Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is a term applied to “various gestures, liturgical or devotional in character, which have this in common: that by the gesture of tracing two lines intersecting at right angles they indicate symbolically the figure of Christ's cross. Most commonly and properly the words "sign of the cross" are used of the large cross traced from forehead to breast and from shoulder to shoulder…”(Herbert Thurston, "Sign of the Cross," Catholic Encyclopedia)

 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The Christian begins his day, his prayers and his activities with the Sign of the Cross: ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.’ The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior’s grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father. The sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties.” (§ 2157)

 

The Church also considers the Sign of the Cross to be a sacramental. (§ 1671) Sacramental are termed as such because they bear a resemblance to the sacraments. “They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.” (§ 1667) However, sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. (§ 1670)

 

Therefore, the sign of the cross “is prescribed in all our rituals to be frequently used, particularly in the administration of baptism and in the sacrifice of the altar; to signify, that all grace is derived from the Passion of Christ. The cross, furthermore, is marked on various parts of the dress of our ministers, and on the vessels appropriated to the divine service, to denote their destination. On the altar a cross is raised with the figure of our crucified Savior placed upon it, to bring to our minds that it was He who died for the sins of the world, and that there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. Finally, we often sign ourselves with the sign of the cross, pronouncing the same time the words, “In the name of the Father, and of Son, and of the Holy Ghost”, thereby attesting our belief in the blessed Trinity, and in the incarnation and death of our Savior.”” (James Waterworth, The Faith of Catholics, Volume 3, p. 422)

 

To express this faith, the earliest Christians commonly used a thumb or index finger to trace a little cross on their forehead. They associated this practice with references in Ezekiel 9:4, 11 and Revelation 7:3, 9:4, and 14:1. Early Christian writer, Origen (c. 185 – 254), for example, drew a parallel between the sign of the cross and the letter Tau mentioned in Ezekiel 9:4. He writes: “This [the letter Tau] bears a resemblance to the figure of the cross; and this prophecy [Ez 9:4] is said to regard the sign made by Christians on the forehead, which all believers make whatsoever work they begin upon, and especially at the beginning of prayers, or of holy readings” (T. iii. Select. in Ezek. c. ix,). St. Ephrem the Syrian commenting on Ezekiel 9:11 states: “And mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, he says, for the circumcision of the flesh sufficed not unto salvation, and therefore has it been set aside, and the sign of the cross is substituted in its place”. (T. ii. Syr. Comm. in Ezek) Likewise, Andrew of Caesarea, commenting on Revelation 7:3, says, “At the coming of antichrist, the sign of the vivifying cross will distinguish the faithful from the faithless. For the former shall, without fear and without shame, bear the sign of the cross of Christ in the sight of the impious”. (Comm. in Apoc. c. xix. lb. p. 601) (The latter quote derived from, The Faith of Catholics, Volume 3, pp. 434)

 

“Hardly less early in date is the custom of marking a cross on objects — already Tertullian speaks of the Christian woman "signing" her bed (cum lectulumtuumsignas, "Ad uxor.", ii, 5) before retiring to rest—and we soon hear also of the sign of the cross being traced on the lips (Jerome, "Epitaph. Paulæ") and on the heart (Prudentius, "Cathem.", vi, 129). Not unnaturally if the object were more remote, the cross which was directed towards it had to be made in the air. Thus Epiphanius tells us (Adv. Hær., xxx, 12) of a certain holy man Josephus, who imparted to a vessel of water the power of overthrowing magical incantations by "making over the vessel with his finger the seal of the cross" pronouncing the while a form of prayer. Again half a century later Sozomen, the church historian (VII, xxvi), describes how Bishop Donatus when attacked by a dragon "made the sign of the cross with his finger in the air and spat upon the monster". All this obviously leads up to the suggestion of a larger cross made over the whole body, and perhaps the earliest example which can be quoted comes to us from a Georgian source, possibly of the fourth or fifth century. In the life of St. Nino, a woman saint, honoured as the Apostle of Georgia, we are told in these terms of a miracle worked by her: "St. Nino began to pray and entreat God for a long time. Then she took her (wooden) cross and with it touched the Queen's head, her feet and her shoulders, making the sign of the cross and straightway she was cured" (StudiaBiblica, V, 32).

 

It appears on the whole probable that the general introduction of our present larger cross (from brow to breast and from shoulder to shoulder) was an indirect result of the Monophysite controversy. The use of the thumb alone or the single forefinger, which so long as only a small cross was traced upon the forehead was almost inevitable, seems to have given way for symbolic reasons to the use of two fingers (the forefinger and middle finger, or thumb and forefinger) as typifying the two natures and two wills in Jesus Christ. But if two fingers were to be employed, the large cross, in which forehead, breast, etc. were merely touched, suggested itself as the only natural gesture. Indeed some large movement of the sort was required to make it perceptible that a man was using two fingers rather than one. At a somewhat later date, throughout the greater part of the East, three fingers, or rather the thumb and two fingers were displayed, while the ring and little finger were folded back upon the palm. These two were held to symbolize the two natures or wills in Christ, while the extended three denoted the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. At the same time these fingers were so held as to indicate the common abbreviation I X C (Iesous Christos Soter), the forefinger representing the I, the middle finger crossed with the thumb standing for the X and the bent middle finger serving to suggest the C. In Armenia, however, the sign of the cross made with two fingers is still retained to the present day. Much of this symbolism passed to the West, though at a later date.

 

On the whole it seems probable that the ultimate prevalence of the larger cross is due to an instruction of Pope Leo IV in the middle of the ninth century. "Sign the chalice and the host", he wrote, "with a right cross and not with circles or with a varying of the fingers, but with two fingers stretched out and the thumb hidden within them, by which the Trinity is symbolized. Take heed to make this sign rightly, for otherwise you can bless nothing" (see Georgi, "Liturg. Rom. Pont.", III, 37). Although this, of course, primarily applies to the position of the hand in blessing with the sign of the cross; it seems to have been adapted popularly to the making of the sign of the cross upon oneself. Aelfric (about 1000) probably had it in mind when he tells his hearers in one of his sermons: "A man may wave about wonderfully with his hands without creating any blessing unless he make the sign of the cross. But if he do the fiend will soon be frightened on account of the victorious token. With three fingers one must bless himself for the Holy Trinity" (Thorpe, "The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church" I, 462). Fifty years earlier than this Anglo-Saxon Christians were exhorted to "bless all their bodies seven times with Christ's rood token" (BlickingHom., 47), which seems to assume this large cross. Bede in his letter to Bishop Egbert advises him to remind his flock "with what frequent diligence to employ upon themselves the sign of our Lord's cross", though here we can draw no inferences as to the kind of cross made. On the other hand when we meet in the so-called "Prayer Book of King Henry" (eleventh century) a direction in the morning prayers to mark with the holy Cross "the four sides of the body", there is a good reason to suppose that the large sign with which we are now familiar is meant.

