May 7. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



461 



fidence, they prevailed so far in most plnces, to thrust 

 the 2'e Deum, the Benedictus, the Magnificat, and the 

 Nu7ic Dimittis, quite out of the church. But of this 

 more perhaps hereafter, wlien we shall come to the dis- 

 covery of the Puritan practices in the times succeeding." 



J. Sansom. 

 Oxford. 



THE SIGN or THE CROSS IN THE GREEK CHURCH. 



(Vol. vii., p. 380.) 



The cross, X, in the Greek Church, represents 

 the initial of \piaThs, the Messiah, the symbolic 

 affixing of which (sealing) before and after baptism 

 indicates that the name of Christ is imposed on the 

 believer, who takes his new or Christian name at 

 baptism. This mark on the forehead refers to 

 Bevelation vii. 3., xiv. 1., xxii. 4. The longer 

 catechism of that church, in answer to the ques- 

 tion, " What force has the sign of the cross, used 

 on this and other occasions ? " says, " What the name 

 of Jesus Christ crucified is, when pronounced with 

 faith by the motion of the lips, the very same is also 

 the sign of the cross, when made with faith by the 

 motion of the hand, or represented in any other 

 way." The authority quoted is Cyril of Jerusa- 

 lem (^Cat. Led. xiii. 36.). 



In the Western Church the cross, f, repre- 

 sented the (TTavphs whereon Christ suffered. 



Both these crosses are now found in the Greek 

 Church ; and the Latin form, f , has at least been 

 used therein nine centuries; for in Goar's Rituale 

 Gracorum may be seen (pp. 114, 115. 126.) the 

 icons of Saints Methodius, Germanus, and Cyrillus, 

 whose vestments are embellished with Latin ci'osses. 

 The Latin cross is marked on the sacramental 

 "bread of the Greek communion, — which bread is 

 also impressed with an abbreviation of the words 

 on Constantine's labarum : "Jesus Christ over- 

 cometh." (Eusebius's Life of Constantine, lib. i. 

 c. 25. : compare with Goar's Rituale Grcecorum, 

 p. 117.) 



The Latin cross, f , is rarely found on the se- 

 pulchres in the catacombs at Rome, — the most 

 ancient Christian memorials ; but, instead of it, a 

 combination of the letters XP prevails, as the 

 monogram for " Christ." Aringhi, in his Roma 

 Suhteri-anea (Romaj, 1651) says: 



" Illud autem fatendum nobis est, nullatenus ante 

 felicisslma Constantini Magni ad fidem traducti tem- 

 pera crucem publicas populorum venerationi expositara 

 fuisse." — Vol. ii. lib. vi. c. xiv. p. 546. 



The following statement from Humphrey's 

 Montfaucon (vol. x. partii. bookiii. cap. 1. p. 158.) 

 is very clear as to the form of the cross : 



" The cross, made with beams put together, had the 

 shape of the Samaritan tau, says St. Jerome, whose 

 words are these: 'In the oldest Hebrew letters, which 



the Samaritans now make use of, the last, which is tau, 

 had the form of a cross.' This tau, like a cross, was 

 like the T of the Greeks, according to Paulinus, who 

 says that the shape of the cross is expressed by the 

 Greek letter tau, which stands for three hundred. The 

 cross of our Lord was something different from the letter 

 tau ; the beam that was fixed in the earth crossing that 

 which was athwart it above, and made as it were a head 

 by rising above it : such a cross we see in the medals of 

 Constantine the Great, in this form, f, and such is it 

 found described in the most ancient Christian monu- 

 ments ; this is the form of the cross which St. Jerome 

 means, when he compares it to birds flying, to a man 

 swimming, and to a man praying to God, with his arms 

 extended." 



The Greek church has retained both forms : the 

 Latin Church, in its ignorance of the Greek lan- 

 guage, has lost the more important symbol. These 

 forms were probably invented by Constantine, who 

 used them on his helmet, as crests were afterwards 

 used in the ages of chivalry. T. J. Buckton. 



Birmingham. 



The difference between the manner In which 

 the members of the Greek and those of the Latin 

 Church used to sign themselves with the sign of 

 the cross is this : both used the right hand, the 

 thumb and first and second fingers open, and the 

 third and fourth closed ; both began at the fore- 

 head, and descended to the breast : but in crossing 

 that vertical line by an horizontal one, from one 

 shoulder to the other, the Greeks go from the right 

 to the left, but the Latins from the left to the right. 

 It is said, that in the Latin Church, up to the 

 thirteenth century, the cross line was traced in- 

 differently from either shoulder. 



Whilst there is this difference between the 

 Greek and Latin sign of the cross when made 

 upon oneself, there is also a difference between the 

 two when made upon others. The Latin Bene- 

 diction is given with the thumb and first two 

 fingers open ; the third and fourth finger remain- 

 ing closed. This arrangement of the fingers is 

 symbolical of the Trinity : the three open fingers 

 signifying the three divine persons, and the two 

 closed fingers being emblematic of the two natures 

 of Christ. 



The Greek benediction is given with the fore-, 

 finger entirely open ; the middle finger slightly 

 beiit, the thumb crossed upon the third finger, 

 and the little finger bent. 



In the present day, however, in the Latin 

 Church, a person making on himself the sign of 

 the cross, employs the right hand entirely open, 

 instead of three fingers only. And as it has been 

 thought desirable to make a distinction between 

 the benediction given by a bishop and a priest, 

 bishops reserved to themselves the right of bless- 

 ing with three fingers ; and priests give the bene- 

 diction with the hand entirely open. 



