Early Christian Beliefs About Signing with the Cross
Early Christians treated the sign of the cross as a real Christian mark tied to Christ's death, victory, and protection. Writers like Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Lactantius connect it to Scripture and to everyday Christian life. Tertullian gives the clearest practice note, saying believers traced the sign on the forehead in ordinary actions. Later liturgies also show the sign used in worship.
125 early-church witnesses · 220 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about signing with the Cross?
Early Christian writers tied the sign of the cross to Christ's death, victory, protection, and daily Christian life. Justin Martyr, Barnabas, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Lactantius all speak of the cross as a real Christian sign, not just a symbol in name only, and Tertullian says believers traced the sign on the forehead in daily actions.
The clearest early practice witness is Tertullian's statement that Christians marked themselves repeatedly, along with later liturgical directions that the priest and worshipers made the sign of the cross. The Bible passages most used for this theme are the command to take up the cross, Christ's crucifixion, and Old Testament signs that were read as foreshadowing the cross.
Evidence is broad and strong for early Christian use and meaning, but some details are indirect because several texts are typological rather than direct instructions. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians linked the sign of the cross to Christ's saving death and victory.
- Tertullian describes Christians tracing the sign on the forehead in daily life.
- Justin Martyr, Barnabas, Clement of Alexandria, and Lactantius read Old Testament signs as pointing to the cross.
- Later liturgical texts show the sign of the cross used in church worship.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians make the sign of the cross in worship?
The liturgical cards describe priests making the sign of the cross over offerings and on the forehead, and also signing those present. This supports an established worship use of the sign in the sources supplied.
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Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas Direct teaching
In a similar way, another prophet points to the cross of Christ, saying, “And when will these things be accomplished?” And the Lord says, “When a tree is bent down, then rises again; and when blood flows from wood.” Once more, you have a hint about the cross and the One who would be crucified. He also speaks about this in Moses's time when Israel was attacked by strangers. To remind them that they were delivered to death because of their sins, the Spirit speaks to the heart of Moses to make a figure of the cross and of Him who would suffer on it. For unless they put their trust in Him, they would be defeated forever. So, Moses placed one weapon on top of another on the hill and, standing on it, stretched out his hands, thus enabling Israel to gain victory. But when he lowered his hands, they were defeated again. Why? So they would understand that they could not be saved unless they trusted in Him. In another prophet, it is declared, “All day long I have stretched out My hands to an unbelieving and contrary people.” Moses again creates a type of Jesus, signifying that it was necessary for Him to suffer and that He would be the source of life to others, even when they believed they h
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
...tatement means: "Unless you hate father and mother, and even your own life, and unless you bear the sign of the cross," Luke 14:26-27. For he hates the excessive desires of the flesh, which hold a strong power of pleasure. And he keeps a noble contempt for everything that belongs to the making and feeding of the flesh. He also resists the soul as it is tied to the body, putting a bridle on the stubborn irrational spirit, for "the flesh lusts against the Spirit," Galatians 5:17. And to bear the sign of the cross is to carry death about with you, by saying farewell to all things while still alive, since there is not the same love in having sown the flesh as in having formed the soul for knowledge.
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Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas Direct teaching
And because the cross was to express the grace [of our redemption] by the letter , he says also, “Three Hundred.” He signifies, therefore, Jesus by two letters, and the cross by one.
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Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Direct teaching
...as fitting that He should be lifted up. In this way, the cross exalted Him both in reality and as a sign, so that His majesty and power became known to all, along with His suffering. For when He stretched out His hands on the cross, He clearly spread out His wings toward the east and the west, under which all nations from both sides of the world might gather and rest. But how important this sign is, and what power it has, is clear, since the whole host of demons is driven out and put to flight by this sign. And just as before His suffering He put demons to confusion by His word and command, so now, by the name and sign of that same suffering, unclean spirits that have slipped into the bodies of men are driven out. While they are racked and tormented, and while they confess that they are demons, they give way to God, who afflicts them. Therefore, what can the Greeks expect from their superstitions and from their wisdom, when they see that their gods, whom they also do not deny to be demons, are overcome by men through the cross?
