Why do Orthodox Christians cross themselves with three fingers and how should they hold their fingers correctly when crossing themselves?
Initially, only two fingers were crossed, but everything changed in the 13th century. In the 17th century, triplicity was documented. Although on some ancient icons you can see two fingers.
Three fingers mean the Holy Trinity. These are the Father, the Son and the holy spirit. It is the three clenched fingers that show respect for the Trinity. At the same time, the ring and little fingers are pressed to the palm. These fingers mean Divine grace and ask the Lord to help.
You need to be baptized slowly, using the correct movements. It is believed that those who are in a hurry may incriminate themselves. Demons rejoice at such negligent attitude.
Why do Orthodox Christians cross themselves with three fingers and how should they hold their fingers correctly when crossing themselves?
Is it possible to be baptized in a public place?
There is no clear answer to this question. Some Orthodox Christians believe that this should not be done in public, while others, on the contrary, do not hesitate to perform the ritual of rebaptism whenever they want. But God looks at the human heart and knows the thoughts of his creation. We need to remember this. Therefore, if a person is baptized in a public place simply to show his righteousness and piety, then he cannot avoid God’s punishment. If, for example, he is praying silently and he has a strong desire to cross himself as a sign that the prayer is over, he should not suppress this urge. The Holy Spirit is drawn to this.
A Christian should not be ashamed of his faith; on the contrary, he should tell everyone about how good God is and what miracles He works in the lives of ordinary people who believe in Him. The ritual of rebaptism must be performed correctly in any place - even in the subway, even in a store. You also need to be baptized correctly in a cemetery. Namely, three times before entering his territory and three times after visiting him. Why is this being done? It is believed that the procedure of rebaptism in a cemetery “asks” God for the deceased person to hear everything that the person who visited him will tell him. This is a request for hearing.
You also need to be baptized when you drive past a Church or Temple. This is how a person shows his faith and shows respect for the ministers. Some believers believe that rebaptism must be performed at a crossroads because it is a special place. But it is special more for people who practice black magic. The priests do not say that believers should perform such a ritual at the crossroads of two roads.
How correctly and how many times to be baptized before entering a church or temple?
When entering the temple, you must stand facing the entrance and cross yourself once, saying the necessary words. After this, a fairly low bow is made. Again you need to cross yourself and bow again. So you get baptized and worship three times.
How correctly and how many times to be baptized before entering a church or temple?
What is the essence of the sign of the cross
Many people often ask why to be baptized. This is not just a mandatory ritual that must be performed under certain circumstances. It should be carried out with a deep awareness of what is happening. This action will help you become closer to the Lord.
It is worth applying the sign of the cross in the following cases:
- before starting the prayer,
- and also at the end of the prayer,
- before entering the temple,
- when applied to relics, crosses, icons,
- It is worth being baptized in important life situations: in joy, in danger, in grief, before and after meals, before starting and after finishing any business, before leaving the house and at the entrance.
Why are they baptized and how to be baptized correctly at the grave of the deceased?
It is necessary to come to the grave and read an enhanced prayer. It is worth asking forgiveness from the deceased. If you wish, you can read an akathist about the repose of the departed. Next, clean up the grave and remember the deceased with good words. No need to drink at the grave and leave vodka with bread. These are remnants of paganism. In addition, because of such “gifts”, homeless people often trample on the grave and disturb the deceased. Nowadays no one leaves such “gifts”. Regarding sweets and cookies on memorial days, it is also better to distribute them to friends and ask them to remember them. If you leave a package on a grave, homeless people will trample there.
Why are they baptized and how to be baptized correctly at the grave of the deceased?
How to make the sign of the cross to bless another person (see)?
As you know, Catholics cross themselves from left to right. And the Orthodox - on the contrary: from right to left. And how to baptize correctly for the blessing of an Orthodox person - to an Orthodox person. For example, before a long journey, at a wedding? How the hand should move:
The sign of the cross should be placed on the person as if he himself had crossed himself. Therefore, when a person is facing you, then in a horizontal line the hand of the blessing moves “in the opposite direction,” and if with his back, then the hand moves in the same way as when you cross yourself, only slightly turned towards the other person.
