "worship," let us 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 the reading or singing of each prayer or hymn. the sign of the cross is also performed.In all these cases, the sign of the cross is performed with a bow in the waist.

The threefold sign of the cross with an earthly bow 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 church. This knowledge comes to believers with experience. There are certain rules that do not allow the sign of the cross in this or that case.

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

When people are overshadowed in a church with the Cross, the Gospel, an icon or a Chalice, everyone must be baptized, bowing their heads, and when people are overshadowed with candles, hand or censed, people do not need to be baptized, but only bow.

Of course, everything is not limited to this list. 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 only overshadows the bent head of the believer with a cross from left to right, and not from right to left, like a man overshadowing himself. A mother makes the sign of the cross over her child, spouses - each other, one loved one - another (for example, when a loved one sets off on a journey). This sign of the cross is called a blessing.
It is customary to sign the sign of the Cross on food before eating it, and in some cases, other items of personal or household use (for example, a bed before bedtime).

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 notions that the sign of the cross or the wearing of a cross is in itself "protection from evil forces." The sign itself is worthless without inner spiritual participation and sincere faith in the power of the Cross.

History knows many examples when the Lord, by the faith of people, through the sign of the cross, worked miracles. The Apostle John the Theologian, as his disciple Saint Prochorus narrates, with the sign of the Cross healed a sick person who was lying on the way. And the pious Ir, according to 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 got stronger, the eye regained his sight, the hearing opened and the patient became healthy. The Monk 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 raised the dead and made the human body unharmed. Thus, the First Martyr Thekla overshadowed the wood 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 middle of the flames in a kindled oven she stood for a long time in the fire without any harm. Doomed to be torn apart by beasts, the martyrs Avdon, Sinnis, the great martyr Panteleimon and many other martyrs made the sign of the cross, and fierce beasts, like meek lambs, kissed the feet of God's people. With the almighty power of the Cross of Christ, deadly and harmless poisons turned out to be, as can be seen from the lives of St. Juvenal 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 these 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 moved into a small hotel where several people were already living. Lunch was offered to all of them. And when they gathered at the table, the priest, as the shepherd of the Church, suggested: "Brothers, first of all let us stand for prayer. Let us pray before we eat." Everyone stood up, the priest read the Lord's Prayer "Our Father" and, ending it, turning to the table, overshadowed everything with a cruciform pastoral blessing.

And at that very second, a large decanter of kvass, which was standing on the table, for no apparent reason and without any blow from the side, shattered to smithereens. Kvass spilled, everyone gasped. The hostess of the hotel grabbed her head and rushed into the adjacent room, from where her cry came. She immediately ran back, threw herself at the priest's feet and admitted that she had put this decanter on the table by mistake. It contained poisoned kvass prepared for the murder of her husband. On the table, she wanted to put another decanter with good kvass, but got mixed up, since both decanters were exactly the same. And if it were not for the Lord's prayer, if the shepherd had not overshadowed the table for the meal with his blessing, many people would have perished.

There are a lot of similar stories these days. The cross strengthens and saves a sincere believer. Even dying at the last moment, a Christian makes the sign of the cross with a chilling hand, protecting and sanctifying himself on his last journey. And they put a cross on the grave of a Christian so that everyone knows that a believer rests under this cross.

Purification, enlightenment and transformation
From the story of the sign of the cross, it is so natural to move on to talking about the cross itself. In our case - 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 imagine the whole horror of crucifixion.
The cross was in the Roman Empire a method of execution intended for slaves and for those cases when the death penalty wanted to increase dishonor. The crucifixion was considered by the Romans the most terrible death penalty. As Cicero said, "the very name of the cross is contrary to the Roman ear, sight and hearing."

