However, so important is the Sign of the Cross, for example, in the Eastern Christian Tradition, that within the course of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in the Byzantine Rite, the Sign is drawn over thirty times. Indeed one of the first things we are taught as Catholic children with regard our Faith is how to draw this Sign; but what we are not taught so frequently is the history of this Signing, as well as the rich symbolical meaning that is involved.

The earliest form of the Signing of the Cross was by use of the thumb drawing the cross on the forehead, and it is this form of the Signing that the Eastern Father, Tertullian is attesting too when he writes: "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". (Tertullian, (De cor. Mil., iii). In time the Signing became a frequent part of the daily Christian lifestyle, as yet another Eastern Father tells us, this time, Cyril of Jerusalem: "let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in every thing; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in goings; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are travelling, and when we are at rest".(Catecheses, xiii, 36).

Far from being something that was adapted by the Church at a later stage as a form of superstition, as some Protestant critics would have us believe – the Signing of the Cross, has Apostolic roots; no less of an authority than St. Basil the Great affirms the Apostolic origins of the Signing. Throughout the first 1500 years of Christianity – the Signing was in itself a sign of being a Christian.

The first reference to what we know today as the Signing of the Cross, that begins with the touching of the forehead, through to the abdomen and across the shoulders is probably Theodoret a Bishop of Syria, who taught his parishioners clearly: “This is how to bless someone with your hand and make the sign of the cross over them. Hold three fingers, as equals, together, to represent the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. These are not three gods, but one God in Trinity. The names are separate, but the divinity one. The Father was never incarnate; the Son incarnate, but not created; the Holy Ghost neither incarnate nor created, but issued from the Godhead: three in a single divinity. Divinity is one force and has one honor. They receive on obeisance from all creation, both angels and people. Thus the decree for these three fingers. You should hold the other two fingers slightly bent, not completely straight. This is because these represent the dual nature of Christ, divine and human. God in His divinity, and human in His incarnation, yet perfect in both. The upper finger represents divinity, and the lower humanity; this way salvation goes from the higher finger to the lower. So is the bending of the fingers interpreted, for the worship of Heaven comes down for our salvation. This is how you must cross yourselves and give a blessing, as the holy fathers have commanded.”

There are many reasons that Catholics and Orthodox, Sign the Cross, one of which of course is to maintain and to perpetuate the link with this practice of Faith of the Early Church. The Sign of the Cross is drawn by Catholics of both the Western and Eastern tradition as a means by which to commit themselves to their Faith. It is a re-commitment of the baptismal promise; and is drawn before and after prayer to signify the holiness of what is said between the two signings, be the prayer – silent or public. It does not mean that Catholics and Orthodox are required to sign each time they pray – but it does have a special force – as what is being prayed, is called upon in the name of the Holy Trinity; as such prayer and the signing are usually tied together. The Signing is also used as a means by which to call on the Holy Trinity to ward off an evil spirit, or to bless something or someone; or used as a general part of the Liturgy that one is participating in. In the latter case during the Byzantine Holy Mysteries of Initiation – those who are present, Sign themselves at the point at which the Priest baptizes the candidate: “In the name of the Father (†); and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit (†), Amen. Even without saying a word each of these Signings performed by those witnessing is a powerful, silent and physical affirmation of the Mystery that is being performed on the candidate for Baptism; in each Signing, those who Sign, are in fact also participating in the Baptismal blessing alongside the priest; as well as re-committing themselves to the Church.

In the Byzantine East the index finger, thumb and middle finger are held together (emphasizing the notion of the Holy Trinity), and the two remaining digits of the hand are pressed across the palm to signify that Christ was both God and Man (the hypostatic union). The Signing is repeated three times in honour of the Holy Trinity. In the modern Roman Rite West, an open hand is used to trace the Cross – the five digits of the open hand signifying the five wounds of Christ.

In both the Byzantine East and Latin West the signing begins from the Father – who is Creator of all. The first point is at the Head – signifying wisdom – and the noble part of a man or a woman. The hand falls to the abdomen – signifying the Incarnation of God to man – God going from the Heavenly vault to that which is lower – the human appetites. Hence Christ is at this point; for He shared our condition in everything but sin. The third point the drawing from shoulder to shoulder signifies the descent of the Holy Spirit into the world and the power of God present within the confines of our human lives our labour, and our embrace (from arm to arm). The word “Amen” – is said at the end of the Signing – “So be it”; “I affirm this” – or “This is my Faith”. Critically the entire Signing is drawn over the heart; for our Faith and our Reason, can only ever find synthesis in Love within that man who was the Alpha and the Omega – who died on the Cross.

It must be stressed that it is the ancient Tradition of the Christian Church to draw the Sign of the Cross from the right shoulder through to the left, and with the three fingers joined as Pope Innocent III taught and re-affirmed as late as the 12th Century. However after the Schism that split East from West, the Eastern Christians maintained the tradition of the Church Fathers, and the Western Christians of the Latin Church, in time drew the Sign of the Cross from left shoulder to the right, and with the open hand. As Rev. Holowaychuk has written: “In the West, the sign of the cross had also been traced out from the right shoulder to the left; but from the 13th century it became the custom to make it from the left to the right shoulder, and with the hand open”. (Holowaychuk, 1990, p. 20). Comments made by some Catholics of the Roman Rite about the ‘strange’ and ‘incorrect’ manner in which members of the Byzantine Rite draw the Sign of the Cross, are in fact quite ironically the converse. The Signing of the Cross was developed as an Eastern Christian Sacramental and was ‘gifted’ to the West. Theologians estimate that it was only in the middle of the ninth century that Pope Leo IV established the practice of the Signing as common in the West. Interestingly Aelfric of Abingdon, the Anglo-Saxon? Archbishop of Canterbury (c. 1000) teaches his followers "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). Again Aelfric is affirming in 10th Century England the ancient Byzantine style. So modern movies that we now see with Anglo-Saxons? and Celts blessing themselves in the contemporary styling of the Roman Rite are incorrect – the producers and directors of these movies have assumed that the current Roman Rite styling of the Signing of the Cross was always the case., which evidently it was not.

That the Byzantine Rite traces the procession of the Holy Spirit from the right shoulder through to the left in its Signing of the Cross, is because of the theological importance of the “right hand” of the Father. St. Mark tells us: “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” (Mark 16: 19 & cf. Matthew 25: 33; Psalm 15: 11; Acts 7: 55). Throughout the Scripture the place of honour is indicated to be from the right hand; thus when the Signing of the Cross is traced from the Byzantine Tradition – there is a procession of the Spirit, from the place of honour, the right, to the world, to the left – it is a salvific symbolism; the process of God saving the world. For as St. John of Damascus has taught us in the East: "what we style as the Father's right hand, is the glory and honor of the Godhead, wherein the Son of God existed before ages as God and as consubstantial with the Father." (De Fide Orth. iv).

No matter which Church one belongs to within the communion of Catholic Churches (or in the Orthodox family of churches) - the Signing should always be carried out reverently – as the person doing so – is calling upon the blessing of God in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. Each time we trace the Sign of the Cross, we should be aware of that moment – that we are commending ourselves to God. No matter how profane we believe ourselves to be – this is an action of holiness – a means by which we are setting the steering wheel of our soul back to the Divine; each time we Sign the Cross, it should be as fresh as if it were the first time – for every moment we live on this earth is new, and every call of the human Spirit to God is unique.