Why are they baptized with three fingers, and the Old Believers with two?
- In the beginning there was a word .... it’s kind of sad))) it was and has passed. In the uncorrected, the word will always abide...! Oh, this is already reasonable: the process of creation is always going on, stars are born, planets, people ....
The process "Always abide" also operates in two-fingered baptism: two fingers towards you means that at the moment of contact you are the third - this is a Divine act, a sacrament here and now.
There are churches with golden domes;
Where it's simple, there are hundreds of angels! Where it's hard to break a leg!
Look at the root, clues are everywhere. - Traditionally...
- Three means father, son and holy spirit.
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/answers/050202084237 - The three fingers is the most common variant of the sign of the cross, used in most Orthodox Churches. To perform it, the first three fingers of the right hand (thumb, index and middle) are folded, and the other two fingers are bent to the palm. Then successively touch the forehead, abdomen, right shoulder, then the left. If the sign of the cross is performed outside of worship, it is customary to speak in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen, or another prayer.
Three fingers folded together symbolize the Holy Trinity. The value of the other two fingers in different time could be different. So, originally among the Greeks, they did not mean anything at all. Later, in Russia, under the influence of controversy with the Old Believers (who claimed that the Nikonians abolished Christ from the cross of Christ), these two fingers were rethought as a symbol of the two natures of Christ, Divine and human. This interpretation is now the most common, although there are others (for example, in the Romanian Church, these two fingers are interpreted as a symbol of Adam and Eve falling to the Trinity).
The hand, depicting a cross, first touches the right shoulder, then the left, which symbolizes the traditional Christian opposition of the right side, as the place of the saved and the left, as the place of the perishing (see Matt., 25, 31-46). Thus, raising his hand first to the right, then to the left shoulder, the Christian asks to be included in the fate of the saved and to be delivered from the fate of the perishing.
An Orthodox priest, blessing people or objects, folds his fingers into a special signet, called nominative. It is believed that the fingers folded in this way depict the letters IC XC, that is, the initials of the name Jesus Christ. When blessing, the hand is led first to the left, then to the right, that is, for a person blessed in this way, the right shoulder is still blessed first, then the left.
Two-finger was used in Russia until the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the 17th century. It was practiced earlier in Byzantium, being later supplanted by tripartite. In our time, the two-fingered composition is used (among the Orthodox) almost exclusively by the Old Believers.
Old Believer icon, where Christ blesses with a two-fingered sign of the cross
When performing double-fingering, the two fingers of the right hand, the index and middle fingers, are connected together, symbolizing the two natures of Christ, while the middle finger turns out to be slightly bent, which means Divine condescension and incarnation. The three remaining fingers are also connected together, symbolizing the Holy Trinity. After that, with the tips of two fingers (and only them) they sequentially touch the forehead, abdomen, right and left shoulder. At the same time, in the literature of the Old Believers, it is specially emphasized that one should be baptized earnestly, and in such a way that the touch of the fingers is felt through clothing. It is also emphasized that one cannot be baptized at the same time as bowing; a bow, if required, should be made after the hand has been lowered (however, the same rule is followed in the new rite, although not so strictly).
The Old Believers do not recognize triplets, believing that the image of the cross with three fingers in honor of the Holy Trinity denotes a heresy, according to which the entire Trinity, and not only the Son, suffered on the Cross. For the same reason, it is not customary to pronounce the sign of the cross in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; instead, they usually say the Jesus Prayer.
The priest, blessing, does not use any special signet, but folds his hand into the same two-finger.
- A two-fingered cross opens the chakras, while a three-fingered one closes. When entering the temple - open, when leaving - close. The sign of the cross is a pre-Christian ritual. Its meaning is many times wider than described by Christians.
- Nikon replaced the two-fingered with the three-fingered ONE-PERSONALLY in violation of the 34th canon rule: Bishops of every nation should know the first in them, and recognize him as the head, and do nothing exceeding their power without his reasoning: to do to everyone only what concerns him diocese, and to places belonging to it. But the FIRST DOES NOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT THE CONSIDERATION OF EVERYONE. For in this way there will be unanimity, and God will be glorified in the Lord in the Holy Spirit, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The trinity itself originated in the Roman episcopate.
