1. THE OPENING SIGN OF THE CROSS
Stan!,ing be/ore the royal doors, the deacon si"ngs in a loud clear
voice:
Bless, Sir.
The priest, standing in the center before the holy table, and making
the sign of the cross over it with the Gospel Book, begins loudly and
solemnly:
Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, now and always and for ever and ever.
The choir (and/or the people):
Amen.
In the Latin Rite, the sign of the cross with which the priest
begins the prayers at the foot of the altar is generally considered as
the beginning of the Mass of the Catechumens. In the Byzantine
Rite, it is the petition of the deacon, and the priest's sign of the
cross with the Gospel Book, while he says " Blessed is the King-
dom.... " In both Rites, the proceedings began originally with the
Entrance Rite, when the bishop-celebrant solemnly entered the
church in procession. This corresponds with the Latin Introi"t and
the Byzantine Little Entrance. The enarksis (evocp!;Lc;, beginning),
up to the Little Entrance, was not an original part of the Litwgy of
the Catechumens. Like the proskomidia, it was added as an intro-
ductory rite some time between the fifth and the ninth centuries. 1
The deacon's petition, "Bless, Sir," refers to the whole congre-
gation, whose place the deacon takes in formally presenting their
requests to God. That is why the deacon stands before the royal
doors, that is, with the people. The people themselves directly
1 The early eighth century Armenian version of Chrysostom's Liturgy already
contains the enarksis (~a:p~L~) in a form almost identical with the present one
(cf. Aucher, La versione armena della liturgia di S. Giovanni Crisostomo, fatta sul
principio delrVIII secolo, XPYCOCTOMIKA [Rome, 1908], pp. 373-378).
The Armenians had probably received it in that form from the Byzantines prior
to A.O. 693, when the Byzantine occupation of Armenia ended.

2. participate in the Liturgy by singing the responses, etc., but it is
the deacon who voices their requests.
In making the sign of the cross with the holy Gospel Book over
the altar, the priest uses a formula which is exclusive to the opening
of the Divine Liturgy. Solemn liturgical rites in the Byzantine
Churches always begin with some trinitarian invocation, but this
one is uniquely reserved for the Eucharistic sacrifice. 2
Actually,
the words are non-essential, since the sign of the cross is often made
silently. The important element is the sign itself.
The sign of the cross, made with the thumb or index on the fore-
head, was used in some liturgical functions as early as the second
century, although it appears in the Eucharistic Liturgy only in the
fourth century. 8
It was made by the celebrant at the beginning of
the anaphora, the Eucharistic prayer.
The "Tractate Berakoth" gives a long list of blessings for all
occasions of Jewish life. Many of its shorter invocations provided
early Christians with expressions for their liturgical services. In
the East, actual Jewish texts have been preserved in some instances.
The opening blessing of the Divine Liturgy reveals the " Berakoth "
style, while its trinitarian amplification is obviously Christian. It
carefully avoids using the divine name by substituting such terms
as ma.lkouth, the " reign, " " kingdom, " or more in keeping with
modern terminology, the " majesty" of God. The formula is based
on a Syrian antecedent, and on Mark n:10 : "Blessed be the
kingdom of the father David that cometh..., " the song of the
Jewish throngs that accompanied Jesus on his triumphal entry into
Jerusalem.
The chiefpurpose ofthe Liturgy is the glorification ofthe Trinity.
Beginning with a trinitarian formula, the priest exalts a fundamental
dogma of the New Law. Professing belief in one God is common
to both Laws, but believing in the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit pertains only to the New.
Another mystery distinguishing the Christian faith from that of
the Jews is the redemption. The ritual sign of the cross, whatever
• The lesser Byzantine liturgical functions begin with the thoroughly Jewish
"Blessed is our God, now and always, and for ever and ever. "
• Apostolic Constitutions, Book VIII; cf. p. 124.

