Why used to be baptized with two fingers. Old Believer sign of the cross

Before starting a conversation about how the Old Believers are baptized, we should dwell in more detail on who they are and what their role is in the development of Russian Orthodoxy. The fate of this religious movement, called the Old Believers, or Old Orthodoxy, has become an integral part of the history of Russia and is full of drama and examples of spiritual greatness.

The reform that split Russian Orthodoxy

The Old Believers, like the entire Russian Church, considers the beginning of its history the year when the light of the Christian faith, brought to Rus' by Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, shone on the banks of the Dnieper. Once on fertile soil, the grain of Orthodoxy gave abundant shoots. Until the fifties of the 17th century, the faith in the country was unified, and there was no talk of any religious schism.

The beginning of the great church turmoil was the reform of Patriarch Nikon, begun by him in 1653. It consisted in bringing the Russian liturgical rite in line with that adopted in the Greek and Constantinople churches.

Reasons for church reform

Orthodoxy, as you know, came to us from Byzantium, and in the first years after the service in the churches was performed exactly as it was customary in Constantinople, but after more than six centuries, significant changes were made to it.

In addition, since for almost the entire period of this period there was no printing yet, and liturgical books were copied by hand, not only a significant number of errors crept into them, but the meaning of many key phrases was distorted. To rectify the situation, he made a simple and seemingly uncomplicated decision.

Good intentions of the patriarch

He ordered to take samples of early books brought from Byzantium, and, having re-translated from them, replicated in print. He ordered the former texts to be withdrawn from circulation. In addition, Patriarch Nikon introduced three fingers in the Greek manner - the addition of three fingers together when making the sign of the cross.

Such a harmless and quite reasonable decision, however, caused a reaction like an explosion, and the church reform carried out in accordance with it caused a split. As a result, a significant part of the population, which did not accept these innovations, departed from the official church, which was called the Nikonian (after Patriarch Nikon), and a large-scale religious movement emerged from it, the followers of which began to be called schismatics.

The split that resulted from the reform

As before, in pre-reform times, the Old Believers were baptized with two fingers and refused to recognize new church books, as well as priests who tried to perform divine services on them. Standing in opposition to ecclesiastical and secular authorities, they were subjected to severe persecution for a long time. This started in 1656.

Already in the Soviet period, the final softening of the position of the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to the Old Believers followed, which was enshrined in the relevant legal documents. However, this did not lead to the resumption of Eucharistic, that is, prayerful communion between local and Old Believers. The latter to this day consider only themselves to be the bearers of the true faith.

With how many fingers do the Old Believers cross themselves?

It is important to note that the schismatics never had canonical disagreements with the official church, and the conflict always arose only around the ritual side of worship. For example, the way the Old Believers are baptized, folding three fingers instead of two, has always become a reason for condemnation against them, while there were no complaints about their interpretation of Holy Scripture or the main provisions of the Orthodox dogma.

By the way, the order of adding fingers for the sign of the cross both among the Old Believers and among the supporters of the official church contains a certain symbolism. Old Believers are baptized with two fingers - index and middle, symbolizing the two natures of Jesus Christ - divine and human. The remaining three fingers are kept pressed to the palm. They are the image of the Holy Trinity.

A vivid illustration of how the Old Believers are baptized can be the famous painting by Vasily Ivanovich Surikov “Boyar Morozova”. On it, the disgraced inspirer of the Moscow Old Believer movement, taken into exile, raises two fingers folded together to the sky - a symbol of schism and rejection of the reform of Patriarch Nikon.

As for their opponents, supporters of the Russian Orthodox Church, the addition of fingers adopted by them, in accordance with the Nikon reform, and used to this day, also has a symbolic meaning. Nikonians are baptized with three fingers - thumb, index and middle, folded in a pinch (the schismatics contemptuously called them “pinches” for this). These three fingers also symbolize and the dual nature of Jesus Christ is depicted in this case by the ring finger and little finger pressed to the palm.