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Methodius, Three Fragments on the Cross and Passion Direct teaching
... power, was free, with hands unfettered. For the cross, if you wish to define it, is the confirming sign of victory, the way by which God descended to man, the trophy against material spirits, the driving back of death, the foundation of the ascent to the true day, and the ladder for those who are hurrying to enjoy the light that is there. It is the engine by which those who are fit for the building of the Church are raised from below, like a four-square stone, to be joined to the divine Word. This is why our kings, seeing that the figure of the cross is used to drive away every evil, have made vexillas, as they are called in the Latin language. In the same way, the sea, yielding to this figure, makes itself navigable for men. For every creature, so to speak, has been marked with this sign for the sake of liberty. The birds that fly on high form the figure of the cross by spreading their wings, and man himself also represents the same thing when he stretches out his hands. So when the Lord had formed him in this shape, in which He had fashioned him from the beginning, He joined his body to the Deity, so that from now on it might be an instrument consecrated to God, freed from al
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Tertullian, Ad Nationes Direct teaching
...are priests of a cross, we will claim him as one of our own religion. In its material, a cross is a sign made of wood. Among you also, what is worshiped is a wooden figure. The only difference is that with you the figure is human, while with us the wood is its own figure. Never mind for the moment what the shape is, as long as the material is the same. The form also does not matter, if it is the actual body of a god. But if a question comes up about the difference here, let me ask: what difference is there between the Athenian Pallas or the Pharian Ceres, and wood shaped into a cross, when each is shown by a rough block without form, by the barest beginning of a statue made from unshaped wood? Every piece of timber fixed upright in the ground is part of a cross, and indeed the larger part of one. But a whole cross is charged against us, complete of course with its crossbeam and projecting seat. Now you have even less excuse, because you dedicate to religion only a cut and imperfect piece of wood, while others devote to sacred use a complete structure. The truth, however, is that your whole religion is full of crosses, as I will show. You do not realize that your gods, in their o
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Minucius Felix, Octavius Direct teaching
...itate the appearance of a simple cross, but also that of a man fastened to it. We certainly see the sign of a cross naturally in a ship, when it is carried along with swelling sails, and when it glides forward with outspread oars. It is there also when the military yoke is lifted up, and when a man adores God with a pure mind and with hands stretched out. Thus the sign of the cross either is sustained by a natural reason, or your own religion is formed with respect to it.
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Methodius, Three Fragments on the Cross and Passion Supporting witness
Hence it is that our kings, perceiving that the figure of the cross is used for the dissipating of every evil, have made vexillas, as they are called in the Latin language.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Supporting witness
and that Moses, by the inspiration and influence of God, took brass, and made it into the figure of a cross, and set it in the holy tabernacle, and said to the people, “If ye look to this figure, and believe, ye shall be saved thereby.” And when this was done, it is recorded that the serpents died, and it is handed down that the people thus escaped death.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
For the forehead is the top of the threshold in man, and the wood sprinkled with blood is the emblem of the cross.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
Galatians 5:17 And to bear the sign of [the cross] is to bear about death, by taking farewell of all things while still alive;
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
He knows accurately the declaration, Unless you hate father and mother, and besides your own life, and unless you bear the sign [of the cross].
More related quotations from this section 3 shown
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Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians (Syriac Version) Supporting witness
My spirit bows in adoration to the cross, which is a stumbling-block to those who do not believe, but is to you for salvation and eternal life.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
... its setting, was about to come under His wings and receive on their foreheads that great and lofty sign. And even now the Jews show a figure of this event when they mark their doorposts with the blood of a lamb. For when God was about to strike the Egyptians, He had commanded the Hebrews, so that they might be protected from that blow, to kill a white lamb without spot and place on their doorposts a mark made from its blood. And so, when the firstborn of the Egyptians died in one night, the Hebrews alone were saved by the sign of the blood. This was not because the blood of a sheep had such power in itself that it could save men, but because it was an image of things to come. For Christ was the white lamb without spot; that is, He was innocent, just, and holy. He was killed by those same Jews, and He is the salvation of all who have written on their foreheads the sign of blood, that is, the sign of the cross on which He shed His blood. For the forehead is the top of the doorway in man, and the wood sprinkled with blood is a symbol of the cross. Finally, the killing of the lamb by the very people who do it is called the Passover feast, from the word paschein, because it is a fig
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
But at that time the figure was efficacious at the present for averting the danger, that it may appear what great efficacy the truth itself is about to have for the protection of God's people in the extreme necessity of the whole world.
