THE GNOSTIC CONCEPTION OF THE CROSS. 



113 



Cross, whether in particular rites such as baptism and anointing, 

 or in daily life as a protective sign, and it is not impossible that 

 they may have given a greater impulse to its use as a mere magical 

 charm among orthodox Christians. TertuUian, from the orthodox 

 side, already refers early in the third century to the common use 

 of the sign as efficacious against demons and as a general pro- 

 tective power : "At every forward step and movement, at 

 every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, 

 when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, 

 in all the ordinary acts of daily life, we trace the sign upon the 

 forehead." * In the Apocrjrphal Acts there are copious refer- 

 ences to its use, which are in most cases witnesses to the Gnostic 

 custom. Demons who saw the invisible seal " made in 

 baptism on the forehead were afraid and would not approach. 

 In the Syriac History of Johfi, the apostle says : " I will sign for 

 you with His Cross, the sign of life, and I will place a seal on your 

 foreheads, that when the devil sees that they are the asylum of the 

 Lord, he may flee." f When demons are near, the apostles and 

 others " seal their faces," and they flee away. J Or demoniacs 

 are signed with the Cross to expel the invading demons. § The 

 sign was also used before any important undertaking, especially 

 in the performance of a miracle. S. John made the sign over 

 a dead boy.|| S. Thomas signs the young man who had killed 

 his mistress, before sending him to raise her again. ^ Thecla 

 made the sign before ascending the pile of faggots on which she 

 was to suffer martyrdom.** S. John sealed himself all over his 

 body before his death ; this was done also by S. Matthew on 

 rising at dawn, and by a Christian maiden of Corinth, rescued by 

 a pious youth from a house of ill-fame whence she had been 

 consigned by a pagan judge — " signing herself entirely with the 

 mystery of the Cross." f\ Gates flew open when marked with 

 the sacred sign, or when the Cross itself was appealed to. J J Storms 



* TertuUian, De Corona Militis, 3, cf. Adv. Marcionem, iii, 18. 

 t W. Wright, Apocr. Acts of the Apostles, 1871, ii, 37. 

 X Lipsius and Bonnet, op. cit, ii, 1, 107. 



§ R. A. Lipsius, Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten, i, 619 ; Lewis, op. 

 cit., p. 67. 1! Lewis, p. 44. 



^ The Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, and Apocalypses, Edinburgh, 1870, 

 p. 418. 



** Lipsius and Bonnet, i, 250. 



tt Ihid., ii, 1, 215, Lewis, p. 171 ; Apocr. Gospels, Acts, etc., p. 377 ; 

 PaUadius, Hist. Laus., cxlix. 



%X Lipsius, op. Git.,\, 583 ; Acts oj Philip in Texts and Studies, ii, 3, § 2. 



I 



