There is some variety in this!
The earliest form of priestly blessing is with the index and middle fingers extended, with the middle finger bent to the level of the index finger. This signifies the two Natures of Christ where the middle finger is His Divinity that “bent down the heavens” and became Man on earth. The other three fingers are joined together to represent the Holy Trinity.
This is probably the most ancient way of using the fingers to make the Sign of the Cross on oneself, the way the Old Believers still do it. I have several old Russian icons where saints (St Alexius the Man of God, St Anna of Kashin) are pointing to themselves with this formation of the hand and are doubtless (since they are not priests or bishops) making the Sign of the Cross on themselves.
The Greeks later developed the “Christogram” formation of the hand to reflect the letters of “IC XC” with the thumb crossing over the second to last finger and the “pinky” finger extended and curved like the middle finger.
It is interesting that the Old Believers reject that formation entirely as a “later innovation.”
There are now icons with lay persons extending their hands in an outward blessing gesture and the formation of the fingers of the hand for this (any layperson can do this for a “lay blessing”) is to use the same format for blessing oneself with three fingers, then extending the hand out and then raising the index finger as a kind of “pointer.”
I knew a quite zealous convert who used to bless everything and all the time with his hand in this way, which was perfectly legitimate.
We were in a doughnut shop having a late lunch one day when he began blessing his ham and cheese sandwich. As he did, a loud cry rang out behind us, “Vat a vanderfool boy you are!!” A wonderful Polish lady at the counter saw this and publicly announced her pleasure at his piety . . .
We went up to speak with her, she was beaming with a smile from ear to ear. My friend, however, told her he was Orthodox, to which she replied, “Zat eez OK!”
Alex
