temple and cross

Temple and Cross

William J. Hamblin

The first issue that needs to be examined is the ancient Israelite practice of marking the

forehead as a sign of devotion to Yahweh. The most striking example is the High Priest, who

wore a golden plate (ṣîṣ) on his forehead inscribed with the words “Holy to Yahweh” (Ex

28:36-37, 39:30). This plate with Yahweh’s name marked the High Priest as Yahweh’s personal

devotee and High Priest.

Individual Israelites were also identified as devotees of Yahweh by a “sign (ʼôt) on your

hand and a memorial (zikkārôn) between your eyes” (Ex 13:9, 16; Dt 6:8, 11:18). In other

words, Israelites were marked--whether literally or symbolically--on their hands and foreheads

with some type of sign, which served as a memorial mark of their covenant relationship with

Yahweh. The head mark was called a ṭōṭāpah, translated variously as “frontlet” or “emblem.”

What exactly this meant in ancient Israel is unclear. It may have been some type of tribal

headband and bracelet--some Middle Eastern tribes can still be identified today by their

distinctive headdress. Whatever the case, there was some type of sign on the forehead marking

Israelites as belonging to Yahweh.

This ancient practice eventually developed into wearing phylacteries (Mt 23:5; Hebrew

tĕfillāh). Phylacteries discovered at Qumran confirm that the practice existed by at least the first

century. A number of small parchments with biblical passages were placed in Rabbinic

phylacteries, including the shema from Dt 6:4-9. These tefillin/phylacteries are still worn by

orthodox Jews in prayer today. Thus, by the time of Jesus, ordinary Israelites likewise wore the

Hamblin, “Temple and Cross” 1

name of Yahweh on their foreheads as a “sign,” but with parchments containing the name of

Yahweh in phylacteries rather than on the gold plate of the High Priest.

A third crucial example comes from the Hebrew Bible in Ezekiel’s vision of the the Angel

of Destruction in Jerusalem (Ezek 9). There, as the Glory of Yahweh is departing the temple

because of its apostasy, an angel is called to “put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh

and groan over all the abominations that are committed in [the Jerusalem temple]” (9:4). Those

who are faithful to Yahweh in their worship at the temple are marked Yahweh’s mark on their

foreheads, and will thus be spared the coming destruction, while those without the mark are

doomed. The word for “mark” in Ezekiel 9:4 is the word tāw, meaning the Hebrew letter taw,

the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Paleo-Hebrew script of Ezekiel’s day, this letter

was broadly similar to our X. Thus, the righteous received the mark of the taw, an X-sign, on

their foreheads indicating they were Yahweh’s. The taw-X thus became seen the sign of Yahweh.

Isaiah tells us that Yahweh’s mark or seal was the placing his name (le-Yehwāh) on the hand of

the righteous in (Isa 44:5). Taken together these two texts might mean that the taw-X was seen

as a symbol for the divine name Yahweh on the forehead or hands of the faithful.

The practice of marking or sealing something as one’s personal possessions comes from

the widespread ancient Near Eastern custom of stamping and sealing clay markers with cylinder

seals or signet rings as a sign of ownership.1 In Israel the most notable example are the le-melek

(“[belonging] to the king”) seals, but many such Israelite seals (often called bullae) have been

discovered. Thus, marking the righteous with the name, sign, or seal of ownership was a

widespread concept in ancient Israel. God is said to have such a seal with which he “seals the


1 Gen 38:18; Ex 28:36, 35:22, 39:30; 1 Kgs 21:8; Esth 8:8; Job 38:14, 41:15; Song 8:6; Isa 8:16; Jer 22:24; Dan 16:17; Hag 2:23; Jn 3:33.

