OK, it has been a long day and a good celebration of July 4. I am tired, so let me put up a short lesson from Pithless Thoughts. Above you can see how an Orthodox priest’s hand is positioned when he makes the sign of the cross and why he holds his hand in that position when he blesses others. The next panel is how a layperson blesses him/herself. Finally, the lower panel shows how either your hand or the hand of the priest is supposed to travel when they make their respective blessings.
But, here is a trivia question for you. Why is ICXC (or IC XC) considered to be an abbreviation of “Jesus Christ”? After all, neither Jesus nor Christ ends in a C in koine Greek. In koine Greek his name and title both end in a sigma. So, why a “C”?
Because one form of the letter sigma looked like a C, so really the C is a sigma.
(Hi – I’ve been enjoying your blog for a while, but this is my first comment.)
Got this from Wikipedia:
In handwritten Greek during the Hellenistic period (4th and 3rd centuries BC), the epigraphic form of ? was simplified into a C-like shape.
ICXC — a traditional abbreviation of the Greek words for “Jesus Christ” (i.e., the first and last letters of each of the words ?????? ??????? — written “IHCOYC XPICTOC”
But – it sounds to me that they were just to lazy to write the extra curve of the sigma! :0))
I’ve always wondered this, too! So thanks for making me finally look it up!