 

At this period the manner of making it in the West seems to have been identical with that followed at present in the East, i.e. only three fingers were used, and the hand traveled from the right shoulder to the left. The point, it must be confessed, is not entirely clear and Thalhofer (Liturgik, I, 633) inclines to the opinion that in the passages of Belethus (xxxix), Sicardus (III, iv), Innocent III (De myst. Alt., II, xlvi), and Durandus (V, ii, 13), which are usually appealed to in proof of this, these authors have in mind the small cross made upon the forehead or external objects, in which the hand moves naturally from right to left, and not the big cross made from shoulder to shoulder. Still, a rubric in a manuscript copy of the York Missal clearly requires the priest when signing himself with the paten to touch the left shoulder after the right. Moreover it is at least clear from many pictures and sculptures that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Greek practice of extending only three fingers was adhered to by many Latin Christians. Thus the compiler of the AncrenRiwle (about 1200) directs his nuns at "Deus in adjutorium" to make a little cross from above the forehead down to the breast with three fingers". However there can be little doubt that long before the close of the Middle Ages the large sign of the cross was more commonly made in the West with the open hand and that the bar of the cross was traced from left to right. In the "Myroure of our Ladye" (p. 80) the Bridgettine Nuns of Sion have a mystical reason given to them for the practice: "And then ye bless you with the sygne of the holy crosse, to chase away the fiend with all his deceytes. For, as Chrysostomesayth, wherever the fiends see the signe of the crosse, they flye away, dreading it as a staffe that they are beaten withall. And in thysblessinge ye beginne with yourehande at the heddedownwarde, and then to the lefte side and byleve that our Lord Jesu Christe came down from the head, that is from the Father into erthe by his holy Incarnation, and from the erthe into the left syde, that is hell, by his bitter Passion, and from thence into his Father's rightesyde by his glorious Ascension".

 

The manual act of tracing the cross with the hand or the thumb has at all periods been quite commonly, though not indispensably, accompanied by a form of words. The formula, however, has varied greatly. In the earlier ages we have evidence for such invocation as "The sign of Christ", "The seal of the living God", "In the name of Jesus"; etc. Later we meet "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth", "In the name of the Holy Trinity", "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost", "Our help is in the name of the Lord", "O God come to my assistance". Members of the Orthodox Greek Church when blessing themselves with three fingers, as above explained, commonly use the invocation: "Holy God, Holy strong One, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy on us", which words, as is well known, have been retained in their Greek form by the Western Church in the Office for Good Friday.

 

It is unnecessary to insist upon the effects of grace and power attributed by the Church at all times to the use of the holy sign of the cross. From the earliest period it has been employed in all exorcisms and conjurations as a weapon against the spirits of darkness, and it takes its place not less consistently in the ritual of the sacraments and in every form of blessing and consecration. A famous difficulty is that suggested by the making of the sign of the cross repeatedly over the Host and Chalice after the words of institution have been spoken in the Mass. The true explanation is probably to be found in the fact that at the time these crosses were introduced (they vary too much in the early copies of the Canon to be of primitive institution), the clergy and faithful did not clearly ask themselves at what precise moment the transubstantiation of the elements was effected. They were satisfied to believe that it was the result of the whole of the consecratory prayer which we call the Canon, without determining the exact words which were operative; just as we are now content to know that the Precious Blood is consecrated by the whole word spoken over the chalice, without pausing to reflect whether all the words are necessary. Hence the signs of the cross continue till the end of the Canon and they may be regarded as mentally referred back to a consecration which is still conceived of as incomplete. The process is the reverse of that by which in the Greek Church at the "Great Entrance" the highest marks of honor are paid to the simple elements of bread and wine in anticipation of the consecration which they are to receive shortly afterwards.”

 

(Herbert Thurston, "Sign of the Cross," Catholic Encyclopedia)

 

"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." (Matthew 28:19)

 

IN nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

IN the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Patristic Texts on the Sing of the Cross

[Derived from, The Faith of Catholics, Volume 3, as well as a few other sources]

 

Tertullian [c. 155 – 240): “In all our travels and movements in all our coming in and going out, in putting of 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.” (De corona milites, 3)

Tertullian: “Your pearls’ [including “signing”] are the distinctive marks of even your daily conversation. The more care you take to conceal them, the more liable to suspicion you will make them, and the more exposed to the grasp of Gentile curiosity. Shall you escape notice when you sign your bed, (or) your body; when you blow away some impurity; when even by night you rise to pray?.” (To His Wife 5)

Tertullian: “We feel pained should any wine or bread, even though our own, be cast upon the ground. At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign. For these and such like rules, if thou requires a law in the Scriptures, thou shalt find none: tradition will be pleaded to thee as originating, custom as confirming, and faith as observing them.” (The Chaplet 3)

Tertullian: “The sick is visited, the indigent relieved, with freedom. Alms are given without danger of ensuing torment; sacrifices attended without scruple; daily diligence discharged without impediment: there is no stealthy signing, no trembling greeting, no mute benediction. Between the two echo psalms and hymns; and they mutually challenge each other which shall better chant to their Lord. Such things when Christ sees and hears, He joys. To these He sends His own peace.” (To His Wife 8)

Tertullian: “Premising, therefore, and likewise subjoining the fact that Christ suffered, He foretold that His just ones should suffer equally with Him— both the apostles and all the faithful in succession; and He signed them with that very seal of which Ezekiel spoke: "The Lord said unto me, Go through the gate, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set the mark Tau upon the foreheads of the men." Now the Greek letter Tau and our own letter T is the very form of the cross, which He predicted would be the sign on our foreheads in the true Catholic Jerusalem, in which, according to the twenty-first Psalm, the brethren of Christ or children of God would ascribe glory to God the Father, in the person of Christ Himself addressing His Father; "I will declare Your name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto You." For that which had to come to pass in our day in His name, and by His Spirit, He rightly foretold would be of Him. And a little afterwards He says: "My praise shall be of You in the great congregation." In the sixty-seventh Psalm He says again: "In the congregations bless the Lord God." So that with this agrees also the prophecy of Malachi: "I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord; neither will I accept your offerings: for from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place sacrifice shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering" Malachi 1:10-11 — such as the ascription of glory, and blessing, and praise, and hymns. Now, inasmuch as all these things are also found among you, and the sign upon the forehead, and the sacraments of the church, and the offerings of the pure sacrifice, you ought now to burst forth, and declare that the Spirit of the Creator prophesied of your Christ.” (Against Marcion, Book III: Chapter 22)

 

St. Hippolytus of Rome (d. c. 230): “When she had done as he had directed her,she signed her whole body with the mystic sign of the cross, and went forth from the place uncorrupted.” (De Virg. Corinthiaca, t. ii)

St. Hippolytus: “But imitate him always, by signing thy forehead sincerely; for this is the sign of his Passion, manifest and approved against the devil if so thou makest it from faith; not that thou mayest appear to men, but knowingly offering it as a shield. For the adversary, seeing a its power coming from the heart, that a man displays the publicly formed image of baptism, is put to flight; not because thou spittest, but because the Spirit in thee breathes him away. When Moses formed it by putting the blood of the Paschal lamb that was slain on the lintel and anointing the side-posts, he signified the faith which now we have in the perfect Lamb.” (The Apostolic Tradition, 37)

(Note: This quote is commonly attributed to St. Hippolytus, yet, some scholars dispute this. Nonetheless, no scholar to my knowledge dates the work later than 400 A.D.)

 

Lactantius(c. 250 – 325) “Christ stretched out His hands death and measured the world; that even then He might show that, from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, a mighty people, assembled out of all tongues a tribes, would come under His wings, and receive on their for heads that greatest and sublime sign. [He then says that of this sign the marking of their door posts by the Jews, with the blood of the paschal lamb, was a type.] For Christ was a fair lamb without blemish, innocent, that is, and just and holy, who, sacrificed by those same Jews, is salvation to all who have marked the sign of blood, that is, who have marked on their foreheads the sign of the cross on which he shed his blood. . . . Let it suffice for the present to explain what is the potency of this sign. What a terror this sign is to devils He may know who sees how, when adjured through Christ, they flee from the bodies which they have obsessed. For as He, while living among men, put the devils to flight by a word, and restored to their former senses the troubled minds of those who had been driven to madness by their evil assaults, so now His followers expel those same foul spirits from men by the name of their master) and by the sign of His passion. Of this the proof is not difficult. For when they are sacrificing to their gods,if there stand by one who has his forehead signed, they cannot proceed with their sacrifices, And this has often been the chief cause why wicked kings have persecuted righteousness. For certain of ours, who were in attendance on their masters as they were sacrificing, by making the sign upon their foreheads, put to flight their gods, so that they could not describe what was to happen, in the bowels of the victims. . . . And as demons cannot come nigh unto those on whom they see the heavenly mark, nor hurt those whom the immortal sign fences round as an impregnable wall, they assail them by means of men, and persecute them by the hands of others.” (Divin. Inst. c. 4, Oxon. n. 26-7)

 

St. Anthony of the Desert (also known as, St. Anthony the Great) (c. 251 – 356): “Neither ought we to fear these appearances (of evil spirits). For they are nothing, but quickly vanish, especiallyif one defend himself by faith and the sign of the cross” (OratioadMonachos, n. 8). This passage is quoted by St. Athanasius in his Life of St. Anthony, sec. 23. See also for similar mention of the use of the sign of the cross, in St. Anthony’s Life,by St. Athanasius, p. 642; n. 35, p. 656; n. 53, p. 667; n. 80, p. 683.

St. Anthony of the Desert: “We Christians therefore hold the mystery not in the wisdom of Greek arguments, but in the power of faith richly supplied to us by God through Jesus Christ. And to show that this statement is true, behold now, without having learned letters, we believe in God, knowing through His works His providence over all things. And to show that our faith is effective, so now we are supported by faith in Christ, but you by professional logomachies. The portents of the idols among you are being done away, but our faith is extending everywhere. You by your arguments and quibbles have converted none from Christianity to Paganism. We, teaching the faith on Christ, expose your superstition, since all recognize that Christ is God and the Son of God. You by your eloquence do not hinder the teaching of Christ. But we by the mention of Christ crucified put all demons to flight, whom you fear as if they were gods. Where the sign of the Cross is, magic is weak and witchcraft has no strength.” (St. Athanasius, The Life of St. Anthony, Chapter 78)

 

St. Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258): The heading of chapter xxii. of the second Book of Testimonies is, “That in this sign of the cross is salvation to all who are marked on their foreheads.”

St. Cyprian: “Ozias the king, when, bearing the censer, and contrary to God’s law, with violence assuming to himself to sacrifice, despite the opposition of Azarias the priest, he refused to be obedient and to give way, was confounded by the wrath of God, was polluted by the spot of leprosy on his forehead, in that part of his body marked by his offended Lord,where they are signed who merit the Lord.” (De Unitate)

The sign of the cross, probably that received in baptism, is alluded to in St. Cyprian's Ep. Ivi. PlebiThib.: " Be our eyes fortified that they behold not the detestable Images; our forehead, that the seal of God be preserved entire (utsignum Dei incolumeservetur)." In the Appendix to tiie Benedictine edition of St. Cyprian’s works, there is a piece entitled the Confessio S. Oypriani, a work of great antiquity, since it seems cited as St. Cyprian’s by St. Gregory of Naziananzus. We there meet with a curious accound of a virgin called Justina, who “who made the sign of the cross and thus repelled the assults of the demons… and with the cross of Christ cured diseases, and called the tulmut of the people.”—P. ccxxci.    

St. Cyprian: “The Lord prophesies that the aliens shall be burnt up and consumed; that is, aliens from the divine race, and the profane, those who are not spiritually new-born, nor made children of God. For that those only can escape who have been new-born and signed with the sign of Christ, God says in another place, when, sending forth His angels to the destruction of the world and the death of the human race, He threatens more terribly in the last time, saying, "Go and smite, and let not your eye spare. Have no pity upon old or young, and slay the virgins and the little ones and the women, that they may be utterly destroyed. But touch not any man upon whom is written the mark." Ezekiel 9:5 Moreover, what this mark is, and in what part of the body it is placed, God sets forth in another place, saying, "Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." Ezekiel 9:4 And that the sign pertains to the passion and blood of Christ, and that whoever is found in this sign is kept safe and unharmed, is also proved by God's testimony, saying, "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses in which you shall be; and I will see the blood, and will protect you, and the plague of diminution shall not be upon you when I smite the land of Egypt." Exodus 12:13 What previously preceded by a figure in the slain lamb is fulfilled in Christ, the truth which followed afterwards. As, then, when Egypt was smitten, the Jewish people could not escape except by the blood and the sign of the lamb; so also, when the world shall begin to be desolated and smitten, whoever is found in the blood and the sign of Christ alone shall escape.” (Treatise 5, 22)

 

Arnobius the Younger (d. 330): “For He, having risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven, we His Apostles and disciples will, together with all believers, have the sign of His cross for good; that our enemies, whether visible or invisible, may see the sign upon our foreheads, and be confounded. For in that same sign thou aidest, and in it thou comfortest.” (Comm. in P8. lxxxv)

Arnobius the Younger: “Applying Ps. 144 he says: “He has therefore taught our fingers to fight, that when we feel the encounter of foes, whether visible or invisible, we may with our fingers arm our foreheads with the victorious cross.” (In Psa.. cxliv)

 

Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 265 – 340): Eusebius narrates of Constantine that he was accustomed to “sign his countenance with the saving sign, and to glory in the victorious trophy.” (De Vita Constant. 1. iii. e. 2)

 

St. Athanasius of Alexandria(c. 298 – 373): “By the sign of the cross all magic ceases; all incantations are powerless; every idol is abandoned and deserted; all irrational voluptuousness is quelled, and each one looks up from earth to heaven.” (De Incarn. Verbi, t. I.)

The following, which also furnishes us with St. Athanasius' view of the duration of miracles, is the passage referred to: "The above declarations of ours are not mere words, but experience itself bears testimony to their truth. Let him come who wishes for experimental evidence of what has been asserted; and in the midst of the phantasms of demons, and the tricks of soothsayers, and the wonders of magic, use the sign of the cross which they are wont to scoff at, with the name of Christ only, and he will see how by it demons are put to flight, the oracles are struck dumb, magic and incantations are powerless.

