“Listen, Christians, how we should cross ourselves and what does the sign of the Cross means. The Holy Gospel tells us that the Holy Trinity, God, is glorified in heaven more by the angels. So, what do you have to do?
The sign of the Cross is made in a specific way. Put your three fingers together with your right hand and, since you cannot ascend to the sky to worship Him…
put your hand on your head, because your head is round and reveals the sky, and say with your mouth: ‘As you angels glorify the holy Trinity in heaven, I too, as an unworthy servant, glorify and bless the holy Trinity.’
And as these fingers are three – separate, but together too- so is the Holy Trinity, God -three figures and only one God. Take your hand down from your head and put it on your belly, and say, ‘I kneel before you and I love you, my Lord, for you accepted to be incarnated in the belly of the Virgin for our sins.’ You, then, put it to your right shoulder and say, ‘Please, my God, forgive me and set me right with the righteous.’ Putting it to your left shoulder, you say, ‘Please, Lord, do not put me to the left with the sinners.’
Then, bending over the earth, say, ‘I praise Thee, O my God, I bow down to Thee, and worship Thee, as thou didst enter the tomb, so will I enter it.’ And when you stand up, you reveal the Resurrection and say, ‘I praise Thee, O my God, I bow down to Thee, and worship Thee, for thou didst raise from the dead to give us eternal life.’ That is the meaning of the holy Cross.
So let’s make it as often as we can, cherishing with it every aspect of our everyday and spiritual life.”
Cosmas of Aetolia
*The article was originally published in Greek in ikivotos.gr
