“Christ came and brought forgiveness, justification, and life—but He bestows these not simply, rather through the mediation of the Cross,” says St. John Chrysostom.
In the Cross of Christ lies the meaning of the entire life and all the works of the Saviour. The divine self-emptying of the Saviour found its fulfillment on the Cross. The Saviour conquered death by passing through the sufferings of the Cross. Upon the Cross was accomplished the redemption of mankind from original sin. Thus, the holy Cross, as it were, embodied and absorbed within itself all the sufferings and labors of the Saviour, undertaken for the sake of man. The significance of the Cross is known through faith. For one who has deeply grasped its meaning and signs himself with it in faith, the Cross becomes an invincible weapon. The sign of the Cross unites the believing Christian with God, protects him from evil powers, and grants him all help.
Christians venerate the Cross of the Lord with reverence. A Christian sanctifies his whole life by the Cross, signing himself and all that is dear and close to him with the sign of the Cross. From early childhood until death, the faithful Christian wears the Cross upon his breast as a sign of Christ’s victory, protection, and power; he begins and ends every task with the sign of the Cross, doing all to the glory of Christ. With the sign of the Cross the Christian begins the day, and with the sign of the Cross he departs to sleep, bringing the day to its close.
—V. Talin, Candidate of Theology. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1962, no. 9.
On making the sign of the Cross
One should make the sign of the Cross with the right hand. Placing the three fingers together upon the forehead, say, “In the name of the Father”; then, lowering the hand in the same manner to the breast, say: “and of the Son”; moving the hand to the right shoulder and then to the left, say: “and of the Holy Spirit.” Having made this holy sign of the Cross upon yourself, conclude with the word: “Amen.”
Or, when making the sign of the Cross, you may say: “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen.”
If you sign yourself with the Cross with great faith, no unclean spirit will be able to approach you, seeing that sword from which it received its mortal wound.
Let us mark with the life-giving Cross both our doors, and our forehead, and all our body, and let us arm ourselves with this invincible Christian weapon—the conqueror of death, the hope of the faithful, the light unto the ends of the earth; this weapon which opens Paradise, overthrows heresies, is the confirmation of the faith, the great safeguard, and the saving glory of the Orthodox.
When you make the sign of the Cross, remember all the power of the Cross, all the work of our salvation, and you will quench your anger and all other passions.
And what is wondrous in this, that the Cross overcomes deadly poisons, when it has opened the gates of hell and stretched forth the vaults of heaven?
When you feel within yourself the stirring of anger, first of all turn to God and pray that He may calm the storm rising within you. Then immediately sign yourself with the holy Cross, which all things fear and before which all tremble.
The Cross of the Lord is an instructor to the ignorant, a teacher to the young, a guardian to youths, a nurse to infants, a trampler down of sin, a herald of repentance, and a preacher of righteousness.
The Cross of Christ humbles the proud and lofty, awakens carefulness of heart in the careless and negligent, brings the distracted under the yoke of its teaching, tames the stiff-necked and fierce, and, in general, transforms everyone who comes to it and gives him the firm intention to amend his life.
On the power of the sign of the Cross
The enemies of St. Julian, desiring to put him to death, bribed his servant to place poison in his drink. Having learned of this evil plot by divine revelation, Bishop Julian summoned them to himself and, taking the cup with the poisoned drink, said, “You wish to kill humble Julian with poison; behold, I drink this cup before you.” Then he made the sign of the Cross over the cup three times and, having drunk it, remained unharmed. The evildoers repented, and begged the holy man for forgiveness. And he forgave them.
When the holy martyr Hermias came forth unharmed from the fiery furnace into which he had been cast by his tormentors, the governor summoned a sorcerer and ordered him to poison him. Hermias received the poison, first praying and making the sign of the Cross over the cup, and he remained alive. Thus were fulfilled in him the words of the Saviour, Who said of believers: And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them (Mark 16:18).
In his thirteenth Catechetical Lecture, St. Cyril of Jerusalem spoke of the sign of the Cross, saying among other things that it is a terror to evil spirits. And indeed, it is so.
When St. John Chrysostom became Patriarch of Constantinople and was once delivering a sermon, at that time a man possessed by a demon who was in the church was violently shaken by the demon, thrown to the ground, and began to cry out in such a dreadful voice that all those present were seized with fear. St. John ordered that the demoniac be brought to him; he made the sign of the precious Cross over him, and immediately the demon departed from the man.
In yet another instance, the martyr Cyprian once saw the devil and said to him, “O destroyer, deceiver, vessel of every impurity! Since I know that you fear the sign of the Cross and tremble at the name of Christ, what then will become of you when Christ Himself shall come? Depart from me, accursed one—begone, lawless one and hater!” Hearing this, the devil rushed upon Cyprian to kill him and began to strangle him. Having no help from anywhere, Cyprian remembered the power of the sign of the Cross against demons and he protected himself with it; and the demon, as it is said, “sprang away from him like an arrow drawn back.”
—From the Great Menaion Reader.
From: Readings For Every Day of Great Lent, Ed. N. Shaposhnikova (Moscow: Danilov Monastery, 2025).