St. Athanasius: “This, then, after what we have so far said, it is right for you to realize, and to take as the sum of what we have already stated, and to marvel at exceedingly; namely, that since the Savior has come among us, idolatry not only has no longer increased, but what there was is diminishing and gradually coming to an end: and not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer advance, but what there is now fading away: and demons, so far from cheating any more by illusions and prophecies and magic arts, if they so much as dare to make the attempt, are put to shame by the sign of the Cross.” (On the Incarnation of the Word, Chapter 55)

 

St. Macarius of Egypt (c. 300 – 390): “After the sign of the cross, grace immediately thus operates, and composes all the members and the heart, so that the soul from its abounding gladness seems as a youth that knows not evil.” (Rom. ix. p. 481)

 

St. Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306 – 373): On Ezekiel 9:11: “And marka sign upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, he says, for the circumcision of the flesh sufficed not unto salvation, and therefore has it been set aside, andthe sign of the cross is substituted in its place.” (T. ii. Syr. Comm. in Ezek)

St. Ephrem: “And having ended his prayer, as he withdrew,he thrice made the sign of the cross over the village.” (T. ii. Gr. inVit. S. Abra. v. T.)

St. Ephrem: “He signed himself with the cross, and thus addressed the evil spirit.” (Ibid.)

St. Ephrem: “Let us crown our door posts with the honored and life giving cross, saying with the Apostle, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:14). Let us sign that same life giving cross upon our door posts, and on our foreheads, and on our breasts, and on our lips, and on every limb; and let us arm ourselves with this invincible weapon of Christians; the conqueror over death; the hope of the faithful; the light of the earth’s boundaries; that opens paradise; that destroys heresies; faith’s support; the mighty safeguard, and salutary boast of the orthodox. This, O Christians, let us not cease, day and night, each hour and moment, to bear about us; without it do nothing; but in going to bed, and rising up, and working, and eating, and drinking, and journeying, and voyaging, and crossing rivers, adorn all your members with the life giving cross, and there shall no evil come to thee, nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling (Ps. 90:10).The adverse powers, on beholding this sign, depart trembling. This too has sanctified the world; this has dispelled darkness, and brought back light; this has destroyed error; this from the sun’s rising to its setting, and from north to south, has gathered together the nations, and linked them in love into one Church, one faith, and one baptism. This is the impregnable wall of the Orthodox. What mouth, or what tongue, shall worthily sing the praises of the invincible weapon of Christ the king? . . . And this and more than this (might be) said concerning the honored cross.” (T iii. Gr. in Secund. Adv. Dom.)

 

Paulus Orosius (d. 380): “Theodosius narrowing himself without friends, but that he was surrounded by enemies, with his body prostrate on the earth, but his mind fixed on heaven, prayed alone to Christ alone, who is able to do all things. Having spent a sleepless night in uninterrupted prayer . . . he confidently, though alone, seized his weapons, conscious that he was not only to be protected by the sign of the cross, but thereby even to be victorious; fortifying himself with that sign, he gave the signal for battle.” (Histor l. vii. c. 55)

 

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315 – 386): “Let us not, therefore,be ashamed of the Cross of Christ, but even though another hide it do thou openly seal it on thy brow, that the devils beholding that royal sign may flee far away trembling. But make thou this sign when thou eatest and drinkest, sittest or liest down, risest up, speakest, walkest; in a word, on every occasion, for He who was here crucified is above in the heavens.” (Catech. iv. n. 14)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “Many have been crucified throughout the world but none of these do the devils dread, but Christ having been crucified for us,when they see but the sign of the cross the devils shudder.” (Catech, xii. n. 22)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “Let none be weary: take up arms against the adversaries in the cause of the cross itself: set up the faith of the cross as a trophy against the gainsayers. For when thou art about to dispute with unbelievers concerning the cross of Christ,first make with thy right hand the sign of the cross of Christ, and the gainsayer will be dumb. Be not ashamed to confess the cross.” (Catech. xiii. n. 22)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Let the cross become our seal, made with boldness by our fingers upon the forehead, oil everything on the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in and goings out; before sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are walking and when we are still. Great is that preservative; it is gratuitous, for the poor’s sake ; without toil for the sake of the weak ; since also its grace is from God; it is the sign of the faithful and the dread of devils.  For He hastriumphed over them in it, having exposed there confidentlyin open show (Colos. ii. 15). For when they see the cross they are reminded of the crucified: they are afraid of Him who has bruised the heads of the dragon. Do not despise the seal, because it is a free gift, but for this the rather honor the benefactor.” (Catechesesxiii. n. 36)

 

St. Epiphanius (c. 320 – 403): He says of a woman exposed to sin that shesigned herself in the name of Christ; for she was Christian. [He then mentions recourse being had to magic to seduce her, and observes:] This was the third circumstance that taught him that the power of magic availed not against the name of Christ, and the sign (seal) of the cross” (T I. Adv. Haeres.) He also mentions a case of madness described as beingcured by the sign of the cross.

 

St. Nino: “St. Nino began to pray and entreat God for a long time. Then she took her (wooden) cross and with it touched the Queen’s head, her feet and her shoulders, making the sign of the cross and staightway she was cured.” (StudiaBiblica, V, 32 in The Catholic Encyclopedia 13:786)

 

St. Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329 – 389): “But when, as this man (Julian) proceeded in his career, fears began to assail him, he flies unto the cross, and to his old remedy, andwith this he signs himself against his terrors, and Him whom he bad persecuted he makes his helper. And what follows is more fearful. The sign of the cross prevailed; the demons are vanquished; his fears cease; and then? He again breathes forth evil; he recovers his audacity; he dares again; and again the same fears, and again the sign of the cross, and the quiescent demons” (Contr. Julian. Orat.iii. T. I.). For the custom of blessing bread with the sign of the cross, see T. I. Orat. xix.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus: “Avaunt, demons lest I smite thee with the cross; the cross before which all things tremble. I bear the cross upon my limbs; the cross accompanies me on my journeyings; the cross is my heart; the cross is my glory.” (Tii. Carm. xxi)

St. Gregory of Nazianzus: “She, who had always been strong and vigorous and free from disease all her life, was herself attacked by sickness. In consequence of much distress, not to prolong my story, caused above all by inability to eat, her life was for many days in danger, and no remedy for the disease could be found. How did God sustain her? Not by raining down manna, as for Israel of old or opening the rock, in order to give drink to His thirsting people, or feasting her by means of ravens, as Elijah or feeding her by a prophet carried through the air, as He did to Daniel when a-hungered in the den. But how? She thought she saw me, who was her favorite, for not even in her dreams did she prefer any other of us, coming up to her suddenly at night, with a basket of pure white loaves, which I blessed and crossed as I was wont to do, and then fed and strengthened her, and she became stronger. The nocturnal vision was a real action. For, in consequence, she became more herself and of better hope, as is manifest by a clear and evident token. Next morning, when I paid her an early visit, I saw at once that she was brighter, and when I asked, as usual, what kind of a night she had passed, and if she wished for anything, she replied, “My child, you most readily and kindly fed me, and then you ask how I am. I am very well and at ease.” Her maids too made signs to me to offer no resistance, and to accept her answer at once, lest she should be thrown back into despondency, if the truth were laid bare.” (Oration 18: On the Death of His Father, 30)

 

St. Basil of Caesarea (also known as St. Basil the Great)(c. 330 – 379): “Gordius having thus spoken and signed himself with the sign of the cross, advanced to receive the stroke.” (Hom. inGord. Mart. T. ii. P. I. n. 81)

St. Basil: taught that the sign of the cross was a tradition the originated with the apostles, "who taught us to mark with the sign of the cross those who put their hope in the name of the Lord."