ABOUT THE CATHOLIC ORIGIN TRHPERSTIA.
The initiator of the Trinity was the Roman Catholic Church. In the 13th century, the executioner and child-killer, Pope Innocent III, who occupied the Roman chair from 1198 to 1216, wrote: One should be baptized with THREE FINGERS, for this is done with the invocation of the Trinity (De sacro altaris misterio, II, 45).
Pope Innocent III is famous for establishing the infamous ecclesiastical tribunal, the Holy Inquisition, in 1215, and a little earlier, in 1212, for organizing the so-called Children's Crusade, which claimed thousands of children's lives. It was also Pope Innocent III who organized the 4th Crusade against the Orthodox Christians of the East. After a long siege in 1204, the Crusaders occupied the stronghold of Eastern Orthodoxy, Constantinople, and as a result of three days of robbery and murder, they almost completely destroyed the city. Robber knights created the Latin Empire, and the pope ordained the Catholic Patriarch of Constantinople. With the heretic crusaders, the three-finger came to the East, gradually spreading among Eastern Christians, it eventually completely replaced and replaced the ancient apostolic custom of the two-fingered sign of the cross.
The addition of fingers (glorious. finger-folding) when making the sign of the cross, recommended by Pope Innocent III in the 12th century, instead of the previously familiar two-fingered (= two-fingered) addition. After the conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders in the 13th century, the tri-finger began to spread in the Greek East and by the 15th century. almost completely replaced the ancient two-finger among the Greeks. Subsequently, the Roman Catholics moved on to the next stage of desemantization of finger-folding, refusing to add fingers in general and doing it with the whole hand without confessing dogmas with the help of fingers.
wiki-linki.ru/Page/1102078
About trkhperstiya among Catholics and secular researchers write. For example, B. Uspensky
We continue: so, in the charter of the Benedictine monastery of St. Augustine in Canterbury, according to a manuscript of the first half of the 15th century, we read: Then let each novice make the sign of the cross WITH THE FIRST THREE fingers of the right hand, drawing straight lines from the top of the head almost to the feet and from the edge of the left shoulder to the right shoulder (Deinde doceat singulos facere crucis consignacionem, quae scilicet tribus primis digitis dextrae manus a summo capitis quasi ad pedes et a summitate sinistri humeri usque in dextrum humerum protrahatur directe)
Thompson, I, p. 402; cf.: Thurston, 1911/1953, p. thirteen.
Outwardly expressed in such a movement of the hand that it reproduces the symbolic outline of the Cross on which the Lord was crucified; at the same time, the overshadowing expresses the inner in; in Christ as the incarnate Son of God, the Redeemer of people; love and gratitude in relation to, hope for His protection from the action of fallen spirits, hope for.
For the sign of the cross, we fold the fingers of the right hand like this: we put the first three fingers (thumb, index and middle) together with the ends exactly, and bend the last two (ring and little fingers) to the palm ...
Put together the first three fingers express our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, and two fingers, bent to the palm, mean that the Son of God, after His incarnation, being God, became a man, that is, they mean His two natures - Divine and human.
It is necessary to make the sign of the cross slowly: put it on the forehead (1), on the stomach (2), on the right shoulder (3) and then on the left (4). Lowering the right hand, you can make a waist or bow to the ground.
Making the sign of the cross, we touch with three fingers folded together forehead- to sanctify our mind, to stomach- to consecrate our inner feelings (), then to the right, then to the left shoulders- to sanctify our bodily forces.
About those who signify themselves with the whole five, or bow before they have finished the cross, or wave their hand in the air or on their chest, the saint said: “The demons rejoice at this frantic waving.” On the contrary, the sign of the cross, performed correctly and slowly, with faith and reverence, frightens demons, calms sinful passions and attracts Divine grace.
Recognizing our sinfulness and unworthiness before God, we, as a sign of our humility, accompany our prayer with bows. They are waist, when we bend down to the waist, and earthly, when, bowing and kneeling, we touch the ground with our heads.
“The custom of making the sign of the cross originates from the time of the apostles” (Full. Orthodox Theological Encyclop. Dictionary, St. Petersburg. Published by P.P. Soykin, b.g., p. 1485). At the time, the sign of the cross had already deeply entered the life of contemporary Christians. In the treatise “On the Warrior’s Crown” (circa 211), he writes that we protect our foreheads with the sign of the cross under all circumstances of life: entering and leaving the house, dressing, lighting lamps, going to bed, sitting down for some occupation .
The sign of the cross is not only part of a religious ceremony. First of all, it is a great weapon. Patericons, fathers and the lives of saints contain many examples that testify to the real spiritual power that the image has.
Already the holy apostles performed miracles by the power of the sign of the cross. Once, the Apostle John the Theologian found a sick man lying on the road, who suffered greatly from a fever, and healed him with the sign of the cross (, Saint. Life of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. September 26).
Depicted in the famous painting by Surikov, with her hand raised high, overshadowing people with a two-fingered sign of the cross.
I wonder why in those years thousands of people gave their lives for what seemed to be such a narrowly ceremonial understanding of Orthodoxy? What difference does it make to be baptized with two or three fingers? After all, the teaching of Christ is much higher and wider than these ritual trifles. It is impossible to answer this question and such reasoning without a deep and thoughtful study of the problem, and yet, let's try to do it.
Blissful Theodorite, Bishop of Cyrus (393-466), participant of the III and IV Ecumenical Councils, writes how to be baptized and bless: “ Three fingers equally have together, great, and the last two - the mystery of the Trinity is confessed, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but one God the Trinity. Names are divided, but the Deity is one. The Father is not begotten, and the Son is begotten of the Father, not created, the Holy Spirit is not begotten, not created, but proceeds from the Father. Three in one Deity, one power, one honor, one worship from all creatures, from angels and from man. Such is the decree with the three fingers. And two fingers, the upper (index) and the middle great, fold and stretch together (keep straight). The great finger is held a little obliquely, then it forms the two natures of Christ, the Divinity and humanity. God according to Divinity, and man according to incarnation, is perfect in both. The upper finger forms the Deity, and the lower one, humanity, descended from the upper ones to save the lower one. The inclination of the finger is interpreted: bow the heavens, descended to earth, for our salvation. Taco befits be baptized and bless. Taco is indicated by the holy fathers. Such, then, is the power of the signs of the honest cross, which we guard ourselves against when we pray, confessing the mysterious vision of the Savior, (when we place outstretched fingers on our foreheads) a hedgehog from God and the Father before all creation, (lowering our fingers on our stomach) and a hedgehog from above to His land descent and crucifixion, (raising his hand and placing his fingers on his right shoulder, then on his left) resurrection, ascension and again His second coming". This evidence clearly shows that already at the beginning of the fifth century, by the third Ecumenical Council, the sign of the cross with two fingers was widespread and had a clear theological interpretation.
And yet, the thoughtful reader will ask, is double-fingering a rite that can change, or is it the unchanging foundation of the Orthodox Church? For further consideration of the issue, I propose to turn to the basis of the foundations of Christianity - Holy Gospel.
Evangelist Matthew describes what happened at the Last Supper, which marked the beginning of the sacrament of the Eucharist:
To those who eat them, take Jesus the bread, and having blessed, break it and give it to the disciple ... (Matthew 108)
And an evangelist Luke tells about what happened after the resurrection of the Lord, when the apostles Luke and Cleopas went to Emmaus. And Jesus joined them under the guise of a traveler, and asked them what they were talking about. They told him about those who were in these days ... And that traveler spoke to them:
Oh, foolish and inert of heart, that you do not believe what the prophets said. Is it not now fitting that Christ suffer and enter into his glory? And he began from Moses, and from all the prophets to tell them from all the scriptures that spoke about him ...
In the evening they came to the village and invited the traveler to share a meal and an overnight stay with them.
And it was like lying down with him, and we will bless the bread, and breaking the dayash ima. Their eyes were opened, and I knew him, and Ima was invisible to him. (Luke pass 113)
And only by the blessing of the bread did the apostles recognize Jesus, who had previously taken him for a simple fellow traveler. And further at the beginning of 114:
You are a witness to this. And now I will send the promise of my Father upon you... And bring them out as far as Bethany, and lift up your hands, and bless them. And be always blessing them, depart from them, and ascending to heaven, and bowing down to him.
