THE SIGN OF THE CROSS IN THE GREEK CHURCH.
(Vol. vii., p. 380.)
The cross, X, in the Greek Church, represents the initial of Χριστὸς, the Messiah, the symbolic affixing of which (sealing) before and after baptism indicates that the name of Christ is imposed on the believer, who takes his new or Christian name at baptism. This mark on the forehead refers to Revelation vii. 3., xiv. 1., xxii. 4. The longer catechism of that church, in answer to the question, "What force has the sign of the cross, used on this and other occasions?" says, "What the name of Jesus Christ crucified is, when pronounced with faith by the motion of the lips, the very same is also the sign of the cross, when made with faith by the motion of the hand, or represented in any other way." The authority quoted is Cyril of Jerusalem (Cat. Lect. xiii. 36.).
In the Western Church the cross,
, represented the σταυρὸς whereon Christ suffered.
Both these crosses are now found in the Greek Church; and the Latin form,
, has at least been used therein nine centuries, for in Goar's Rituale Græcorum may be seen (pp. 114, 115. 126.) the icons of Saints Methodius, Germanus, and Cyrillus, whose vestments are embellished with Latin crosses. The Latin cross is marked on the sacramental bread of the Greek communion,—which bread is also impressed with an abbreviation of the words on Constantine's labarum: "Jesus Christ overcometh." (Eusebius's Life of Constantine, lib. i. c. 25.: compare with Goar's Rituale Græcorum, p. 117.)
The Latin cross,