Ancient Practices of the Apostolic Faith
The Sign of the Cross, praying toward the East, and baptism by triple immersion — living continuity with the earliest Christians.
“Hold fast the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle.”
Before the Church convened great Councils or defined the canon of Scripture, Christians were already living the Faith with visible, tangible practices passed down from the Apostles themselves. These simple acts were not merely symbolic but embodied the deepest mysteries of the Gospel. In the Orthodox Church today, we continue to keep these ancient practices, preserving a living continuity with the earliest Christians. Among the most basic yet profound are the making of the Sign of the Cross, praying toward the East, and baptism by triple immersion.
The Sign of the Cross: A Visible Confession of the Mystery of Salvation
The Sign of the Cross is perhaps the most recognizable of these ancient practices, yet few realize how deeply it confesses the entire mystery of salvation. From the earliest centuries, Christians marked themselves with the Cross as both a sign of victory and a shield of protection. It was not a mere habit but a living proclamation of Christ’s triumph over death, woven into every moment of daily life.
The early Church Fathers testify to this profound practice. Tertullian, writing in the third century, describes its pervasiveness:
“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 [of the cross].”
For the early Christians, the Cross was not something reserved for worship services alone. Every journey, every step, every breath was an opportunity to be clothed in the power of Christ’s Cross, sanctifying the ordinary rhythms of life.
Cyril of Jerusalem, writing in the fourth century, urged believers to make the Sign of the Cross boldly and constantly:
“Be not ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings in and goings out, before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake, when we are traveling, and when we are at rest.”
Here, the Cross is revealed not merely as a memory of Christ’s passion, but as a present shield and a seal of victory, a visible participation in His triumph over sin, death, and the devil. By signing themselves, believers invoked divine grace, clothing themselves with the invisible armor of Christ.
Yet how was this sacred tradition passed down? One Father answers simply:
“Who taught us to sign with the sign of the cross? Tradition itself, unbroken, handed down from the Fathers.”
The Sign of the Cross, then, is no human invention. It is a living inheritance, a sacred gesture entrusted to the Church from the Apostles themselves, preserved through generations not by command but by love.
It is not difficult to imagine that this practice may even trace its roots to the Apostle Paul himself, who proclaimed the Cross as the very heart of the Christian mystery. In his letters, Paul speaks again and again of the Cross, not merely as a historical event, but as the living source of salvation, reconciliation, and victory. Though Scripture does not explicitly record the Apostles teaching the gesture of the Sign of the Cross, the prominence of the Cross in Paul’s writings, coupled with the early and universal adoption of this sacred sign, suggests a deep apostolic origin (1 Cor. 1:17–18; 2:2; Gal. 2:19–20; 6:14; Eph. 2:16; Phil. 3:18; Col. 1:20).
As St. John Chrysostom marvels:
“Paul glories in the Cross because the Cross is the source of all blessings to us: it has made of us who were enemies, friends; it has reconciled earth to heaven; it has made men angels; it has pulled down the citadel of death; it has broken the strength of the devil.”
In Orthodox practice today, this ancient faith is still expressed in the very shape of our hands. We bring together three fingers — the thumb, index, and middle finger, to proclaim our belief in the unity of the Holy Trinity. The remaining two fingers are pressed against the palm, symbolizing Christ’s two natures, divine and human, united in one Person. Even the physical act of making the Sign of the Cross becomes a miniature confession of the Nicene Creed.
St. Basil the Great, one of the pillars of Orthodoxy, explained that the making of the Sign of the Cross is among those sacred practices not explicitly recorded in Scripture but preserved through the unwritten Tradition of the Church. In this simple, humble gesture, we affirm the deepest mysteries of the Christian faith: the Triune God, the Incarnation, and the saving power of the Cross.
To sign oneself is to proclaim in body and soul: Christ has conquered. Christ reigns. Christ is coming again.
Praying Toward the East
Another early and universal tradition is the practice of praying toward the East. The earliest Christians, as well as the Jewish people before them, oriented their prayer eastward, anticipating the coming of the Messiah. For us, this practice remains a powerful act of hope and expectation. St. Basil again affirms:
“It is not without reason or by chance that we pray facing the East.”
The East is the direction of the rising sun, and Scripture speaks of Christ as the “Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:2), who will come again in glory. Christ Himself taught that His return would be “as lightning comes from the East and shines as far as the West” (Matthew 24:27). To pray toward the East is to lift our hearts toward the Resurrection, the fullness of the Kingdom, and the fulfillment of all things in Christ. As St. John of Damascus beautifully put it:
“Since we are awaiting His appearance, we worship facing the East.”
It is not an arbitrary direction, but a physical way of aligning our bodies—and therefore our souls—with the hope of Christ’s return. This is exactly why the Apostolic Constitutions outline how Orthodox Churches are built towards the east.
“Let the building of your Churches be such that they face toward the East.”
Triple Immersion
Finally, the mystery of Baptism, the foundational sacrament of entrance into the Church, has from the beginning been performed by triple immersion. Christ Himself commanded, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Apostolic and patristic Church understood this not merely as a formula of words but as a ritual action, immersing the catechumen three times, once for each Person of the Holy Trinity. St. Basil, confirming this ancient practice, wrote:
“We are baptized according to the tradition handed down to us with three immersions.”
This triple immersion not only expresses our faith in the Trinity but also participates in the death and resurrection of Christ. As St. Cyril of Jerusalem explains:
“You were immersed three times, that the type of the three days’ burial of Christ might be completed.”
Baptism, therefore, is not simply a symbolic washing but a dying and rising with Christ, a true entrance into His death and Resurrection which leads us into the Church.
These practices, so simple, yet so full of meaning—are not human inventions. They are expressions of the living Tradition of the Church, received from the Apostles and preserved without alteration. In every Sign of the Cross, every eastward prayer, and every triple immersion at the font, we are drawn into the ancient rhythm of the apostolic Faith, the faith once for all delivered to the saints. They are, in the truest sense, acts of remembrance—and of participation—in the very mystery of salvation itself.
For the early Christians, to sign oneself with the Cross, to pray facing the East, or to enter the waters of Baptism was not to perform an empty tradition, but to participate in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. In these simple, living actions, the fullness of the Gospel was already at work, shaping both body and soul into the image of Christ. It is from within this living, sacramental vision that the Orthodox Church also understands justification and salvation, not as distant legal categories, but as a real transformation, a healing of the human person, and a union with the divine life of God. To see salvation rightly, we must first see that every part of the Christian life, even its smallest gestures, participates in this mystery. It is to this mystery that we now turn.
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