Symbolism contained in the sign of the cross

The schismatics always attached special meaning to how exactly they imposed on themselves. The direction of the movement of the hand is the same for them as for all Orthodox, but its explanation is peculiar. The Old Believers make the sign of the cross with their fingers, placing them first of all on the forehead. By this they express the primacy of God the Father, who is the beginning of the Divine Trinity.

Further, putting their fingers to their stomach, they thereby indicate that in the womb of the Most Pure Virgin, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was immaculately conceived. Then, raising his hand to his right shoulder, they indicate that in the Kingdom of God He sat at the right hand - that is, on the right of His Father. And finally, the movement of the hand to the left shoulder reminds us that at the Last Judgment, sinners sent to hell will have a place on the left (left) of the Judge.

The answer to this question can be the ancient, rooted in apostolic times and then adopted in Greece, the tradition of the sign of the cross with two fingers. She came to Rus' at the same time as her baptism. Researchers have convincing evidence that in the period of the XI-XII centuries. there was simply no other form of the sign of the cross in the Slavic lands, and everyone was baptized the way the Old Believers do today.

The well-known icon of the Almighty Savior, painted by Andrei Rublev in 1408 for the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, can serve as an illustration of what has been said. On it, Jesus Christ is depicted sitting on a throne and raising his right hand in a two-fingered blessing. It is characteristic that it was two, and not three, fingers that the Creator of the world folded in this sacred gesture.

The true reason for the persecution of the Old Believers

Many historians are inclined to believe that the real reason for the persecution was not those ritual features that the Old Believers practiced. The followers of this movement are baptized with two or three fingers - in principle, it is not so important. Their main fault was that these people dared to openly go against the royal will, thereby creating a dangerous precedent for the future.

In this case, we are talking about a conflict with the highest state power, since Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who ruled at that time, supported the Nikon reform, and rejection by part of the population could be regarded as a rebellion and an insult inflicted on him personally. And the Russian rulers never forgave this.

Old Believers today

Finishing the conversation about how the Old Believers are baptized and where this movement came from, it would be worth mentioning that today their communities are located in almost all developed countries of Europe, in South and North America, as well as in Australia. It has several organizations in Russia, the largest of which is the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy founded in 1848, whose representative offices are located abroad. It unites more than a million parishioners in its ranks and has its permanent centers in Moscow and the Romanian city of Braila.

The second largest Old Believer organization is the Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church, which includes about two hundred official communities and a number of unregistered ones. Its central coordinating and advisory body is located since 2002 in Moscow Russian Council DPC.

Hello, the family (Old Believers) asked me why we, Orthodox, are baptized with three fingers, and Jesus is depicted on icons with two ?! They asked this question to their priest, but received no answer. (Pauline)

Abbot Alexy (Yermolaev), abbot of the Holy Trinity Selenginsky Monastery, answers the questions of our readers:

— We baptize ourselves with three fingers in honor of the Holy Trinity, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Holy Trinity, and therefore why should the Lord fold three fingers?

We sanctify ourselves with the sign of the Cross, and why should the second person of the Holy Trinity sanctify Himself, for He Himself is the source of sanctification.

The Lord on the icon blesses those who believe in Him, and His fingers are folded in such a way that they symbolize His name - Jesus Christ. The index finger is in the form of the letter “I”, the middle finger is in the form of the letter “C”, the thumb and ring finger is in the form of the letter “X”, the little finger is in the form of the letter “C”. And it turns out - "Jesus Christ". Orthodox priests bless in the same way, for they do not bless themselves, but the Lord through them blesses people invisibly. The fingers on the icons of Nicholas the Wonderworker, for example, are folded in the same way, for he also blesses not from himself, but from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

It seems that the emergence of double fingers in the form in which it exists among the Old Believers arose in the difficult years of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, when many priests were killed, and some of them, less experienced, decided that they should fold their fingers when making the sign of the cross on themselves it is necessary as it is depicted on the icons. And such a sign of the cross was widespread even before the time of Patriarch Nikon, a very educated person who noticed a discrepancy between the folding of fingers among Russians and Greeks, from whom we accepted the faith at the end of the 1st millennium. The Greeks themselves were baptized for almost a thousand years with three fingers. This is what we did at first, and then we took an erroneous view of the image of folding the fingers at the sign of the cross, which was canceled by Patriarch Nikon.

