On Making the Sign of the Cross

On the Sign of the Cross
(Abridged from the Psalter printed under the Patriarchate of Patriach Joseph of Moscow.)

LET this also be known: It behooves every Christian to know clearly how to cross himself properly in the form of a Cross; what is the Power of the Sign of the Cross; how great a mystery lies in the joining of the fingers; and why we are called Christians. Let everyone born again in the laver of regeneration mark this well, lest unbelievers, laugh or mock us, and lest heretics overcome us in argument and put us to shame with their unclean words.
Truly, the Lord in His mercy has not despised us, but rather He has had mercy and has looked upon us mercifully from His holy place on high, and has given us a new name; that is, to be called Christians. ...Behold, then, how we Christians are called by a new name, just as He said through the same Isaiah to His new servants, "And they shall come and see My glory. And I will leave a sign upon them."(Isa. 66:18-19) And as the Lord said, so has He done; He has left the Sign, the precious Cross. ...
...It is also clear from other witness: that the Apostles of Christ, as well as the martyers, made the sign of the precious Cross upon themselves with their hands. Therein, say the holy fathers, is glorified the mystery of the holy and undivided Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In holy baptism, the three-day burial and Resurrection of Christ is shown by three immersion in water; as the Apostle says, "So many of us as were baptsed into Jesus Christ were baptised into death." And further: "That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6:3,4).
In like manner, in the Sign of the precious Cross, this excellent sacrament of the faith teaches us how to know a mystery. For the joining of three fingers together-the thumb, the ring finger and the little finger-confesses the mystery of the three divine hypostases, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God in three Persons, while joining together the other two fingers-the forefinger and the middle finger- and extending them signifies the mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who is perfect God and perfect Man. Slightly bending the middle finger confesses the mystery that the Son of God bowed the heavens and came down upon the earth and bacame man for our salvation. Thus, having joined these two fingers, we first place them on the head, or on the forehead; we confess that He Who is our one true and eternal Head gave us Himself as head over all Churches; that is, over His body. Next, we place them on the belly, confessing His desent to earth; we clearly proclaim His conception without seed in the most pure womb of the Mother of God and His dwelling there for nine months, for He alone passed through her womb as the sun through glass, without damaging her virginity by His birth. Then, we place them on the right shoulder; we confess that He sits at the right hand of God the Father, until His enemies are made His footstool. Finally, we place them on the left shouder, signifying that He will come agian for judgment and will render unto those on the left everlasting punishmant, but unto those on the right everlasting life. Thus having signed ourselves with the Sign of the precious Cross, we bow before God in adoration, beseeching Him to deliver us from the lot of those on the left and to grant us His blessing.

NOTE: When making the Sign of the Cross, one should say the Jesus Prayer. When we place our fingers on the forehead, we say, "Lord"; when we place our fingers on the belly, we say "Jesus Christ" when we place our fingers on the right shoulder, we say ";Son of God"; and we place our fingers on the left shoulder, we say, "have mercy on me (a sinner)." Also, one should wait until the Sign of the Cross has been completely made before making the accompanying bow.

Blessed Theodoret says this about how it behooves one to make the Sign of the Cross with the hand:
THUS dose one bless with the hand and cross oneself: Holding three fingers together evenly the thumb and the last two fingers-confesses a mystery in the image of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There are not three gods, but one God in Trinity; there is a distinction of names, but one Godhead. The Father is unbegotton; the Son is begotten of the Father, yet not created; the Holy Spirit is nither begotten nor created, but proceeds. They are three in one Godhead; but one in power, one in honour, one in the adoration of all creation, angles and men. Such is the explanation of these three fingers.
Joining two fingers together-the index and the middle finger-and extending them, with the middle finger slightly bent, represents the two natures of Christ: His Divinity and His Humanity. He is God according to His divinity and Man according to His hummanity, perfect in both natures. The index finger represents His divinity, while the middle finger repersents His hummanity, since He came down from on high and saved those below. The bending of the middle finger is interperted to mean that He bowed the heavens and came down upon the earth for our salvation.
And thus it proper to make the Sign of the Cross and to bless; thus was it laid down and ordained by the holy fathers; such is the power of the Sign of the Cross, with which we faithful sign ourselves when we pray, confessing sacramentally the Saviour's economy: His being begotten of God the Father before all creation; His decent to earth from on high; His Crucifixion; and His second coming, which is the sealing of His entire philanthropic dipensation concerning us....

...Let every believer be not careless, nor let him brazenly cross himself as though it were nothing, but let him make the Sign of the Cross on his person with awe, with right faith and with a cleen conscience, as the theological writings indicate. It is also written in the books of the holy fathers that if anyone crosses himself improperly, that is, if he crosses himself wrongly, out of pride or laziness, and waves his hand back and forth, the demons rejoice at such hand-waving.