What did early Christians say the cross meant?
Early writers describe the cross as a sign of victory, protection, salvation, and the defeat of evil. They also tie it to Christ’s suffering and to the believer’s separation from the world.
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Tertullian, De Corona Direct teaching
At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
...ther with the priests. Let him put on his shining garment, stand at the altar, make the sign of the cross on his forehead with his hand, and say, “The grace of Almighty God, and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” And let all say with one voice, “And with your spirit.” The high priest says, “Lift up your mind.” All the people say, “We lift it up to the Lord.” The high priest says, “Let us give thanks to the Lord.” All the people say, “It is right and proper to do so.” Then let the high priest say: “It is most right and proper, before all things, to sing a hymn to You, the true God, who is before all beings, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, Ephesians 3:15 who alone is unbegotten, without beginning, without ruler, and without master; who needs nothing; who gives everything good; who is beyond all cause and generation; who is always and unchangeably the same; from whom all things came into being as from their proper source. For You are eternal knowledge, everlasting sight, unbegotten hearing, untaught wisdom, first by nature, the measure of being, and beyond all number. You brought all things out of noth
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. Mark Direct teaching
The priest, making the sign of the cross over the plates and chalices, says in a loud voice the Nicene Creed:
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Early Liturgies, Liturgy of Adaeus and Maris Direct teaching
He makes the sign of the cross on his forehead, and does the same to those standing around him.
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Early Liturgies, Liturgy of Adaeus and Maris Direct teaching
He signs himself with the sign of the cross an his forehead, and does the same to those standing round him.
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. Mark Supporting witness
The Priest makes the sign of the cross over the sacred mysteries.
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Early Liturgies, Liturgy of Adaeus and Maris Supporting witness
He signs himself with the sign of the cross, and they respond:—
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. Mark Supporting witness
The Priest makes the sign of the cross, and says:—
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. Mark Supporting witness
The Priest makes the sign of the cross again, and says:—
Which Bible passages did early Christians use to explain the cross?
The Bible cards most directly tied to the topic are the passages about taking up the cross, boasting in the cross, and bearing the cross behind Jesus. The supplied early writers also appeal to Old Testament signs and patterns as background for understanding the cross.
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Mark 8:34 Direct teaching
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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Matthew 27:32 Supporting witness
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
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Matthew 10:38 Direct teaching
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
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Mark 15:21 Supporting witness
Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.
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Luke 23:26 Supporting witness
And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.
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John 19:17 Direct teaching
and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
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Galatians 6:14 Direct teaching
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
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Ezekiel 9:4 Background
And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”
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Exodus 13:9 Background
And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD's law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.
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Matthew 24:30 Background
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
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Exodus 12:13 Background
The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
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Revelation 13:16 Background
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,
More related quotations from this section 2 shown
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Exodus 13:16 Background
It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”
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Deuteronomy 6:8 Background
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Common Questions
Did early Christians make the sign of the cross?
Yes. Tertullian says believers traced the sign on the forehead in ordinary life, and later liturgical texts describe priests making the sign in worship.
Did early Christians think the cross meant more than Jesus' death?
Yes. Writers like Justin Martyr, Barnabas, Clement of Alexandria, and Lactantius also connect the cross with victory, protection, and Old Testament foreshadowing.
Which Bible verses are most connected to the cross in early Christian writing?
The main passages are Matthew 10:38, Mark 8:34, Galatians 6:14, John 19:17, and Old Testament sign passages like Exodus 13:9 and Ezekiel 9:4.
Source Index for Signing with the Cross
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 220 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 125
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 95
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