We are not Greeks, but they taught us faith. And His Holiness Patriarch Nikon took from their ancient books the image of folding fingers and restored the correct form, which was adopted by the Church from the very apostolic times.

It cannot be that all over the world the most ancient Orthodox Churches - Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Hellas and others, who adopted Christianity in the very first centuries and still keep it intact, so that they are mistaken, being baptized with three fingers, in exactly that form as the Russian Orthodox Church does now. And the Russian Old Believers, who consider themselves the bearers of true Orthodoxy, forget who we received the faith from and are baptized with two fingers.

It is necessary to look at the most ancient tradition that has been preserved for two millennia, and not at the mistake that crept in during the difficult years of the Mongol-Tatar yoke for Russia. We must face the truth and be baptized the way Orthodox Christians have been baptized all over the world for two thousand years.

Until 1656 in Rus', everyone was baptized with two fingers and in this the Russian Church differed from all Orthodox Churches.

In 1656, Patriarch Nikon convened a Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, which was attended by four Eastern hierarchs:
Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch
Gabriel, Patriarch of Serbia
Gregory Metropolitan of Nicaea
Gideon, Metropolitan of all Moldavia.

The Russian clergy, including 40 metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, as well as archimandrites and abbots of Russian monasteries, also took part in the cathedral.

Three years before the council, Patriarch Nikon called on the Russian clergy to be baptized with three fingers, following the example of Byzantium. Discontent arose in the Russian clergy, and it was then that Patriarch Nikon decided to assemble this cathedral in order to resolve the issue of how to be baptized correctly.

This council was preceded by the council of 1654, when Patriarch Nikon entered into an argument with Bishop Pavel of Kolomna It is believed that the father of Bishop Paul was a grammar teacher of Patriarch Nikon.
In 1652 he was one of the twelve pretenders to the throne of the patriarch. Nikon became Patriarch at the insistence of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

On October 17, 1652, Patriarch Nikon headed his episcopal consecration and elevated him to the Kolomna cathedra.
Bishop Pavel defended the old Russian rites in such a way that, according to the Old Believer tradition, this dispute ended with Nikon tearing off Paul's mantle and personally beating Bishop Paul.

Without a Council Court (contrary to all church rules), he was deprived of the episcopal chair by Nikon and exiled to the Paleostrovsky Monastery. After that, Nikon wrote a slanderous letter to Patriarch Paisios I of Constantinople - allegedly he and John Nero composed new prayers and church rites, and corrupt people, and are separated from the cathedral church. Misled Patriarch of Constantinople condemned the "supporters of innovations." Bishop Pavel was exiled by Nikon to Lake Onega, to the Paleostrovsky Nativity Monastery, where he stayed for a year and a half. The conditions of detention were rather difficult, but the saint and confessor had the opportunity to communicate with the laity and priests who flocked to him, who received advice, consolation and archpastoral blessing from him.

According to Old Believer sources, Nikon allegedly sent assassins, and Bishop Pavel Kolomensky was burned in a log house on Great Thursday, that is, April 3, old style (13 new) 1656.

Among the followers of the Old Rite, the veneration of Bishop Paul as a saint began immediately after his death and continues to this day.

To continue his reform, Patriarch Nikon decided to enlist the support of the eastern hierarchs, for this purpose the cathedral of 1656 was assembled.