stars” (Job 9:7, Sir 17:22). Taken together, Ezek 9:4 and Isa 44:5 imply that the letter taw-X, as

an X-mark on the forehead, was the name-sign of Yahweh.2

Some scholars think that the taw-X-mark on the forehead could have been a daub of

sacrificial blood or paint placed on the forehead of someone who had offered sacrifice. A

possible allusion to such a practice is mentioned in the Talmud, where Ezekiel’s mark is

described as “a taw of ink on the foreheads of the righteous” and “a taw of blood on the

foreheads of the wicked” (B Talmud, Shabbath 55a). This association of the Taw-X-mark with

sacrificial blood forestalling divine wrath may also be linked with passover blood marking the

doors of the righteous during the first Passover in Egypt (Ex 12:22-23). Indeed, the Samaritans,

who still perform Passover blood sacrifice each year on Mt. Gerezim, daub the foreheads of

those who offer sacrifice with the blood of those sacrifices. Hindu worshippers likewise receive

different marks (tilak) on their forehead when they have performed the worship (puja) of a god at

a temple. Each god or denomination has a different type or color of tilak mark. Thus, in India,

these marks allow one to easily distinguish between those who have or have not worshipped, and


2 See also 5 Ezra 2:38-40;

Samaritan with mark of sacrificial blood on forehead from Samaritan Passover sacrifice.

Hindu receiving red paint mark after worshipping at a temple.

what god has been worshipped. Something similar may have occurred in the Jerusalem temple,

where a worshipper mark (ʼôt) was placed on the forehead at the time of temple worship,

allowing worshippers of Yahweh to be distinguished from those of Baal or other gods.

Although eventually replaced by the Aramaic alphabet--which is the Hebrew alphabet of

today--the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was still in regular use during the first century AD, as can be

seen in the coins of the Hasmoneans, the First Revolt (AD 66-70), and Bar Kochba Revolt (AD

132-135). At the time of Jesus, the Paleo-Hebrew script was likewise sometimes used for

writing biblical manuscripts in the Dead Sea Scrolls, such as 11Q1 Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus. The

most ancient manuscripts of Old Testament books still in circulation at the time of Jesus would

have been in Paleo-Hebrew. (The Samaritans have retained the practice of writing their Torah

scrolls in Paleo-Hebrew until today.) Furthermore, some manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls

wrote the main text in the Aramaic-Hebrew alphabet, but wrote the sacred name of Yahweh

(often called the Tetragrammaton = “the four letters [YHWH]”) in the original Paleo-Hebrew

script. This practice is likewise found in some Septuagint manuscripts, where the main text is

written in Greek, but the sacred name is in Paleo-Hebrew. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was thus

clearly known in scribal circles in the first century.

The Rabbis understood the mark of olive-oil anointing for priestly consecration to be in

the form of an Chi-X. “Our Rabbis taught: How were the kings anointed?--In the shape of a

wreath [that is, a circle]. And the priests?--In the shape of [the Greek letter] Chi [that is, an

X].” (B. Talmud, Horayoth 12a). According to the Cairo Geniza version of the Dead Sea Scroll

Damascus Document, when the Messiah comes he will mark the righteous with the same mark


that the angel had marked on the righteous in the days of Ezekiel.3 The Isaiah Scroll from the

Dead Sea Scrolls has X-marks the margins by eschatological passages which have been

interpreted as signs marking passages the Essenes believed referred to the Messiah.4 Likewise,

the Psalms of Solomon {-1C} 15:6-10 says the “mark of God is upon the righteous that they may

be saved.” Thus in the broader social context of early Christianity, Jews had traditions of both

priests and ordinary Israelites being anointed with an Taw-X on their forehead as a sign of their

devotion to Yahweh.

This Israelite religious ideology anointing-sealing the foreheads of the righteous is clearly

reflected among first century Christians. Paul writes that: “it is God who establishes us with you

in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts” (2

Cor 1:21-22; cf 1 Jn 2:20, 27). Paul also says that Christians are “marked with the seal of the

promised Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:13, 4:30).

The most notable New Testament examples of Christians sealed with the name of God

comes from the book of Revelation, the wicked receive the “mark (charagma) of the Beast”5

upon their forehead and hand, precisely where the marks of Yahweh are described in Israelite

tradition discussed above. This mark of the Beast is obviously an anti-type of God’s mark. The

righteous instead receive the the seal (sfragida) of God on their foreheads (Rev 7:2-3, 9:4). This

seal is said to be Christ’s “name and [the] Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Rev 14:1,

22:4). Thus, Revelation creates an anti-type between the worshippers of the Beast and the


3 Finnegan, Archaeology of the New Testament, 226.

4 Finnegan, Archaeology of the New Testament, 226-7.

5 Rev 13:16-7, 14:9-11, 15:2, 16:2, 17:5, 19:20, 20:4; for detailed discussion and sources see D. Aune, Revelation 6-16 (Thomas Nelson, 1998) 452-459.

worshippers of God based on Ezekiel 9:4 and Isaiah 44:5, the passages describing the tefillin (Ex

13:9, 16; Dt 6:8, 11:18), and of the name of God on the forehead of the High Priest (Ex 28:36).