To bless another person, you must baptize starting from the top and ending on the shoulder of the side of the body where the heart is located. And this does not depend on how a person stands towards the one who blesses him.
That is, just as we Orthodox baptize ourselves:
During the blessing, as well as when you baptize yourself, the hand itself moves in the right direction.
When you cross yourself, the hand moves from the forehead to the stomach and from the right shoulder to the left shoulder.
When you baptize another, the hand also moves from the forehead to the stomach and from the right shoulder of the person you are blessing to the left. That is, it turns out from left to right.
Everything becomes extremely clear and easy to remember if you understand the fact that the cross should end on the side of the heart.
Thus, if a person is facing you, then we draw a cross: forehead, belly, left to the shoulder, right to the shoulder.
In order to baptize a person who is facing us, there are no baptismal changes. In this case, you need to cross the person as if he were baptizing himself, that is, from the right side to the left. But if we go to protect and bless a person whose back is to us (for example, when someone is leaving and we want prayer and the cross to protect him), we act in a mirror way. In this case, top-bottom-left-right first. Here you can read the priest’s commentary on how to properly baptize others.
But the main thing, probably, is the sincerity of such actions and that they really do it from the heart. After all, it happens that someone baptizes, and at the same time sends a curse.
How to be baptized in an ice hole at Epiphany?
The procedure is simple. You need to plunge into water three times and cross yourself. After this it is said “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". The dive is carried out with your head. You should not wear a swimsuit; it is best to do this in a shirt. It is believed that it is not good to show off your bodies.
How to be baptized in an ice hole at Epiphany?
How to pray and be baptized correctly. Memo from the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Murom
How to be baptized correctly? We never thought about this topic. Until the monk of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in the city of Murom pointed out to us that we were incorrectly making the sign of the cross. In the monastery church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, there is a reminder for Orthodox Christians on how to be baptized correctly.
As a good memory and for edification, the monk handed us a reminder printed on a simple sheet of A-4 format. The copy is unclear, some places are very difficult to read, the last paragraph of the text is completely impossible to read. Nevertheless, we consider much of what is written in the instructions, for example, how to be baptized correctly, to be very useful. We don’t entirely agree with some of the conclusions, but we don’t dare judge them. We present the instructions almost in their entirety, with the exception of the last paragraph. It is not possible to read it. In reprinting the text, we have preserved the original spelling and punctuation. Author's notes are highlighted in color and italics.
Table of contents
First side of the sheet. How to be baptized correctly
“All the power is in the sign of the cross. The cross is a symbol of victory over the devil! And not only. When the fingers are folded correctly, fire comes out of them. And when we put the sign of the cross on ourselves, the blessed fire scorches, sanctifies and cleanses our body. The blood supplied by the heart passes through the fiery cross and therefore is cleansed of everything bad and terrible, everything burns up! Therefore, the more we are baptized, the purer the blood, the higher the mind, the closer to God, the faster our prayer reaches the Lord. This is the meaning of the Cross." Words of Blessed Pelageya of Ryazan (1890-1966)
You need to be baptized slowly, reverently, with fear and with a little tapping so that the body feels it. The devil is very afraid of this knock. — An icon is a living person. When you pray in front of an icon, you need to look at the image depicted on it. - The head is slightly raised. Look at the icon. — Until you make the sign of the cross, do not take your eyes off the icon. — It’s scary to make the sign of the cross with your head bowed. - Place your feet correctly - heels together, maintain grace. — When praying or being in a temple, you cannot look at the ground. — It is a terrible sin to keep your hands on your stomach or behind your back. — In the Church you need to pray, be baptized, and bow down. Mourn sins. “Whoever does not pray in church, does not cross himself and does not bow is an idol.” - If we cross ourselves and bow at the same time, then the Cross breaks. - We lower our hand, and only then bow! “You can’t whisper a prayer—the demon prays in a whisper!” Pray out loud or silently. If about yourself, then prayer comes from the heart!
+ Press the little finger and ring finger tightly against the palm. For the sake of our salvation, the Son of God, bowing the heavens, came down to earth, took upon Himself human nature, and thus two natures were united in Him - God's and man's. Palm - earth. Schema-nun Sepfola said that you need to press your fingers tightly so that there is no space between the palm and the last two, so that the enemy does not run into the soul and heart.