At the council, Patriarch Nikon addressed a question to four Eastern hierarchs about how to be baptized, with two or three fingers, Patriarch Macarius of Antioch answered him:
== The tradition of accepting first the faith from the holy apostles, and the holy fathers, and the holy seven councils, create the sign of the honest cross, with three fingers of the right hand, and who from Orthodox Christians does not create the cross tacos, according to the tradition of the Eastern Church, holding hedgehog from the beginning of faith even to today, there is a heretic and imitator of the Armenians, and this imams are excommunicated from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and cursed==

This answer became the decision of the council, all the other hierarchs put their signatures under it.

In the same year, during Great Lent, the anathema against the two-fingered was proclaimed in the churches on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. The decisions of the council were printed in the book "Table", which was adopted at the council.

The decision of the council of 1656 to curse all those who are baptized with two fingers was confirmed at the Great Moscow Cathedral of 1666-1667, at which a similar anathema was adopted not only for two fingers, but also for all the old rites and for those who use them.

The anathemas of the cathedrals of 1656 and the Great Moscow Cathedral of 1666-1667 became the main reasons for the 17th century split of the Russian Church into Old Believers and New Believers.
The question of adding fingers was one of the reasons for the split.

At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on May 31, 1971, all decisions of the councils of the 17th century, including the decision of the council of 1656, were canceled against the old rites:
== Approve the resolution ... on the abolition of the oaths of the Moscow Cathedral of 1656 and the Great Moscow Cathedral of 1667, imposed by them on the old Russian rites and on Orthodox Christians who adhere to them, and consider these oaths, as if they had not been==

SO DOUBLE-FINGER OR THRE-FINGER?

Hello! If possible, I would like to know in more detail (maybe you can recommend literature on this topic) about the history of the schism of the Russian Church as a result of the reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Why do Old Believers cross themselves with two fingers? If you are baptized with two fingers in the church, will it be a great sin? I am very interested in this question, because. my great-grandmother and great-grandfather were very devout Old Believers, and now I don’t know how to do the right thing: stick to the old faith or combine it with the present one. In the temple, I am somehow embarrassed to ask the priest. Help me, please, to understand this issue.

Hieromonk Adrian (Pashin) answers:

good books about this question:
C. Zenkovsky "Russian Old Believers", N. P. Kapterev "Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich".

"To adhere to the old faith," as the Old Believers understand it, means in fact to be in schism with the Ecumenical Church, since the Old Believers of all directions, with the exception of fellow believers, are united in one thing - in the non-recognition of the Orthodoxy of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church.

The question of the use of one of the types of the sign of the cross, recognized by the Russian Church as equally salvific, is not an urgent problem for our salvation. Being baptized with two fingers is not a sin, but for some people it can be a temptation, because for 3 centuries this sign of the cross was considered "schismatic". At the local councils of 1918 and 1971, the Russian Church recognized the equal salvation of the old rites, but of course, those who do not commune with the Ecumenical Church are in a dubious position. As faithful children of the Orthodox Church, we can advise you not to break communion with the Russian Orthodox Church under any circumstances and try to treat with humility some rejection of the old rites among some of her children.

The Edinoverie Church arose as a way for the return of the Old Believers, who were in schism, to the Ecumenical Church. "Edinoverie" means that there is only one faith, the faith of the Universal Orthodox Church. See: /news/001127/01.htm This is the same Orthodox church as the others, priests ordained by our bishops serve there, and His Holiness Patriarch Alexy is commemorated there.

We all know perfectly well what an exceptional role the sign of the cross plays in the spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian. Every day, during morning and evening prayers, during divine services and before eating food, before the beginning of the teaching and at the end of it, we impose on ourselves the sign of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of Christ. And this is not accidental, because in Christianity there is no more ancient custom than the sign of the cross, i.e. overshadowing oneself with the sign of the cross. At the end of the third century, the famous Carthaginian church teacher Tertullian wrote: “Traveling and moving, entering and leaving a room, putting on shoes, taking a bath, at the table, lighting candles, lying down, sitting down, with everything that we do - we must overshadow cross your forehead." A century after Tertullian, Saint John Chrysostom wrote the following: "Never leave your house without crossing yourself."

