The Sign of the Cross

How to Make It (Western / Catholic)

1. 1. With your right hand
   Touch your forehead and say: "In the name of the Father,"
2. 2. Bring your hand down
   Touch your chest/heart and say: "and of the Son,"
3. 3. Across to your left shoulder
   Touch your left shoulder and say: "and of the Holy,"
4. 4. Across to your right shoulder
   Touch your right shoulder and say: "Spirit. Amen."

Eastern Orthodox Variation

Orthodox Christians make the Sign of the Cross with the right hand, joining the thumb, index finger, and middle finger together (representing the three Persons of the Trinity), with the ring finger and pinky pressed against the palm (representing the two natures of Christ — divine and human).

The gesture goes from the forehead to the chest, then from the right shoulder to the left shoulder — the opposite order of the Western form. The Western change to left-then-right developed in the early medieval period.