Blessing was not taught by Christ in different ways: with one-finger, two-finger, three-finger, palm, one way or another... These words of the Holy Gospel, in my deep conviction, clearly indicate that Christ showed and commanded us the custom of blessing, some kind of secret sign. Oral, secret, in all details not described action. For the disclosure of this secret, it is logical to turn to the witness of everything that happened, the Evangelist Luke. According to church tradition, preserved in almost all Christian countries, the first icon painter who wrote a large number of icons, is considered the Evangelist Luke. On the icons painted by the Evangelist Luke, including on the image of the Tikhvin Mother of God, the right hand of Jesus Christ is depicted blessing with two fingers.
Also, the holy apostle speaks of the necessity of faith not only in written laws, but also in oral decrees in his epistle to Thessalonica:
Brethren, stand firm and hold the traditions; learn them either by word or by our epistle.
He is echoed by St. , a famous preacher of Orthodoxy of the 4th century:
Of the preserved dogmas and sermons, some we have from written instruction, and some we have received from the apostolic tradition, by reception in the mystery, and both have the same power for piety. And no one will rebuke this, although he is little versed in the establishments of the Church. For if we undertake to reject unwritten customs, if not a great possessive power, then we will inconspicuously damage the Gospel in the main subjects, or rather, we will shorten the sermon into a single name without the thing itself. For example, first of all I will mention the first and most general, so that those who trust in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ are signified by the image of the cross, who taught this scripture? ("Full. Trans.", right. 91st).
And the modern historian Alexander Dvorkin in the preface to his work Essays on the History of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church"writes:
It was the disciples who were entrusted with keeping in memory and writing down what had happened. But all this was written down several decades after the death and resurrection of the Savior. And here we are already entering the realm of Sacred Tradition. Tradition (in Latin traditio) means that which is passed from hand to hand, from mouth to mouth (3rd ed. Nizh. Novg. 2006, p. 20). And in the 21st century, it is also reminded of the need for Faith in tradition.
And many other material monuments of Christian art, which, according to St. John of Damascus, « are a kind of memorable story even for those who do not know how to read and write"(John of Damascus" An Accurate Statement of the Orthodox Faith", 1885 p. 266), reflect the universality of the two-fingered up to the 13th century. This is the statue of the Apostle Peter in the Cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, which is " transitional”from paganism to Christianity, remade by Christians of the first centuries from a statue of Jupiter, where the apostle blesses with two fingers. And a mosaic image The descent of St. Spirit on the apostles”, located in one of the domes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople. This image was discovered in the 50s. of the last century, where Jesus is also depicted blessing with two fingers, etc.
The absence of disputes and disagreements between the Christians of the first centuries on this issue, which would inevitably have been submitted for consideration to the Ecumenical Councils, only confirms the above. And now an interesting situation occurs: we unshakably believe the words of the Gospel, written by the Evangelist Luke, and do not dare to change them! And we disdainfully treat his testimony about the composition of fingers, as something unimportant and capable of changing over time.
Another vivid example is described in the life of the archbishop Meletios of Antioch, which tells of a miracle that happened at the II Ecumenical Council. During the dispute with the Arians, who even after the 1st Ecumenical Council continued to philosophize unorthodox about the fact that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, is not consubstantial with God the Father, but was created and is, although higher than people, but a creation, “ Saint Meletios stood up and showed the people three fingers, and there was no sign. Then two couples, and one bending down, and bless the people. At that time, fire overshadowed him like lightning, and the saint loudly exclaimed: we understand three Hypostases, and we talk about one being.».
Renowned historian N. F. Kapterev in his work The time of Joseph's patriarchate' concludes:
Theodorite, Bishop of Cyrus, who was at the time of the Third and Fourth Ecumenical Councils, having met the Monophysite heresy, condemned at the Fourth Ecumenical Council, strongly opposed it. But since this heresy came up with the designation of one nature in Christ with one finger to represent the cross, then, without any doubt, against this heresy, a theological explanation of the image in the addition of fingers from the blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Kirsk, was set forth, which the Stoglavy Cathedral cited as evidence.