St. Basil: “Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us in a mystery by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force. And these no one will gainsay—no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more. For instance, to take the first and most general example, who is thence who has taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing has taught us to turn to the East at the prayer? Which of the saints has left us in writing the words of the invocation at the displaying of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of blessing? For we are not, as is well known, content with what the apostle or the Gospel has recorded, but both in preface and conclusion we add other words as being of great importance to the validity of the ministry, and these we derive from unwritten teaching.” (On the Holy Spirit, 27:66)

 

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – 395): In the dying address of St. Macrina we find the following: “Thou, O God, hast given unto those that fear Thee a sign, the form of Thy holy cross, for the destruction of the adversary, and for the safeguard of our life’ . . . And at the same time that she was speaking these wordsshe formed (laid) upon her eyes and mouth, and heart the sign (or seal)” (T. ii. De Vita S. Macrinae).

St. Gregory of Nyssa: “Having entered the temple with his attendants, he (St.Greg. Thaum.) at once filled with dread the evil spirits, by invoking the name of Christ; andwith the sign of the cross be purified the air defiled with vapors” (T. iii. De Tita S.Greg.).

St. Gregory of Nyssa: “Let the sheep hasten unto the seal (character) and that sign of the cross which is a remedy against evils” (T. iii. App. De Baptismo).

St. Gregory of Nyssa: “O Thou Who hast power on earth to forgive sins, forgive me, that I may be refreshed and may be found before Thee when I put off my body, without defilement on my soul. But may my soul be received into Thy hands spotless and undefiled, as an offering before Thee.”

As she said these words she sealed her eyes and mouth and heart with the cross. And gradually her tongue dried up with the fever, she could articulate her words no longer, and her voice died away, and only by the trembling of her lips and the motion of her hands did we recognise that she was praying.” (The Life of St. Macrina)

 

St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 340 – 397): “But now there is no need of the slight pain of circumcision for a Christian people, which bearing about the death of the Lord, inscribes at every instant, upon its own forehead, the contempt of death as knowing that it cannot have salvation without the cross of the Lord” (Tiii. Ep. lxxi. Constanzo, n. 12).

St. Ambrose: “The catechumen believes also in the cross of our Lord Jesus, with which (cross) also he is signed” (T. ii. de Xyster. e. iv. n. 20).

St. Ambrose: “Therefore read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit, are one, for if you take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not exist. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: “For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, wherewith he too is signed; but unless he be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins nor gain the gift of spiritual grace. (On the Mysteries Chap. 4.20)

Each individual commander designates such ensigns and gives orders that they be followed… But one who is a loyal soldier follows his own ensigns and does not recognize those of a stranger. Let us consider with some care and attention what these strange ensigns are. Christ has set His sign on the forehead of each one; the Antichrist sets his sign there also, that he may recognize his own…The devil and his servants set up their ensigns, but I did not know them because I was not a party to their deceits and I did not agree to their dominion.” (The Prayer of Job and David 7.26-7.27)

 

St. Jerome (c. 347 – 420): “Let the banner of the cross be planted on thy forehead’s” (T. I. Ep. xiv. ad fleliod. n. 6).

St. Jerome: “At every action, at every step, let thy hand depict the cross of the Lord” (Ib. Ep. 23).

St. Jerome: “To enter into a Church that is not the mark of a true Christian, seeing that many unworthy person enter with us, nor the making the sign of the cross” (Galland. T. vii.) 529.

St. Jerome: “Keep the door of your heart shut, and frequently defend your forehead with the sign (seal) of the cross, lest the exterminator of Egypt find some (unguarded) spot in you” (Ep. cxxx. n. 9).

St. Jerome: “I cull these few flowers in passing from the fair field of the Holy Scriptures. They will suffice to warn you that you must shut the door of your breast and fortify your brow by often making the sign of the cross. Thus alone will the destroyer of Egypt find no place to attack you; thus alone will the first-born of your soul escape the fate of the first-born of the Egyptians; thus alone will you be able with the prophet to say: my heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp. For, sin stricken as she is, even Tyre is bidden to take up her harp (Isaiah 23:15-16) and to do penance; like Peter she is told to wash away the stains of her former foulness with bitter tears.” (Letter 130.9)

 

St. John Chrysostom (c. 349 – 407): “And how wilt thou enter into the (Jewish) synagogue ? For if thou shalt sign thy forehead, instantly will the wicked power that dwells in that synagogue flee away; but if thou sign not thyself, thou wilt at once, at the very doors, have flung away thy weapons; and then the devil, taking thee naked and weaponless, will load thee with ten thousand evils” (T. I. Or. viii. Adv. Jud. n. 8).

St. John Chrysostom: Reflect why the whole world hastens to look, upon a grave that now contains no body: what power draws men from the very extremities of the earth, to gaze on where He was born, where buried, where crucified. Contemplate the cross itself, what a sign of power it is. For that cross was previously an accursed thing, a shameful death; yea a death of all others the most disgraceful. But lo! now it has become more honored than life ; more resplendent than diadems; and we all bear it about on our foreheads not merely not ashamed of it but even glorying in it. Not private individuals only, but even they that wear the diadem, bear it on their foreheads in preference to that diadem: and justly. For better is that than countless diadems. For the diadem adorns indeed the brow, but the cross protects the mind. This is that which repels demons; this the diadem that removes the soul’s diseases; this an invincible weapon; this an impregnable wall; this an unconquerable safeguard; this not only repels the irruptions of barbarians and the incursions of hostile troops, but the phalanxes of pitiless demons” (T. v. Expos.in Ps. cix. n. 6).

St. John Chrysostom: “Let no man therefore be ashamed of the honored symbols of our salvation, and of the chiefest of all good things, whereby we even live, and whereby we are; but as a crown, so let us bear about the cross of Christ. Yea, for by it all things are wrought, that are wrought among us. Whether one is to be new-born, the cross is there; or to be nourished with that mystical food, or to be ordained, or to do anything else, everywhere our symbol of victory is present. Therefore both on house, and walls, and windows, and upon our forehead, and upon our mind, we inscribe it with much care.

For of the salvation wrought for us, and of our common freedom, and of the goodness of our Lord, this is the sign. For as a sheep was He led to the slaughter. Isaiah 53:7 When therefore you sign yourself, think of the purpose of the cross, and quench anger, and all the other passions. When you sign yourself, fill your forehead with all courage, make your soul free. And ye know assuredly what are the things that give freedom. Wherefore also Paul leading us there, I mean unto the freedom that beseems us, did on this wise lead us unto it, having reminded us of the cross and blood of our Lord. For you are bought, says he, with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Consider, says he, the price that has been paid for you, and you will be a slave to no man; by the price meaning the cross.