As we can see, the sign of the cross has come down to us from time immemorial, and our daily worship of God is inconceivable without it. However, if we are honest with ourselves, it will become absolutely obvious that quite often we make the sign of the cross out of habit, mechanically, without thinking about the meaning of this great Christian symbol. I believe that a short historical and liturgical digression will allow all of us later to make the sign of the cross more consciously, thoughtfully and reverently.

So what does the sign of the cross symbolize and under what circumstances? The sign of the cross with three fingers, which has become part of our Everyday life, arose rather late, and entered the liturgical life of the Russian Orthodox Church only in the 17th century, during the notorious reforms of Patriarch Nikon. In the Ancient Church, only the forehead was covered with a cross. Describing the liturgical life of the Roman Church in the 3rd century, Hieromartyr Hippolytus of Rome writes: “Always try to humbly make the sign of the cross over your forehead.” Then they say about the use of one finger in the sign of the cross: St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, Blessed Jerome of Stridon, Blessed Theodoret of Kirr, church historian Sozomen, St. Gregory the Dialogist, Reverend John Moskh and in the first quarter of the 8th century Reverend Andrew Cretan. According to the conclusions of most modern researchers, the overshadowing of the forehead (or face) with a cross arose back in the time of the apostles and their successors. Moreover, it may seem incredible to you, but the appearance of the sign of the cross in the Christian Church was significantly influenced by Judaism. A fairly serious and competent study of this issue was conducted by the modern French theologian Jean Daniel. You all perfectly remember the Council in Jerusalem described in the book of Acts of the Apostles, which took place approximately in the year 50 after the Nativity of Christ. The main question that the apostles dealt with at the Council concerned the method of accepting into the Christian Church those people who were converted from paganism. The essence of the problem was rooted in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ preached in the midst of the Jewish God-chosen people, for whom even after the adoption of the Gospel Message, all the religious and ritual prescriptions of the Old Testament remained binding. When the apostolic preaching reached the European continent and the early Christian Church began to be filled with newly converted Greeks and representatives of other peoples, the question of the form of their acceptance arose quite naturally. First of all, this question concerned circumcision, i.e. the need for converted pagans to first accept the Old Testament and be circumcised, and only after that receive the Sacrament of Baptism. The Apostolic Council resolved this dispute with a very wise decision: for the Jews, the Old Testament Law and circumcision remained obligatory, while for Christians from Gentiles, Jewish ritual prescriptions were canceled. By virtue of this decision of the Apostolic Council in the first centuries in the Christian Church there were two most important traditions: Judeo-Christian and linguistic Christian. Thus, the Apostle Paul, who constantly emphasized that in Christ “there is neither Greek nor Jew,” remained deeply attached to his people, to his homeland, to Israel. Consider how he speaks of choosing the infidels: God chose them to arouse jealousy in Israel so that Israel would recognize in the person of Jesus the Messiah they expected. Let us also remember that after the death and Resurrection of the Savior, the apostles regularly gathered in the Jerusalem temple, and they always began their preaching outside of Palestine from the synagogue. In this context, it becomes clear why the Jewish religion could have a certain influence on the development of the external forms of worship of the young early Christian Church.