+ Fold the first three fingers correctly – the tips of the fingers are equal. It is very important to align the tips of the index finger and thumb - equality of the Divine Faces, as if taking a pinch of salt from the table. Three fingers are the Holy Trinity. Don't bend your thumb! (as in the picture)! + With our right hand we place the three-finger on the forehead - the center of the forehead with a tap. God the Trinity dwells in heaven /In the Name of the Father.../ You must not just touch the forehead, but firmly press the fingers connected into three fingers to the forehead. Blessed Pelageya said that you need to tap, as if with a ball, so that the body feels it.
+ Then we draw a straight line at a short distance from the body to the umbilical cord - just 1-2 cm above the navel and also firmly touch the womb with our joined fingers. /..and the Son../ If you put it on the chest, the cross will be upside down! This symbolizes the descent to earth and the incarnation of Christ. From the womb of the Mother of God the Savior was born. The umbilical cord symbolizes the head of the forefather Adam. The lower horn of the Cross, on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, was located above the head of Adam. And the Blood of Christ, flowing from the wounds, washed all of Humanity in the face of Adam.
+ Next we apply the right hand to the shoulder joint of the right and then the left hand. /..and the Holy Spirit.../ On the joint, not in the hole! And from the front, not from above! We lower our hand /…Amen./ And with our lowered hand we bow. If we cross ourselves and bow at the same time, then the Cross breaks, is thrown under our feet and trampled underfoot (a grave sin)! The righteous will stand on the right hand at the Last Judgment, and the sinners will stand on the left.
Don’t be lazy, reach your hand to the joints, move your hand in a straight line, everything is perpendicular with a tap... Health, knowledge of the truth, salvation, help and strength in cruel torment and an easy death depend on this.
Blessed Pelageya of Ryazan told her godson (R. Peter) to go to Kyiv in the cave of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra to find the relics of St. Spyridon and look at his hand (three-fingered addition), which he did. This arrangement has been preserved to this day. Go and see! This is stated in the akathist to the venerable fathers of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
Kontakion 6 “Akathist to all the venerable fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk”
Our preacher is your honorable right hand, the God-pleasing Spyridon, with whom you teach your Orthodox children how to place fingers in the image of the Holy Cross on the forehead, and you stop the mouths of the schism teachers, clearly denouncing their wrong teaching about putting the finger; In this way, having made the sign of the cross, you departed to Christ. Let us pray to Him before us, may He extinguish the immeasurably burning furnace of our passions, may He grant us true zeal to praise Him unceasingly in psalms and spiritual songs in this life and in the future, may He grant us the honor to sing to Him: Alleluia.
In the memo, the kontakion is not given in full, down to the words “having made the sign of the cross, you departed to Christ.” We have given the kontakion in full. They couldn’t read the last sentence of the first page of the memo.
Second side of the sheet. How to be baptized correctly
Bow from the waist
Standing in front of an icon or other Shrine, first cross yourself, without taking your eyes off it. Polya Zakharovskaya repeatedly warned everyone not to be baptized with a bowed head! You need to look straight into the face of the icon! And don’t start bowing until you lower your hand, otherwise the Cross will break! Heels together (keep grace). A bow from the waist is performed by worshiping the body to the waist, the head is slightly raised (pressed to the back, this is how the monks prayed with St. Sergius of Radonezh), look at the icon, do not lower your head down, you cannot look at the floor (a grave sin, because it is located underground hell and to look into it is to long for it). This action is very IMPORTANT and means “I deny you, Satan, your pride and service to you and unite with you, Christ, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen" - lyrics by the blessed virgin Pelageya of Ryazan. You need to lower your body more slowly, reaching the waist (the body is parallel to the floor, the head is pressed to the back), you need to return to a straight position quickly. The person praying must stand straight, without spreading his legs, in order to maintain grace. Our ancestors said: “Don’t spread your legs, otherwise the demon will slip through.” Often in temples you can observe that worshipers make a bow from the waist with a simple nod of the neck, which is a mistake.
