The Sign of the Cross
A small gesture traced on the body that marks a Christian as belonging to the Crucified
From the earliest centuries, Christians traced a cross over themselves or others as a sign of blessing, protection, and belonging. Tertullian already describes it as a familiar daily habit. The gesture remains central in Catholic, Orthodox, and Oriental practice, though details differ: the East signs right-to-left and the West left-to-right, and finger arrangements vary. Many Reformed and Free Protestant churches set the custom aside as non-essential.
How it traveled
- The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and EusebiusCaesarea · c. 339 CEexplains
- The Catechetical Lectures of S. CyrilJerusalem · c. 386 CEexplains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEexplains
- The ConfessionsHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- The Ecclesiastical History of SozomenConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 450 CEexplains
- Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90)Paris · c. 1274 CEexplains
Key passages(20)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen · Sozomen
Chapter IV.—Constantine commands the Sign of the Cross to be carried before him in Battle; an Extraordinary Narrative about the Bearers of the Sign of the Cross. The emperor, amazed at the prophecies
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The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen · Sozomen
Chapter V.—Cyril directs the Sacerdotal Office after Maximus, and the Largest Form of the Cross, surpassing the Sun in Splendor, again appears in the Heavens, and is visible during several Days. At t
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom · John Chrysostom
Therefore He also reveals the thoughts of his mind, saying, “Thou savorest [R.V., “mindest.”] But what means, “Thou savorest [R.V., “mindest.”] καθικνομενο. Thus as John, accounting it unworthy o
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The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Book III. Chapter I.—A Comparison of Constantine’s Piety with the Wickedness of the Persecutors. In this manner that spirit who is the hater of good, actuated by envy at the blessing enjoyed by the
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A History of the Work of Redemption · Jonathan Edwards
This persecution lasted for ten years together, and as it exceeded all the foregoing persecutions, in the number of martyrs, so it exceeded them in the variety and multitude of inventions of torture a
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Secondly, there was the selling of Christ. Now he was sold to the Priests, to the Scribes, and to the Pharisees: and to signify this the threefold sign of the cross is repeated, at the words, "blessed
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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died · Lactantius
Diocletian, as being of a timorous disposition, was a searcher into futurity, and during his abode in the East he began to slay victims, that from their livers he might obtain a prognostic of events;
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The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext Council · The Ecumenical Councils
Canon LXXIII. Since the life-giving cross has shewn to us Salvation, we should be careful that we render due honour to that by which we were saved from the ancient fall. Wherefore, in mind, in word,
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The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril · Cyril of Jerusalem
35. But we seek to know clearly where He has been buried. Is His tomb made with hands? Is it, like the tombs of kings, raised above the ground? Is the Sepulchre made of stones joined together? And wha
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The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen · Sozomen
Chapter III.—By the Vision of the Cross, and by the Appearance of Christ, Constantine is led to embrace Christianity.—He receives Religious Instruction from our Brethren. We have been informed that C
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The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen · Sozomen
Chapter XXII.—From Aversion to the Christians, Julian granted Permission to the Jews to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem; in every Endeavor to put their Hands to the Work, Fire sprang upward and killed
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The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
That this was no new invention of Constantine may be seen by comparing the following description of an ordinary Roman standard, “…each cohort had for its own ensign the serpent or dragon, which was wo
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The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
1709, Molz. &c., add “nor anywhere else,” but Bag. is undoubtedly right in translating simply “ever before.” The chapter is found substantially and in part word for word in the Church History, 8. 14.
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The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
“Friends and fellow-soldiers! These are our country’s gods, and these we honor with a worship derived from our remotest ancestors. But he who leads the army now opposed to us has proved false to the r
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The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Chapter IX. 1. And now we may well compare the present with former things, and review these happy changes in contrast with the evils that are past, and mark the elaborate care with which in ancient t
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John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith · John of Damascus
Deut. iv. 24. Olive oil Cf., Allab., De Cousens, bk. iii., c. 16; Cyril of Jerus., Catech. Myst. 2. Reading, χρίσιν. Variant, χάριν. Gen. viii. 11. John was baptized, putting his hand upon the di
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On the Catechising of the Uninstructed · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 26.—Of the Formal Admission of the Catechumen, and of the Signs Therein Made Use of. 50. At the conclusion of this address the person is to be asked whether he believes these things and earne
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The Confessions · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter XI.—Seized by Disease, His Mother Being Troubled, He Earnestly Demands Baptism, Which on Recovery is Postponed—His Father Not as Yet Believing in Christ. 17. Even as a boy I had heard of eter
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The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret · Theodoret of Cyrus
Other men in public office and of distinction used similar boldness of speech, and won like crowns of martyrdom. Chapter XII.—Of Valentinianus the great Emperor. Valentinianus, who shortly afterward
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The Life of Paulus the First Hermit · Jerome
7. But to return to the point at which I digressed. The blessed Paul had already lived on earth the life of heaven for a hundred and thirteen years, and Antony at the age of ninety was dwelling in ano
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