The Orthodox Christians do not make the sign of the cross "on the contrary" – the faithful of other religious confessions of Christian origin are the ones who make the sign of the cross by the wrong manner…
In fact, the Orthodox Church teaches their faithful to cross themselves according to the Tradition they received from our Fathers in the Faith. And the fact of making the sign of the cross like this or otherwise it is not also a question of minor importance: it is a set of gestures full of meaning and symbolism.
Notwithstanding let us see: when we make the sign of the cross, we start joining the first three fingers of the right hand (the noble hand), symbolizing the Holy Trinity.
Then, saying “In the name of the Father”, we touch with these three joined fingers first on the forehead, following, on the waist zone, symbolizing the Father as the Creator of the Heaven and of the Earth; next, we say “and of the Son” and touch with the three joined fingers on the right shoulder – for the Son, Jesus Christ, resurrected and sat on the right hand of the Father; finally, we say “and of the Holy Spirit” touching with the three joined fingers on the left shoulder – the Son and the Holy Spirit are two "arms" of the Father acting in the Creation.
By this way, we draw a cross over our own body and affirm, simultaneously, our Faith in the Holy Trinity and in the spirit of the Creed.
It is good to remember that until the 11th century all Christians, in East and in West, made the sign of the cross, just as we, Orthodox Christians, continue doing it.
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