Each person will thus receive a mark on their forehead, either of the Beast, or of God. This

evidence demonstrates that it was a widespread concept in the first century among both Jews and

Christians that righteous who are saved will be sealed with the name of God on their foreheads.

Early Christians came to see Ezekiel’s Taw-X as both the seal/name of Christ and a sign

of the stauros-cross of Christ’s crucifixion.6 This connection developed for two reasons. It is

clear that many early Christians understood that the mark of Ezekiel 9:4 was the Taw, and was in

the shape of an X,7 which brought to mind the stauros-cross of the crucifixion. Origen, for

example, asked Jewish informants about the meaning of “the Taw” in Ezekiel, and was told by a

Jewish Christian that “the form of the Taw in the old [Hebrew] script resembles the cross

(stauros), and it predicts the mark which is to be placed on the forehead of the Christians” as

described in the book of Revelation. Thus, early Christians clearly connected the Taw-X-mark of

Ezekiel with the seal of the righteous in Revelation; the Taw-X-mark was therefore the seal of

the name of God. Coincidentally, the Paleo-Hebrew Taw-X had precisely the same form as the

Greek letter Chi, which was the first letter of the Greek name for Christ, christos, meaning the

anointed-one, or, in Hebrew, the Messiah/māšîaḥ (Jn 1:41).

Furthermore, in early Christian manuscripts, the Chi-X became a standard form of

abbreviating the name of Christ.8 Christian scribes--perhaps under the influence of Jewish

scribes who wrote the sacred name of Yahweh in Paleo-Hebrew as noted above--began to


6 Stauros is the Greek word for the cross of the crucifixion in the New Testament.

7 Origen, Selecta in Ezechielem 9; Tertullian, Against Marcion 3.22.

8 Hurtado, L. The Earliest Christian Artifacts, (Eerdmans, 2006) 95-154.

abbreviate the names of God, Lord, Jesus and Christ in biblical manuscripts. Thus, Theos (God)

= Θεος = ΘΣ, Kurios (Lord) = Κυριος = ΚΣ, Iēsous (Jesus) = Ιησους = ΙΣ/IC and Christos

(Christ) = Χριστος = ΧΣ/XC, the first and last letters of Christos, or as ΧΡ, the first and second

letters.9 The use of these abbreviations in early Christian manuscripts became the earliest free-

standing Christian monograms, and have continued in use in Christian iconography until today.

The two letters of the Christ-abbreviation XP, when superimposed one on the other, created a

monogram that came to be know as the labarum (or Chi-Rho, the name of the two Greek letters),

which, after Constantine’s vision at Milvian bridge in 312, was adopted by Constantine as the


9 There were two different ways of writing the final sigma in Greek, Σ and C.

An image of Christ from the Monastery of Temptation near Jericho. The figure of Christ has an IC on the left, and XC on the right, abbreviations for the Greek for the name of Jesus Christ

symbol of the Christian empire.10 (The illustration here

has an alpha and omega in the corners of the Chi-Rho/

XP.) The important thing to note here is that the practice

of abbreviating the Greek name of Christ in manuscripts,

created a widespread association of the Greek letter Chi-

X as a symbol for the name Christ. Thus, the Taw-X

used in ancient Israelite anointing rituals had precisely

the same form as the Chi-X associated with the Christian abbreviation for the name of Christ,

and the two signs became easily and quickly conflated in the minds of many Christians.

On the other hand, in the Greek alphabet, which was used by most early Christians, the

Hebrew letter taw-X was the Greek tau-T. As their names indicate, anciently these two letters

were originally the same, both deriving from the archaic Phoenician alphabet. The shape of the

Greek letter was simply a modified version of the original Phoenician/Proto-Hebrew X or +.

