Orthodox America; Issue 4; Vol. I, No. 4

We call ourselves Christians because we believe in God, as we were taught to believe by the Son of God Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Christ not only taught us to believe in God correctly, but He also SAVED US FROM THE POWER OF SIN AND ETERNAL DEATH.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ, out of love for us sinners came down from heaven,: and as a simple man suffered in place of us for our sins; He was CRUCIFIED, HE DIED ON THE CROSS, on the third day HE AROSE. 

As the sinless Son of God BY HIS CROSS (that is, by suffering and death on the Cross for the sins of all men and of all the world) conquered not only Sin but also death itself–HE AROSE FROM THE DEAD, and He made the Cross the weapon of His victory over sin and death.

As the vanquisher of death, Who arose on the third day, He saved us also from eternal death. He will resurrect all of us, all the dead, when the last day of the world comes; He will resurrect us for joyful eternal life with God. 

The CROSS IS THE WEAPON or THE SIGN OF CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH AND SIN. 

Now everything depends on us: if we wish to be delivered from the power of evil, sin and eternal death, then we must FOLLOW Christ, that is, BELIEVE in Christ, LOVE Him and fulfill His holy will, being obedient to Him in everything (to live with Christ). 

This is why, in order to express our faith in Jesus Christ our Saviour, we wear a Cross on our body, and during prayer we draw the Cross over ourselves with our right hand, or make the SIGN OF THE CROSS (cross ourselves). 

For the Sign of the Cross we put the fingers of our right hand together as follows: We bring the tips of the first three fingers (the thumb:, index and middle) together. and bend the last two (the “ring” and little fingers) against the palm.