The Sign of the CROSS

hey everyone God bless you thanks so much for tuning in I have a reflection that I have prepared for you today that I've entitled the sign of the cross before I launch into this uh word I hope that you all have been able to download the new patristic nectar Publications app from the app store or the Google Store you know particularly I want you to note that besides these shorter Reflections that I provide God being my helper on YouTube much deeper longer lectures and whole series of lectures literally more than a hundred of them are

found not just by myself but by really fine uh PR Scholars and Bishop Scholars uh on the P&P app so if you want to dive deeper which I hope you do uh then please check out the act and app and look at the theological offerings the scriptural offerings as men as well as any other of the lives of the Saints and the filo Kia and our audio books Etc all absolutely free and if you could please consider making a regular donation to PNP the sign of the cross I thought of this word for your edification

because recently a sportsman that I respect very much Novak jovic perhaps the greatest uh male tennis player in the history of the sport uh one won the gold medal at the Olympics uh he didn't just win the gold medal but this last year has been so fantastic for him he won the Grand Slam he won the Australian Open the US Open uh the French Open and Wimbleton and won the gold medal congratulations uh to Novak and his whole family uh I have followed him for some years particularly also because he is an Orthodox Christian born

and raised uh in Serbia and is someone uh close to the church I always appreciate his his expression of gratitude to the Holy Trinity whenever he is playing tennis he gives thanks to God I love his willingness to be his authentic Christian self and not try to hide it in any context his love of his family his love of his Bishops uh of the Serbian patriarch and of the poor uh and of the poor this 37y old man is uh uh an encouragement to see on the on the sports channels just really a beautiful person

I've seen many pictures of him uh wearing his cross making the sign of the cross before during and after his matches uh after he won uh the gold medal literally falling down and prostrating on the ground and multiple times looking up to heaven and thanking our Lord Jesus Christ for his many mercies uh in his life in 2011 um Mr jovic won the highest service award from the Serbian Orthodox Church his uh the late patriarch gave IR gave that award to him for his uh support for the church his Devotion to our church temples especially

in areas uh of Serbia that have lots of pressure from Muslims like in Kosovo Mia that whole area also his commitment to uh helping the poor the Novak jovic Foundation supports all sorts of wonderful uh school projects and the creation of schools he created a restaurant that supports the homeless and the poor and serves for free the kind of thing that uh we want to be doing so congratulations to him I'll use his uh his normal what is to myself as an Orthodox Christian his normal expression of Thanksgiving to God and of giving glory to

God by making the sign of the cross I'll use that as a launching pad just to discuss for a moment how significant and important making the sign of the cross is and has always been for orthodox Christians it is an ancient and Universal Christian practice there is no other it has always been the case that Christians sign themselves with the cross and they do so frequently ly prayerfully invoking the name of the Lord we use the sign of the cross uh even before we're Christians in order to become cumans uh the sign of the cross

is made on us we are signed or sealed with the cross when we are made cumans if we're little children born into an Orthodox Christian family uh after the birth the priest visits the mom and the child uh if he can sometimes often in the hospital brings her a little holy water and makes the sign of the cross over the child prays for the child but not by name uh and then on the eth day there's a beautiful prayer the naming prayer in which the child receives its Christian name into which it will be baptized

that they will the child will be baptized with that name uh in the font and the cross is made over the child uh this is just what shall I say uh what we do when we Church a mom and a baby around the 40th Day and she comes and she's the the newly uh born child and the mother are reincorporated into the life of the church the cross is used the priest will take the child Bless the Child and the mother on the head and bring them back into church I like to do this when

the people are here just before a Sunday liturgy at the end of the orthos so that the people can see the reincorporation of the mother and the bringing of the child and the offering of the child to Christ into the community and I love to hold the children of course what a blessing and I often ask Elders as I'm bringing the child into the church I ask some the elders to come and Trace the cross and bless give their own their own blessing as Christian people uh on this child basically from the moment of life

we surround the child with the cross of course in the baptismal font it's our baptismal practice to sign the children with the cross we sign the font itself and the waters with the cross driving out demons invoking the Holy Spirit upon the waters after the child's baptized the priest will put a cross around the child's neck and say that these words our Lord Jesus Christ told us to deny yourself pick up your cross and follow me from the very earliest time the beginning of Christian Life the sign of the cross is made a cross is

placed on the child's neck that person that child will wear a cross and make the sign of the cross until his last breath we live under the cross joined to the Cross bearing the cross cross from the beginning it is ancient Universal and normative for Christians to make the sign of the cross I have a few beautiful quotations that I'd like to read to you from uh Church fathers and ecclesiastical writers from the earliest times this first is from Teran Teran wrote at the end of the second century in the very beginning of the third

century and listen to this is from his work de Corona at every step of the way when going in and going out when putting on our clothes and shoes while while washing eating lighting lamps going to sleep while sitting down and in whatever action we are carrying out we imprint upon ourselves the sign of the cross it's just normal it's just the way that we Christians live this uh is viewed and has been viewed by the church Fathers as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 9:4 where he speaks about the Tav being put