Here I would like to add that all societies that distort the basic dogmas of Orthodoxy have also invented their own physically visual symbol.
Compiled by a disciple of the holy Archbishop Meletios, the order of the divine liturgy in many places speaks of a blessing. And it implies a specific movement (action) of a priest or bishop - those who have been given the authority to bless in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the liturgy, in forgiveness, the deacon says: Time to serve the Lord, bless the lord". The priest, signing with his hand the cross on his head, says: Blessed be our God, always and now and forever and ever and ever". The deacon says Amen"... And on the very transposition of the holy gifts: "... and having fulfilled everything about us: in the night in it, betraying yourself, moreover betraying yourself for the worldly belly, accepting bread with your holy and most pure and immaculate hands, giving thanks and blessing, having sanctified the break, will give to his holy disciples and the apostle, rivers". Exclamation. " Take and eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, for the forgiveness of sins.". The priest, saying this, with his right hand will point to the holy paten. The deacon shows with his ular and says: Amen».
For many centuries of Orthodox Christianity, the sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrament of the ordination of the priesthood and the simple blessing of people, has been continuously celebrated. And in all ages it was passed down from generation to generation in the form of an oral and visual, concrete action - the blessing of the Lord. At the time of Stoglav, when in Russia " crawled“Three fingers from the Catholic West, and then from Byzantium, which signed the union with the Catholics in 1439, the holy fathers again had to remind the church children how and why it is appropriate to bless and make the sign of the cross:
If anyone does not bless two fingers, like Christ, or does not imagine the sign of the cross, let him be anathema.
After only a hundred years, during the patriarchate Nikon, at the councils of 1666 and 1667. ancient rites were cursed, including the sign of the cross with two fingers, and the Russian Church was split by these curses. And those who remained faithful to the Orthodox (which had become old) rite again began to explain and prove the truth in their writings. According to N.F. Kapterev in his work " Patriarch Nikon and his opponents»:
The Russians also borrowed from the Greeks the sign of the cross, the double alleluia, etc., which the Greeks have undergone modifications over time. The two-finger was finally supplanted among them by the three-finger, which probably became predominant among the Greeks from the middle of the 15th century, just as the former indifferent doubling or tripling of the alleluia was replaced exclusively by tripling. The Russians, regarding the sign of the cross, remained in its most ancient form - the two-fingered one ”(ed. 2nd article 24).
Here it should be added that, most likely, the beginning of tripartite was put by his decree by the Pope Innocent III who held the Roman see from 1198 to 1216
One should be baptized with three fingers, for this is done with the invocation of the Trinity (“De sacro altaris misterio”, II, 45).
Archpriest Avvakum in his life calls the ancestor of the tripartite pope Farmoz, who occupied the Roman throne from 891-896. Although it was still far from the division of the Church into Eastern and Western that occurred in 1054, and Pope Stephen VII (896-897) professed two-fingeredness. In the gospel of Brand says:
Is your imate heart still petrified, eyes that have property do not see, and ears that have property, do not hear (Zch.33).
Who wants to believe - he believes, who wants to see - he sees the Divine wisdom in everything, starting with the smallest wildflowers and ending with the wise course of the planets in the universe according to the law set by God. And not just whoever wants to ... or what he comes up with on his own. The sign of the cross was not invented by people and should not be considered as some kind of evolving from a less dogmatically saturated to a more saturated form. The double-fingered sign of the cross, commanded to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, is a true and accurate expression of the basic dogmas Orthodox faith.
Used Books:
1. Holy Gospel.
2. Apostle.
3. Life of Archbishop Meletios.
4. Life of Archpriest Avvakum. SPb: " VERB", 1994
5. Bishop Anthony of Perm and Tobolsk. Holy Fathers Collection. Novosibirsk: Slovo, 2005
6. Bishop Arseny of Ural. Justification of the Old Believer Church of Christ. Moscow: Kitezh, 1999
7. S. I. Bystrov. Double-fingering in the monuments of Christian art. Barnaul: AKOOH "Support Fund ...", 2001
8. F. E. Melnikov. Short story ancient Orthodox Church. Barnaul: BSPU, 1999
9. N. F. Kapterev. The time of the patriarchate of Joseph. issue 1. art. 83.
Patriarch Nikon and his opponents. Ed. 2. article 24.
10. A. L. Dvorkin. Essays on the history of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church. N. Novgorod. "Christian Library" 2006
Until 1656 in Russia, 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. Dissatisfaction 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, to 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, hedgehog holding 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 Council 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 were not==
SO DOUBLE-FINGER OR THRE-FINGER?
DOUBLE-FINGERS - adopted in medieval Orthodoxy (Churches in the east) and until now among the Old Believers, the addition of fingers (fingers) of the right hand for making the sign of the cross. Two-fingering became common in the Greek East in the 8th century (instead of the most common in antiquity and known from patristic testimonies, the form of finger-folding - UNIFIED.
It was supplanted by TREPERSTIA - in the XIII century among the Greeks. and in the 1650s in the Moscow Patriarchate in the Russian state (see Schism of the Russian Church). The Old Believers continued to insist on two fingers on the grounds that Jesus Christ, and not the entire Trinity, suffered the execution of the Cross through crucifixion. In addition, the Old Believers pointed to existing images - icons, miniatures, where there were saints baptized with two fingers.
With double folding thumb, little finger and ring finger are folded together; each finger symbolizes one of the three hypostases of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and their union is one Divinity — the Holy Trinity.
In double-fingering, two fingers are a symbolic expression of the dogma of the Council of Chalcedon, depicting the two natures of Jesus Christ. Medium and index fingers remain straightened and connected to each other, while the index finger is kept completely straight, and the middle one is slightly bent in relation to the index finger, which symbolizes two natures in Jesus Christ - divine and human, and the bent middle finger indicates the diminution (kenosis) of the divine nature in Christ.
According to modern Old Believers, along with two fingers, the custom came to raise a hand to the forehead, lower it to the stomach and then transfer it to the right, and then to the left shoulder. The movement of the hand from the forehead to the stomach symbolizes the descent of the Lord to earth; the presence of a hand on the womb shows the incarnation of Christ; raising the hand from the stomach to the right shoulder depicts the Ascension of the Lord, and the presence of the hand on the left shoulder - the reunion of Christ with God the Father.
There is no documentary information earlier than the 4th century about what type of finger formation was used in the early Christian era when drawing the sign of the cross, but on the basis of indirect information it is believed that one finger was used to make the sign of the cross.
We find the image of double-fingeredness on the mosaics of Roman churches: the image of the Annunciation in the Tomb of St. Priskila (3rd century), depiction of the Miraculous Fishing in the Church of St. Apollinaria (4th century), etc. However, some historians, starting with Evgeny Golubinsky, consider the ancient images of two-fingering not to be a sign of the cross, but one of the oratorical gestures.
The two-fingered sign of the cross, according to Russian researchers of the 19th - early 20th centuries, was fixed after the Fourth Ecumenical Council (5th century), when the dogma of two natures in Christ was expressed, as a counterargument against monophysitism.
At the end of the 10th century Kyiv prince Vladimir, at the Baptism of Russia, adopted the double-finger, which at that time was in general use among the Greeks. Three-fingered, which was later adopted by the Greeks “by custom,” did not receive general distribution in Muscovite Russia; Moreover, two-fingering - as the only correct signet - in the Moscow Church was directly prescribed in the first half of the 16th century, first by Metropolitan Daniel, and then by the Stoglavy Cathedral:
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At the beginning of the 17th century, the teaching that it is necessary to be baptized with two fingers was expounded by the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Job in a letter to the Georgian Metropolitan Nicholas:
==«
In the Russian Church, two-fingeredness was abolished in 1653 by Patriarch Nikon.
On February 24, 1656, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Patriarch Macarius of Antioch, Patriarch Gabriel of Serbia and Metropolitan Gregory solemnly cursed those who were signified with two fingers in the Assumption Cathedral.
In a polemic with the Old Believers, the Orthodox called two-fingeredness an invention of Moscow scribes of the 15th century, as well as a Latin or Armenian borrowing. Seraphim of Sarov criticized two-fingeredness as contrary to the holy charters!
