Why do the Byzatine Catholics make the sign of the cross from right to left?

[theistgal]

When I was at my RCIA class last Thursday, I was told that Roman Catholics made the sign of the cross from left to right so that the final gesture signed East towards Rome, while Orthodox Catholics crossed themselves from right to left because they were West of Rome

LOL!

I suspect your RCIA teacher didn’t know, but didn’t want you to think he/she didn’t know, so came up with seemed like a plausible answer. And actually, it’s not that bad - I’ve heard worse!

 

[Joe_Kelley]

When I was at my RCIA class last Thursday, I was told that Roman Catholics made the sign of the cross from left to right so that the final gesture signed East towards Rome, while Orthodox Catholics crossed themselves from right to left because they were West of Rome

That assumes that they were facing South. Note that it is preferred that the altar be at the East end of the church, and the altar is referred to as Liturgical East.

 

[mcw013]

What I heard is that the original way, was actually from right to left. After the schism and all, Catholic priests began blessing people from their left to their right so that they could be in sync with people who did it from right to left (who were directly opposite the priest). After this, it was a matter of time before everyone simply copied the “left to right” as they saw the priests doing, and soon enough it overtook the whole church.

And this is the same reason why other Christians cross themselves from left to right as well. It could be wrong, but it is what I have heard. Makes sense to me.

 

[5Loaves]

When I was at my RCIA class last Thursday, I was told that Roman Catholics made the sign of the cross from left to right so that the final gesture signed East towards Rome, while Orthodox Catholics crossed themselves from right to left because they were West of Rome

There are many resourses, Catholic and Orthodox, on line which consider the history of the Sign of the Cross. I’ve never seen, even in materials of the Latin Church, anything claiming the location of Rome had a thing to do with right to left, or left to right.

If you google “Sign of the Cross” you can find historical background on it at places like Catholic Encyclopedia and Fish Eaters, and Orthodoxwiki, which quotes heavily from Wikipedia.

Nice to have you in the Eastern Catholicism section. Although I’m Eastern Catholic I’m a catechist in a Latin Parish. We have the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens coming in a couple weeks for two more Inquirers to join the Catechumenate. If you have questions about our Eastern Catholic Churches please feel welcome to ask them here.

In the Divine Liturgy amongst our litanies we have the Litany for the Catechumens which is prayed in every Divine Liturgy so you are specifically prayed for in our Churches. (There may be some parishes which only pray the Litany for the Catechumens if they actually have Catechumens present in the Liturgy, departing after the Litany. We do pray it in every Liturgy in my parish, so we pray for you each Liturgy.)

 

[jcld]

Where? What Pope? I am unaware of such an official move…

Amen to that Alexius.There was no such move from the Pope. In fact, Pope John Paul II initiated that we must all know eastern and western rites to be complete…

I’ve taken this from newadvent.org/library/docs_jp02ol.htm… paragraphs number 5 and 6… In fact, it is so worthwhile to read the whole topic… I want to learn Eastern Catholicism as well Which means that I also want to learn how to do the right-to-left sign of the cross for Eastern Rite worship… Whichever rite one may use, the appropriate convention of the cross must also be used… So, If I will go to worship at the Western Catholic Church, I will use the left-to-right convention… If I will go worship at the Eastern Catholic Church, I will therefore use the right-to-left convention…

POPE JOHN PAUL II stated, “Since, in fact, we believe that the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches is an integral part of the heritage of Christ’s Church, the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with that tradition, so as to be nourished by it and to encourage the process of unity in the best way possible for each.”

“Our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters are very conscious of being the living bearers of this tradition, together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters. The members of the Catholic Church of the Latin tradition must also be fully acquainted with this treasure and thus feel, with the Pope, a passionate longing that the full manifestation of the Church’s catholicity be restored to the Church and to the world, expressed not by a single tradition, and still less by one community in opposition to the other; and that we too may all be granted a full taste of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church [2] which is preserved and grows in the life of the Churches of the East as in those of the West.”

 

[wallyman]

I was wondering the very same thing and a google search led me to this forum.

Is there any objection to making the sign of the cross the byzantine way, such as right to left, in Catholic Mass?