On the Sign of the Cross

     One of the distinctive features of Orthodox Christianity that is almost entirely missing in the West (with the exception of the Church of Rome) is the making of the Sign of the Cross. It is really a very simple action, so simple a child of three can be taught to do it. Touch the thumb of the right hand to the first two fingers, then with those three digits touch in succession the forehead, the chest, the right shoulder and the left. There are many variances in how this is done, which are left to preference. Some make very broad, slow, expansive movements, others do it quickly and very close to the body. Some will come back and touch the chest again at the end, while others do not. Some bow the head while making the sign, others do not. We make the Sign on many occasions - upon entering a church, when we approach an icon, or the Eucharist, when we pray, when the Name of the Holy Trinity is invoked. When I tuck my children into bed, I bless them with a kiss and the Sign of the Cross. Priests bless their parishioners with the Sign, both corporately and individually.

     Given that in American churches, particularly in Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic settings, hand gestures of all kinds are common and unremarkable, it seems odd to me that this one is so conspicuously absent. Perhaps it is because most of these gestures (raising or waving of hands, clapping) are symbolic, whereas the sign of the Cross goes deeper - it is an invocation. By the sign of the Cross we invite the Lord to be present with us, to manifest himself in our midst. This is why the Sign can drive away the demons - they don't want to be in the presence of the One who has defeated them. Another reason may be that Western Christianity seems to have relegated God to the purely spiritual realm. In contrast, Orthodoxy is incarnational, that is, we believe that Christ came not only to save and heal our souls, but also our bodies, and all of creation. So the physical world is significant, and physical actions, like making the sign of the Cross, can be a conduit for God's grace. 
     The other significance of the Sign, and this is my view, not formal doctrine, is that it self-identifies one as a Christian. The point is not to draw attention to one's self -  "Hey, look how spiritual I am, I make the sign of the Cross!"  - but to remind one's self that we are bought with a price, and we are not our own any more. It is an action of reverence.

     This article shares some of the sayings of the Church Fathers on the appropriateness and importance of making the Sign of the Cross.

On the Sign of the Cross

Short Published Article - Against the Grain

     I am very pleased to announce, for all the legion of librarians who read my blog, that I've gotten my first piece of professional writing published. The Charleston Conference on Issues in Book and Serials Acquisition publishes a journal, Against the Grain. In the current issue (24:2, April 2012) there is a short entry in the section "And They Were There", where I describe a conference session I attended called 'Free is the Best Price: Building Your Collection of Primary Sources with Free, Online, Digital Collections'. Joan Petit was the presenter. (Sorry, I can't link to the article, Against the Grain is not open access.)  I am oddly excited about this, the article is no ground-breaking stuff and not a lead article, but it' my name in print. That's kind of cool.

      As if that isn't exciting enough, this announcement makes my 100th post on my blog.  This has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to continuing to blog, and hitting more milestones like one year, 200 posts, 2000 hits, etc. I didn't have many expectations for what would happen with Deep in the Stacks, but it has been and continues to be a very satisfying experience. Thank you to everyone who has ever read my blog, and especially to my small band of followers. Maybe their ranks will grow, maybe not, but whatever happens, I'm happy to have gotten as far as I have. Glory to God!

American History Quotes, from TR

      As I've noted at the top of my home page, I'm reading Theodore Roosevelt's Naval War of 1812, which is still considered by historians to be a standard study of the subject.  As I was reading, I came across some remarkable statements made regarding the attitudes held by officers of the American and British navies towards one another.
     TR includes in his description of the encounter between the USS Enterprise (no, not that one) and HMS Boxer, the surprsing account of a toast offered at a dinner party for the officers of the Enterprise. Oh, by the way, the Enterprise won. "The crew of the Boxer; by law enemies, but by gallantry, brothers." 
        Where, oh where has our nobility of spirit gone?  Could we even concieve, in this day, of raising a toast to the crew of a captured enemy vessel, just because they fought like men to defend it, albeit unsuccessfully?

     In another chapter, TR includes an excerpt from a letter written by a British officer, who had led a successful boarding party from the frigate HMS Narcissus to capture the cutter USS Surveyor.  The letter was to the Master of the Surveyor (which was too small to rate a Lieutenant, let alone a Captain). It read in part, "your gallant and desperate attempt to defend your vessel against more than double your numbers  . . . excited such admiration on the part of your opponents [the British] . . .  has induced me to return you the sword you had so nobly used, in testimony of mine.  I am at a loss which to admire most, the [defensive preparations] aboard the Surveyor, or the determined manner in which her deck was disputed inch by inch."
     TR notes that the British lost 3 dead and 7 wounded in the taking of the Surveyor.  Yet here is the British officer, writing a letter of commendation to his opponent, who was primarily responsible for the British casualties.
     This is the kind of thing that makes me aspire to be a gentleman, and teach my sons to be gentlemen as well. Aren't we as Christians commanded to love even our enemies?

On Orthodoxy and Fantasy - Roads from Emmaus

Fr. Andrew Damick, over at his blog, Roads from Emmaus, discusses the intersection of Orthodoxy and the writing of fantasy. As I am a long-time reader of fantasy and sci-fi and now a (very minor) writer of sci-fi, I naturally am interested in how faith can inform and shape one's writing.

Report from the Library - Reference Collection is on the Move!

     My current project, courtesy of the director of the library, is to move the Reference collection. We are re-designing the Reference Desk and the Circulation Desk (which stand in reasonable proximity to one another) and to make room for them, as well as to pump up our circulation, we are going to liberate our reference collection by reclassifying most of the books to the Main collection. So now many of our encyclopedias, dictionaries and almanacs will be circulating just like the rest of our books. Reference books that are being liberated will have the reference markings effaced and should look just like our main collection books. The ones that we want to keep in-house will get a new label to distinguish them from the others. Already, we have signs up in the reference and main stacks areas letting students know that a change is coming, and what the new stickers mean. Hopefully some of them will pay attention. 

     I think this is a good idea, and not just because the director said so. I've spent the last several days looking over our Reference holdings, and a great many of them don't really need to be kept in-house. A guide to terms used in Heraldry?  An interesting read, surely, but not of such critical value that it can't leave the library. A bibliography of works on composers that was compiled in the 1960's?  Also useful, but not current enough to mandate chaining it to the desk. Some things will of course remain as non-circulating. The Encyclopedia Britannica and the Oxford English Dictionary are not going anywhere. The 20+ volume set of the Birds of North America is staying put also. Some series of Biblical commentaries are staying put as well for the religion students.  But, at the director's instruction (with which I concur) the bulk of it is getting turned loose. What we're going to be left with is, in my words, "a lean, mean collection that is up-to-date and highly relevant to our course offerings."

     I haven't seen much in the professional literature about this idea, so maybe it hasn't caught on much yet. I hope that it will, as I think this will revitalize a part of our library that has long languished. Here are just two pieces discussing the idea of 'liberating reference'.

     This link points to a blog post discussing the merits of allowing Reference books to circulate.

Reference books to Go

For those librarians who can access Library Journal, take a look at this article: (sorry, no link available)

Shift happens - Moving Reference to Circulation. Joy Hansen. Library Journal. 134.12 (July 1, 2009) p126.