Слово в день Воздвижения Честного и Животворящого Креста, произнесенное в Предтеченской церкви архиерейского дома 14 сентября 1857 года.

“Place me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm” (Song 8:6). From that time, as soon as we learned to pray, and every time we pray, we got used to raising our hands and overshadowing ourselves with the sign of the Holy Spirit. the cross, putting it “like a seal” on your forehead, “like a seal” on your heart or chest, “like a seal” on your muscles. This is a universal custom in the Orthodox Church, an everlasting and most ancient custom: it undoubtedly dates back to the time of St. apostles But, always and everywhere using the sign of the cross during our prayer, have we ever thought what kind of thought lies at the basis of this pious custom and what is its proper use? At least now, on the day of the erection of the honorable and life-giving Cross of the Lord, it is very fitting for us, brothers, to reflect on the purpose for which we erect the Holy Cross upon ourselves. the cross when we pray, and how we should erect it. What is prayer? This is generally a conversation between a person and God. How would we dare to talk with God - we, small and even insignificant beings - with the highest Being, slaves and even the last of slaves - with the Lord of heaven and earth, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and most importantly - sinners, sometimes the greatest sinners - with the most holy Being - how would we dare to talk with God if we did not overshadow ourselves with the sign of the Holy Spirit? cross? Only the cross of our Savior reconciled us to God and redeemed us from the guilt of sins (Col. 1, 19-22); only the cross destroyed the distance that separated us from God, and made us close and “belonging” to Him (Eph. 2:13.19); Only through the cross have we received that “spirit of sonhood, for which” we can “cry: Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). The sign of the cross gives us boldness and, as it were, the right to turn to God in prayer. What disposition of soul is required when praying? In order to have a worthwhile conversation with God, we must remove everything sinful and unclean from our souls and appear before Him with holy thoughts, desires and feelings. How can we most likely remove sinful thoughts and desires from our souls, drive away from ourselves the very spirit of malice that instills these thoughts in us, if not by the sign of St. of the cross, by which sin is defeated, the devil is also defeated (Titus 2:14; Heb. 2:14–15)? How can we most likely attract all-sanctifying grace upon ourselves, if not by the sign of St. the cross, by which all the gifts of the Holy Spirit were purchased for us (Rom. 5:15–17; 8:32)? The sign of the cross can thus communicate the proper mood to our soul, which is necessary in prayer. What are the objects of our prayer? Sometimes we praise the Lord for His endless perfections, sometimes we thank Him for countless benefits to us, sometimes we ask Him for our needs. But what would our meager praises and thanksgivings, especially flowing from our unclean hearts and from unclean lips, mean before the infinite Being, if they were not elevated and sanctified by the sign of the Holy One? cross? What would our prayers, our cries to the Heavenly Father mean, if they were not raised “in the name” of His only begotten Son, our Redeemer, not under the sign of His cross (John 14:14)? Only through the cross are we delivered from all those disasters, spiritual and physical, for which we pray for deliverance; Only through the cross have we acquired all those blessings, spiritual and physical, that we ask for ourselves from God. The sign of the cross gives dignity and power to our prayer. How should we erect on ourselves the sign of St. cross, so that it can perform its saving actions for us? First of all, we must build it up with living faith. The sign of the cross itself is an external sign that can receive meaning only from the internal meaning that we connect with it. And if we do not depict this sign on ourselves with faith in Christ the Savior, who died for us on the cross, with faith and in the gracious power of the cross of the Lord itself - the instrument of our salvation: in this case, our sign of the cross, no matter how much we put it on ourselves, will be devoid of Christian meaning and will remain displeasing to God: “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). You must, secondly, inscribe on yourself the sign of St. of the cross, according to the commandment of the Orthodox Church, by joining the first three fingers of the right hand in the name of the Most Holy Trinity of Consubstantiality. When we inscribe St. cross with three fingers together: then with the very combination of fingers we express the same thing that we often express with our lips when making the sign of the cross, saying: in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, - and therefore with the very combination of fingers we confess faith in the Trinitarian God, which is first of all required of us, both in general in the matter of our salvation, and, in particular, when using the sign of the cross. On the other hand, this custom of making the sign with three fingers is worthy of all our respect because it has always and everywhere been used in the Orthodox Church, not only here in Russia, but also in Greece, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Georgia, Bulgaria and other countries of the world, and is not a new and private custom, like the custom of making the sign with two fingers that exists among our imaginary Old Believers. Finally, one must place on oneself the sign of St. cross so that the Holy Cross is actually inscribed on us. cross - and so that this cross, according to the instructions of St. Church, its upper end touched our forehead, its lower end touched our chest or chest, its sides touched our muscles. Otherwise, if our sign of the cross does not contain the actual cross, how can we expect saving actions from it? Believing on himself the sign of St. cross during prayer and imprinting with it our “brow”, “chest” and “ramen”, we thereby sanctify and, as it were, dedicate and sacrifice to the Lord our “mind” with its thoughts and knowledge, our “heart” with its feelings and desires, and our mental and physical forces with their activities. And therefore, how ignorant are those Christians, unfortunately, very many, who perform the sign of the cross on themselves with such inattention, haste and negligence that they do not inscribe the Holy Cross on themselves at all? cross, but they present it with the movement of their hand as if it were some kind of childish fun, devoid of any meaning! Is it clear now, brethren, that our use of the sign of the cross during prayer is one of the most important and mysterious sacred rites, which St. Has the Church allowed every believer to do this? It gives us boldness to turn to God in prayer; it tunes our soul to prayer; it imparts strength and effectiveness to our prayers, in a word: it makes our prayer truly Christian. Let us now learn to be attentive to the sign of the cross that we place on ourselves, and we will place it not only with living faith, but also with the greatest reverence that befits a sacred rite - to place it exactly as St. Church. Amen. You might be interested in: