Already, thousands of years before Christ, the symbol of the cross is found engraved or painted in caves, in hunting scenes, in the sanctuaries and shelters of Paleolithic man, as a sign of his presence and an identifier of the space where primitive man acts and operates. In this book by Hieromonk Ephraim Chali, a clergyman of the Holy Metropolis of Mesogaea and Lavreotiki, History and Theology are intertwined and answers are given to many questions, such as: the symbol of the cross and its use among pre-Christian peoples, in the early Christian centuries until M. Constantine, from M. Constantine onwards until today, about the sign of the cross and its origin, teachings of the Church Fathers on how and why we should make the sign of the cross, miracles through the sign of the cross, and the position of the cross in the church and in the worship of the Church.
Contents
Instead of a preface 9
The shape of the cross in the pre-Christian world 11
The cross in the early Christian centuries 23
The sign of the cross 39
The cross from M. Constantine onwards 51
How and why we should make the sign of the cross 63
Miracles through the sign of the cross 75
The cross in the church and in worship 95
Sources and aids 103
Works by the author 107
