A Sign for All Christians

Date: 28 October 2004 01:41:36

"Let us not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Let the cross, as our seal, be boldly made with our fingers upon our brow and on all occasions: over the bread we eat, over the cup we drink, in our comings and goings, before sleep, on lying down and rising up, when we are on our way and when we are still. It is a powerful safeguard. It is without price, for the sake of the poor, without toil, because of the sick. For it is grace from God, a badge of the faithful and a terror to the devils .... for when they see the cross, they are reminded of the Crucified. They fear Him who smashed the heads of the dragons [Psalm 73:13]. Despise not the seal as a free gift, but for this reason honour your Lord even more."
St Cyril of Jerusalem

'A Sign for All Christians' is one of the chapters in Peter Gillquist's book Becoming Orthodox. In the chapter he explains his coming to use the sign of the cross, as well as the historical precedents for doing so. I found it a very worthwhile meditation of the use of the cross [and the entire book comes highly recommended].

In my teenager years in a very Protestant church, the sign of the cross was to me something those Roman Catholics did -- and which I was told was not worthwhile. Coming back to the church in my early 20s, this time an evangelical Anglican expression, the sign of the cross was again not mentioned. I remember going to St Andrew's Cathedral a few times and seeing people employ the sign of the cross: I was somewhat taken aback. Were there Anglicans who used it?

This was given a resounding "Yes!" when I moved to an Anglo-Catholic church several years later. And now, in Orthodoxy, the sign is ever-present; not only in church services but in my entire life: my prayers, before I drive somewhere, before I do anything [if I remember...]. It is becoming natural, not something forced, and it does indeed provide me with strength and a method to remember what Christ has done for me. In the words of St John Chrysostom, "When therefore you sign yourself, think of the purpose of the cross, and quench any anger and all other passions. Consider the price that has been paid for you."

In my parish there is a wide range of the use of the sign of the cross. There are those to whom a small sign is the one they employ, there are those who make grand gestures, bending down as they touch their feet, and there are those in between. At first, I found the grand, sweeping gestures strange -- perhaps due to my "Western" background and the fact I've never been one for grand expressions in church. But I've found great joy and comfort in the variety of expressions and actions of my brothers and sisters -- we are all united in belief, but our unity in no way takes away our individual personalities or our individual expressions of our faith. Thanks be to God.