At first, the cross was placed upright, then the condemned was attached to it, nailing his hands to a tree with nails. The legs were often nailed too, but sometimes they were only tied with ropes. A horizontal plank was nailed to the foot, at the height of the feet, for their support, or a crossbar was arranged in the middle (hence the expression "sit on the cross", which is found in many descriptions of the crucifixion). 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 included everything that is terrible and outrageous in torture and death: dizziness, convulsions, loss of energy, insomnia, fever due to wounds, tetanus, publicity of shame , the duration of suffering, Antonov fire in open wounds - all this, taken together and to the highest degree, but without deprivation of feelings, which alone could become a kind of relief for the sufferer. gangrene corroded near the nails; the arteries — especially in the head and abdomen — swelled and tensed from the rush of blood. To all these varied and ever-increasing torments were added unbearable heat and excruciating thirst. , this terrible unknown enemy, at the approach of which every man trembles, did pleasant, the dream of her - delightful. "

“The cruel feature of the death penalty was that in this terrible state one could live in terrible agony for three to four days. Bleeding from wounds in the hands soon stopped and could not be fatal at all. circulatory disorders, terrible headaches, pain in the heart and, finally, numbness of the limbs. Crucified on the cross, if they had a strong physique, could even sleep and only died of hunger. The main idea of ​​this cruel execution was not the direct mortification of the convict with the help of certain injuries his body, and exposing the pub with nailed hands, of which he could not make good use, to the pillory, where he was represented to rot, "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 Saint James was the bishop of Jerusalem. Then this cross was lost for a long time and was found only by the wife of the holy emperor Constantine, Saint Helena in the 4th century.

The scope of the excavations organized by her was great, and as a result, Saint Helena found three crosses, but she did not know on which of them Jesus Christ suffered. In the end, she ordered to bring the body of the dead man and put it on one of the crosses. The contact had no effect on the dead. Elena ordered to put the body on the second cross, then on the third. Upon contact with the third cross, the dead immediately rose again. This is how the cross was found, on which Jesus was crucified. Helen sent part of this cross to the Emperor Constantine, who, in turn, sent it to the Pope. A fragment of the shrine is still kept in Rome in the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. Helen again buried most of the cross in the church built on the site of Calvary.
Near the cross was found a tablet with the inscription "Jesus of Nazareth, 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 to 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, the concept of salutary worship of the cross was combined with the idea of ​​bearing the cross. The Evangelist Mark writes about Christ: "And calling the people with his disciples, he said to them: whoever wants to follow Me, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me." Christ's disciples taught not only the worship of the cross, but also the ascent to the cross. The Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans writes: “And so we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too can walk in a renewed life ... If we died with Christ, then we believe that we will also live we will be with him. "

"The cross is the heavenly and earthly union and the trampling of the underworlds," wrote John Chrysostom. For Christians, the cross is both cleansing, and enlightenment, and transformation, and a guarantee of the century to come. Blessed Augustine wrote in the 5th century: "If we do not use the sign of the cross either on the foreheads of believers, or during the anointing with which we were anointed, or over the holy sacrifice that we eat, then everything is fruitless."

The cross is also a symbol of Christ. The two "arms" of the horizontal axis represent the two fundamental ideas of Christianity: forgiveness and redemption and God's punishment. The two intersecting axes that make up the cross represent the double nature of the Savior: the horizontal axis is His earthly nature, the vertical axis is Divine.
The cross is a manifestation of spirit and strength. The entire 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" (Epistle to Galatians, II, 19-20). “And the Church has its own trophy over death - this is the Cross of Christ, which it bears on itself,” 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 all success and luck, at every entry and exit, when dressing and putting on shoes, starting a meal, lighting lamps, going to bed, sitting down for some occupation, we shield 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 different 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 baptize 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 derived 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 revive. But the words "peasant" and "peasant woman", according to V. Dahl, mean "baptized person". Both words appeared in Russian relatively late, after the baptism of Rus. Obviously, the consonance of the words "cross" and Christ played an important role in their invention.

One of the twelve feasts is dedicated to the glorification of the Lord's Cross. 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 raised up, and the demons are running, now all the creature is free from aphids." At the end of the canon, the sanctuary says: "The Cross, the guardian of all universes; the Cross, the beauty of the Church; the Cross of the faithful in affirmation; the Cross, glory of angels and demons of the plague."

