The sign of the cross (Latin: signum crucis), or 'blessing oneself even 'crossing oneself'(sic), is a ritual blessing made by members of many branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by a priest, religious or individuals by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with the right hand, often accompanied by spoken or mental recitation of a trinitarian formula.
The motion is the tracing of the shape of a cross in the air or on one's own body, echoing the traditional shape of the cross of the Christian Crucifixion narrative. There are two principal forms: the one—three fingers, right to left—is exclusively used in the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church of the Byzantine and Chaldean Tradition; the other—left to right, other than three fingers—is the one used in the Latin, Syriac, Syro-Malankara, Armenian, Coptic, Maronite, and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Lutheranism and Oriental Orthodoxy (see below). The ritual is rare within other Christian traditions.
Read more about Sign Of The Cross: Gesture, Use, Origins, Protestant Views
Famous quotes containing the words sign of, sign and/or cross:
“Whether he admits it or not, a man has been brought up to look at money as a sign of his virility, a symbol of his power, a bigger phallic symbol than a Porsche.”
—Victoria Billings (b. 1945)
“If we define a sign as an exact reference, it must include symbol because a symbol is an exact reference too. The difference seems to be that a sign is an exact reference to something definite and a symbol an exact reference to something indefinite.”
—William York Tindall (1903–1981)
“But soft, behold! lo where it comes again!
I’ll cross it though it blast me. Stay, illusion!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)