Since not merely by the fingers ought one to engrave it, but before this by the purpose of the heart with much faith. And if in this way you have marked it on your face, none of the unclean spirits will be able to stand near you, seeing the blade whereby he received his wound, seeing the sword which gave him his mortal stroke. For if we, on seeing the places in which the criminals are beheaded, shudder; think what the devil must endure, seeing the weapon, whereby Christ put an end to all his power, and cut off the head of the dragon.

Be not ashamed then of so great a blessing, lest Christ be ashamed of you, when He comes with His glory, and the sign appears before Him, shining beyond the very sunbeam. For indeed the cross comes then, uttering a voice by its appearance, and pleading with the whole world for our Lord, and signifying that no part has failed of what pertained to Him.

This sign, both in the days of our forefathers and now, has opened doors that were shut up; this has quenched poisonous drugs; this has taken away the power of hemlock; this has healed bites of venomous beasts. For if it opened the gates of hell, and threw wide the archways of Heaven, and made a new entrance into Paradise, and cut away the nerves of the devil; what marvel, if it prevailed over poisonous drugs, and venomous beasts, and all other such things.” (On Matthew, Homily 54.7)

St. John Chrysostom: “If you perceive thy heart burning within you, seal thy breast placing on it the cross” (Ib. Hom. 87 n. 2).

St. John Chrysostom: “at every action, at every step, let our hand make the Sign of the Cross. Keep the door of your heart shut, and frequently defend your forehead with the Sign of the Cross – it repels evil, heals maladies of the soul, is a weapon of adamant strength, an impregnable wall, an impenetrable shield.”

 

St. Maximus of Turin (d. 408/23 AD): “When we rise in the morning we ought to give thanks to God, and to do every action throughout the day in the sign of the Savior. While thou wast yet a Gentile, was it not thy custom to seek for signs, and to ascertain with great care what signs were favorable to certain things? Now I would not have thee be mistaken in their number; know then that, in the one sign of Christ there lies undoubted success in ever thing. He who, in this sign, begins to sow, will reap as fruit life everlasting;he who in this sign begins his journey, will reach heaven in this name, therefore, are all our actions to be regulated.” (Homily ii. De Non TimendisHostibus)

 

St. Nilus of Sinai (d. 430): “Certain Christians whilst seeking for the bodies of some who had been martyred, were terrified, andeach of them impressed the sign of the cross upon their foreheads, when there appeared to them a brilliant cross which they seemed to see emit a flash of fire from the eastern side; and they immediately bent the knee to pray towards the place where the cross appeared to them.” (Martyr, St. Theodot. Ancyr. n. 17)

St. Nilus: “When he had said this, Theodotus made the sign of the cross over his whole body, and proceeded, without turning to the stadium” (Ibid. n. 21).

St. Nilus: “It is useful to pray for the most part, signed with the cross, for thus are we blessed by God; and thus again do we bless others. Yea, for the divine Moses, when consecrating the tabernacle, and anointing his own brother as a priest, having stretched forth his hands towards heaven in the form of a cross, blessed him” (L. I. Ep. 87).

St. Nilus: “If thou continually seal, with the sign of the cross of the Lord, both thy forehead and heart, the demons will flee away from thee, for they tremble exceedingly at that blessed seal” (L. ii. Ep. 304).

St. Nilus: “If thou wouldst destroy the evil remembrances which have been left in the ruling part (of the mind), and the multiform snares of the enemy, arm thyself readily by the memory of our Savior, and by the fervent invocation of the venerable name, both by day and night, frequently sealing both thy brow and breast with the sign of the cross of the Lord. For when the name of the Lord is uttered, and the seal of the Lord’s cross is placed upon the brow, and heart, and other members, the power of the enemy is undoubtedly destroyed, and the wicked demons fly trembling away from us” (L. iii. Ep. 288).

 

St. Paulinus of Nola (also known as Severus Rhetor) (c. 354 – 431): “A sign, which, they say, is that of the cross of Christ;this sign, placed on their foreheads, was the certain safety of all the flocks” (Carm. Bucol. DeVirtu. SigniCrucis).

 

St. Augustine of Hippo (c. 354 – 430): “What is the sign (or seal) of Christ, butthe cross of Christ? Which sign, unless it be applied, whether to the foreheads of believers, or to the water itself whereby they are regenerated, or to the oil wherewith they are anointed with chrism, or to the sacrifice by which they are fed, none of these things is rightly performed. How then can it be, that by that which the wicked do no good thing is signified, when by the cross of Christ, which the wicked made, every good thing is signified to us in the celebration of His sacraments” (T. iii. Tract. cxviii. in Toan. n. 5).

St. Augustine: “Not without cause did Christ wish His sign to be impressed upon our foreheads, on the seat as it were of shame, lest the Christian might blush at the indignities offered to Christ” (T.iv. in P8. xxx. Serm. iii. n. 7).

St. Augustine: “Whatsoever thou mayest suffer, thou wilt not approach those insults, those scourgings, that disgraceful robe, that thorny crown; thou wilt not, in fine, come to that cross, because now it has been removed as a punishment by the Human race. For whereas, under those of old, criminals were crucified, now no one is crucified. It was honored and ceased. It ceased as a punishment, it remains as a glory. From the places of punishments it has passed to the foreheads of emperors” (T. iv. in P8. xxxvi. Serm. 2).

St. Augustine: "It is by the sign of the Cross that the Body of the Lord is consecrated, that baptismal fonts are sanctified, that priests and other ranks in the Church are admitted to their respective orders, and everything that is to be made holy is consecrated by the sign of our Lord's cross, with the invocation of the name of Christ." (Serm. LXXXI).

St. Augustine: “Why do sign yourself with the cross? If you don’t act the cross, you don’t in fact sign yourself with it. Recognize Christ crucified, recognize Him suffering, recognize Him praying for His enemies, recognize Him loving those at whose hands He endured such things and longed to cure them. If you do not recognize Him repent, and if ever you entertained bad wishes see to it that you have good ones from now on.” (Sermons: Newly Discovered Sermons. John E. Rotelle, Edmund Hill)

 

St. John Cassian (c. 360 – 435): He narrates a miracle performed by a monk, “by giving a cup of water which he had signed with the sign of the cross” (Collat. xv. Abbat. Nestor. c. iv).

St. John Cassian: “Why also need I mention the acts of Abbot Abraham the simple, from the simplicity of his life and his innocence. This man when he had gone from the desert to Egypt for the harvest in the season of Quinquagesima was pestered with tears and prayers by a woman who brought her little child, already pining away and half dead from lack of milk; he gave her a cup of water to drink signed with the sign of the cross; and when she had drunk it at once most marvellously her breasts that had been till then utterly dry flowed with a copious abundance of milk.” (Conference 15.4)

 

Sulpicius Severus (c. 360 – 420): “He (St. Martin of Tours) having lifted on high the sign of the cross upon those who were opposite to him, and commanded the crowd not to stir, but to lay down their burdens then might be seen those miserable men in a wonderful manner grow rigid as stones” (Gallandt.viii. De ViN.B. Xartini, n. 12).

