The sources that were readily available, like the Haydock Bible Commentary and others, don’t elaborate, but it’s clear where he got the idea by taking a look at the Hebrew text for Ezekiel 9:4. While the Bible does not instruct us to cross ourselves, the sign of the cross is not without biblical symbolism. The Sign of the Cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties” (CCC, no. Great reading. The sign of the cross has enormous power as a sacramental; it does not cause the spiritual thing it signifies but draws on the prayer of the Church to affect us in our lives. . It is used as an integral part of many actions (e.g., at Baptism, Confirmation, prayer, to begin and end Mass, etc.). This seems to be a special situation in a unique period of trial and tribulation at the end of time where certain of God's people are for that unique period marked so at to preserve them. The sign shall “lighten, shine” is an indication of what to expect from the sign. The Sign of the Cross is made by touching the forehead with the fingers of the right hand, then the breast and then the left and right shoulders. Ezekiel provides precedence for a sign upon the forehead of believers (Ezek 9:4; 17:9–14) as does Revelation (Rev 7:3; 9:4; 14:1). The Sign of the Cross is a ritual gesture by which we confess two important mysteries: the Trinity and the centrality of the Cross. I have printed it and posted it on my fridge at eye-level for my seven-year-old son who has just begun serving Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Like all prayers, the Sign of the Cross should be said with reverence; we shouldn't … Tertullian: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Philip Schaff, ed., Eerdmans, 1980, vol. St. Paul writes, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” (1 Cor 2:2), and “may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). Though the NT does not specifically mention the “Sign of the Cross”, there is scriptural warrant for such a gesture. In Revelation 14:1, John sees the same assembly of believers with the “name” of the Father and Son on their foreheads. That’s also the Hebrew word for the last letter of its alphabet (according to these language sites here and here). Only recently, since the Reformation, has the Sign of the Cross (along with the Crucifix, holy water and other visible signs) been rejected as idolatrous by many Protestant traditions. A number of commentators, most notably St. Jerome, have concluded that the mark was cross-shaped. Praying the sign of the cross is so common that we often rush through it without thinking much about it. The Bible didn’t instruct early believers to make the sign of the cross; To all those who believe that the ‘Catholic’ practice of making the sign of the cross is a man-made rule steeped in empty ritual, I say read the writings of the early Christians. . Over time, Christians have imbued this small, simple gesture with volumes of theological meaning. (See below illustration.). SIGN. So, the problem is not with the Cross itself (or with what is said during the traditional ritual), but with making the cross-sign itself an idol! We live in a day of loose justice at best. Learning a lot about our church. The Cross is a great contradiction. Likewise, our word for the letter B is bee, which happens to also be the name for a certain type of insect. It's a symbol of death, but so much more. He has appeared on Fox News, C-SPAN and the Today Show and his writing has been published in the Washington Times, Providence Journal, the National Catholic Register and on MSNBC.com and ABCNews.com. The sign of the cross is an invention of the Catholic Church. St. Francis, who attended the council, was reportedly so inspired that he embraced the tau (the Greek letter that is the counterpart to the Hebrew letter tav) as the emblem of his order, according to historian Warren Carroll. By the Sign of the Cross we pledge allegiance to Christ and invite the Holy Spirit to apply the cross to our lives—to take up our cross and follow Christ. However, because of Christ and His death on the cross, the meaning of the cross today is completely different. and even the most wicked ungodly blasphemous person can spare himself of the judgments in those passages so long as he makes this sign on his forehead? For unless that sign be applied, whether it be to the foreheads of believers, or to the very water out of which they are regenerated, or to the oil with which they receive the anointing chrism, or to the sacrifice that nourishes them, none of them is properly administered” (Tractates on John 118). Symbolical Uses of the Cross: (1) Extra-Scriptural. The sign of the cross was well known in the symbolics of various ancient nations. 32:4, 7 … The addition symbol we use here in Israel looks like this: ﬩ , like an upside down ‘T’. Apache/2.2.22 (Linux) Server at Port 80 1 It serves as an abbreviated form of the Apostles’ Creed. A History of the Word “Catholic”. And, even a Protestant commentator in the same century, British Methodist theologian Adam Clarke, lends it some credence. Not Found. Instead, it was the Romans of that era who used the cross design to symbolize their gods. For that, we have to go deeper into the Scriptures. The sign of the cross was made simply with the fingers (the index or the thumb) on the forehead or lips or breast (as Latin-rite Catholics do at the beginning of the Gospel lesson) or with the whole hand over the torso. The three bars of the cross most likely represent the three realms of the Pope's authority: the church, the world, and heaven. The sign of the cross was made simply with the fingers (the index or the thumb) on the forehead or lips or breast (as Latin-rite Catholics do at the beginning of the Gospel lesson) or with the whole hand over the torso. Nowhere does the Bible suggest that the earliest Christians used the cross as a religious symbol. Such baptismal language strengthens the connection with the Sign of the Cross, which is accompanied by the words, “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”—the same words with which we are baptized. There is reason to believe that the Jewish Christians used the Sign of the Cross prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in ad 70. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Although often translated as sealed, the Greek word in these three texts is the same as the one used in Revelation 7:3, sphragizō, which one biblical concordance defines as to set a seal upon, mark with a seal, to seal for a number of purposes, including security from Satan and to prove one’s testimony to a person that he is what he professes to be. The Sign of the Cross is made by touching the forehead with the fingers of the right hand, then the breast and then the left and right shoulders. It could be a similar sign to the one God gave to Cain after he killed his brother able to preserve his life in Genesis 4:15. To die on the cross was not only humiliating, but a slow and agonizing experience—sometimes lasting days. The book makes two more references to a “sign” on the forehead. People commit horrible crimes and get off with a slap o… Charles Stanley. Depicted on the bottom is an infinity sign (∞), and above is a double cross (‡). Amen." In Israeli schools, writing the “plus” sign is frowned upon, because it looks too much like a cross. Great article ! The truth must always be told and the Catholic Church will always do just that. Praying the Sign of the Cross traces its origins back to the very early Christians marking a cross on their foreheads. The Romans fixed a person to a cross to die as a punishment. And, in Revelation 22:4, while an angel is leading John on a tour of the New Jerusalem that descended out of heaven, he is told that the servants of God who live in the celestial city will have God’s name on their foreheads. Answer: The New Testament does not give a direct meaning of INRI because these letters represent Latin, not Greek, words. Catholic Bibles today continue to affirm the cross-imagery hidden in Ezekiel 9:4. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the Israelites (Revelation 7:2-4, New American Bible, Rev. The Catholic Church has always seen outward gestures as means of expressing and actuating internal spiritual realities. (It might help, before proceeding further, to recall that languages have words for the letters in their alphabets. St. Jerome’s cross-centered view of Ezekiel 9:4 has continued to be taken seriously since then. 2157; see also CCC, no. The image of the altar boy with the steps to making the sign of the cross is classic. Ezekiel provided a support for the early Christians to use it as a “sacramental” (CCC 1235, 1668) to display their devotion to Christ and His Cross. A History of the Word “Catholic”. Through this Bible study we will explore the practice of the prayer and also the enormity of the mystery of the Trinity and the sacrifice of our ever-loving God. Then I saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. Copyright © 2000–2021 Stephen K. Ray. The first thing to notice is that the sign of the Son of man shall “appear” ( Greek: Φανήσεται – Phanēsetai meaning “to lighten, shine, appear” ). Tradition will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their strengthener, and faith as their observer” (The Chaplet 3, 4). The evidence is hidden in a book whose very name suggests the unveiling of concealed concealed—a book so filled with tales of beasts, a seven-headed dragon, horse-like locusts, and a two hundred million-strong army of fire-breathing steeds that you might have missed where it talks about anything like the Sign of the Cross: the Book of Revelation. Virgo pictures the virgin mother of the Seed of the Woman, the holy child, whose father is God. Christian symbolism is the use of symbols, including archetypes, acts, artwork or events, by Christianity.It invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. STEVE RAY HERE: In this case it appears to be a literal sign. Origen (ad c. 185-c. 284) wrote, “This [letter Tau] bears a resemblance to the figure of the cross; and this prophecy [Ezek 9:4] is said to regard the sign made by Christians on the forehead, which all believers make whatsoever work they begin upon, and especially at the beginning of prayers, or of holy readings” (Selections in Ezekiel. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” c. ix). All this is to say that the Sign of the Cross is indeed a distinctly Catholic (and Orthodox) practice, but it is also one that is deeply rooted in both the Old and New Testaments. But the sign of the cross is an ancient tradition with deep theological meaning. It means to put Jesus and other people first in your life. > Why don't Christians make the sign of the cross when they pray? As we read the Scriptures, we see that the cross symbolizes . The sign of the cross is the supreme sacramental. Revelation 14:1 ESV / 9 helpful votes Not Helpful. He writes of the wife who “signs” her bed and body (To His Wife 5). 3, p. 435. The idea of a sign or a seal marking members of the Church as God’s own also surfaces elsewhere in the New Testament. The sign of the cross is a form of Catholic blessing whereby a person traces a symbolic cross on their body, or in the air in commemoration of the crucifixion of Christ. Wouldnt it be too easy to be saved then? Often these words contain they letter they are naming. Centuries later, in the early 1800s, the noted Catholic commentator George Haydock cites it. crossing self, (Click here for the full definition.). Praying the sign of the cross is so common that we often rush through it without thinking much about it. From about the 6th century BC until the 4th century AD, the cross was an instrument of execution that resulted in death by the most torturous and painful of ways. 3. ros′], properly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling [fencing in] a piece of ground. Lutherans use the sign to share, “These interpretive signs proclaim the gifts that are given in the promise of God in Baptism...The sign of the cross marks the Christian as united with the Crucified.” “And then shall shine the sign of the Son of man in heaven”. Those so marked would be saved from the destructed that was to be visited upon the sinners. Jesus was born of Mary for a special purpose, to be the kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies, and by dying produces life. From childhood, Catholics are taught to make the sign of the cross, saying: The sign of the cross reflects biblical reality. The word for its last letter is tav which is also the word for mark. The Sign of the Cross is a profession of faith in God as he revealed himself. How Families Can Prepare for Spiritual Warfare | Kathleen Beckman, How Can Beauty & Culture Save the World? Thus the solutions to our problems center in the cross of Christ. Answer: Simply put, the meaning of the cross is death. Long before Jesus was crucified on the cross at Calvary, He exhorted us to take up our cross daily and follow Him, which is a condition of disciple A disciple is another word for a follower of Christ, one who is learning to be like his Master. A regular plus sign (+) looks way too much like a cross, and is carefully avoided in the Israeli school system as a result. Well written and very concise. In 1215, Pope Innocent III opened the Fourth Lateran Council with a rousing sermon on Ezekiel 9. In the rabbinic tradition, Tav is called the Seal of Truth (Bible Wheel book pg 37), and its form as a cross returns us to the central theme of all Scripture, the Gospel of Christ who sealed our salvation and bought us by the blood of His Cross! (For example, see the Haydock Bible Commentary here and Scott Hahn’s book Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and Their Biblical Roots.). ), Now, what was so exciting for St. Jerome and others is that in its ancient forms the letter tav looked like a cross. The practice has developed over time and is now a regular practice for over a billion people around the world. Standard, called the Labarum, was accordingly made, and the book of Revelation was saying was placed! 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