Sign of the cross

The definition of the sign of the cross or sign of cross has two aspects: the gesture of the sign of cross and the symbol of the cross.

In hoc signo vinces

At the time of a battle against Maxence where its troops were badly in point, the emperor Constantin saw the clouds forming an immense cross in the sky, and heard this message: " In hoc signo vinces" (" By this sign, you vaincras"). He made it sew on his standard, and promulgated the famous edict which bears its name, putting fine at persecutions against the Christian .

In the Christian Churches

The sign of cross is a gesture used by a great number of Christian Églises during the offices or of the Prière collective or individual. It is one of the rare epic of the Christian prayer.

Materially, it consists in touching successively, of the end of the fingers of the right hand, its face, its Cœur, its left shoulder then its right shoulder.

The orthodoxe practice it in an order slightly different, concerning the right shoulder before the left of the first three fingers of the hand (inch, index, major) joined together to symbolize the unit of the Trinity (Only one God in Three people: Father, Wire and the Holy Spirit)

In the Churches resulting from the Reform

The currents resulting from the Réforme use it with parsimony. However, its use is more intense in the currents Luthérien S, for example, after having received the Sainte Cène.

The majority of the evangelic current do not use it at all.

In the Catholic church

It is done by pronouncing the following words: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, Ainsi is it (or Amen).” and marks adhesion with the Foi and the mystery of the Holy Trinity, i.e. the unicity of three people into only one God: Father, Wire and Holy Spirit.

He recalls at the same time the Mort Christ on the cross, his Résurrection and the Profession of faith Trinitaire.

The Catholique S often reiterate it:

each time they meet the symbol of the cross (church, martyrdom, procession,…)
at the entry of the churches, after having soaked the end of the index and of major in a Stoup
within the framework of the liturgy, to mark certain stages or to accompany a Bénédiction which they receive
to open or conclude a Oraison like the daily Prière in family or the grace before a meal
in the important moments from the life, for example while attending a death
formerly, it arrived that people being in the presence of demonstrations supposed diabolic make this sign to mark their fidelity with the divine light and to reject the spirit of badly.

The symbol of the cross

The Symbol of the cross in Frank the Masons:

The Freemasons point out that the cross appears in the history of the thought well before JC. That in addition, the instrument of torture of the Romans was not a cross but a pilori on which one hung the torture victim with a bar out of wooden on the shoulders, the unit drew a cross indeed.

The symbolism of the cross associates the vertical (the plumbline) with interior research to make on oneself and the horizontal one (the level) which oblige us to look at the others and to consider that the men are brothers.

It enters in competition with the fish the first centuries of Christianity. Emblem of Charity and care towards the patients (in France, only the religious orders fulfilled this function effectively) it is used at the 19th century by the founders of the Red Cross.

In the catholic Theology

The cross arose from sacrificial theology, perpetually points out the suffering undergone by the Christ; one thus places the representation of Christ there. She becomes symbol of dead and the Résurrection of the Christ.

The cross quickly became the principal symbol of the Christianisme in the form of Latin Croix but also in the form of X (which are also initial word Christ in Greek) and of a Latin Croix interlaced, on the standard of Constantin.

In the Protestant Theology

One is sparing signs and representations; as, the Protestants represent it naked, considering as the Résurrection is more important than the Crucifixion in the Histoire of the hello.

In France, and more and more often with the the United States, the Protestants prefer to carry as religious jewel a Croix huguenote whose form imitates that of the Croix of the Holy Spirit (medal with use of military decoration) to which is suspended a Colombe or a tear (supposed to symbolize the tears of the persecution).

Resemblances of the cross

We can also find resemblances to the civilizations disappeared like the Egyptians, one often found in the hand of the gods the ankh . It resembles the Christian cross curiously.

Simple: Sign off the cross-country race

Random links: