Question about the sign of the cross...

[Soma Seer]

Could someone please explain the reason(s) why the Orthodox Church signs from right to left?

Thank you,

SS

 

[Albion]

Non-Orthodox Christian here, but I've always been told that it's because Christ sitteth on the right hand of the Father.

 

[seekingsolace]

From Orthodox.net for you.

"The act of "Placing the cross on oneself" is a request for a blessing from God. We make if from right to left to mirror the actions of the priest when he blesses us. The priest, looking at the parishioners, blesses from left to right. Therefore, the parishioners, putting on the sign of the cross on themselves, do it from right to left.

Because the Lord separated the sheep from the goats, putting the faithful sheep on His right side, and the goats on the left, the Church always treats the right side as the preferred side. We only cross ourselves with our RIGHT hand. The priest, when blessing a person, first touches or points to their RIGHT side, then their left. Also the censing of the Holy Table in the Altar is always done from the RIGHT side first; censing of the Ikonostasis, the Congregation and of the Church itself always begins with the right side. The priest always gives communion with his RIGHT hand, even if he is left handed. There are other examples of this right side preference.

When a parent makes the sign of the cross over a child, they will cross them from left to right, just as the priest blesses. When they make the sign of the cross over themselves, they would do it, logically, the other way.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states that in the Roman Catholic Church, the faithful crossed themselves from right to left, just as the Orthodox do, until the 15th or 16th century. They must explain why they have changed an ancient and apostolic tradition. We cannot answer as to their motivations.

Is it important to cross ourselves a particular way? In a word, YES. We do not have the authority to choose willy-nilly what parts of the Christina Tradition we want to follow. Our fathers, and countless saints crossed themselves from right to left. Ancient icons show Christ or bishops beginning a blessing from right to left. the right side is referred to in a preferential way many times in scripture and our sacred hymns What should we want to change?"

 

[gzt]

It's just the way it happened. The right hand and right side come up a fair bit in imagery, so maybe that had a little bit to do with it, but it's hardly the point. It's a little frill added onto the meaning.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Could someone please explain the reason(s) why the Orthodox Church signs from right to left?

Thank you,

SS

I guess you've gotten your answers, but I just wanted to say - welcome to CF! And welcome to TAW as well. Always nice to get visitors. Feel free to ask away if you had any other questions.

And again, welcome!

 

[truefiction1]

Actually, it's psychosomatically intuitive: due in large part to the triune brain construct and contralateral bihemispheric functioning. Welcome to TAW Soma Seer!

 

[ArmyMatt]

a priest once told me that making the Cross is blessing oneself, and you are basically pointing where the blessing "goes" (I used air quotes since God's blessing is everywhere). and priests go left to right when they face you, so you go right to left to mirror the priest.

 

[prodromos]

Actually, it's psychosomatically intuitive: due in large part to the triune brain construct and contralateral bihemispheric functioning. Welcome to TAW Soma Seer!

Qué¿

 

[prodromos]

From Orthodox.net for you.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that in the Roman Catholic Church, the faithful crossed themselves from right to left, just as the Orthodox do, until the 15th or 16th century. They must explain why they have changed an ancient and apostolic tradition. We cannot answer as to their motivations.

"Est autem signum crucis tribus digitis exprimendum, quia sub invocatione Trinitatis imprimitur, de qua dicit propheta: Quis appendit tribus digitis molem terrae? (Isa. XL.) ita quod a superiori descendat in inferius, et a dextra transeat ad sinistram, quia Christus de coelo descendit in terram, et a Judaeis transivit ad gentes. Quidam tamen signum crucis a sinistra producunt in dextram; quia de miseria transire debemus ad gloriam, sicut et Christus transivit de morte ad vitam, et de inferno ad paradisum, praesertim ut seipsos et alios uno eodemque pariter modo consignent. Constat autem quod cum super alios signum crucis imprimimus, ipsos a sinistris consignamus in dextram. Verum si diligenter attendas, etiam super alios signum crucis a dextra producimus in sinistram, quia non consignamus eos quasi vertentes dorsum, sed quasi faciem praesentantes." (Innocentius III, De sacro altaris mysterio, II, xlv in Patrologia Latina 217, 825C--D.)

Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) explained: "The sign of the cross is made with three fingers, because the signing is done together with the invocation of the Trinity. ... This is how it is done: from above to below, and from the right to the left, because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth

 

[RobNJ]

The real question is: Why did Rome change it around?