Double-fingered was approved for use in late XVIII centuries in the Russian Church as economy, when the common faith was introduced. At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, all pre-Nikonian Russian rites, including the sign of the cross with two fingers, were recognized as "equally honorable and equally salvific."
Thus, in Soviet times, the ROC canceled its own decrees for non-observance of which Bishop Paul and Archpriest Avvakum were burned, and thereby separating itself from the universal fullness of Orthodoxy, where two-finger addition during baptism is unacceptable.
Which hand is the right one to be baptized and how to be baptized correctly - from left to right or from right to left? How to fold your fingers correctly? Why is it necessary to be baptized and is it necessary to do this before entering the temple?
The essence of the sign of the cross, why is it necessary to be baptized?
In the sign of the cross for a believer, several essences are combined: religious, spiritual-mystical and psychological.
Religious essence consists in the fact that, by making the sign of the cross, a person shows that he is a Christian and lives with Christ; that he is part of the Christian community, appreciates its traditions and cherishes them. What does he remember and keep in his heart all earthly life Christ - from His first to His last day - and tries to match it as much as possible. That honors and tries to live according to the commandments that were given by Christ.
Spiritual and mystical essence lies in the fact that the sign of the cross itself has life-giving power - protecting the one who is baptized and sanctifying him. The cross is a spiritual image that a person puts on himself, “overshadows” himself with it - makes himself similar to Christ in the degree of his faith. Therefore, Christians have a reverent attitude towards the sign of the cross, and they try to be baptized not hastily, “fusily”, but with giving an account.
At the same time, when it is said that the sign of the cross has a certain "mystical" essence, it does not mean that the cross is a "mathematical" formula - such as an Indian mantra, or the rituals of magicians - which begins to "act" from a simple repetition of a set of actions or words. In an inexplicable way for human understanding, the cross sanctifies everyone who is baptized, but at the same time, everyone is “rewarded according to his faith” ...
The sign of the cross is a prayer and the attitude towards it should be appropriate.
Emotional-psychological essence sign of the cross lies in the fact that a believer unconsciously begins to be baptized when he is “used” (at certain moments of the service), or at those moments when he wants to gather himself inwardly (before an important deed, before a secret step), or simply when he experiences psychological fear of something. Or vice versa - we are filled with joy and gratitude to God. Then the hand "begins to be baptized by itself."
With what hand and how correctly should the Orthodox be baptized?
In the Orthodox tradition, you need to be baptized with your right hand - regardless of whether you are right-handed or left-handed.
The order is: forehead - stomach - right - then left shoulder.
“Change” the sign of the cross (not the stomach, but rib cage) you can - for example, in situations where there are non-believers around, you want to cross yourself, but you try to do it “imperceptibly”.
The main thing is not to make the cross "inside oneself" smaller, always remember its greatness, importance and strength.
How to fold your fingers correctly (photo)
The Orthodox tradition says that the fingers should be folded like this: the thumb, middle and index are brought together - this symbolizes the Holy Trinity - and the ring finger and little finger are pressed against the palm.
Is it possible to be baptized in some other way or, for example, with two fingers or from left to right? No - in the Orthodox Church it is customary to be baptized with three fingers from right to left, and you need to do this - without reasoning. Even if we assume that the number of fingers is a convention and an earthly institution (referring to the fact that the Old Believers are still baptized with two, as all Orthodox in Russia once did), the very violation of tradition brings more spiritual harm to a person than good.
A page from the pre-revolutionary book "The Law of God", which tells about how to properly fold your fingers during the sign of the cross, and what it all symbolizes.
Do I need to be baptized before entering the temple or passing through the temple?
When entering the temple, it is customary to be baptized. For a person who is just getting acquainted with religion, this may seem like an artificial rule (like “must”), but over time it becomes natural and even a need to “gather” inwardly, overshadow oneself with Christ’s symbol and power, pay tribute to the temple in which ordinances are performed.
As for the situation when you just see the temple and pass by it, then a person should rely on his feelings and there are no rules. There are people who overshadow themselves with a sign every time they see the domes of the temple. There are those who do not do this, but at the same time in life they will be no less a model of a Christian.
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