So, returning to the question of the origin of the custom of making the sign of the cross over oneself, we note that in the Jewish synagogue worship of the time of Christ and the apostles there was a rite of inscription of the name of God on the forehead. What is it? The book of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 9:4) speaks of a symbolic vision of a catastrophe that must befall a certain city. However, this death will not affect pious people, on whose foreheads the angel of the Lord will depict a certain sign. This is described in the following words: “And the Lord said to him: pass through the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and on the foreheads of people who mourn, sighing for all the abominations that are committed among him, make a sign.” Following the prophet Ezekiel, the same inscription of the name of God on the forehead is mentioned in the book of Revelation of the holy Apostle John the Theologian. So, in Rev. 14:1 says, "And I looked, and behold, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having the name of the Father written on their foreheads." Elsewhere (Rev. 22:3-4) the following is said about the life of the future age: “And nothing will be cursed anymore; but the throne of God and the Lamb will be in him, and his servants will serve him. And they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads."

What is the name of God and how can it be depicted on the forehead? According to the ancient Jewish tradition, the name of God was symbolically imprinted with the first and last letters of the Jewish alphabet, which were “alef” and “tav”. This meant that God is Infinite and Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Eternal. He is the fullness of all conceivable perfections. Since a person can describe the world around him with the help of words, and words consist of letters, the first and final letters of the alphabet in writing the name of God indicate that the fullness of being is contained in Him, He encompasses everything that can be described by human language. By the way, the symbolic inscription of the name of God with the help of the first and last letters of the alphabet is also found in Christianity. Remember, in the book of the Apocalypse the Lord says about himself: "I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end." Since the Apocalypse was originally written in Greek, then it became obvious to the reader that the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet in the description of the name of God testify to the fullness of Divine perfections. Often we can also see icon-painting images of Christ, in whose hands an open book with an inscription of only two letters: alpha and omega.

According to the passage from Ezekiel's prophecy quoted above, the elect will have on their foreheads the inscription of the name of God, which was associated with the letters "aleph" and "tav". The meaning of this inscription is symbolic - a person who has the name of God on his forehead - has completely given himself to God, dedicated himself to Him and lives according to the Law of God. Only such a person is worthy of salvation. Wishing to outwardly show their devotion to God, the Jews of the time of Christ already imposed the inscription of the letters "aleph" and "tav" on their foreheads. Over time, in order to simplify this symbolic action, they began to depict only the letter “tav”. It is quite remarkable that the study of the manuscripts of that era showed that in the Jewish writing of the turn of the eras, the capital “tav” had the shape of a small cross. This small cross meant the name of God. In fact, for a Christian of that era, the image of the cross on his forehead meant, as in Judaism, the dedication of his entire life to God. Moreover, the imposition of a cross on the forehead resembled not so much last letter Hebrew alphabet, how much is the Savior's sacrifice on the cross. When the Christian Church finally freed itself from Jewish influence, then the understanding of the sign of the cross as an image through the letter “tav” of the name of God was lost. The main semantic emphasis was placed on the display of the Cross of Christ. Forgetting about the first meaning, Christians of later eras filled the sign of the Cross with new meaning and content.

Approximately by the 4th century, Christians began to overshadow their entire body with a cross, i.e. the well-known "wide cross" appeared. However, the imposition of the sign of the cross at this time was still preserved with one finger. Moreover, by the 4th century, Christians began to cross over not only themselves, but also surrounding objects. So a contemporary of this era, the Monk Ephraim the Syrian writes: “Our houses, our doors, our lips, our chest, all our members are overshadowed by the life-giving cross. You, Christians, do not leave this cross at any time, at any hour; May he be with you wherever you go. Do nothing without the cross; whether you go to bed or wake up, work or rest, eat or drink, travel on land or sail on the sea - constantly adorn all your members with this life-giving cross.

In the 9th century, one-fingeredness gradually began to be replaced by two-fingeredness, which was due to the wide spread of the heresy of Monophysitism in the Middle East and Egypt. When the heresy of the Monophysites appeared, it used the hitherto used form of finger-composition - single-fingeredness to propagate its teaching, since it saw in single-fingeredness a symbolic expression of its teaching about the one nature in Christ. Then the Orthodox, contrary to the Monophysites, began to use two fingers in the sign of the cross, as a symbolic expression of the Orthodox teaching about the two natures in Christ. It so happened that the one-finger in the sign of the cross began to serve as an external, visual sign of Monophysitism, and the two-finger - Orthodoxy. In this way, the Church once again inserted deep doctrinal truths into the external forms of worship of God.

An earlier and very important evidence of the use of two fingers by the Greeks belongs to the Nestorian Metropolitan Elijah Geveri, who lived at the end of the 9th-10th centuries. Wishing to reconcile the Monophysites with the Orthodox and the Nestorians, he wrote that the latter disagreed with the Monophysites in depicting the cross. Namely, one sign of the cross is depicted with one finger, leading the hand from left to right; others with two fingers, leading, on the contrary, from right to left. Monophysites, crossing themselves with one finger from left to right, emphasize by this that they believe in one Christ. Nestorians and Orthodox, depicting the cross in a sign with two fingers - from right to left, thereby confess their belief that on the cross humanity and divinity were united together, that this was the reason for our salvation.

In addition to Metropolitan Elijah Geveri, the notorious St. John of Damascus, well-known to you, also wrote about dualism in his monumental systematization of Christian doctrine, known as the Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.

Around the 12th century, in the Greek-speaking Local Orthodox Churches (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Cyprus), the two-finger was replaced by the three-finger. The reason for this was seen in the following. Because to XII century the fight against the Monophysites has already ended, the two-fingeredness has lost its demonstrative and polemical character. However, double-fingering made Orthodox Christians related to the Nestorians, who also used double-fingeredness. Desiring to make a change in the external form of their worship of God, the Orthodox Greeks began to overshadow themselves with the sign of the cross with three fingers, thereby emphasizing their veneration of the Most Holy Trinity. In Rus', as already noted, the three-finger was introduced in the 17th century during the reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

Thus, summing up this message, it can be noted that the sign of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is not only the most ancient, but also one of the most important Christian symbols. Its accomplishment requires from us a deep, thoughtful and reverent attitude. Many centuries ago, John Chrysostom exhorted us to think about this with the following words: “You must not just draw a cross with your fingers,” he wrote. "You have to do it in faith."

Hegumen PAVEL, Candidate of Theology, Inspector of MinDA
minds.by

Why not tripartite?

Usually believers of other faiths, for example, New Believers, ask why the Old Believers are not baptized with three fingers, like members of other Eastern churches.

To this, the Old Believers answer:

Two-fingeredness was commanded to us by the apostles and fathers of the ancient Church, to which there is a lot of historical evidence. Three-fingering is a newly invented rite, the use of which has no historical justification.

The storage of two fingers is protected by a church oath, which is contained in the ancient rite of acceptance from heretics Jacob and the resolutions of the Stoglavy Cathedral of 1551: “If anyone does not bless with two fingers like Christ, or does not imagine the sign of the cross, let him be damned.”

The double finger reflects the true dogma of the Christian Creed - the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, as well as the two natures in Christ - the human and the Divine. Other types of the sign of the cross do not have such a dogmatic content, and the three fingers distort this content, showing that the Trinity was crucified on the cross. And although the New Believers do not contain the doctrine of the crucifixion of the Trinity, the holy fathers categorically forbade the use of signs and symbols that have heretical and non-Orthodox meaning.

Thus, arguing with the Catholics, the holy fathers also pointed out that the mere change of species creation, the use of customs similar to heretical ones, is in itself heresy. Ep. Nicholas of Methonsky wrote, in particular, about unleavened bread: “He who uses unleavened bread, already from some similarity, is suspected of communicating with these heresies.” The truth of the dogma of two-fingeredness is recognized today, although not publicly, by various New Rite hierarchs and theologians. So oh. Andrey Kuraev, in his book “Why are the Orthodox like that,” points out: “I consider two-fingeredness to be a more accurate dogmatic symbol than three-fingeredness. After all, it was not the Trinity that was crucified, but “one of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God.”

