In his study of the relationship between the Eucharist and Christ's atoning sacrifice, Daniel Cardó, a Catholic priest and adjunct assistant professor of Patristics, Sacraments, and Holiletics at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, wrote the following about the making of the sign of the cross and its relationship to the consecration of the bread and wine, something that has implications for the "epiclesis" debate between Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox (it would seem to support the Eastern Orthodox understanding of the epiclesis and its relationship, not just to the consecration, but also the transformation of the elements):
Making the Sign of the Cross
A key ritual practice
found in several texts is making the sign of the Cross over the offerings.
Ambrose, in his explanation of the nature of the mysteries, writes about the
necessity of the Cross. The sign of water is only effective through the Cross: “For
water without the preaching of the cross of the Lord is to no advantage for
future salvation; but when it has been consecrated by the mystery of the saving
cross, then it is ordered for the use of the spiritual laver and the cup of
salvation” (“The Mysteries,” 3, 14). It is important to highlight the
expression “the preaching of the cross of the Lord” [praedicatione dominicae
crucis] as the action which consecrates the elements of water for both
Baptism (spiritual laver) and Eucharist (cup of salvation). Ambrose’s expression
seems to recall the “preaching” of Christ crucified that Paul signals as his
mission (but we preach Christ crucified – 1 Cor 1:23; see also 1 Cor
1:18 and 1 Cor 2:2). More than a reference to the action of preaching a sermon
in the context of a liturgical ceremony, this “preaching” (or proclamation)
might be understood as a liturgical action performed upon the sacramental
elements. If we go to the original Greek of the Pauline text, we find that the
verb kérussómen indicates the action of proclaiming through a special
commission, of heralding with persuasion the authoritative message of God. The
message of Christ crucified: the perfect participle form estaurōmenos [crucified]
indicates “a past fact that has enduring influence and effects,” that is, the
status of Christ as initiated on Calvary. It appears reasonable to consider the
possibility of understanding the “proclamation of the cross” upon the water as
a priestly action executed through divine commission that actualizes the
sacrifice of the Cross and continues its effect through the sacraments. In this
sense, Ambrose’s words can be read in all their powerful significance: “For
what is water without the cross of Christ except a common element without any
sacramental effect? (“The Mysteries,” 4, 20).
Augustine too emphasizes
the importance of the Cross as the sign of Christ, a sign that gives effective
power to the sacramental rites: “What is, as all know, the sign of Christ
except the cross of Christ? And unless this sign should be applied either to
the foreheads of those believing or so to the very water by which they are
regenerated, or to the oil with which they are anointed with the chrism, or to
the sacrifice with which tye are nourished, one of these things is done by the
proper rite” (“Tract 118,” 5, in Tractates on the Gospel of John). Augustine
clearly conceives the Cross as more than an external symbol: making the sign of
the Cross is part of “the proper rite” that is the condition for communicating
sacramental efficacy to objects and people. Rather than being a merely devotional
practice, marking with the Cross appears as an effective and necessary action;
the Cross is, simply, the sign of Christ, and through it, the sacramental
rituals communicate what they signify.
Similarly, in the
sixth century, St. Gregory, Bishop of Tours (538-594) witness to many
traditions and customs, describes how “the moment arrived when the holy
offering was, following Catholic custom, to be blessed by the sign of the Cross”
(Lives of the Fathers, 16, 2). The “Catholic custom,” that is, a solid
and ancient tradition, indicates that the blessing comes from the Cross, that
the Cross sanctifies and consecrates the Eucharist.
As in the West, in
the East, the idea of the Eucharist being consecrated by the sign of the Cross
appears in several texts. St. Ephrem, as he meditated on the mysteries of Holy
Thursday, visualizes Christ himself making the sign of the Cross over the first
Eucharistic bread:
There remained yet
another act that would abolish that Passover and would become the Passover of
the Gentiles, a source of life until the end. Our Lord Jesus took bread in his
hands, plain bread at the beginning, and blessed it, made the sign of the cross
over it and sanctified it in the name of the Father and in the name of the
Spirit, and he broke and distributed it in morsels to his disciples in his
kindness. (“Memra for the Fifth Day of Great Week, Sermon 4”)
Ephrem carefully indicates
that the bread is “plain bread at the beginning.” Only after the blessing, when
it receives the sign of the Cross, does the bread become sanctified and
thereupon is distributed. IT is, as he wrote, the kindness of the Lord that
grants such great gift to his disciples.
Theodore of
Mopsuestia, as he describes the Eucharistic rites, explains the central and
frequent presence of the Cross in the sacred liturgy:
With the bread he
makes the sign of the cross over the Blood. He does likewise with the Blood
over the bread. He joins them, bringing them together so as to show that even
if they are two, nonetheless, they are one in power and are the memorial of the
passion and death undergone by the Lord’s body when he shed his blood upon the
cross for us. When the bishop makes the sign of the cross over them, he brings
them together, uniting them just as the human body is one with its blood, and
where the body is, so there is its blood. This is why the bishop, having
finished the anaphora, breaks the bread and joins it to the cup while making
the sign of the cross over it. In like manner he also brings the cup to the
bread, thus showing that they are one, that we are ordered to commemorate the
passion in this way. (“Homily 16. On the Eucharist”)
The Cross is a
gesture that commemorates the Passion during the Divine Liturgy and that also
brings together the bread and wine, as the body and the blood are united in the
crucified Christ. This ubiquitous presence of the Cross is described well by
St. Cyril of Jerusalem as the sign that seals us on every occasion. Although
the text goes on to mention several daily activities outside the Eucharistic
celebration, it is certainly possible that the reference to the bread and cup
is a Eucharistic one:
So we should not be afraid
to acknowledge the Crucified. We should boldly trace the cross with out fingers
as a seal on our forehead and over everything; over the bread we eat, the cups
we drink, when we come in and when we go out, before we go to sleep, when we go
to bed and when we get up, on journeys and at rest. It is a powerful protection;
to suit the poor, it costs nothing; to suit the weak, it costs not labour, since
it comes as a gift from God; it is a sign for the Faithful and a terror to
demons. For “in it he triumphed over them,” “openly making an example of them”
[Col 2.15 adjusted]. For when they see the cross, they remember the Crucified. (“Catechesis,”
13, 36)
The indication to
form a Cross with one’s hands to receive the Eucharist is noteworthy: as the
Lord died on a Cross , so upon a Cross is he to be received at the sacrifice.
Cyril of Jerusalem’s description of how one was to receive communion, although
not explicitly mentioning the Cross, nevertheless has some resemblance to
Narsai’s instruction: “Make your left hand a throne for your right, which is about
to receive the King; and receive Christ’s body in the hollow of your hand,
replying ‘Amen.’” (“Mystagogical Catechesis 5”)
Finally, the presence
of the Cross in the Eucharist is as well a calling to live according to the
Cross. St. John Chrysostom, exhorting his hearers to reject what is unworthy of
their dignity as Christians, appeals to the Cross and the Eucharist: “Now that
among Greeks such things should be done is no wonder: but among the worshippers
of the Cross and partakers is unspeakable mysteries, and professors of such
high morality that such unseemliness should prevail, this is especially to be
deplored again and again” (Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the First
Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, 12, 14). A Christian is
sealed by the Cross, partakes in the mysteries of the Eucharist, and must live
a good moral life. The sacraments of the Cross mark the whole life of the
believer. (Daniel Cardó, The Cross and the Eucharist in Early Christianity:
A Theological and Liturgical Investigation [Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2019], 54-58)