The Cross is a material sign of a person's membership
in the Church of Christ. At the same time it is a sharp sword in our spiritual
warfare:
"Let
us make the sign of the Cross over our doors, and on our brow, and on our breast,
and on our lips, and over every member of our body, and let us arm ourselves
with this invincible weapon of Christianity, the vanquisher of death, the hope
of the faithful, the light of all the ends of the earth, the key that opens
Paradise and overcomes heresies, the confirmation of the Faith, the great
preserver and the saving boast of the Orthodox. We shall, O Christians, wear
this weapon on our person in every place, by day and by night, and at every
hour and every minute. Do nothing without it, whether you sleep, or rise from
sleep, work, eat, drink, find yourself along the way, or sail upon the sea, or
cross a stream – adorn all the members of your body with the life-giving Cross,
and no evil will come to you, and no wound will touch your body (cf. Psalm
90:10)."
(St Ephraim the Syrian, Homily on the Universal
Resurrection, on Repentance and Love, on the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, Part 1, Homily 103).
A person who takes off his cross, or neglects to wear it after Baptism, suffers from a lack of faith, and absence of a real consciousness of the Church. In ancient Rus it was said of immoral persons, "He wears no cross." In the story of I. A. Bunin, "The Fowls of Heaven," a poor man, to whom a student offers money, says, "Only the Devil is poor, for he wears no cross."
By Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)
CONVERSATION