Russia has disappeared without prostrations
Lay people perform Z.P. (bows to the ground) while kneeling (do not stand on their feet). Bowing to the ground is the highest prayer before God. There is nothing higher. Standing in front of an icon or other Shrine, first cross yourself, without taking your eyes off it. Heels together (keep grace). Then the Christian kneels either together or first the right, then the left. Heels together. We place our hands on the floor, palms next to each other, with our head (brow) touching only the palms (back) side. And we quickly raise our heads. We rise from the right knee, then from the left. A common mistake is to place your hands on the floor too wide and touch your forehead to the floor. The palm symbolizes the earth - hence the name: prostration. The forehead is the sky, so you cannot touch the ground with your forehead, but touch the back of your hands. There is a mistake Christians make - they close their foreheads to the ground and remain in that position. Which is unacceptable! With such prayer, a person becomes like evil spirits, demons; in this position they show that we will never submit to God (a grave sin before God). Extended to Trinity on three kneeling prayers. “On Trinity Sunday, all of Russia goes to hell” - the saying of Blessed Pelageya Zakharovsa, do not spread your legs, keep your heels together.
A bow to the ground is 25 times more expensive than a bow. On annual holidays and Sundays, prayer to God is received with special love. Seraphim of Sarov rested on Sunday, kneeling, that is, he prayed on his knees on Sunday. The night bow is 40 times higher than the daytime bow (from 23.30 to 03.00) at any time of the year, and at least three bows before going to bed should be done every day with prayer. Remember that THREE or more Z.P. are strictly obligatory: before the Icons of the Most Holy Trinity, the Savior, the Life-Giving Cross and the Mother of God, the Shrouds of the Savior, the Mother of God, confession and Communion, before the Relics of the Pleasants of God. You cannot wear short sleeves in church, because... The soldiers who hammered nails into the Body of the Savior had their sleeves rolled up.
Women with short hair, trousers, and dyed hair are not allowed to approach the relics or enter the church. Just for wearing trousers, women will go to hell - the schema of the Nile. The Mother of God will pull women out of hell by the braid! What if she has short hair? It is unacceptable for both men and women to wear shorts.
You cannot burn (cremate) the bodies of the deceased, because... This is not even a sin, but service to Satan itself. It will be bad for the whole family.
It is unacceptable to have idols and dogs in the house. Grace leaves and icons are desecrated. A person is not allowed to take communion. After the dogs, the house needs to be blessed. Toads with coins are mammon (the sin of superstition and love of money). It is great to feed doves for the dead and for the living. You can even help suicide victims! Pelageya warned that it is impossible to read 15 Kathisma ((Ps. 105, 106, 107, especially 108). It will bring great troubles. When reading Psalms 15, Kathisma is replaced by 20 Kathisma (i.e. 20 Kathisma is read 2 times). The highest for the deceased 20 Kathisma. Polya forbade watching TV, saying that this monster has a terrible effect on people and destroys people. TV is an icon of the Antichrist. Through TV he appears in every home.
The last paragraph is impossible to read. We hope that the most important information is at the beginning of the memo. Read more about the meeting with the monk of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Murom.
Why do people get baptized at a crossroads?
There are many beliefs and various signs associated with crossroads. It is in these places that magicians leave their things. Accordingly, nothing can be picked up at intersections. In order not to bring trouble upon themselves, believers often cross themselves at crossroads. But this is not at all necessary.
Why do people get baptized at a crossroads?
Is it possible not to be baptized, but to be a believer?
Yes, the main thing is that you have Faith inside you. Therefore, you don’t have to be baptized, but still believe in God. But still, it is generally accepted that a believer should attend church and be baptized.
Is it possible not to be baptized, but to be a believer?
As you can see, it is better to be a believer and pray in your own way than to go to church and do everything automatically. Faith must live within you.
When to be baptized
In religious rites, the order of performing sacred rites is established.
Orthodox Christians are supposed to place the Cross of the Lord on themselves:
- before entering the church;
- before reading the prayer;
- at the end of the prayer address;
- before kissing holy relics, iconographic images, and the cross.
To observe a religious ritual, you should cross yourself:
- before and after the end of the meal;
- at the entrance door to the living space and when exiting the street;
- before starting something and at the end of doing important work.
Demonstration of piety in crowded places causes embarrassment among believers. To be ashamed of your faith in God, even in small things, means a departure from the Lord.