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I was told since Christ THE SON sits at the right hand of the Father, we go right first for "the son" and then holy spirit on the left.

 

[prodromos]

The real question is: Why did Rome change it around?

Even they don't know. All that is known is that up until around the 15th century they made the sign of the cross from right to left, then there is nothing else written about it but Latins riters are now doing it left to right. Its weird.

 

[RobNJ]

I'm not sure where I read it, but for the difference in directions.. The East was using Greek, where when saying "Holy Spirit", the word for Spirit comes second. The West was using Latin, where the word for Spirit comes first. Both crossing so that when saying "Holy Spirit", you touch over your heart, on the word Spirit.

 

[buzuxi02]

Here is an Orthodox explanation on why we cross ourselves the way we do:
Why do Orthodox Christians "cross themselves" different than Roman Catholics?

Here is an Orthodox explanation of why Latins cross themselves the way they do:
Why Do the Latins Cross Themselves Backwards?

 

[seekingsolace]

Reminds me of the bottom slanting bar of The Tri-Bar Cross.

If I recall correctly, for a representation of the agony of Christ on the cross, and the paths of the two thiefs: to the right elevated towards heaven and to the left (signifying the weight of the blasphemer) towards Hades.

 

[truefiction1]

The real question is: Why did Rome change it around?

Someone must have felt that it was best done differently than in the past. Maybe this man? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III

 

[buzuxi02]

According to this roman catholic source the latin change is first documented in the 15th century:


For more than 1,200 years most Catholics made the Sign of the Cross in a like manner — that is, people in the Eastern and Western Church touched their forehead, their breast, and their shoulders, going right to left, with three fingers. Before he became pope, Innocent III wrote in The Sacred Mystery of the Altar, “The Sign of the Cross is made with three fingers, because it is imprinted under invocation of the Trinity… so that it descends from the upper part to the lower, and crosses over from the right hand to the left because Christ came down from the heaven to the Earth and crossed over from the Jews to the Gentiles.”
Other rationales for touching the right shoulder first is that “Jesus sits on the right hand of the Father” and that the right represents light and goodness, while the left represents darkness.
By the end of the Middle Ages, however, Western Catholics were making the Sign of the Cross using the hand in place of the fingers and touching the left shoulder first. Among the sources documenting this method and the rationale is a 15th-century devotion used by the nuns of the Brigittine Monastery of Sion in Isleworth, England, which stated that one should begin with the head and move downward, then to the left side, and then to the right. The devotion supported this form, saying that Jesus came down from the Father (forehead), was born as man (breast), suffered on the Cross (left shoulder), and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father (right shoulder). This method became the standard in the Western Church. It is not clear why the changes took place or why they did not also take root in the Eastern Church, which continues using three fingers to make the Sign of the Cross and from right to left. Catholic Digest | The Magazine for Catholic Living | Making the Sign of the Cross

 

[truefiction1]

Even they don't know. All that is known is that up until around the 15th century they made the sign of the cross from right to left, then there is nothing else written about it but Latins riters are now doing it left to right. Its weird.

The webpage link that buzuxi shared about why Latins cross themselves backwards say that they had started doing it at the time of Pope Innocent III. This would make sense psychologically, given our awareness of what sort of spirit prevailed in the Latin rite at that time (that is, the spirit of war -- the tool of the dark side). That the Latins intuitively began crossing to the left first could easily be seen as an outward sign of this turning to the dark side.

 

[buzuxi02]

The webpage link that buzuxi shared about why Latins cross themselves backwards say that they had started doing it at the time of Pope Innocent III. This would make sense psychologically, given our awareness of what sort of spirit prevailed in the Latin rite at that time (that is, the spirit of war -- the tool of the dark side). That the Latins intuitively began crossing to the left first could easily be seen as an outward sign of this turning to the dark side.

I believe that article contains an error. Pope Innocent III said that it goes from the right to left. So in his time it was still done in an Orthodox manner. It probably began in the 14th century and by the 15th century started taking hold.

 

[prodromos]

I believe that article contains an error. Pope Innocent III said that it goes from the right to left. So in his time it was still done in an Orthodox manner. It probably began in the 14th century and by the 15th century started taking hold.

If you look at my quote from Pope Innocent III in post 9, he states that " Some, however, produce the sign of the cross from the left hand to the right hand; because of the misery we must pass on to glory, even as the Lord passed over from death to life, and from hell to paradise, especially as it is one and the same identical way" (google translate)