3. its form, is the sign of Christ crucified, the sign of our redemption.
As the priest makes it over the altar with the Gospel Book, the
faithful also cross themselves. By ancient Christian tradition, the
sign of the cross was to be made before any important undertaking.
As the re-enactment ofCalvary, the Eucharistic Liturgy, the" Chris-
tian act, " is one such undertaking.
In the course of the Divine Liturgy, the faithful make the sign
of the cross thirty-six times-at every blessing and doxology, and
whenever the three Persons of the Trinity are mentioned. Anyone
wishing to place emphasis on a particular prayer or litany will also
cross himself. Eastern Slavs, Russians, Ukrainians and White Rus-
sians have carried the practice into their daily living. They sign
themselves when leaving on a trip, when going to work or returning
from it, when beginning their work or ending it. They make a
reverent sign ofthe cross on passing a church} on hearing of a death,
accident or other bad news, on meeting a funeral procession. They
make it in fear, danger, temptation, or as a sign of fervent entreaty;
or again, on passing a roadside cross or an icon-shrine, or before
the " icon-comer " in any home. They make it before and after
meals. When a mother is putting her child to sleep, she traces the
sign of the cross over it. "The father's blessing establisheth the
houses of the children" (Ecclesiasticus 3:11) is for them no mere
abstract statement from the Scriptures : it is lived daily in their
actions and traditions. At weddings, the young couple's fathers and
mothers bless their children at the doorstep before they depart for
the nuptials in the church. Any important event, even the most
mundane, is sanctified with this truly Christian practice.
The sign of the cross of the Byzantines is different from that of
the Latins. The thumb and first two fingers of the right hand are
joined at the tips; the fourth and fifth fingers are folded over the
palm. The two fingers and thumb signify the three Divine Persons
ofthe Trinity, while the other two fingers symbolize the two natures
in Jesus Christ. With the fingers so joined, the forehead is touched
first ("In the name of the Father"), then the breast C:' and of the
Son"), the right shoulder ("and of the Holy..."), and finally the
left shoulder C:'•••Spirit. Amen. "). Meanwhile, the head and
shoulders are slightly bowed as a sign ofsubmission to the Godhead.

4. The right shoulder is touched first, not the left as in the Latin
Rite. Prior to the end of the twelfth century, Christians of both
East and West made the sign ofthe cross from the right to the left. '
Latin Catholics began making it with all the fingers extended, and
from the left shoulder to the right, at the time of Pope Innocent III
(rr98-r2r6). Supposedly, this meant that Jesus came from the
Father to earth by becoming man, then descended into the left side,
i.e., into hell, by his Passion and thence into his Father's right side,
by his ascension. Another explanation was that making the sign
from the left, the weak side, the side of sin, to the right, the side
of salvation, would symbolize the death of Christ on the cross, and
our being carried by it from the left to the right side, to salvation.
The earlier, more ancient way of making the sign of the cross,
as it is still done in the Byzantine Church, from the right to the left,
is understood to mean that salvation passed from the Jews, who were
at the right side of God (the side of honor, belonging to the chosen
people) to the Gentiles, who were at his left. 5 Touching the right
shoulder first also expresses the Christian hope to be put among
the righteous on the right hand of Christ, the Judge at the Final
Judgment.•
Tlze Amen
To this formula of praise, the faithful answer : " Amen. " The
Amen is indeed, as St. Jerome put it, the" seal of prayer." Origi-
nally coming from the Hebrew root 'MN, meaning "steadfast,"
" fixed, " " settled" and, hence, " true, " Amen can be translated as
"truly," "verily," or" so be it." These words, however, do not
express its full meaning, a meaning which is really untranslatable.
• In the Latin Rite the priest, when imparting a blessing, still makes the sign
of the cross from the right to the left.
• The ancient Christians derived their idea of the right side as being the side
of righteousness, the side of honor, from the Scriptures : e.g., the Queen of heaven
" stood on the right hand, clothed in a vesture wrought with gold and diverse
colors" (Ps. 44:10); Jesus "sineth at the right hand of the Father" (Rom. 8:34),
etc.
• In general, the complete sign of the cross was and is made to acknowledge
that all our faculties (mind, heart, and soul) and all our strength (shoulders) are
being dedicated to the service of God through the cross of Christ, the sign of our
redemption.

5. That is why, after the first century, "Amen" was left in its original
Hebrew. The closest we can come to its exact meaning is to borrow
the expression used by the Jews when they translated the Old
Testament into Greek:" Would that it might be so," an expression
that is at once a wish and an affirmation. In Old Testament times,
the time of fear and punishment, this word was usually used for the
affirmation ofcurses, anathemas, and public pronouncements against
evildoers. In the New Testament era, the time of forgiveness and
love, it is used as the solemn affirmation of a blessing. It is found
over forty times in the New Testament. Liturgically, it is a solemn
ratification of prayer. The Amen was already in liturgical use
during the lifetime of the Apostles, as we know from St. Paul's
Letter to the Corinthians : " Else, if thou shalt bless with the spirit,
how shall he that holdeth the place of the unlearned say Amen to
thy blessing?" (I Cor. 14:16).