Source: ruvera.ru

So what is the right way to be baptized? Compare some of the photos below. They are taken from various open sources.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and Bishop Anthony of Slutsk and Soligorsk clearly use two fingers. And the rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Healer" in the city of Slutsk, Archpriest Alexander Shklyarevsky and parishioner Boris Kleschukevich folded three fingers of their right hand.

Probably, the question is still open and various sources answer it differently. Even St. Basil the Great wrote: “In the Church, everything is fine and according to order, let it happen.” The sign of the cross is a visible evidence of our faith. To find out whether the Orthodox is in front of you or not, you just need to ask him to cross himself, and by how he does it and whether he does it at all, everything will become clear. Yes, and let us remember the gospel: “He who is faithful in little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10).

The sign of the cross is a visible evidence of our faith, so it must be performed carefully and with reverence.

The power of the Sign of the Cross is unusually great. In the Lives of the Saints there are stories about how demonic spells dissipated after being overshadowed by the Cross. Therefore, those who are baptized carelessly, fussily and inattentively, simply please the demons.

How to overshadow yourself with the Sign of the Cross?

1) You need to put three fingers of your right hand (thumb, index and middle) together, which symbolizes the three faces of the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. By connecting these fingers together, we testify to the unity of the Holy Indivisible Trinity.

2) The other two fingers (little finger and ring finger) are tightly bent to the palm, thus symbolizing the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ: Divine and human.

3) First, folded fingers are placed on the forehead, to sanctify the mind; then on the stomach (but not lower) - for the consecration of internal abilities (will, mind and feelings); after that - on the right, and then on the left shoulder - to consecrate our bodily forces, because the shoulder symbolizes activity ("turn the shoulder" - to help).

4) Only after lowering the hand, we make a waist bow so as not to “break the Cross”. This is a common mistake - bowing at the same time as the Sign of the Cross. You shouldn't do this.

The bow after the sign of the Cross is made because we have just depicted on ourselves (overshadowed ourselves) the Calvary Cross, and we worship it.

In general, at present, on the question “How to be baptized?” many people don't pay attention. For example, in one of his blogs, Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov writes that “... the truth of the Church is not tested by how a person feels in her temple: good or bad ... being baptized with two or three fingers no longer plays any role, because these two rites are recognized Church of equal honor. In the same place, Archpriest Alexander Berezovsky confirms: "Be baptized as you like."

Here is an illustration posted on the website of the Temple of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Lyubimovka, Sevastopol, Crimea.

There is also a memo for those who are just joining the Orthodox Church and still don't know much. A kind of alphabet.

When should you be baptized?

In the temple:

Be sure to be baptized at the time the priest reads the Six Psalms and at the beginning of the singing of the Creed.

It is also necessary to overshadow oneself with the sign of the cross at those moments when the clergyman pronounces the words: "By the power of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross."

It is necessary to be baptized during the beginning of the singing of proverbs.

It is necessary to be baptized not only before entering the church, but also after you have left its walls. Even passing by any temple, you need to cross yourself once.

After the parishioner has kissed the icon or the cross, he must also cross himself without fail.

On the street:

passing by any Orthodox church, one should be baptized for the reason that in every temple in the altar, on the throne, Christ himself abides, the Body and Blood of the Lord in the cup, which have the fullness of Jesus Christ.

If you are not baptized, passing by the temple, you should remember the words of Christ: “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark. 8:38).

But, you should understand the reason why you did not begin to be baptized, if this is embarrassment, then you should cross yourself, if this is an impossibility, for example, you are driving and your hands are busy, then you should mentally cross yourself, you should also not be baptized, if for around, this can become an occasion for ridicule at the church, so you should understand the reason.

At home:

Immediately after waking up and immediately before going to bed;

At the beginning of reading any prayer and after its completion;

Before and after meals;

Before starting any work.

Selected and prepared materials
Vladimir Khvorov