upon the foreheads of course the apocalypse 7:3 talks about sealing the Servants of God on their foreheads St Anthony the Great this is in his life that was written by St athanasius the patriarch of Alexandria also called the Great his spiritual son St Anthony's spiritual son St ananus he wrote this in the life of St Anthony about how St Anthony taught uh about The Devout making the sign of the cross how to make it in faith and that doing so conquers demonic forces actually setting demons on fire listen to this if you often seal your

own forehead and your heart with the sign of our Lord's cross the demons will take flight from you trembling for they shudder vehemently at this blessed sign if you want to wipe out the bad memories left in the mind and the multifarious attacks of the enemy then arm yourself speedily with the recollection of our savior and with the Ardent invocation of his exalted Name by day and by night while sealing yourself often both on the forehead and on the breast with the sign of our Lord's cross for as often as the name of our Savior

Jesus Christ is pronounced and the seal seal of the Lord's cross is placed on the heart and the forehead and on the other members of the body the power of the enemy is indubitably quelled and the wicked demons flee trembling from Us Praise the Lord what a counil from St Anthony the great the great father of the desert on how to make the sign of the cross in faith and to protect yourself and cleanse yourself even from the demons especially did you notice his counsel about how to purify the Mind from terrible Memories by making

the sign of the cross over your forehead great potency and great power uh in the name of Jesus and the sign of his cross this is the Christian way dear ones St basil the great in his uh Treatise on the Holy Spirit mentions the sign of the cross as one of those Universal Customs taught us by the Holy Apostles themselves and aspect of sacred tradition of holy tradition that St Paul says we must uh abide by and hold to the Traditions that he taught either by writing or by Word of Mouth this is one of

those Traditions given by the apostles and expected by them to be kept uh throughout the generations by Christian people one of the Customs given by Word of Mouth together with triple immersion immersion and holy baptism fasting EAS in prayer uh the doxology glory to the father to the son and to the Holy Spirit together with them them making the sign of the cross we Orthodox Christians make the sign of the cross holding our hands like this three fingers here for the father Son and Holy Spirit the three persons of the Holy Trinity these two fingers

for the two Natures of Christ his Divine and human natures and we trace the precious cross like this upon ourselves calling upon the name of the Lord this is what we do uh Roman Catholic Christians sign themselves not from right to left but from left to right right uh why do they do that um I'm uncertain why that change was made but it is clear that it was not changed um until after 1300 um we know this because the the apostolic practice was kept uh before that Pope Innocent theii uh who a very famous Western

Pope in his own catechesis in his own uh teaching taught that the cross is made from right to left and that no one h no one can change that and it must not be changed there were some people in the west who were uh changing it from left and right and he specified that that was an error and that it shouldn't be followed how long after Pope hocent II in 1300 that became the common and Universal practice in the west I'm not sure why do Protestants not make the sign of the cross cross cross uh

I I think that the only way that uh what we could say about that is that it was an unfortunate overreaction uh to a perception of certain Protestant leaders of [Music] um magic thoughts of superstition but to abandon a universal Christian practice because some people might make it improperly or without the prop faith that is I think by definition a tragic overreaction and the loss of um a incredible spiritual act that is universally Christian and Apostolic I'll give you an example of how sad it can be uh when Protestants abandon not just making the sign

of the cross upon their bodies but also uh making the cross itself erecting crosses uh everywhere in their churches and on the roadside as Christians have always done I was recently in a very large uh Evangelical mega church uh in order to hear uh a number of speeches from uh politicians and I was uh sad I I I like the pastor of this church and I know there's a lot of uh good enthusiasm there for the things of Christ uh and yet um nowhere in the entire church was a cross when I was leaving the

building I walked through their narx mega mega church and there was a large Jewish Menor I found that to be exceedingly offensive uh that you would have a Christian group here a Christian Protestant church with no sign of the cross but erecting a Jewish symbol uh instead of the Christian one if our Evangelical Protestant friends like them men I don't know why that's a fixation but if they do because they're looking you they're having this uh this Zionism in their life and they wish to use the menal then I would suggest that they do so

as as Christians a Christian form of that which you might look for instance at the artistic work of the recently glorified St saphron of essic who created a beautiful symbol for his Monastery of St John the Baptist there in England uh that looks like a are all coming into a cross right so you you have the the development of uh the covenants right the the Old Testament pointing towards Christ and being fulfilled in Christ you don't just have an Old Testament symbol without Christ which is a hideous uh idea no dear ones the sign of

the cross is precious precious and a great Aid uh in the spiritual life it is the Christian gesture par excellence we are saved by Jesus's cross we're joined to his cross in holy be baptism we bear his cross as the very essence of our discipleship and we love the cross and may God bless us by it in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit God be with you [Music]