Monday, September 1, 2025

It is the 1st of September 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

A happy Monday to you- a new month- September, named after… “Septem” means seven because it’s the 7th month. Oh, it’s not? How did we get off by two? We could blame Julius and Augustus Caesar… but it’s complicated.

It is Labor day in the U.S.A. and in Canada and everywhere in our hearts.

We head to the mailbag and JT- yes, him again. Long-time listener and writer of questions. He is from a place near Dayton, where he tells me the pop top was invented. I asked, foolishly, “What did they do before that?” And the emails flooded in. That sounds like a lot of work and poking and possible lip trauma…

JT wrote “genuflect” but meant “make the sign of the cross,” and so his question read like a “should I do this?” “What’s the history?” And I took that into a larger question about bowing and things like closing your eyes, folding your hands, etc, he meant to make the sign of the cross. And this is a good story.

In the Bible, the “forehead” marks one's identity. And being “marked” is an early sign of the people of God- often on the forehead.

Scripture doesn’t explicitly command nor reject the making of the sign of the cross, with some combination of fingers, on one's forehead (and then expanded). But making a small cross sign is a very old tradition- Tertullian (160-240) wrote matter-of-factly that in all that we do, we “mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross”.

St Basil, in the 300s, wrote that the practice of marking the forehead with the sign of the cross at baptism was a practice handed down from the apostles.

It was standard to cross oneself in the 8th and 9th centuries, but it mattered more than before how you did it. The move was- most generally- the index finger going from temple to sternum and then… well, right to left historically, but in the West, they did it the other way- up, down, left, right. It took Pope Innocent III in the 12th century to say either is ok.

But there in the 8th century, as the so-called “monophysite controversy” bubbled up, there were those who wanted to emphasize the unity of the natures of Christ and those who wanted to separate the division of the natures. And so it was said that you identified the “number of natures” you believed in with the number of fingers used. One or two.

And the “one or two” fingers were made into a larger movement using the whole upper torso. There were others who used three fingers, and they would claim that the three was for the Trinity.

The number of fingers, this time, whether two or three, was the issue. Patriarch Nikon of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century sought liturgical reform and made the three-finger middle, pointer, and thumb hand posture the standard for the church. This, many of the conservatives believed, was emblematic of a system that is trying to erase tradition and cave to modernism, etc, etc.. You will find two groups emerge, the Old Believers and the New Believers, with the Old sticking to two fingers and the New having all three. This became a major shibboleth- a cultural and social marker- between the two.

At the Reformation, as you might guess, the issue for many (not all) was not only not to be Catholic, but not to give off the suggestion that you MIGHT BE Catholic. And the Puritan impulse is not always misplaced. The breakdown is as supposed- some Anglicans and Lutherans continued to cross themselves, and other Protestants tended to leave that behind.

I can’t help myself when I see anyone cross themselves- like, before an at bat or on screen for some reason- I have to check the number of fingers and if it's right to left or left to right… 

 The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and the benediction from Hebrews 13:

20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 1st of September 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who, if he sees you make the sign of the cross as up up down down left right left right select start, he gives you 30 extra lives- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knew it was impossible to beat Contra on the original NES without that code… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.