Thus, Christian readers of the Greek Old Testament often read Ezekiel’s Hebrew-Taw-X as if it

were the Greek-Tau-T, visually transforming it from a mental image from an X to a T. The

conflation of the Hebrew X-Taw cross-shape with the Greek T-Tau cross-shape created a

visualization as the seal of Christ in Revelation and sealing rituals as the “sign of the cross.”11

Thus, Clement of Alexandria can speak of the T-tau as the Lord’s sign (Stromata 6.11): “that the

character [the T-tau letter] representing 300 [in Greek numerology] is, as to shape, the type of the

Lord’s sign.” Eventually this conflation became a complete conceptual merger.


10 Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 31.

11 Origen, Selecta in Ezechielem 9; Tertullian, Against Marcion 3.22.

Early Christian writings talk extensively of this sign or seal of Christ, based on

symbolism of Revelation. The Odes of Solomon {c. 100} gives repeated testimony of the

significance of the seal of Christ to early Christians. The seal is a celestial sign had by the angels

in the “holy place” or celestial temple (4.1). “Your [God’s] seal is known ... and your [angelic]

hosts possess it, and the elect archangels are clothed with it” (4.7-8).12 That this seal is a celestial

sign can be seen by the fact that the righteous received it before they were born. “Before they

had existed I recognized them, and imprinted a seal on their faces” (8.13), which is the name

(8.19). Thus, the angels and pre-mortal righteous all have the seal/name. This “sign” is the

“name of the Lord” or the “name of the Most High” (39.7-8).

The Shepherd of Hermas {c. 140}, speaks about the righteous who have received the seal

(sfragida) of God, along with white clothing, and “the name” of Christ (Similitudes 9.13.2,

8.6.3). The dead are also allowed to receive this seal (Similitudes 9.16.3), which is “the water”

of baptism (Similitudes 9.16.4-6; 2 Clement 7:6, 8:6), by receiving the preaching of Christ in the

underworld (Similitudes 9.16.5-6). Receiving the seal and the name is here linked with baptism.

From the early-third century Acts of Thomas it is clear that the “seal of Jesus Christ” (49,

120) is an anointing with oil, which is linked to, but also distinct from baptism. Oil is poured on

the head of the initiate “in the name of Christ” or in the names of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost

(27, 49, 132, 157), and is associated with a “laying on of hands” (49). The ritual is for

“salvation” (157) and “eternal life” (122). This anointing “seal of Christ” precedes baptism, but

there is also an “additional sealing of the seal” which comes later (27). The seal of Christ is thus


12 The fact that the archangels--the celestial priests--are clothed with this seal may indicate that it may have been placed on ritual priestly vestments, and may thus be related to the gammadia marks found in early Christian clothing.

an anointing with oil in the name of Christ at the time of baptism. The anointing was probably in

the shape of Ezekiel’s X or T. Many other early Christian sources see the set of rituals of

baptism and anointing as a form of sealing and receiving the name of Christ.13 Indeed the name

Christian means not simply a follower of Christ, but one who has received this seal-mark-

anointing, and therefore becomes a christos--an anointed one (Tertullian, On Baptism 7).

Cyprian {c +250} provides a list of biblical texts he believes typologically relate to the

Christian practice of anointing the foreheads with oil with the mark of the X/T/cross (2.22),

clearly indicating that the Christians explicitly recognized the connections that have been

discussed here:

That in this sign of the Cross is salvation for all people who are marked on their foreheads. In Ezekiel the Lord says: “Pass through the midst of Jerusalem, and thou shalt mark the sign upon the men’s foreheads, who groan and grieve for the iniquities which are done in the midst of them.” (Ezek 9:4). Also in the same place: “Go and smite, and do not spare your eyes. Have no pity on the old man, and the youth, and the virgin, and slay little children and women, that they may be utterly destroyed. But ye shall not touch any one upon whom the sign is written, and begin with my holy places themselves.” (Ezek 9:4–6). Also in Exodus God says to Moses: “And there shall be blood for a sign to you upon the houses wherein ye shall be; and I will look on the blood, and will protect you. And there shall not be in you the plague of wasting when I shall smite the land of Egypt.” (Ex 12:13). Also in the Apocalypse: “And I saw a Lamb standing on Mount Sion, and with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand; and they had His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” (Rev 14:1). Also in the same place: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have power over the tree of life.” (Rev 22:13-14).

