The Sign of the Cross in Slavic Lands
Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET
Sat Sep 9 19:14:30 UTC 2006
9 Sept 06
Dear Colleagues,
I am studying the prayer/gesture of the sign of the cross as it is made
in various cultures. I have observed that the sign of the cross is made
differently in different Christian contexts. I was especially surprised
the first time I observed a Russian Orthodox believer do it in a manner
different from that which I had learned growing up as a Roman Catholic.
There is a paragraph in my current research which I invite you to
examine and to correct if necessary as regards the way the sign of the
cross is performed in Slavic lands:
> Perhaps the best known semiotization of the cross is “the sign of the
> cross” specifically as a gesture: one raises one’s right hand to
> forehead, chest, and then to each shoulder (crossing from left to
> right), while simultaneously saying “In the name of the Father, the
> Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.” One’s whole upper body momentarily
> takes on the shape of the cross. For many of us this was the first
> prayer we ever learned. In different cultures this gestural prayer
> takes different forms. According to early ecclesiastical writers
> Tertullian and Origen, already in the third century Christians were
> tracing the sign of the cross on their foreheads in a gusture which
> signified their dedication to Christ during various daily activities,
> such as rising in the morning and going to bed at night.[i] <#_edn1>
> Among Eastern Orthodox Christians in Greece, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria,
> and other places, the sign of the cross is made with the second point
> of contact being the abdomen rather than the chest, and the cross
> stroke moves from right to left rather than left to right. At the
> shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupé near Mexico City I observed the
> Western-style sign of the cross being made with an added cruciform
> motion of the hand at each point of contact – head, chest, left
> shoulder, right shoulder.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [i] <#_ednref1> Sloyan 1995, 125; Cross and Livingstone 1997, 1500.
>
Any corrections and suggestions are welcome (I just noticed a spelling
error). Also, as usual I will make the appropriate credits in the
preface of this book in progress. I will also credit the SEELANGS list
(for me such feedback on scholarly work in progress is one of the most
important functions of SEELANGS).
Many thanks,
Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
Emeritus Professor of Russian
University of California, Davis
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
More information about the SEELANG
mailing list