The main feature of this holiday is the removal of the Holy Cross from the altar to the middle of the church. The same happens on the week of the Cross on the 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 will risk ending this article with an excerpt from the oldest Russian written monument "The Tale of Bygone Years" in 1068. Almost a thousand years ago, our ancestors wrote about the power of the Cross: "Behold, God reveal the power of the cross, before Izyaslav kissed the Cross, and I did; in the same way God of trash, save this Honorable Cross for Java on the day of the Exaltation, Vseslav sighed at the speech: O Honest Cross, save me from this ditch by faith! God will show the power of the cross in showing the land of Russia, may they not transgress the Honorable Cross, who kissed him; if anyone transcends, then he will be executed here, and on the previous vice, an eternal penalty. There is still a great power of the god: the Cross is more runaway there are demonic forces, the Cross will help the prince in boaneh, in the boaneh We will protect the opposing adversaries with the Cross. , if there are from the devil of dreaming, those who marked the face with the Cross are banished. "

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

Alexander Okonishnikov

"HONESTLY" , September 12, 2007

Sign of the cross(Church-Slavic "sign of the cross") - in Christianity, a prayer gesture, which is an image of a cross on itself. The sign of the cross is performed on different occasions, for example, when entering and leaving a church, before or after saying a prayer, during a service, as a sign of confessing one's faith and on other occasions; also when blessing someone or something. The action of a person performing the sign of the cross is usually called “making the sign of the cross,” “making the sign of the cross,” or “being baptized” (the latter should be distinguished from the word “baptized” in the meaning of “accepting the sacrament of Baptism”). The sign of the cross is used in many Christian denominations, however, it differs in the variants of folding the fingers (usually in this context, the Church Slavonic word “fingers” is used: “folding of fingers”, “finger-making”), and the direction of movement of the hand.

Catholicism

In the West, unlike the Orthodox Church, there have never been conflicts regarding the folding of the fingers at the sign of the cross, as in the Russian Church, and even now there are various variants of it. Suffice it to say that in many Catholic prayer books, speaking of the sign of the cross, they quote only the prayer being said at the same time (In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti), without saying anything about the combination of fingers (a situation that is quite rare for Orthodox prayer books and almost impossible for Old Believers). Even Catholics-traditionalists, who are usually quite strict about the rite and its symbolism, admit the existence of various options here.

The following description of the sign of the cross is given (translated into Russian) from one American traditionalist site.

The sign of the cross is performed as follows:

* Option A. On your right hand, place your thumb and ring fingers together, and hold your index and middle fingers together in an indication of the two natures of Christ. This is the most common practice of Western Catholics.
* Option B. Hold the thumb and forefinger of your right hand together to represent the two Christ natures.
* Option C. Hold the thumb, forefinger, and middle fingers of your right hand (representing the Holy Trinity) together, with the ring finger and little finger (representing the two natures of Christ) bent to the palm of your hand. This is a typical practice for Eastern Catholics.
* Option D. Keep your right hand open with all five fingers - representing the 5 wounds of Christ - together and slightly bent, and your thumb slightly bent to the palm.

* Touch your forehead while saying (or mentally praying), "In nomine Patris" ("In the name of the Father").
* Touch the chest or upper abdomen while saying “et Filii” (“and the Son”).
* Touch the left shoulder then the right shoulder while saying “et Spiritus Sancti” (“and the Holy Spirit”).

Note that some people end the sign of the cross by crossing their thumb and forefinger and kissing their thumb, as if "kissing the Cross."

From this description, it is easy to see that option A is a slightly modified two-fingered, and option C, as indicated there, is a three-fingered. In practice, however, at least in Russia, most Catholics use Option D.

As for the direction of movement of the hand when depicting a cross, initially in the West they were baptized in the same way as in the East, that is, first the right shoulder, then the left. Later, however, in the West, the opposite practice was formed, when they first touch the left shoulder, and only then the right. This is symbolically explained in such a way that Christ, with his Cross, transferred the believers from death and condemnation (which are still designated by the left side) to the right side of those who are being saved.

When a Catholic makes the sign of the cross for the first time, entering the temple, he first dips his fingertips in a special bowl of holy water. This gesture, which seems to be an echo of the ancient custom of washing hands before celebrating the Eucharist, was later rethought as a rite performed in remembrance of the sacrament of Baptism. Some Catholics perform this ritual at home, before starting home prayer.

The priest, blessing, uses the same sign of the sign as at the sign of the cross, and leads his hand in the same way as an Orthodox priest, that is, from left to right.

In addition to the usual, large cross, it was preserved in the Latin rite as a remnant of an ancient practice, the so-called. small cross. It is performed during Mass, before the reading of the Gospel, when the clergy and worshipers with the thumb of their right hand depict three small crosses on the forehead, lips and chest.