That this seal-mark was understood as representing the name of Christ is clear from the

exorcistic value placed on the sign. Lactantius {writing c 310} believed there was “great power”

in the cross (Divine Institutes 4.26.24). Based on the typology of Revelation, he sees the blood


13 Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 22; Cyprian, Letter 73, To Jubaianus 9, To Demetrianus 33; Apocalypse (Secret) of John 31.22-25 (Nag Hammadi); Acts of Maximilian 2; Testimony of Truth 69.10-11 (Nag Hammadi); examples could be further multiplied.

of the Passover lamb as a type of the “white lamb” Christ, who is “the salvation of all who make

upon their foreheads the mark of blood [like the Passover], the mark of the cross,” which is the

“sign of the true and God-given blood upon the high point of their bodies [= the head]” (4.26.39,

42). Thus the ritual anointing of the cross-sign on the forehead is equated with sacrificial blood

marks. Lactantius believed that this “mark” drives off demons “in the name of Christ” (4.27.1),

claiming that “if someone with his forehead duly marked is present at the sacrifice to [pagan]

gods” (4.27.3), the “mark made on their foreheads” puts the pagan “gods to flight (4.27.4). The

pagan gods are views ad demons (4.27) who “shudder at the name of God” (4.27.14). Thus,

Lactantius twice equates the mark on the forehead with the name of Christ (4.27.1, 14),

confirming our other evidence that Christians saw the mark not simply as a symbol of the

stauros-cross of the crucifixion, but as a symbol of the name of Christ.

It should be noted that Lactantius not describing an individual making the “sign of the

cross” upon himself that afforded protection from demonic powers (as becomes a later Christian

practice14), but the fact that the sign/mark/seal of the cross had already been received in the

anointing ritual accompanying baptism. This cross-shaped sign was the name of Christ which

had previously been marked/sealed on their foreheads by a cross/X/T-shaped anointing, which

protected the sealed one from demonic powers. It is the name of Christ, received and

symbolized by the X/T/cross-shaped anointing, that has power over demons.15


14 Tertullian {c. 200} describes making the sign of the cross as a protective ritual, our earliest evidence of this practice: “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” (Crown 3). However, this is not the practice described in the passages from Lactantius noted here.

15 Based on the New Testament passages in Mt 7:22; Mk 9:38, 16:17; Lk 9:49, 10:17.

Christians Cross-Typologies

One of the major ways early Christians talk about the cross is in typological exegesis of

scripture; the entire Old Testament was read as an extended Christological allegory and typology.

Discoveries of crosses in nature and man-made objects evolved as part of this typological

exegetical methodology related to early Christian "preparation for the Gospel" ideology. They

believed that God had so ordered scripture, reason (represented by pagan philosophy) and ritual

that they all typologically testified of Christ. The cross was only one of these Christological

typologies. It should be noted that this allegorical methodology originated in pagan scholarly

circles in Alexandria, and greatly influence the Jewish biblical exegete Philo, spreading rapidly

throughout Jewish and Christian scholarly circles in the second and third centuries.

1- Cross Typology from Scripture

One of the major ways early Christians discussed the cross was in cross-typologies from

the Old Testament. Cross-typologies were discovered in almost anything in the Old Testament

that was even vaguely cross-shaped.16 Justin’s exegesis included a number of cross typologies

(Trypho 86, 89-97) such as Moses stretching out his hands in defeating the Amalakites (Ex

17:11-12; Trypho 90), and the Nechustan in Num 21:8 (Apology 1.60), which is based on John

3:14-15. Numerological gematria was used to see the cross of Christ in the Old Testament.17

The sacrifice of the Red Heifer is a type of the cross (Barnabas 8.1), as is the Tree of Life.18


16 Barnabas 11-12; Lactantius, Divine Institutes, 26. Examples could be further multiplied.

17 Barnabas {c. +130} 9.8: the gematria of the 318 servants of Abraham is a type of Christ.

18 Letter of Ignatius {early +2C} to the “Trallians” 11.2.

Cyprian {c +250, North Africa} presents a lengthy list of prophecies from the OT he believes

typologically represent the crucifixion (Testimonies 2.20-21).