Sulpicius Severus: “Against the (visible assaults of the) devil he always protected himself by the sign of the cross and the help of prayer” (R. n. 22).

Sulpicius Severus: “Worshipper of God, remember that thou hast, under the hallowed dew of the font and of the laver, been signed with chrism. Let, when sleep summons thee to thy chaste couch, the sign of the cross be imprinted on thy forehead, and on thy heart. The cross drives far away all crime; darkness flees before it; the mind consecrated by that sign cannot fluctuate” (Lib. Hymn. 6 per horas, EnteSomnum).

Sulpicius Severus: “Now, it came to pass some time after the above, that while Martin was going a journey, he met the body of a certain heathen, which was being carried to the tomb with superstitious funeral rites. Perceiving from a distance the crowd that was approaching, and being ignorant as to what was going on, he stood still for a little while. For there was a distance of nearly half a mile between him and the crowd, so that it was difficult to discover what the spectacle he beheld really was. Nevertheless, because he saw it was a rustic gathering, and when the linen clothes spread over the body were blown about by the action of the wind, he believed that some profane rites of sacrifice were being performed. This thought occurred to him, because it was the custom of the Gallic rustics in their wretched folly to carry about through the fields the images of demons veiled with a white covering. Lifting up, therefore, the sign of the cross opposite to them, he commanded the crowd not to move from the place in which they were, and to set down the burden. Upon this, the miserable creatures might have been seen at first to become stiff like rocks. Next, as they endeavored, with every possible effort, to move forward, but were not able to take a step farther, they began to whirl themselves about in the most ridiculous fashion, until, not able any longer to sustain the weight, they set down the dead body. Thunderstruck, and gazing in bewilderment at each other as not knowing what had happened to them, they remained sunk in silent thought. But when the saintly man discovered that they were simply a band of peasants celebrating funeral rites, and not sacrifices to the gods, again raising his hand, he gave them the power of going away, and of lifting up the body. Thus he both compelled them to stand when he pleased, and permitted them to depart when he thought good.” (Sulpitius Severus: Life of St. Martin, Chapter XII)

 

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376 – 444): Explaining Is. xix. 19: “He, in this place, calls the sign of the holy cross, with which it is the custom of believers to be fenced round, a pillar. For this we have ever used; overthrowing every assault of the devil, and repelling the attacks of evil spirits. For an impregnable wall is the cross unto us, and our glorying in it is truly salutary. God forbid that I should glory, save in thecross of Christ” (T. I Comm. in.Isa. lib. ii).

 

St. Gaudentius of Brescia(4^th – 5^thcent.): “Let the word of God andthe sign of Christ be in the Christian’s heart, in his mouth, on his forehead, at his food, at the bath, in his chambers, at his coming in and going out, in joy, in sorrow, that agreeably to the doctrine of St. Paul, Whether we eat or drink,etc.” (Scrm. viii. De lect. Evang. t. v. Bib. Maxim. 88).

 

Theodoret (c. 393 – 466): Having narrated a miracle performed by St. James of Nisibis, he says: “Such was the miracle performed by this new Moses, effected not by a stroke with a rod, but a power manifested by the sign of the cross” (T iii. Relig. e. I. p. 1111.). For other miracles ascribed to the same cause, see Ibid. e. ii. p. 1125; e. iii. p. 1140; c. viii.).

Theodoret: The well-known account of Julian, after his apostasy, using inadvertently the sign of the cross, when under terror front evil spirits, is found also in TheodoretSee also in that same history the account of a miracle ascribed to water blessed by the sign of the cross. “All Christians honor the sign of the cross” (T. iv. Or.vi. De Prov.)

 

Pope St. Leo I (c. 400 – 461): “The sign of the cross makes all who have been regenerated in Christ kings, but the unction of the Holy Spirit consecrates priests” (T. I. Serm. iv. in Natal. Ordin. c. I).

Pope St. Leo I: “They who are ashamed to proclaim with the lips what they have received to be borne on their foreheads, will show that they have derived no virtue from the sign of the cross” (Ep. cxxiv. ad MonackosPalcestinos, c. viii).

Pope St. Leo I: “To deny the true flesh of Christ, to subject the very essence of the Word to suffering and death, to make our nature different from His who repaired it, and to reckon all that the cross uplifted, that the spear pierced, that the stone on the tomb received and gave back, to be only the work of Divine power, and not also of human humility? It is in reference to this humility that the Apostle says, For I do not blush for the Gospel (Romans 1:16), inasmuch as he knew what a slur was cast upon Christians by their enemies. And, therefore, the Lord also made proclamation, saying: he that shall confess Me before men him will I also confess before My Father. (Matthew 10:32) For these will not be worthy of the Son and the Father’s acknowledgment in whom the flesh of Christ awakens no respect: and they will prove themselves to have gained no virtue from the sign of the cross who blush to avow with their lips what they have consented to bear upon their brows. (Letter 124.9)

 

St. Peter Chrysologus (c. 406 — 450): “Let Christ be your helmet, let the cross on your forehead be your unfailing protection” (Sermon 108).

 

Psuedo-Dionysius the Areopagite (d. c. 532): “The sign of the cross indicates the renunciation of all the desires of the flesh. It points to a life given over to the imitation of God unswervingly directed toward the divine life of the incarnate Jesus, Who was divinely sinless and yet lowered Himself to the cross and to death and who, with the sign of the cross, that image of His own sinlessness, marks all those imitating Him.” (Celestial Hierarchy 5.III.4)

 

St. Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – 543): “Having now taken upon him the charge of the Abbey, he took order that regular life should be observed, so that none of them could, as before they used, through unlawful acts decline from the path of holy conversation, either on the one side or on the other: which the monks perceiving, they fell into a great rage, accusing themselves that ever they desired him to be their Abbot, seeing their crooked conditions could not endure his virtuous kind of government: and therefore when they saw that under him they could not live in unlawful sort, and were loath to leave their former conversation, and found it hard to be enforced with old minds to meditate and think upon new things: and because the life of virtuous men is always grievous to those that be of wicked conditions, some of them began to devise, how they might rid him out of the way: and therefore, taking counsel together, they agreed to poison his wine: which being done, and the glass wherein that wine was, according to the custom, offered to the Abbot to bless, he, putting forth his hand, made the sign of the cross, and straightway the glass, that was holden far off, brake in pieces, as though the sign of the cross had been a stone thrown against it: upon which accident the man of God by and by perceived that the glass had in it the drink of death, which could not endure the sign of life: and therefore rising up, with a mild countenance and quiet mind, he called the monks together, and spake thus unto them: “Almighty God have mercy upon you, and forgive you: why have you used me in this manner? Did not I tell you before hand, that our manner of living could never agree together? Go your ways, and seek ye out some other father suitable to your own conditions, for I intend not now to stay any longer amongst you.” When he had thus discharged himself, he returned back to the wilderness which so much he loved, and dwelt alone with himself, in the sight of his Creator, who beholdeth the hearts of all men.” (Pope St. Gregory Dialogos, Second Dialogue: Chap. 3)
 

