Situations when believers perform church rites without thinking about their meaning and purpose are not uncommon. There are several explanations of the reasons why it is customary in Orthodoxy to be baptized from right to left, and not vice versa.
From baptism to the present day
The tradition of imposing the sign of the cross on oneself was borrowed from Byzantium. Disputes about when such a prayer gesture was introduced into church use are still ongoing, but, according to the testimony of the Roman theologian Tertullian, in the church of the 2nd-3rd centuries A. D. it already existed and was actively used.
They overshadowed themselves with the cross when praying, blessing food and any other everyday activity. An implicit gesture with a cross from right to left meant that the baptized person was completely faithful and accepted the teachings of the Orthodox Church.
The meaning of the sign of the cross
But this movement also has another sacred meaning: it is believed that this very gesture symbolizes the death on the cross, by which Jesus Christ died. Thus, he, as it were, captures the memory of an event that happened two thousand years ago.
Despite the fact that two close confessions (Orthodox and Catholics) do not dispute the importance of this sacrifice, they impose the cross in different ways: in Orthodoxy - from right to left, in Catholicism - from left to right.
And if before the split of the churches in the middle of the 11th century, both methods were permissible among Catholics, then after the division and the reformation the latter took root.
In Orthodoxy, it is customary to baptize from right to left, and bless others from left to right. This does not contradict logic: when one person blesses another, for the latter the pattern of imposing the cross remains the same - from right to left.
Baptized from right to left: why?
There are several versions of this discrepancy and the correctness of the imposition of an Orthodox cross. For example, there is an opinion that the Orthodox are baptized in this way, because the word "right" also means "faithful", that is, next in the right direction.
Another judgment refers to the physiological characteristics of a person: most people on the planet are right-handed and begin all actions with their right hand.
However, there are those who consider the difference to be formal and have nothing to do with serious dogma.
Until the middle of the 17th century. baptized not only from right to left, but also with two fingers. After the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, the cross was imposed with three fingers, which symbolized the threefold nature of God.
Despite the fact that there is still no single proof of the correctness or incorrectness of the imposition of the cross in a certain way, it is necessary to respect the church tradition and remember: in Orthodox churches, the cross is imposed on itself strictly from right to left.