2- Cross Typologies from Reason: Nature, Philosophy, Numerology

Beyond scripture, the typology of the cross was found in all sorts of natural and man-made

object--ship masts, tools, banners--seeing these as a divinely ordained typologies.19 Plato’s

description of a cross-like structure in his cosmology in Timaeus (36b) was seen as a cross-

typology from philosophy (Justin, Apology 1.60.1, 5). Trees, wood and branches all point to

Christ (Justin, Trypho 86), as does the unicorn’s horn (Justin, Trypho 91). Clement of

Alexandria explored all sorts of Neo-Pythagorean numerologies as divine types, including the

numerology of the T-tau cross (Stromata 6.11).

3- Cross-typologies from Ritual

For our purpose of exploring the temple foundations of cross symbolism, two temple-

related ritual gestures are particularly interesting: 1- the anointing-sealing of the forehead with

the Taw-X, and 2- the raising of the hands in prayer. Biblical origins of anointing/sealing the

forehead with the Taw-X, and its development into the sign of the cross have been discussed

above. Here I will examine prayer gestures as a cross typology.

It is clear from a number of lines of evidence ancient Israelites, like most other ancient

Near Eastern peoples, prayed with upraised arms, especially in the temple.20 Most prominently

Solomon is described as raising his hands towards heaven in his prayer at the dedication of the


19 Justin, Apology, 1.55; Minucius Felix, Octavius, 29.

20 Praying with upraised hands was a standard cultural practice throughout the ancient Near East, see O Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, (Eisenbrauns, 1997) 308-323 for numerous iconographic examples.

temple (1 Kgs 8:22, 54; 2 Chr 16:3), with numerous other examples scattered throughout the

Bible.21 The earliest Christians naturally used the same Jewish raised-hand gesture in their

prayers (Lk 24:50, 1 Tim 2:8);

artistic representations are

called orans or orantes by

scholars, after a Latin word for

prayer. This practice continued

among second and third

century Christians.22

Tertuallian {c. +150} believed that “not only do we [Christians] raise [our hands], we even

spread them out, and, imitating the Passion of our Lord, we confess Christ as we

pray” (Tertullian, On Prayer 14, cf. 29).

It is important to note that Christian association of outstretched or raised arms with the

crucifixion began as an Old Testament typology. Justin {c. +150} saw Moses stretching out his

hands in the war of the Amalekites (Ex 17:11-12) as a type of the crucifixion (Trypho 90). That

is, Moses stretching out his arms (presumably in prayer) to save Israel in battle against the

Amalekites was seen as an Old Testament prototype of Christ’s outstretched arms in crucifixion

while he prayed to the Father (Lk 23:34), thereby saving all mankind. From this, the Christian

gesture of praying with raised or outstretched arms became seen as typological of Christ’s


21 Ex 9:29, 17:1; Dt 32:40; Neh 8:6; Isa 1:15; Hab 3:10; Ps 24:4, 28:2, 63:4, 88:9, 141:2; Lam 2:19, 3:41; 2 Macc 3:20, 14:34, 15:21; 3 Macc 5:25; 4 Macc 4:11.

22 Odes of Solomon 37:1; Tertullian, Apology 30.4; Tertullian, On Prayer 14, 17, 29; Origin, On Prayer 20-21; Odes of Solomon 27:1-3, 35:7, 37:1.

Above: Christian praying with upraised hands, Catacomb of Pricilla, c. +3C

Right: Mary praying; S. Sophia, Kiev, c. 1037.

crucifixion. Minucius Felix {mid-3C}, says: “We assuredly see the sign of a cross ... when a

man adores God with a pure mind, with hands outstretched” (Octavius, 29).

But it is important to note that both the rituals gestures of the Taw-X anointing-sealing and

the orantes-prayer preceded their association with the cross by Christians. That is to say, the

Christian ritual gestures of the anointing-sealing derived from ancient Israelite temple theology

and practices described above, while prayer with upraised arms with a traditional temple prayer

in ancient Israel. Both gestures came to be seen by Christians as typological of the cross, and

thus became signs of the cross. As time progressed, the origins of the ritual gestures became

obscured and forgotten, and the gestures became not typologies of the cross based on ancient

Israelite temple rituals, but as the independent sign of the cross, with its temple antecedents

largely forgotten.


temple and cross

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