St. Brendan of Clonfert (c. 484 – 557): “As these sounds reached his ears, the venerable father (St. Brendan) made the sign of the victory of the Lord in all four directions and said: “Lord Jesus Christ, deliver us from this island.” (The Voyage of Brendan)

 

 

St. Columba of Iona (c. 521 – 597): “On another occasion also, when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa (Loch Ness); and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched body was, though too late, taken out with a hook, by those who came to his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed, that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And LugneMocumin hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the least delay, taking off all his clothes, except his tunic, and leaping into the water. But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, “Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.” Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast. Then the brethren seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their comrade Lugne returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.” (St. Adamnan, The Life of St. Columba: Chap. XXVIII)

 

Pope St. Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 604): “Floridus, Bishop of Tivoli, a man (as yourself knoweth very well) of holy life, and worthy to be credited, told me that he had dwelling with him a certain Priest called Amantius, of marvellous simplicity: who, like unto the Apostles, had such a grace given him of God, that, laying his hand upon them that were sick, he restored them to their former health; and although the disease were very great and dangerous, yet upon his touching did it forthwith depart. Moreover he said that he had also this miraculous gift, that wheresoever he found any serpents or snakes, though never so cruel, yet did he with the sign of the cross dispatch and kill them: for by virtue of the cross, which the man of God made with his hand, their bowels did break, and they suddenly die: and if by chance the snake gat into any hole, then did he with the sign of the cross bless the mouth thereof, and it wrought the same effect; for any might straightways find it there dead.” (The Dialogues Bk. 3.35)
 

Andrew of Caesarea(c. 563 – 637): Commenting on Rev 7:3, “Just as it had been revealed to Ezekiel long ago about the one dressed in fine linen who sealed the foreheads of those who groan so that the righteous would not be destroyed together with the unrighteous — because the hidden virtue of the saints is unknown even to angels — this (is) also shown hère to the blessed one (John), the superior holy power urging the punishing holy angels to do nothing to those who committed offenses before the knowledge of those distinguished by the sealing who serve the truth. If this has partially taken place a long time ago, to the ones who had believed in Christ who had escaped the sack of Jerusalem by the Romans reckoned as many tens of thousands, according to James the Great who had shown the blessed Paul their great number. (Acts 21:20) But accordingly it is said, this will definitely happen during the time of Antichrist, the seal of the life-giving Cross separating the faithful from the unfaithful, (the faithful) without shame and having been emboldened bearing the sign of Christ before the impious. Wherefore the angel says, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (Rev. 7:3) (Commentary on the Apocalypse)

 

St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580 – 662): “The distinctive sign of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Cross that he carried on his shoulders.” (Ambiguum 32, PG 91, 1284 C)

 

St. Isaac the Syrian (c. 613 – 700): “When you desire to take your stand in the liturgy of your vigil, with God as your helper do as I tell you. Bend your knees, as is custom, and rise up again, but do not immediately begin your liturgy. After you have made a prayer and completed it, and signed your heart and your limbs with the life-creating sign of the Cross, stand silently for a moment until your senses have been set at rest and your thoughts have become tranquil. Then raise up your inner vision to the Lord and beseech Him with an afflicted soul to fortify your weakness and to grant that the psalmody of your tongue and the reflections of your heart be pleasing to His will…” (The Ascetical Homilies, Homily 75)

 

St. Bede the Venerable (c. 672 – 735): “But those also, who still live abroad in the world, demand a portion of your most anxious care, as we forewarned you in the beginning of this epistle; you should furnish them with competent teachers of the word of everlasting life, and among other things instruct them by what works they may render themselves most pleasing to God; from what sins those, who wish to please God, ought to abstain; with what sincerity of heart they ought to believe in God; with what devotion to supplicate the Divine mercy; with what frequent diligence to use the sign of the Lord’s cross, and so to fortify themselves and all they have against the continual snares of unclean spirits; and how salutary it is for all classes of Christians to participate daily in the Body and Blood of our Lord, as you well know is done by Christ’s Church throughout Italy, Gaul, Africa, Greece, and all the countries of the East.” (Epistle to Egbert, Bishop of York 15)

 

St. John Damascene (c. 676 – 749): “Every action, therefore, and performance of miracles by Christ are most great and divine and marvelous: but the most marvelous of all is His precious Cross. For no other thing has subdued death, expiated the sin of the first parent, despoiled Hades, bestowed the resurrection, granted the power to us of contemning the present and even death itself, prepared the return to our former blessedness, opened the gates of Paradise, given our nature a seat at the right hand of God, and made us the children and heirs of God, save the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For by the Cross s all things have been made right. So many of us, the apostle says, as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into His death, and as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Further Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Lo! the death of Christ, that is, the Cross, clothed us with the enhypostatic wisdom and power of God. And the power of God is the Word of the Cross, either because God’s might, that is, the victory over death, has been revealed to us by it, or because, just as the four extremities of the Cross are held fast and bound together by the bolt in the middle, so also by God’s power the height and the depth, the length and the breadth, that is, every creature visible and invisible, is maintained. This was given to us as a sign on our forehead, just as the circumcision was given to Israel: for by it we believers are separated and distinguished from unbelievers. This is the shield and weapon against, and trophy over, the devil. This is the seal that the destroyer may not touch you, as saith the Scripture. This is the resurrection of those lying in death, the support of the standing, the staff of the weak, the rod of the flock, the safe conduct of the earnest, the perfection of those that press forwards, the salvation of soul and body, the aversion of all things evil, the patron of all things good, the taking away of sin, the plant of resurrection, the tree of eternal life.” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, On Faith and Baptism: Book IV, Ch. 9)

 
St. Symeon the New Theologian (c. 949 – 1022): “For Christians the Cross is magnification, glory and power: for all our power is in the power of Christ Who was crucified; all our sinfulness is mortified by the death of Christ on the Cross; and all our exaltation and all our glory are in the humiliation of God. Who humbled Himself to such an extent that He was pleased to die even between evil-doers and thieves. For this very reason Christians who believe in Christ sign themselves with the sign of the Cross not simply, not just as it happens, not carelessly, but with all heedfulness, with fear and with trembling and with extreme reverence.” (The First-Created Man, Homily One: 4)

 

Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham in England (d. 1020): "A man may wave about wonderfully with his hands without creating any blessing unless he make the sign of the cross. But if he do the fiend will soon be frightened on account of the victorious token. With three fingers one must bless himself for the Holy Trinity" (Thorpe, "The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church" I, 462).

 

Bridgettine Nuns of Sion (Middle Ages): “And the you bless you with the sign of the holy cross, to chase away the fiend with all his deceits. For, as Chrysostom said, wherever the fiends see the sign of the cross, they fly away, dreading it as a staff that they are beaten with. And in thy blessing you begin with your hands at the head downwards, and then to the left side to show our Lord Jesus Christ came down from the head, that is from the Father into earth by his holy Incarnation, and from the earth into the left side, that is hell, by his bitter Passion, and from thence into his Father’s right side by his glorious Ascention” (Myroure of our Lady in The Catholic Encyclopedia 13:786).